How we got Started

My brother (David) and I started building things together when we were about 9 and 11.  We wanted to build a playhouse for our sisters and had the brash confidence of young boys that we could do it without a problem...or even a plan.  Our father guided us to purchasing plans to make a log cabin out of landscape timbers with a shake roof and cedar doors and windows. 

We got a quote from a local lumber yard and got to work.  Half way through the construction we discovered the plans were made for midgets, so we re-wrote the plans to extend the house upward and make more room. That experience building the playhouse together was only the beginning.  Since then we have worked together to build  many different things and continue to do so every day. 

The Purpose of Essential Home Services

Essential Home Services LLC exists for the purpose of helping people maintain and improve their homes.  We want to help people see the truth about what they can do to improve energy efficiency, value, and longevity of their homes. 

Here in the Portland metro area that includes providing services such as deck construction, deck refinishing, dry rot repair, shed construction, bathroom remodels, kitchen remodels and many more construction and maintenance services.  We endeavor to provide the best value--coupling quality work with tremendous service and knowledge.   

Key Principles

We are hard-working and committed to doing things right--even if it sometimes doesn't get noticed.  We believe in doing business in the best and most efficient manner possible to enable us to keep our prices so that you can afford them.  The best investment is an investment back in the business--to help it and the Portland economy grow.  We believe that no matter how good, lone rangers don't make it.  We build relationships with other contractors to learn from each other and help each others business's to grow.  Much of the wisdom that makes this business run comes from our father who has been counseling small business owners for over 35 years.  (Click here for his website)

The single biggest principle is the answer to the question of why.  Why work hard?  Why do things the right way, not the quick and easy way?  Why build the economy by building a business?  Why do people need each other to grow?  Why conduct your business with integrity rather than only by the bottom line?  Some of these questions don't even seem related, but there is one answer that makes all the other questions make sense.  It's a big answer--bigger than this web page, so to start click here. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you enjoy your work?

Yes, we both greatly enjoy working to give people the satisfaction of knowing they are getting a good job done while putting bread on the table for our families.  As with every job there are definitely disagreeable parts of it--and often more or less disagreeable to each one of us.  But even through the disagreeable/uncomfortable portions we greatly enjoy serving people and making their homes a better place. 

Do you each specialize in different things?

Often that is not the case--we both have similar experience but not identical by any means.  This means that we both can do many of the same things, but one of us tends to be more the expert one one particular project.  

What does the future hold?  

The future of EHS is to continue to serve people in the Portland metro area with residential construction and maintenance services.