JANET: My formal education is in secretarial/business (AAS) and marketing management (BBA). However, I met Michael in college and started working with him in construction. Yes, I swung a hammer in those early days and mixed cement by hand! My formal education continues to be very helpful in running the administrative end of Jan-Michaels Construction.

I love the challenge of making something better. When clients came to me with architectural plans, I would start to play around with different ideas. Soon I found that my clients preferred my design ideas. I put down my hammer and picked up the pencil! I taught myself all the aspects of good designing by learning from actual trade people, and most of all Michael who is a walking encyclopedia on building.

MICHAEL: You can say I have always been in construction. My dad was a remodeler and started teaching me when I was six years old. By the time I met Janet, I had quite a bit of experience in construction. After doing a few projects with me, Janet convinced me that we had the necessary ingredients to start a company - Jan-Michaels was born!

Today you will find me at the job site working and overseeing everyone's work. Over the years I have taught myself every trade in order to make sure that each professional does his work correctly. I am often accused of trying to think for everyone, however, the end result is…superior quality!

Janet and I love what we do, and I believe it shows in our creativity and in the quality of our homes. Maybe a good sign that we are doing the right thing is that most of our friends were originally our clients!