We were lucky to catch up with Dennis & Jody Wood recently and have shared our conversation below.
Dennis & Jody, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
When we first met in 2002 we were both closing out previous business chapters, Jody selling his coffee and juice shop, Dennis stepping away from 12 years managing an art production and gallery company. Jody had decided to work toward his contractor’s license, while developing his drafting and design skills. Dennis, after working alongside Jody for a few months, continued to grow the business alongside Jody. Together we became Carey Construction and Design, offering design and construction projects to residential clients. As time progressed, we met some ardent volunteers in our City Heights (San Diego) neighborhood and began supporting and guiding restoration and cleanup events around the city. The skills of planning and building, as well as Dennis passion to photo-document events, has provided many years of successful community engagement. By inspiring volunteers to come together, we have cleared litter from canyons, removed graffiti, restored homes for low-income families, engaged neighbors to improve their blocks, and worked with local schools and non-profits to provide opportunities for youth to take ownership of their community. Becoming parents in 2013, they continue to engage as a family to use talents, tools and experience to give back.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Carey Construction and Design was started by Jody Carey Wood in 2002, with husband Dennis Carey Wood joining forces to grow their services. Jody’s ability to view a potential remodel, restoration or building project through a sort of 3-D lens, he can provide clients with options beyond their own vision. This talent of taking a client’s needs and family life into a detailed blueprint and into reality has created many beautiful spaces and many return clients, as well as referrals. One thing that sets us apart from others is the way we try to anticipate and communicate clearly, avoiding many of the pitfalls folks encounter in the industry. Dennis brings along the tenacity to fine-tune details and bring the projects into the final stretch to be enjoyed for years to come.
We are proud that many clients have remained loyal, some even becoming like family. We remain a small firm, giving dedicated attention to the way our clients live, even making sure their beloved pets have their needs met. One family in particular has enjoyed the island where there are dedicated pet food cabinets and drawers, with built-in niches for bowls and water fillers. We like to save our clients the trouble of looking randomly at stores and displays, instead guiding them with what is appropriate and attainable for their particular style and budget.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Some of the challenges we’ve faced have been industry-wide, with economic downturns, cost of goods increases and various market concerns, but we learned to keep things simple and pivot along with the turns. Remaining steady allowed us to recover and hone our offerings to those projects we enjoy, where we can leave a lasting impact. Our clients, and the referrals they send our way, tend to have us back for more work over the years. It’s rewarding to feel this confidence in the work we’ve been doing for the past 20+ years.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
Ours is a unique story. As I mentioned in the beginning, when we met socially through friends and then discovered a bit of a personal spark, we were both changing directions. Jody was selling his self-built coffee, smoothie and baked goods cafe and looking to do something different when moving to San Diego from Murrieta. Dennis was closing a twelve year chapter having managed an art production and gallery business in La Jolla, which included company locations around Southern California and dozens of licensed galleries worldwide, but didn’t quite know what was next. We both came from being young workers supporting family from an early age. This work ethic has proven helpful as we grew the business. At first we were building fences, remodeling kitchens and refreshing bathrooms. Eventually we began working on larger scale projects, and were entrusted to design one house that went from 900 sq ft into a beautiful custom home of 2700 sq ft, followed by another that was a 1200 sq ft ranch style into a 4200 sq ft, two-story home on the canyon. Both of these were designed and drafted by Jody, with him processing every permit through the City. Together we built this homes by hand with just a few tradesmen being hired for specialty tasks. It’s a good feeling to have built these legacy homes right here in our city.
Image Credits
Dennis Carey Wood