Paul Deffenbaugh

I began my career in construction at 10 years-old by getting trapped in an excavated basement on a new home site. Since then, I’ve become a bit savvier about construction – which means I can usually find my way out of a hole.

In the mid 80s, I did historic restoration work as a carpenter in Fredericksburg, Virginia. To this day, I enjoy going back there to visit some of the work I did. During that time, I spent an entire summer rebuilding windows in a hotel built in 1825. There’s nothing like old dirt.

I’ve also built custom homes and done some light commercial work, but in the early 90s I got the opportunity to combine two of my passions – residential construction and writing. Since then, I’ve held a series of editorial positions at residential trade publications and now get to direct the editorial vision for the Reed Residential Group, which comprises Professional Builder, Professional Remodeler, Custom Builder, Housing Giants, and the HousingZone.com network of websites.

From this position, I get a great birds-eye view of residential construction and want to share some of what I see in this blog.