This year’s 40 Under 40 winners wear a variety of hats across a number of company types. Here they share their best practices on everything from finding and retaining staff to managing subs. Taken together, it’s an inspiring look at some of the most creative solutions from remodeling’s best and brightest. The competition was fierce this year and judges had a hard time selecting 40 standouts from the hundreds of deserving entries. Warmest congratulations to our winners, and thanks to everyone who entered. 

A New Approach 

It’s not kind to say this but it’s still true: Awards in magazines are usually boring.

Sure, I’m happy for whoever won, but I’m also busy and my precious reading time is reserved for either education or entertainment. Most awards that are covered in magazines don’t offer either.

With that in mind, we took a hard look at how to present this year’s 40 Under 40. One the one hand, it’s important to properly celebrate the winners. Competition was steep, and every one of these 40 professionals represents the best of what remodeling has to offer today. But on the other hand, the majority of our audience doesn’t personally know the honorees, and we wanted to keep everyone engaged.

The answer we came up with was to highlight best practices.

Our package is filled with concrete examples of what these up-and-comers do well.

The idea is that while honoring their achievement, we also share their valuable expertise with the larger remodeling community. Some of the practices are budget-related, such as Adam Plank’s method for making sure that each PM takes ownership of the numbers after the hand-off. Other ideas are more sales driven as in the write-up on Leslie Molloy who devised a mix-and-match pricing system that helps homeowners prioritize their desires. For readers interested in business management decisions, there’s an array of interesting concepts, including one remodeler who buys all of his subcontractors’ materials to another who brought his work in-house.

The companies represented here vary greatly in size and business model. This is partly happenstance, and partly by design, since our goal is to celebrate excellence across all sectors of remodeling. As a result, there’s something here for everyone. Enjoy!

—Erika Taylor, Chief of Content, Professional Remodeler
 

Meet the 2016 40 Under 40 Awardees

Click on the links below to read more about each awardee.

Eric Adams, founding partner, Adams + Beasley Associates, Age 39

Rob Aldecocea, partner, Revolution Design and Build, Age 38

Brandon Bailey, owner, Bailey Remodeling, Age 36

Angus Beasley, co-founder, Adams + Beasley Associates, Age 39

Bryan Beavers, owner, Bryan Beavers Construction, Age 31

Samantha Bowen, interior designer, Bowen Remodeling & Design, Age 25

Jeff Bullard, president, Avenue B Development, Age 36

Janel Campbell, design consultant, Neil Kelly, Age 36

Matthew H. Cole, president & CEO, Cape Associates, Age 37

Sydney J. Contant, project manager, Atlanta Design & Build, Age 26

Nathan Cross, president, NWC Construction, Age 38

Michael Fondas, president, Paramount, Inc., Age 33

Travis Garcia, owner, Prestige Contractors, Age 35

Craig Guido, sales / partner, Almar Building & Remodeling, Age 38

Justin Hamilton, partner, Hamilton Stern Construction, Age 36

Lucas Herrick, owner, Modern Touches, Age 34

Michael Hollander, president, Weather Tite Windows, Age 39

Ariel F. Istueta, marketing director, Metal Master Shop, Age 27

Jeannine Jabaay, owner / president, Treeline Construction / Rock Solid Pile Company, Age 38

Nick Jensen, owner, Remodeling Envy, Age 38

Amanda Jones, lead project designer, Hatfield Builders & Remodelers, Age 32

Chris Katkish, director of operations, Insite Builders, Age 23

Jason Kirsch, owner, Construction Finishes, Age 39

Alex Lindus, VP sales, Lindus Construction, Age 33

Rocky Macias, operations manager, Get Dwell, Age 35

Aaron Magden, VP sales / co-owner, Window Nation, Age 36

Leslie Molloy, designer, Normandy Remodeling, Age 36

Lucas Papageorge, Jr., owner, LCP General Contractors, Age 38

Sam Peake, project manager, F.H. Perry Builder, Age 34

Colin Pedigo, president / CEO, Pedigo Construction Group, Age 39

Adam Plank, production manager, Synergy Builders, Age 35

Robert Squires, senior estimator / preconstruction manager, Ascent Construction, Age 34

Justin Sullivan, co-owner / chief experience officer, Z Remodeling & Home Improvements, Age 36

Kyle Swarm, operations manager, Building Company Number 7, Age 28

Christopher Towson, president, Living Home Construction + Design, Age 37

Carlie Urell, director of client services & franchise support, Zen Windows, Age 30

Kayla Van Lydegraf, VP of marketing, Dale's Remodeling, Age 28

Justin Walker, safety coordinator, Custom Quality Carpentry, Age 32

Nicholas Yegge, president & founder, Heartwood Residential, Age 30

Mark Zdrojewski, VP of operations, Strobel Design Build, Age 36