No job too big or too small for Eric Juarez Construction
Sep. 20—WORTHINGTON — At a time when there is a real shortage of people who work in the trades industry — contractors, plumbers, electricians — Worthington High School graduate Eric Juarez has found his niche in renovating properties and a dream of building homes.
Juarez earned his general contractor's license in March 2022, eight years after getting his start in the local construction industry.
"I'd just freshly graduated from high school and I was looking for part-time work," shared Juarez from a job site where he and his team installed new windows and were replacing some siding. "My brother used to work at Lampert (Lumber) as a salesperson and he kind of got me in connection with a general contractor. It went from there, and I fell in love with the job."
His love for the job stems from taking something in need of repair and making it look new again.
"I like to see something go from nothing to something," Juarez said. "We could take a house that looks old and deteriorated and needs work, and then we show up and do all this magic that we do and you come up with a new house."
Juarez worked for and with several local general contractors during the past nine and a half years. About five years into his construction experience, he began dreaming of one day owning his own business. That became a reality in January, and he's had a busy year thus far.
He teamed up with Worthington native Michael Edwards, of Heron Lake, another general contractor who operates under M.E. The Werks Construction. During the winter months they work together doing snow removal, and they're ready to hit the ground running when construction season starts up.
"Mike, when I started, he was one of those persons that pushed me and told me, 'Hey, there's a future in this for you,'" Juarez shared. "Another person is Joe and Juanita Briones. They pushed me tremendously and they were on me to get licensed and get everything set up for my business.
"This has been my first year officially on my own. It is nice, and it's been a great year," he added.
Juarez said he's built several decks this summer, installed new siding and windows for clients, and they've had a lot of shingling projects.
"Really, we show up in one area and then we'll have two or four more people come up to us and be like, 'Hey, we want you guys to take care of ours.'"
With the workload, Juarez and Edwards have two full-time employees, including Miguel Ramirez, who brings with him experience in concrete work for doing sidewalks, patios and driveways. They also hire other local contractors for big jobs, including Keith Kruse Construction, who was helping out on a recent window and siding project at an apartment complex.
"We bring all these years of experience," Juarez said of his fellow contractors. "We just like to be versatile and offer a little bit of everything."
He said there's no job too big or too small for them to do, and the fact that they're bilingual helps in getting jobs from both the English and Spanish-speaking population locally.
Edwards, with 21 years of construction experience, said he and Juarez can do everything from residential to commercial and agricultural construction projects.
"We do more renovations, but we like to do new builds as well," Edwards said. "We do everything from the ground up."
Juarez said new home construction is something he's building toward.
"I always tell my wife (Fabiola Andrade) we'll have the opportunity at some point to be able to build our own home — that's our goal," Juarez said.
To view some of the projects Eric Juarez Construction has completed, visit his Facebook and Instagram pages.
"You can find all of our most recent projects that we've done," he said.
