About Mike O'Donnell

My first career was in farming. It was my foundation; I practiced it from the age of 12 until I was 24 and had graduated from college. While farming I learned a broad spectrum of skills such as operating heavy equipment, doing maintenance, learning to weld, and how to engineer things. Engineering, yes (when the piece of equipment you needed didn’t exist, you built it), were all part of the job.

My grandfather was a carpenter and a farmer and as a youngster I helped him on a few finish carpentry projects. Then, when I was I high school, my uncle, grandfather, four local carpenters and I built a granary. The granary was some 60 feet tall and it was a special purpose building designed to process and package seed for other farmers. It is where I learned to drive a nail. My builder / carpenter education continued during my second career.

Post graduation from Central Michigan University I worked for 21 years in the sales end of the oil industry, eventually becoming a Division Manager. It was in the middle of this second career that I built my own home. We worked nights, weekends, and vacations for 2 ½ years to complete it; and at the same time, I became salesman of the year.

We did everything (with much help from family and friends). We cleared the wooded lot, dug the basement, poured the footings and laid the basement block walls. We roughed in the house building floors, walls and roof. We did the plumbing, heating, electrical, and finish work. We even milled our own baseboards and trim. It was a great house.

After my career in the oil industry was over; I was building a deck for my mother on her new home and discovered a here-to-for unknown knack for design. This led me and my son down the road to designing and building decks, finishing basements and doing custom cabinetry.

We love the challenge of designing something unique and special. Why don't you give us the opportunity to design something for you?