A design-build contractor and author
Kelly grew up in his dad’s shop learning to use the tools, worked his way up to carpenter and became a licensed contractor in 2006. His firm, Kelly Cowan Designs in Santa Rosa, does design-build, and he likes taking a client from the first sketch of a single-family home all the way to completion, because when the person who designed your home also builds it, very little gets lost in translation. He also fixes permit problems, like red-tag situations where someone built without a permit. He wrote The Great American Contractor, a satire about the heroes and villains crawling around under your house, from the stories he and the people he’s worked with have lived.
A gambler who never gets to deal
No two houses are alike, so a contractor is asked to predict the future: Kelly calls it gambling without ever getting to shuffle, deal, or cut the deck. That’s why he thinks the best trade to learn before contracting is the law. He’s never been sued, but he’s sued to get paid and been threatened with suits, including by a client who dug up all of his underground work, claimed it was ruined, and demanded $30,000 with his attorney copied. Kelly read it as a bluff and never answered. His protection now is a detailed contract and constant communication with the client.
Where the money is
Kelly doesn’t advertise; his work comes from relationships with designers, realtors, past clients, and the subcontractors he trusts. If he weren’t a contractor, he’d go back to carpentry, the part of the job builders actually love. And he thinks the trades are where the money is: he was told he’d end up a plumber if he skipped college, and that plumber is a millionaire now.
David V. Kimball
Dylan Baker
