How it all began...
It all started in June 1990. I had been working for my father-in-law’s remodeling business in the late ‘80s. After he retired from the business and it shut down in another state, I opened a full-service remodeling company under the name of J.D. Norris Construction Co. Three years later, I incorporated it, which added the Inc. on the name.
We would respond to remodeling needs in our Central Savannah River Area; which covered Augusta, Martinez and Evans, Georgia. On the other side of the river, we serviced Aiken, North Augusta, Beech Island and a host of small mill towns down through the "Valley."
Any residential need would be serviced as we were multi-crafted. Back then, we could work on commercial projects as long as they were $30,000 and less. That was a good source of work but as the years went by, the laws changed to make it harder for residential-licensed contractors to produce commercial projects by lowering the threshold to $5,000. That pretty much stopped all commercial opportunities. So we continued to build our customer base on full-service residential remodeling.
Our service vans promoted our slogan "Give us your idea, and we'll build on it." The back of the van read, "There goes another *Room Addition, *Kitchen, or *Bath, remodeled by J.D. Norris Construction Co. Inc."
Even though we focused on those three areas, we didn't have a showroom that supported our specialty, and we serviced anything residential from those three items to termite damage, window replacements, decks, sunrooms, repairs, handy man services, etc.
After 20 years, I was afraid I wouldn't have much to show for my business as far as a "place or location" that could be sold accept for some used equipment so I was open-minded to look into a franchise with a purchased territory and hopefully a successful operation that could be sold when I was ready to depart the industry, something tangible.
We bought the DreamMaker franchise just before the national economic downturn. We officially opened our DreamMaker location in April 2008.
Because of the recession, we struggled initially but found incorporating the new franchise with our established J.D. Norris name helped tremendously.
We are very fortunate to have been able to come through the recession and are now reaping the rewards from our labor, though we are experiencing some growing pains.
We look forward to relocating our office and showroom this year to better serve you, our customers. After more than 5 years of pruning, we are excited about the time ahead.
The efforts of the DreamMaker coaches and leadership have had a positive impact on our lives. We are excited to be DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen of Aiken, serving the areas of North Augusta, Graniteville, New Ellenton, and of course, Aiken. We also serve Beach Island, Barnwell and Edgefield Park.
–J.D. Norris, owner
DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen of Aiken
