Featured in: The Jewish Times
Written by: By Marcy J. Levinson Brooks
Randy Glazer has worked magic on various remodeling projects in town
The plunging economy may have knocked the wind out of home and new construction sales, but for one local Jewish carpenter, business is on the rise. “Handy” Randy Glazer, owner of Glazer Construction in Atlanta, says that his business has increased by about 30 percent since the economy took a dive, and he doesn’t expect things to slow down anytime soon. One of the reasons he credits for booming business is that people are deciding to keep their current homes instead of selling, and simply adding on or doing remodels.
“My remodeling business has picked up a lot; the new building is pretty quiet,” he said. But, he says, people will get their money’s worth. “They know (in renovations) they are going to get their money back.”
Right now he said there are a lot of people adding second floors to their homes, remodeling kitchens and baths and building other additions.
“Last year was my best-ever year. Every year there are more and more people, especially from the Jewish community,” he said. “The Jewish community has supported me. I think because I am fair priced, and the work is done so well. I guess they want to keep it in the ‘tribe.’”
Glazer’s construction here in Atlanta officially began in 1995 after he moved down from his home state of Connecticut, but he got his hands into the construction business in 1989. He received his degree in design and building from E.C. Goodwin in Connecticut and then trained with other carpenters and design professionals.
Glazer said working with his hands is not only a process he enjoys, but a passion. He even refurbishes roadside finds into new furniture treasures and builds furniture of his own design to use in the home he shares with his wife of a year and a half, Meredyth.
“It’s more of a passion for me. It’s a fulfillment for me to see something when it is finished,” he said.
Early in his career Glazer began buying homes, renovating them and selling the. To some this is known loosely as “flipping” houses. By 1995 Glazer was in Atlanta, and reaped the rewards of a changing city skyline and the 1996 Olympics.
But a fall from a ladder left Glazer unable to work with his hands, thus he learned more about managing construction projects and leading a team of top quality professionals to add more to his successful design and building company.
Glazer says he gets his share of silly jabs about being a “Jewish carpenter,” but in the long run it’s paid off. Now he says his clients joke about a “Jew that is handy” and Randy says he reaps the rewards by being fed “a lot of matzah ball soup.”
