Blood Blisters and Badges of Honor

When I was a kid, from about the age of five or six years old, one of my favorite activities was to venture out into the tool shed with my father and help him "build stuff." Of course at that age my building activities were usually relegated to pounding nails into scrap wood while watching Dad use the power tools to actually create something useful.

At first, the only tool Dad would let me use was a hammer. There was one in particular that he gave me to start with (probably because it was the lightest and smallest) and I would get to work, intently driving nails of all sizes into whatever scraps were lying around. Inevitably, I would miss the nail and hit my thumb, giving myself a huge blood blister. Then after the tears stopped, I would tell my father that I didn’t like that hammer "because it pounded my fingers." Dad would give me another hammer and the same thing would happen. The cycle continued until eventually I realized that it wasn’t the hammer’s fault. I learned to pound the nails and not my hands.

The point of this story isn’t to prove that as a child I was number than a pounded thumb, but rather to illustrate a universal truth about anyone who has an affinity for construction. Those who are in the business for any length of time will certainly miss the nail once in a while, but if they stay with it—the rewards are there.

Scott Christopher, one of the builders featured in Luxury Home Builder, told me that he got into this business because he loved working with his hands. His father was in the industry and Scott went to college to study construction management with the intention of going into business with him. Scott says he is now more of a paper-pusher than a hands-on builder, but that aspect of the business has its own rewards.

In fact, all the builders featured in Luxury Home Builder express their love of building. They all also told me that some days aren’t so loveable. There are several issues that today’s builders must contend with that give them mental blood blisters; scarcity of land, regulatory hassles, decreasing profit margins and a tight labor market, to name a few. But they all stick with it because in the end, it’s what they know and love.

So when a project is running behind schedule or the local planning board is dragging its heels with your approval or your latest drywall delivery got caught in a sudden rainstorm, try to remember why you’re still in this business. You are doing more than putting a roof over someone’s head (which is commendable in itself); you are helping someone realize their dreams. The homes you build are lasting monuments to your professionalism and dedication. Stand back, look at them, and be proud.