Owner’s Blog – Vol. 3

written by Craig Huckstep, owner and president of CMH Builders

Hello, and welcome back!

In this blog, I would like to tell you a little bit more about myself and my background. How did CMH get its start? That is a question I have been asked countless times over the years and one that I enjoy discussing.

It’s a bit of an odd story in that it doesn’t follow any sort of traditional path to construction. I don’t have any other entrepreneurs in my family, and my parents didn’t work in the construction industry. My father was a research chemist, and my mother was a dietician – neither one spent time in construction. They are now both enjoying retirement and traveling the world every chance they get! My grandfather – my mom’s dad, spent some time in construction after serving in WWII. Maybe I got my love for building from him…

Anyway, I graduated from Purdue in the spring of 2002 with a degree in Building Construction Management. This is a program that Purdue offers to help students prepare to manage construction projects of all shapes and sizes.
Residential, Commercial, Industrial, and even heavy-highway project management is taught through this program. I spent most of my time focusing on the residential specialty as I had always been more interested in working on homes rather than building hospitals or other types of projects.

After graduation, I went to work for a local home builder as an assistant field construction manager. I spent 4 years working with this company and learned a great deal about construction, managing multiple projects simultaneously, and built some relationships that I still maintain to this day. Several of the philosophies of CMH are based around the knowledge that I gained while working for this company.

However, something was missing – I wanted more than to be an employee of a company. So, I started CMH in April of 2006. I had a drive to be my own boss – to own my own company. I liked the freedom that I thought that would bring, and I liked the idea that I could build my projects exactly the way I wanted. I liked the idea of having my name on the side of the truck, and that one day, my son or daughter may be able to come and work with me. Now, nearly 18 years later, my kids are just about to the age where they can come and start working with me, and I am truly excited for that to start!

It hasn’t always been easy, but I love being a business owner. As the old saying goes, “Anything worth having is not going to be easy, but it will be worth whatever it takes.”

I look forward to spending a few minutes with you again in the next blog. Until then, enjoy your day!

Craig

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