I started building things before I was tall enough to reach the top of a table saw without being placed on a stool by my father. The building blocks of everything I know about building, problem-solving, and quality came from my father. My sense of perfection came from my mother. Between the two of my parents, there was nothing they couldn’t do, and I have inherited that same conviction.

I never built any significant sandcastles as a child, but the Blizzard of ’77 in Buffalo, New York, left over six feet of snow in our yard, allowing me to carve the most complex tunnel fort ever conceived. It was an impenetrable fortress to retreat to during the neighborhood snowball fights that followed for weeks. This was likely the most notable beginning of my construction career.

I started at the State University of New York at Buffalo in the Architecture program, but my work-study program had me working in the architecture library, where I witnessed firsthand what the higher-level architecture students were doing. It all seemed too repetitive and imitative to me, so I promptly left the program, transferring to the Physics Department. However, a very persuasive professor in the Design School convinced me to join the Design Program, recently started by Harold Cohen, a student and disciple of the Bauhaus School in Chicago and Buckminster Fuller. The program was only two years old, yet it was incredibly robust. I graduated in 1986 summa cum laude with degrees in Design and Philosophy. I haven’t yet figured out which has been more useful, but I think it’s dog mushing.

I had started a graduate program in Design but dropped out to accept an offer to design and build a significant conversion of an 1890 Victorian mansion into an oral surgeon’s office. I did the design, drawings, and construction myself, and I lived on the top floor of the house. This was the notable start of me living construction 24 hours a day.

I moved from Buffalo to Seattle in 1989 in an attempt to find a place where I could enjoy the culture of a city and the adventure of the outdoors at the same time. In doing so, I landed at Krekow Jennings in 1997. I found my place. I knew from my first day on the job that this was the company for me. Why? Because we are not builders in the traditional sense. We are inventors, creators, and imagineers. We are not imitative. We help realize the creative visions of some of the most imaginative architects and adventurous clients on the planet—not by simply building what we’re told, but by first understanding the true essence of what the client and architect want and helping them determine how to get there by participating in the creative process.

During my tenure with Krekow Jennings, I have worked on some of our most ambitious projects and some of our most precious ones. I have been personally involved in projects as small as an 8’x10’ bathroom remodel and as large as 20 acres of construction. In addition, I have been primarily responsible for developing our business in Sun Valley, California, and Hawaii. As mentioned, I moved west because of my love of the mountains and wilderness. Adding to that, I have developed a passion and skill for competitive long-distance dog racing, having run the Iditarod in 2007, 2010, and 2018. The lessons learned and challenges faced in doing this have been critically important in developing my abilities to manage a company, projects, and relationships. Most notably, I realize that with the right team, anything can be accomplished. I believe Krekow Jennings is the right team for you and your project.