All of the Businesses and Contractors We’ve Used to Do Construction Restoration on Our Schoolhouse

I wanted to put together a quick list of some of the amazing people and businesses who have helped us move along on our journey to turn the old schoolhouse into our house. If you have any questions at all about any of these folks or my recommendations, please feel free to reach out to me at schoolhomestead@gmail.com!


  • B & E Masonry: Brad, E, and Brentley- I adore them. They worked their butts off from January until this fall re-pointing all of the masonry on the school, and now they are working on some of the interior features. I will be sad when they are done not getting to see them all the time. They are perfectionists, hard workers, and very reasonable.
  • S&F Marble & Granite: Saul, Adolfo, Fernando, and Jason are the best. Truly a hidden gem of a place with incredible remnants. Watch my whole episode about them here!
  • Breeden Electric: Shawn Breeden is a meticulous and thoughtful electrician. He worked on commercial buildings for many years running projects in Indianapolis and just started his own business. Cannot recommend him enough.
  • Arrow Earth Services: Adam Yount and his team are the best. Adam is so thoughtful and considerate, and extremely quick and communicative. If you need any excavating or hardscaping, Arrow Earth is great.
  • Guardian Flooring Advancements: Kristen, Dave, and Micah run a tight ship and have been incredibly detailed for every layer of refinishing + putting in our new wood flooring. Can’t recommend them enough.
  • Chad Findley: Chad is our friend and he has been hanging all of the 100-year-old doors and doing trim around the school. He’s a perfectionist and I am so thankful he loves the creativity it takes to make things look alright in this wonky old building. Send me a message at schoolhomestead@gmail.com if you need his contact!
  • Greg Waltz: Greg is our lovely, meticulous, and incredibly kind tile guy. He has not once complained or been frustrated by the complicated tile plans I gave him. If you need his contact, shoot me an email at schoolhomestead@gmail.com and I’ll give his contact!
  • Harmon Construction: Rob, Josh, and Jerry have been the backbone of a lot of interior things we’ve been doing from the school. They’re a commercial outfit, but since our project’s scope is a bit of a blend of commercial and residential, they’ve been integral to everything we’ve done.
  • Dowty Construction: The Dowty brothers built both of our decks and they are extremely detailed, thoughtful, and lovely to work with.
  • A1 Garage Doors: Loved working with them to purchase and install our garage doors!
  • Robert D Young Construction: Colin, George, Hugo and their crew did all of our framing and drywall. They are beyond detailed, fair and I am so grateful to have their expertise on this project. They’re another commercial crew, but cannot recommend them enough.
  • Dave and Chris our painters- two more detailed and meticulous folks- they have painted my entire family’s houses + things for my parents business! (And my mom trusts no one with the details haha.) Send me an email if you’d like their contact!
  • Tree Buddies: Robert Wilson and his team at Tree Buddies were the first folks we hired and they helped us with a TON of demo and cleanout.
  • Causey Design: My friend Danny who worked in town at the historic preservation organization. He helped us make a bunch of our early renderings.
  • Quality Roofing Services: Greg Blatz and his team were incredibly helpful and communicative when they installed our new roof.
  • Smart Crawl: Craig Dukate and his team installed a French drain and waterproofed + insulated the underground basement walls!
  • Schott Design: Emily Hillyer and the folks at Schott Design helped us get the final architectural plans and a lot of other details. The folks from Schott usually only work with commercial clients, but they also love recycling and salvaged things and really thankful we got some of Emily’s wisdom.
  • Affordable Spray Foam Insulators: I called Ryan the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, he came out the same day, and they started working on the job the next week. He’s fast, no-nonsense and gave a quote on the spot. Very happy to be working with him!
  • Specialty Concrete: Chance and Kenny helped us pour a new slab in our basement. Their team was super impressive and they are really lovely to work with.