At this time I had found myself homeless and broke until payday. I survied on the streets for the next two weeks until the kindness of a fellow Marine had offered me a hot shower and a soft couch even though he lived in a small home with a wife and three small children. but that was all I needed to get me back on my feet and after a few paychecks I was able to talk to the management company where I lived last to rent me a one bedroom apartment and in exchange I would do odd jobs to pay back the rent that was owed that my exwife neglected to pay which caused me to be evicted.

 

Needless to say my one bedroom was not in the greatest part of town nor was it a decorators delight but it was warm dry and had a hot shower thats all I needed for now. I worked hard for the next year and pulled my self out of the gutter and was working every chance I could honeing my skills and learning from everyone that I could. during this time I met my soon to be wife Carolyn and with in a few months I had moved in with her. Carolyn had believed in me from the begining and had taken a chance on me and my skills she invested some of her money to help me start our company The Right Angle this company is a Interior trim Cabinet company and in a few days I had 7 subcontractors doing the work and 2 builders giving us work. this was going well until lower pay labor replaced my higher paid skilled labor so I could not compete.

 

while working during the day triming home I was also going to school at nights studing to be a contractor so at this point in my life I figured if you cant beat them join them so I took the test and became a Licenced General Contractor www.creeksidecustombuilders.com and started hiring on the laborers that slowed my business to work for my new company Lot Twelve Builders. you ask why such a name for a company well lot 12 was the first piece of property that we bought and that is also the property we built our home on. well let me back up a bit because during all this time I had asked Carolyn to marry me and she said yes.

 

business was going well we were building our home on a tight budget but it was in a up and coming area the price for the property was great and Carolyn was happy I would work every hour I had free on this home and when Carolyn could she would join me. we finally finished our home and moved in. we contracted to build a spec home using equity we had in our new home not knowing that the econimy was going to take a turn for the worse. so here we where invested all our money on a home that was beautiful and of course the trim work was outstanding but know one could aford it. the home finally sold a year later but not before eating into our savings.

 

from that home we contracted with a couple to build a three story home know other contractor wanted to work with them but we needed the work and had taken on the challenge. one home was not going to pay the bills and with out a lot of homes under our belt no one wanted to hire our company on. but with a lot of calls and late nights working on bids we lined up our first commercial job it wasn't much but it was a start. I had joined the local fire department in our area and they were looking to expand the department and hired us on to build it. this worked into building a luxury dog kennel called Wickersham K-9 Ranch. this dog kennel was one of the first in the area to have stamp concrete on the floors and contiue up the walls this required myself to be trained in the application of the stampconrete product sence we were limited on space and style this would prove to be a bad investment.

 

we designed the dog kennel from scratch and had designs drawn up but after that point things went down hill from what we had drawn and summited a bid on ended up all changing when it had came back from the architect we were already eating into the overhead and I had not even started to hire and train guys on the concrete work yet. in all we lost over $35,000 on this job and everything was financed using credit cards. we struggled to finish the job but I do not walk away from my responsabilitys. we later contracted to build a local Edible Arrangements and then a home in Denver area which we are working on now but sense the economy has caused the prices of materials to incress and gas prices to increse the cost of labor we fine ourselves looking at a possible bankrupsty.

 

I have tried to give back to people in need all my life I fought for my country and now have "desert storm syndrom" but am to proud to collect disability which I may need to now. I am a Firefighter for my community. I am active in my local church and my goal in life is to one day build affordable homes for those who can not afford a home. but we are finding ourself after my wife had lost her job of 10 years with Carolina Volkswagen looking at starting all over again. and maybe needing one of those homes.

 

if anyone can help me keep our business write me at Ifightfires247@aol.com if we can just get out of this hole I swear I will do the same for someone else some day.