Monroe, NC · since 2000
General Contractor Services in Charlotte, NC
A residential general contractor for the Charlotte area. Decks, pergolas, wood repair, siding, drywall, popcorn ceilings and pressure washing — the jobs that are too small for a builder and too much for a handyman.
- 25years in one county
- 6kinds of repair
- 1number to call
The rest of the list
The jobs that fall between two contractors.
A builder will not come out for a rotten fascia board. A handyman should not be rebuilding your deck steps. This page is the middle of that gap, and it is a large part of what we actually do in a week.
Built to last in this climate and stained or painted by the same crew that built it.
- Decks, porches and pergolas
- Steps, rails and gates
- Repairs to existing decks and framing
- Concrete flatwork and pool decks
The things that are actually water problems wearing a carpentry disguise.
- Wood rot: fascia, soffit, sills, trim, posts
- Siding boards and sheet siding
- Doors and windows that no longer close
- Drywall holes, cracks and water damage
The messy jobs that turn a tired room into a finished one.
- Popcorn ceiling removal and re-texture
- Ceramic and porcelain tile flooring
- Interior and exterior trim
- Pressure washing: drives, walks, siding, decks
Popcorn ceilings
Scraped, skimmed and painted, in that order.
It is the single most-asked-about job on this list, so here is the honest version of it, including the part that decides the price.
| Stage | What happens | What can change it |
|---|---|---|
| Test patch | We wet a small area and scrape it to see how it behaves | Painted popcorn does not wet out and comes off in chunks |
| Protect | Floors, walls and anything that stays get sheeted | Occupied rooms take longer to set up than empty ones |
| Scrape | Texture wetted and taken off in sections | Old, thick texture takes two passes |
| Repair and skim | Gouges filled, seams re-taped, the whole ceiling skimmed | This is where most of the labor is, not the scraping |
| Sand and prime | Sanded flat, then primed so the finish coat does not flash | A skipped prime is why a re-done ceiling looks patchy |
| Finish | Two coats of flat white, or a new texture if you want one | Flat is specified for a reason — it hides everything |
Texture applied before the early 1980s can contain asbestos, and the only way to know is a laboratory test on a sample, not a look. If your house is old enough for that to be a question we will tell you to have it tested before anyone scrapes anything. That is not us being cautious about a job we want; it is the only correct answer.
Our own work
Decks, pergolas and concrete.
Photographs of jobs this crew finished, framing and all. More on the gallery page.
Where we do this
Charlotte, and about fifty miles around it.
The shop is in Monroe. The crew works across Charlotte and the towns around it, on both sides of the state line. Each area has its own page, because the houses are not the same.
On the record
What you can check for yourself.
We would rather publish four facts you can verify than a page of adjectives. Everything below links to the source that holds it.
Do you need a license for this kind of work in North Carolina?
According to the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors, the threshold is $40,000: work bid or contracted below it does not require a general contractor license, and work at or above it does. The board published the rise from $30,000 effective 1 October 2023. We explain how to look up any contractor's license record yourself in this guide.
How much does popcorn ceiling removal cost?
It depends almost entirely on what is under the texture, which is why nobody can price it down the phone. A ceiling that scrapes clean and needs a skim and two coats is a different job from one that has been painted over — painted popcorn does not wet out, so it comes off in chunks and takes the paper facing with it. We test a small area first.
Will you build a deck, or only repair one?
Both. New decks, porches, pergolas and steps in pressure-treated timber or composite, and repairs to the ones that have gone soft. On a repair we check the ledger connection and the footings first — the boards are the visible problem and rarely the important one.
Do you do small repairs, or is there a minimum?
Small repairs are welcome, and a lot of long relationships in Monroe started with one. What we are not is an hourly handyman service: you get a written price for a defined job rather than a running clock.
Is pressure washing a separate service?
Yes, as a standalone job on driveways, walks, siding, decks and fences. It is also included as prep in any exterior painting job, because paint will not bond to chalk, pollen or mildew.
Can you fix drywall damage and match the texture?
Yes — holes, cracks, water damage and the ceiling seam that keeps reopening. Matching an existing texture is the fiddly part and it is worth doing properly; a patch that is flat in a knock-down room reads as a patch forever, whatever color goes over it.
Get a free estimate
The job nobody else wanted to quote.
Half of what is on this page came to us because it was awkward, small or attached to something worse. Tell us what it is and you will get a straight answer, including if it is not worth doing.