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About Me
My background
I moved from Arizona, where I was born, to Alaska in the late 70s, and lived there until the early 90s. It was a great place to grow up and gave me a great sense of adventure.
My parents had a gold mine outside of Fairbanks. I spent time at the mine trying my hand and mining, built my own small sluice box and spent the summer trying to extract gold out of the muddy mess. It was was a complete failure, and may have had something to do with my complete lack of interest in putting in the work needed, and inefficiency to make it work. My parents on the other hand, did very well.
I started my construction career at the age of 13 when i replied to an add in the local newspaper looking for a carpenter's helper. My boss and I spent the summer building small trailer mounted buildings (like little cabins), so his kids could sell snacks and drinks at the local lakes and campgrounds. I loved to work. learning how to read the plans he had drawn, learning how to make everything fit together, using all the new tools, and seeing something completed at the end of the day was a thrill!
Over the next few decades, I learned everything I could about all of the different trades and phases associated with construction. I've owned construction companies, and am now doing consulting work for clients who need the expertise I have gained in my 45 years in the industry.
My writing roots
Having worked with thousands of clients over my career, I found that most of them didn't really know what they were getting into, when they started a project at home.
I watched the frustration they were having, in addition to the frustration it caused the contractors and suppliers that were working for them, and decided to write a book about how to organize the project, to make things easier.