I love the challenge of taking on a project that most others would pass on and updating it without sacrificing or compromising the architectural integrity. It drives my wife crazy, but I am always pointing to rundown/neglected historical homes and commenting on what potential they have – she would prefer I focus on our 1928 Dutch Colonial Revival’s “potential” instead!

What drew me to this line of work? I grew up around the business, my dad was a builder in Florida for nearly 40 years, and I spent summers from high school through college working on his projects. That’s where I learned carpentry. These were old school guys who, except for a circa 1950 Skil circular saw, didn’t believe in power tools. You really understand the meaning of “measure twice cut once” when you are cutting 8” high baseboards on a miter box with a back saw!

I have a green thumb and I enjoy nothing more than working in my yard.

While living in Mobile, Alabama I tackled a project that comprised four homes adjacent to one another. The houses were abandoned and condemned, no one thought these homes were worth saving. However, beneath the neglect and remuddling there was architectural beauty: heart pine floors, ornately carved fireplace mantels and custom trim. They ranged in age from a circa 1850 Creole shotgun to a 1910 foursquare. Just cleaning out the debris and gutting them took four months and filled six 40 cubic yard dumpsters. In the end, all four houses returned to being single-family homes. The City of Mobile awarded me the restoration of the year and the houses were featured on Bob Villa’s Restore America TV show.

This I where I’m supposed to say something hip and exciting like climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and watching the sunrise or having a one-on-one over an IPA with the Dalai Lama but, my bucket list is to spend as much time with the ones I love.