I’ve always loved wood and nerding out with carpentry. I moved to the island in 1998 hoping to be doing historic restoration work and before long I had built a couple of houses. When I was considering starting this business I called my very first boss back in Boston. He gave me the best advice: “Always surround yourself with the smartest people you can find." And, "The difference between being a carpenter and being a contractor is team building." I took his advice to heart. It’s why I feel so good about the team we’ve built over the years. We’re a whole team of people who love wood and nerding out over what it takes to make a truly fine home.

Before he learned carpentry Andy was a cook at a fishing camp in Alaska. He tells the story that it was in that isolated and off-the-grid environment that he fully understood energy flows for the first time. He had to pump water from a river. He had to boil the water to make it drinkable. He had to run a generator for power. The whole camp could be seen through the lens of energy in and out. He says that it’s an understanding that has inspired him his whole life. Andy fits well on this team because he’s always asking a simple question: “How can we make this better?”

Before joining our team Chris served the Nantucket Conservation Foundation for over twenty years, most recently as Director of Land Management. His grandparents were island natives, as is his wife, so their three kids know island values intuitively. In his role at NCF Chris oversaw the maintenance and upkeep of over 9,000 acres, including NCF-owned buildings. When I learned that Chris was looking for a change I jumped at the chance to help him continue to build relationships and make connections island-wide. His deep knowledge of and respect for the island make him a perfect fit for the position of Property Manager at Stephens & Company.

I met Chuck on a job site in the fall of 1998. He had followed a girlfriend out here straight out of high school. Chuck has been here ever since and for most of those years he’s been doing all of my painting work. He and I share the same eye for quality and the same insistence on attention to detail. For more than three years I tried to get him to be a project manager for us and he finally accepted my offer. He knows how to pay attention to what needs doing because he’s a busy guy. He’s got two teenage boys at home, and he helps run a family-owned farm in Virginia where they raise 40 heads of grass-fed beef cattle.

Ron grew up in a house that his uncle and father built. So his dad taught him about all phases of construction, including plumbing and electricity. He’s always been a bit of an energy geek, building a solar thermal water heating system for himself in the eighties. In that same decade he and his wife Lucy discovered Nantucket. They came in search of wind to surf and decided to move here in 1998. Ron met Andy studying Aikido and they became fast friends. When Ron got a taste of the depth of the energy work that Andy is doing he got excited. So, he took the HERS rating course and is a proud HERS rater in training today.

For more than five years Andrea was working at a local lumber yard. I’ve always liked her “get it done” attitude. Born and raised on Nantucket, she knows her way around the office and job sites alike. I notice that everybody considers her their assistant. She helps with estimating and is a natural when it comes to caretaking. She understands that building is a service profession, and seems most fulfilled when helping others to deliver exemplary customer service. She’s happily married to her high-school sweetheart and is the proud mom of two young children.

Ana was born in Brazil, and lived in Canada, France and England before studying business administration and hospitality in Switzerland. When asked why she didn’t stay in the hospitality business she says “I did. Custom building is the ultimate hospitality business.” Her title is Office Manager. She is the one person on the team who knows what every other person is doing and if that is what they should be doing. Ana will not quit until the job is done, but when she is not working, she and her family love to eat great food or get outdoors.

When John and I met we hit it off immediately. We share the same drive and passion for thinking big and doing it right. His background is in architecture, but he’s worked in all phases of design and building. He’s built a baseball stadium, a hockey arena, a high school and a high-rise casino. He even rebuilt Walter Reed Hospital. He’s served as designer, builder and owner’s rep for projects of all sizes and scales. All of this experience makes him a great project manager for us. He’s devoted to his three tween and teen kids and relishes the fact that he gets to work at home a lot.

Biz grew up in Birmingham, AL and got her Bachelors degree at Middlebury College in VT. She then lived in NYC for 5 years where she worked for architects and a commercial real estate developer. She moved back to Birmingham and got my Masters in Environmental Management at Samford University. She went to work for Eco Three where they did energy efficient retrofits and new construction HERS ratings and code compliance testing. From there she went to work with a Consulting Company where she helped builders with the 45L tax incentive and specifications analyses and certification via Energy Star for New Homes. Now, she works remotely for us at Stephens and Company; we perform HERS ratings for homes there and soon in Birmingham. She loves teaching people about building science and continuing to learn about building techniques and materials in new construction as well as historic preservation and restoration. She is involved with neighborhood leadership and enjoy helping address municipal issues and preserving our historic area. Her husband and she are working on restoring parts of our 1925 home.

Neil grew up in Western Mass. working on a horse farm. His dad was the mechanic for his town, so fixing whatever needs fixing is in his blood. I met him when we were both picking up supplies at a lumber yard. We got to talking and I was taken by his straightforward approach to communication. He said something I’ll never forget: “It’s so much easier to communicate when you know what the topic is.” He’s run his own construction, carpentry and caretaking business, so he knows his stuff. He’s married to an island girl and they’ve got two kids, so he knows what matters. This great combo makes him a really good project manager.

Lead Carpenter at Stephens and Company, Inc.