Lead DeckTec carpenter Joe Freemyer wasn’t born in Colorado, but he might as well have been – this guy takes to the mountains, so to speak, like a fish to water.

“Colorado is where it’s at. I’m a very outdoorsy person, I just love the mountains and everything that comes with it – hiking, mountain biking, trail running, bouldering, climbing. I definitely take advantage of it all, a lot more than some people do,” Joe said. “I’m an avid mountain biker.”

“Exercise is really important to me, I work out every day,” he added. “I definitely take advantage of the trails and open space.”

While it may seem hard to believe, Joe actually grew up in the oh-so-flatlands of Pleasantville, Iowa, a small town of about 1,500 folks near the center of the state, and also lived briefly in Tennessee, which didn’t quite suit him.

“I was in Tennessee for about three months when I was 22, and then I was like, ‘I’m outta here,’” he said. “I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t want to live there.”

So Joe packed it all up and headed west, settling in Lakewood, and sixteen years later, he’s never looked back. The rest, as they say, is history. Joe has found his place, a home that he now shares with his wife Ellen and their two children, Evelyn, 7, and Emmett, 4.

At DeckTec for about five years, Joe has found work that he truly loves. When he first got to Colorado he worked in a smoke shop and a tattoo shop, and then managed a liquor store. Most recently, he was a customer service representative in the home advocacy department at HomeAdvisor.com. None of these jobs was truly satisfying for him

What does Joe like so much about working at DeckTec?

“Everything. I love what I do. I really do love what I do. I love tearing down the decks from old to building something new, and just the art of actually building the deck,” he said. “There’s the framing, the decking, and the roof covers, too. It’s all different.”

“I went from sitting in an office for five years to being out in the elements, handling all this lumber. I love the physical attributes of the job, how tough it can be. It’s fun. Each job is unique and has its own specific challenges. I get to figure out those challenges and, in the end, you have a beautiful deck,” he said.

Joe started out with DeckTec as a carpenter’s helper and learned the ins and outs of deck building on the job from senior DeckTec craftsmen. They must have taught him well, because Joe was promoted to lead carpenter about two and a half years ago.

The lead carpenter, Joe explained, is basically the foreman, the onsite construction manager.

“I’m in charge of the job – this is how it’s built, this is how we’re going to do that, let’s make this a little better, this doesn’t look good, let’s fix that, stuff like that,” he said.
Joe hopes to be with DeckTec for a long time to come.

“I don’t plan on leaving. If you’re valued and taken care of, compensation wise, and just all around valued as an employee, then you really got a good thing going,” Joe said.

As a valued DeckTec employee, we hope that Joe is with us for a long time to come.