Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 7, 1994 TAG: 9404070173
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-20 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JOHN A. MONTGOMERY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I know I'm not going to get rich," Childress said. "I just want to make a comfortable living and be able to play golf."
So far, so good. Childress, in business for himself since 1977, lives in an attractive Cove Road home with his wife, Demetria, a Roanoke City Library employee.
Childress regularly plays golf and makes annual golfing trips with an association to Myrtle Beach and other resorts. Sports have always been an outside interest to Childress, a 1961 Lucy Addison High School graduate. He played semi-pro baseball, as a pitcher, for the Roanoke Dodgers from 1958-66, "until I threw my arm out," he said.
Childress worked as a lineman for Appalachian Power Company, then took a job at Dillard Paper Company, but carpentry seemed to be his true calling.
"I'd always done small jobs - after work and on weekends," Childress said. "Finally, I decided carpentry is what I wanted to do full time.
"People think I took over this business from my father. But that's not true. Daddy, rest his soul, couldn't hammer a nail straight."
In 17 years on his own, Childress has hammered thousands of nails. He focuses on new homes, church renovation and expansion, and "rehabilitation work" on existing homes. He has done considerable work with the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Childress farms out the plumbing, masonry, and electrical work to subcontractors. "But the construction, the trimming out and hanging board . . . the finished end of it we normally do ourselves," he said.
"The first four or five winters were rough," Childress said. "I thought I knew people in this town. But it took time for the word to get out."
Childress still relies on "the word."
"I've never advertised," he said. "The majority of my business comes from word of mouth."
Childress and his three employees specialize in jobs ranging between $100,000 and $200,000. He once took on a half-million dollar church project, but no more. The church work is still bringing him business, but it also brought him some problems.
"Managing 11 employees on that job - and the paperwork - was too much for me," he said. "If I were younger, I might see it differently.
"When I got off work on that project, I'd just drive the interstates around town, to let off steam."
Childress has six grown children and nine grandchildren and most of his work involves supervising others. One of his employees is his 32-year-old son, Howard Jr.
"There's very little he can't do," Childress said. "Junior's excellent at framing and trimming."
But sometimes, the desire to be on the front line is overwhelming for Childress. "I just have to get my apron on and climb up there," he said.
He has seen his business succeed, in spite of his limitations, he said. He's constantly bidding against a number of other contractors of similar size. "You win some; you lose some," he shrugged.
Childress did not hesitate when asked how he would advise budding contractors. "Do it completely different from what I did," he said.
"No. 1, get some working capital - perhaps through the Small Business Administration. And seek an attorney. It was a while before I became a class A contractor, because I just didn't know how to go about it."
Howard W. Childress Contractor Inc. can be reached by calling 562-1754.
by CNB