TLDR: Maine Cabin Masters has been running since 2017 with a tight-knit crew of real Maine builders, designers, and tradespeople — most of whom have known each other for decades. Here’s a complete guide to every cast member, what they do on the show, and where to learn more about each of them.
Most reality TV crews are assembled by casting directors. Maine Cabin Masters is the exception. The people you see on screen have been working side by side in the woods of Maine for years, in some cases decades, before a camera was ever pointed at them.
That authenticity is the whole show. When Chase Morrill talks about preserving a family camp, or Dixie cracks a joke mid-demolition, or Ashley Morrill walks through a design plan, none of it is performed. These are real tradespeople doing the work they were doing long before the DIY Network came calling in 2017.
The crew has evolved over 12 seasons, with some members moving on and new faces joining, but the core has remained remarkably stable. Here’s who they are.
Chase Morrill — The Lead Builder
Chase Morrill is the driving force behind Maine Cabin Masters and the founder of the Kennebec Cabin Company in Manchester, Maine.
A tenth-generation Mainer, Chase grew up surrounded by the state’s lakes and lumber culture, and built his philosophy of preservation and zero-waste construction long before it became a TV concept. He leads every build, manages the crew, and is the person clients work with from first call to final walkthrough.
Ashley Morrill — The Designer
Ashley Morrill is Chase’s sister and the show’s interior designer, responsible for transforming gutted camp spaces into interiors that feel both modern and rooted in Maine’s cabin tradition.
Her eye for color, texture, and furniture keeps the builds from feeling generic, and she’s become one of the show’s most recognizable faces. Fans have followed her health journey closely over the years, and Glossyfied has the full story on Ashley’s health.
Ryan Eldridge — The Voice of Reason
Ryan Eldridge is Ashley Morrill’s husband, a co-founder of the Kennebec Cabin Company, and the crew member most likely to pump the brakes when a project starts to drift. He’s known as the show’s “voice of reason,” the person who quietly makes sure deadlines and budgets stay in the realm of reality.
His connection to the crew runs deeper than most viewers realize: he and Matt Dixie were born on the same day two years apart, and their families have been intertwined since childhood.
Matt “Dixie” Dix — The Heart of the Show
Matt “Dixie” Dix is the master carpenter whose laid-back humor and flannel-clad presence has made him one of the show’s most beloved figures. Born in Augusta, Maine, Dixie grew up with carpentry in his blood and has appeared in every season since the premiere.
He prefers finish work over framing, runs Dixie’s Tune Shack in Rangeley during the winter, and was dealt a devastating personal blow in February 2025 when his wife of nearly 24 years, Ginna Dix, passed away unexpectedly at 48.
Jared “Jedi” Baker — The Versatile Builder
Jared “Jedi” Baker is one of the crew’s most versatile builders, equally comfortable with structural framing, finish carpentry, and the kind of problem-solving that remote Maine job sites demand.
Like Dixie, his friendship with the Morrill family long predates the show, and his nickname has become just as recognizable to fans as his actual name.
Sarah Morrill — The School Nurse Who Builds
Sarah Morrill is Chase’s wife and one of the show’s most quietly impressive cast members. By day she runs a school health center in Maine; on weekends and during production she’s on job sites with the rest of the crew. Her dual career makes her stand out in a cast full of full-time tradespeople, and her story is one of the more unusual in reality TV.
Lance Gatcomb — The Early Seasons Favorite
Lance Gatcomb was a fan favorite during the show’s early seasons, known for his easygoing personality and steady work on builds. His absence from later seasons left many viewers wondering what happened.
The full story of what happened to Lance is one of the more searched questions in the Maine Cabin Masters universe.
Eric Donahue — The One Who Left for Business
Eric Donahue took one of the more unexpected post-show paths of any Maine Cabin Masters cast member. After leaving the crew, he used a business search fund to acquire a paving company in Maine, and in his first year as owner grew revenue by 40%.
It’s a story that says as much about the kind of people the show attracts as it does about Eric himself.
The Show Behind the Crew
Maine Cabin Masters premiered January 2, 2017, on DIY Network and moved to the Magnolia Network in 2022. Through 12 seasons and over 160 episodes, the show’s core premise has never changed: take a dilapidated Maine camp, restore it with as little waste as possible, and hand it back to a family that will actually use it.
The crew recently wrapped the spinoff series Maine Cabin Masters: Building Italy, taking their preservation approach to the crumbling architecture of Molise.
Whether Season 13 is on the way is still an open question, but the Kennebec Cabin Company isn’t going anywhere.
If you want to dig deeper on any individual cast member, every name above links to their full profile.
And if you’ve ever wondered how much the crew gets paid, how they keep costs so low, or where the cabins are actually located, those answers are all there too.
