About Paul A. Lutz

Bio

The Full Story

As a passionate and detail-oriented industry professional, I enjoy approaching complex projects with a holistic approach. A large part of my success while working with people stems from my ability to cultivate an intuitive understanding of their needs, and spearhead the project from there. Have a look at the work I’ve done in the past, and get in touch to learn more.

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I grew up in Williston North Dakota, "America's Boom Town". My father was a builder and he took me to work from a very young age. I took to it and learned what it meant to work hard, how it felt to look back and see what your efforts produce and learned to earn a wage. We built Barns, Houses, added to existing homes, and I installed hundreds of Kitchen cabinets and countertops until 1982 when the "Boom town" died the first time and I moved to Phoenix, AZ.

I started work the day after I got there. It was another boom town and I felt at home framing houses for Achen Contracting who worked primarily for Pulte Homes.

Framing was like an athletic act and we took it to the next level and before long I was a foreman running my own crew. I managed our jobs and quickly rose to the challenge and again was promoted to Field Supervisor responsible for material orders, keeping schedule for all crews (sometimes totaling 20 crews, including piece crews), walking all houses and handled Customer Service.

I was young and thrived in the stress filled challenge that came with that job.

I found that I could help the Pulte superintendents with their schedule and their jobs. 
It almost felt like I worked for Pulte Homes. We created a teamwork attitude and the subcontractors worked together to support each other and because of that team we built. We succeeded even though some of these subdivisions were among the fastest moving in the entire nation! I was awarded 4 "Over and Above The Call of Duty " awards from Pulte Homes.

We (Achen Contracting) framed thousands of houses in those years and that time went by so quickly as it was among my favorite times in my life. I learned so much during those years!

But the most valuable was how to build a team and how to make work fun to reach a common goal of success.

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In 1996 we moved our family to Prescott AZ and started a new company with my Father, mother, a brother and his wife. We had 5 framing crews in both Phoenix and the Prescott areas. We framed both residential and commercial projects of all sizes. We also built custom homes and started building commercial projects as well. My father started his cabinet business as well as a Interior trim and door company. 

We pulled this all together to supply full need construction shopping for the local area.

In 2001 when our mother passed away, we decided to end the business.

I kept going with a couple of framing crews and we also continued to build homes or commercial projects. As I got older, my young body was no longer so young and I had to get back into managing the work VS doing so much of it.

I joined Kalista Homes in 2005. Kalista needed a Project Manager & I had framed a lot of their projects and everything fit well so we joined forces.

At Kalista I was able to do everything from estimating, sales, job management and customer service. 

We built Very High end Custom Homes (2-3 million dollar homes) as well as commercial projects from TI to Large projects such as Churches, Banks, Restaurants. 

I was in my element and loved this position and job. 
At the same time I started an estimating company I called: PAL Blueprint and Takeoff service. I did lumber takeoffs for the all of the local lumberyards at night and on the weekends. I could do 4-5 take-offs a night.

The owner of Kalista decided to move onto other things and the money manager & I bought the company & we continued building in the Prescott area.

One of my favorite charities was (is) helping the homeless, Project Aware was the local Men;s shelter & I became involved with that organization. I would assist them in applying for and receiving Federal and Local Govt Grants. This would involve writing the Grant applications as well as appearing before and making the presentation to the local board for review. I became friends with several employees of the city and from 2006-2008 wrote several scopes of work for the City of Prescott Grant administrator's office. 

Kalista designed and built a 4 plex apartment for the men's shelter, remodeled the existing shelter and added 20 room for 20 beds. We also designed and built a 13 plex apartment complex that included a new parking lot.

the Largest project we undertook at Kalista was turning a trailer park into a new 13 lot residential subdivision. 

This project included the demolition of all of the existing trailer houses, streets, utilities and land. We replaced all of the utilities with new, including Electrical, Fiber-optic, Cable, Sewer, Water, Gas, fire hydrants as well as new asphalt streets with curb and gutters.  

We built 2 huge retaining walls which lined 2 sides of the project. The subdivision had 13 lots with a park located in the middle of the houses.

It is there for the homeowners to use. 

When the economy crashed in 2008 we changed the name of Kalista Homes to Ravencrest Homes.  Gail, my business partner & I continued though things were slower we still prospered and made it through the slow times. 

We built every size project (residential and commercial) we could including small remodels to large Custom Homes and TI's

Gail passed away in 2013 and so I had to change the name to Ravencrest Homes and reinstated my license and continued building in the Prescott Area. 

We built all 13 of the homes in the subdivision as well as continuing to build large Custom Homes and commercial projects such as churches, restaurants, strip malls. We averaged building 14 houses, 2-3 commercial projects a year until 2017 when we closed the company.

Since that time, I have been semi retired but continued to build various projects. I continue to perform material take-offs for other contractors, design and draw houses.

In Cochise County AZ, I designed and built: a commercial Kitchen, a commercial canning facility, a 45' X 45' equipment storage building, a 65' x 100' greenhouse as well designed and constructed an aquaponics growing facility within the greenhouse.

I designed and drew a house in North Dakota, installed all of the tile flooring, tub deck and showers including 1 large steam shower.

In the last year I have built a custom home in Westcliffe Colorado. I designed, drew and built this house. I completed every phase of the project from the excavation to making the cabinet doors on site. We utilized many materials from "extras" & Goodwill as well as new materials. But it was nice to support the local charities when we were able. The pictures of this project are included within this website. 

I've had my ups and I've had my downs, yet I've learned from it all. I did spend just under 2 years in college but spent the next 38 years working on my education. I love building things, always will.

Pride fills me when I look at what I've built, knowing that it has my name, my mark of excellence built into it.

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