Summer Work & Outside Spaces

With the summer for a General Contractor and Builder, comes homeowners wanting to create those outside "spaces" where they can relax outside during the fall season. With some of its projects finishing up and with other projects being worked on by our sub-contractors, Craft Construction has had the opportunity to tackle two great "outdoor space" projects.



The first project was located in The Five Points area of Raleigh, NC. This project was to remove the existing 5'x5' deck and replacing it with a two-tiered deck accessible from both the house and the back yard. The first tier was to build a 8'x8' deck that would give the homeowner access to his backdoor, connection to the stairs leading to the back yard, and the transition to the "upper" and larger area of the deck. The second, or "upper," tier of the project was a 21'x13' deck with built-in 10' bench. Giving the homeowner, who likes to entertain, the ability to have a large number of guests over with the space for everyone to relax outside.

Here are a few pictures of this project:






































The second project that we took on this summer was another deck renovation. However with this project we took an existing 12'x16' deck and changed it into a 12'x16' Screened-In porch with a 16'x10' deck extension. This project was located in Chatham County close to Chapel Hill and UNC. This project took a little longer than the first project I spoke about, but as you can imagine, it was a little more involved. Once completed, the screened-in porch had a finished bead-board ceiling with two 24x48 skylights and a 52" outdoor ceiling fan. What was cool about this project was the last day of the project I went there to finish the clean up and take some pictures. When I pulled up to the site the family had already moved their outdoor furniture into the screen-in area. As a contractor, it was great for me to see the happiness of the homeowner. (Projects Pictures will be added soon.)



These projects were great projects for Craft Construction. It has been awhile since I, John Enzor, have been given the opportunity to build a deck, and I have never been able to build decks/porches with these certain characteristics. It was a true pleasure for me to see these projects be completed. I just love building projects that the future owners will like; however, I love it even more when the projects are dealing with "outdoor spaces." To give someone the opportunity to relax outdoors instead of sitting in the house is a true pleasure of mine. I think if I could build these "outdoor spaces" continually, I would really really enjoy it. There is just something about sitting outside just as the sun is going down or as it is coming up and reading a newspaper, drinking a beverage of choice, or just sitting and relaxing with family and/or friends that is so relaxing.

Construction Practices

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day and I was telling him how I had seen this woman out west somewhere was building homes out of cargo containers that you see on ships carrying goods across the oceans of the world.

I thought that this was something. Of course him being an architect he already knew about this practice. However that did spark a rather lengthy conversation about other building practices and how everyone is trying to "Go Green." Now I think both of us were on the same page about going green and how good it is, but I think that he was getting a little upset about how people thought that this was something new and how some building practices that you seen "Green Contractors" advertising as new are in fact not new at all. Most of them you can actually trace back all of the way to the Native Americans.

Being a contractor and trying to give the client the best product that I can, not only now but for years and years to come, this statement and his attitude got me thinking. We always see how music and clothing always has patterns that it follows. So I was wondering if building practices follow a similar pattern and circle.

In the coming weeks, maybe months, I am going to try and do a lengthy research on the building practices of older times. Trying to understand why they did what they did, because even though a lot of make fun to question why they did that they did. A lot of the buildings and structures that they built are still standing today.

Stay tuned in the following post to see what I have found out and please feel free to join me in this research. I believe that if we really study to practices of older times we will learn more about what the land around us has to offer and maybe we will start giving back to earth rather than just taking it away.


Thanks for reading, have a good day and good night.

Basic Information

We are a General Contracting company based out of Raleigh, NC. The company consist of two people, Scott Shackelton and John Enzor.

Scott has an extensive amount of experience in business and accounting but he also has a lot of experience with "flipping" houses for sale and for rent purposes.

John has been in or around the construction field all his life. He grew up in Buies Creek, NC and with a typical rural family. Meaning, that every time something broke they fixed it if they knew how to, tried to figure it out, or had someone teach them how to.

The first big construction project that he was around was when he was about 7 or 8 years old. When his dad and mom bought a double wide trailer and added it to the side of their house to expand their house to around 2500 square feet. While he was not a highly contributing figure in the work performed, he enjoyed seeing the whole construction process and actually got to sit in the cab of the crane that was placing the trusses for the roof system. While he did not get to even get close to any of the controls, he at least got to be in the cab and see what it was like.

That event started him down the path of construction. From then on he was determined to go to NC State and get an engineering degree. Preparing himself by taking apart everything he had and trying to figure out how to put it back together. Eventually, he would go to NC State but because of some reasons he did not get his Engineering degree. He got a Vocational Teaching Degree, believing that he would teach the youth of America the desire that he had gotten when he was a young kid.

Because of factors uncontrolled by John, he started with an Electrical Company out of Cary and worked with them over the next five years. With stints in Framing houses, working at a machine shop, and working with a regional construction company out of Charlotte. All the time learning and asking more and more questions. He gained years of experience and knowledge from the men that he worked with.

In October of 2008 he was presented with the opportunity to start a company with Scott. John jumped at this opportunity. They are currently working on several projects together in downtown Raleigh, in the Oakwood district. You can check out the process HERE.

Personal goal from John Enzor: "My goal in construction has always been to make the best product that I can while keeping costs as reasonable as I can, while also making the client as pleased as I can. This is a tall task but I strive at all of this. I have the desire to change the world in what I build projects and how I build a company. I want to give back to those who may not have the ability or opportunity that I have been given."

So, if you have a project idea, hear of someone wanting something worked on, or just would like to talk construction, John is here and willing to talk with you. You can contact him at: john@craftconstructionnc.com.


A history of construction. A desire to change the world. Craft Construction.