Pictures courtousy of our recent 25th ANNIVERSARY party

 Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, the  youngest of three boys, I was surrounded with the building business.   My father was a general contractor and architect and my mom's dad owned  and operated Hoke Lumber Company. This afforded me the knowledge of two  different worlds in the construction industry. 

      I was on job sites at the age of 5 because my mom said I needed to see  first-hand what my father did. I "officially" went to work at 10 years  old, cleaning debris from job sites and performing other general labor  activities. I am one of those that truly began by "digging ditches". At  the age of 15, I was working a full schedule when not in school or  studying. At this point, I started learning specific building trades. My  father and brothers, Chad and Dustin, taught me how to paint, install  trim mouldings, and to perform general carpentry. 

     At this time, my father began a new venture in "true" Modular homes,  where I learned yet another wide variety of new trades. I began Learning  to do drywall, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, siding and landscape work on  top of all of my previous experience. 

     Upon graduation from East Mecklenburg High School (Go Eagles!), I  attended Appalachian State University to study Construction Management.  During this time, I continued to work with my father and also with my  brother Dustin. After college, I went to work full time with Dustin installing intricate trim work on  high-end custom homes. When that particular neighborhood came to  completion, I was offered a wonderful opportunity to be a site supervisor with  Beazer Homes.

      While with Beazer Homes, I learned the art of fast paced home  construction. I also obtained my North Carolina General Contractors  license at this time.

      I left Beazer Homes a short time before they closed their Charlotte  office, and went back to work with my father who was now building local  community churches as well as single family homes. This new opportunity  provided me with the the knowledge of commercial construction.

     This new knowledge of commercial building came in good when, in 2007,  I went to work with my oldest brother Chad at Cottage Builders. He had  asked my father if he could borrow me for a project he was building in Auburn  Alabama. What started as a summer project, soon turned into an  unexpected career, with me commuting between Charlotte and Auburn.

      Cottage Builders offered me a full time job as their Commercial Project  Manager at the end of the Auburn project. I moved my family to  Birmingham in 2008 and continued to work with Cottage for 2 more years.  By 2010, the economy was in a nose dive and Cottage Builders laid off  quite a few of us. After much job searching, in what is now called one of the worst downturns in history, my wife and I did a lot of soul searching and decided to start our own business. I obtained my Alabama Contractors License and started LACE Construction.

      In 2013, we decided that it was time to come home, so we sold our house in Homewood, Alabama and moved back to Charlotte to be closer to our families.

     Now happily back in Charlotte, we are 'Enriching the Lives of Others' by Building Their Dream Home or Remodeling the One They Already Call Home.

Born in Charlotte, NC, Leslie grew up in a totally different world.  Leslie know nothing about construction or the building industry until she met me. Her father worked for Piedmont Natural Gas and her mother was a yearbook editor. Leslie and I met and became high school sweethearts. Leslie worked as a manager for a local sub shop throughout high school and some after graduation. 

     Leslie decided to try something she had wanted to pursue while I was attending App State. She went through the Police Academy. Even though having finished well in the academy, she decided not to follow that career path.

     Leslie went into the childcare field and worked there until we were married. Not long after marrying, the Lord blessed our lives with two wonderful children who are our world.  When Allysa was born, we decided it would be best for Leslie to stay home with our little girl, and this continued on after Erick was born.  Leslie has been an awesome stay-at-home-mom and has done a wonderful job raising both of them.

    Leslie has learned a lot about the construction industry throughout the years from being around my family and me. She was in full support of starting LACE Construction instead of going back to work for someone else. It is said, "Behind Every Successful Man is a Great Woman". In our case, that could never be truer. No one person has all the skills, abilities, time and all the opportunities to be able to do or be everything they want to do or be.  Leslie stands shoulder to shoulder with me in our business. It would be hard to perform my everyday duties without her unwavering support 

Leslie has recently taken a step back from our operations to tend to our homestead. A longtime dream that has come true for her.