Can you tell me a bit about how you got started?

It all started with my uncle Tony, who’s also my partner at Taconic. Growing up, he was doing spec homes, and I was his helper. When I first started going to job sites at 15, I didn’t know what I was looking at or how things got built, but I knew I had a passion for it and I knew I wanted to learn how to do the work. He taught me everything I know and he built a passion in me for the work—so after I graduated college, we started this business together.

What was it like starting your business?

I didn’t start the business right away. I first tried to go the whole banking & finance route since I went to school for real estate investment. I did that for 2 years, but it wasn’t for me, I didn’t find happiness in it. That’s when I decided to combine that knowledge with my construction experience growing up and start something new with my uncle. We’ve been working together for 10 years now.

Turns out that I would find happiness in dust and garbage and construction. Specifically, it was the satisfaction of the work that I’d fall in love with. We change people’s lives. This kitchen, or this bathroom, will be used every day for 10, 20, 30 years. Seeing the clients wowed with the before and afters—especially with Block’s designs—that’s it for me.

What’s it been like working with your uncle?

My uncle and I have such a great relationship. He’s really my mentor. He started in this business 25 years ago doing custom homes, and he learned everything by himself on the job. He didn’t have a mentor, so he made all the mistakes you could make on his own. I think that’s why he took so much care in mentoring me, so that I could learn from his experience.

He started building custom homes, but then started doing more interiors as his clients would refer him to people they knew. But he didn’t necessarily love the organizational management part of things, so that’s when I came on board to make sure everything came smoothly.

What are the differences between building a home from the ground up versus a renovation?

It’s funny. To us, we think it’s easier to build a house than to renovate a house. Once you set a foundation on a house, you’re building up—you know where everything’s going to be. But when you’re renovating, you don’t know what’s going to be behind the wall until you open it up. Once you see the guts of the house, you have to readjust accordingly, and adapt your plan. So it’s a bit counterintuitive, but building a house can be easier in a lot of ways compared to renovating.

How have the tools/technologies you’ve used changed since you started?

A benefit of starting to work with Block is that we’ve started to incorporate a lot more tech into our day-to-day operations. The Builder App is a great example, where we can now send regular updates, photos, and group messages to the team and the clients digitally. Or even something like downloading building plans in PDFs, where before, I had to print them out manually, tape them up on the walls of the job site, and replace them when they would get ripped down accidentally.

What’s working with Block been like?

Anything I need, someone from the Block team will text back in 5 minutes. The whole Block support team is great—if there’s ever an issue, they’re on it. What you get with Block is very consistent. You get on point customer service, client support, great procurement, and beautiful designs that everyone is happy with. And it’s not just a business relationship. The culture, the happy hours, all that goes into our relationship. It makes working with Block fun, so it’s been great.

What is your life like outside of work? What are your hobbies or favorite things to do?

I am a big foodie, so I love to travel to try new foods. Plus, I enjoy warm weather, which I chase whenever I have the chance to escape the cold in New York.