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Matt and Angela Leigh and their daughters, Emery and Frances, at their new home, built on the same site where their old home, right, used to be. The house was moved to Titusville across from Booker T. Washington K-8 School in Birmingham.

HOME IMPROVEMENT

GOOD MOVE

Homewood Couple Donates House to Build UP

By Emily Williams

In November, Cahaba Heights residents Jessie and Billy Barnhill embarked on a new way of life with their two children.

The couple started Barnhill Homes, a family-owned and -operated building and remodeling company.

Though becoming their own bosses was a new experience, the work is something both are familiar with, each growing up with parents who operated construction-related businesses.

“Growing up, my father owned a door and window company – a millwork company – where they supply doors and windows and trim to new construction houses,” he said.

Billy was 12 when his dad started his company, and he quickly began By Ru in E. G ant

When Matt and Angela Leigh got married in 2012, they bought a three-bedroom house in the Edgewood community of Homewood across the street from Gianmarco’s Restaurant.

Matt Leigh described the house as perfect, since they didn’t have any children.

But after the birth of their daughters, Emery and Frances, now ages 5 and 3, the house quickly became too small.

“We needed more space,” Matt Leigh said.

But rather than moving elsewhere or demolishing their house to build a more spacious one, the Leighs decided to donate the house itself and build a new house on their lot.

“We liked the house a lot and didn’t want to just tear it down,” Matt Leigh said. “We saw someone moving a house down the street from us and I had never seen a house loaded and moved before.”

Leigh quickly found out about Build UP, also known as Build Urban Prosperity, a non-profit workforce training program that was founded in 2018 by Mark Martin, who is chief executive officer, has had a lengthy career in education and lives in Edgewood.

Build UP

Build UP accepts donated houses and teaches children – as young as the eighth grade in its six-year program – about the construction industry, allowing them to learn a range of construction skills through rebuilding donated homes and earn academic credit. Students also earn money through renovating the houses and eventually own the homes they work on and can live in them or rent them.

Students graduate two years after a traditional high school program with certifications in a number of construction trades. Build UP began in Ensley, but earlier this year it was selected as part of a $10 million Fannie Mae Innovation Challenge. The award, one of five proposals selected nationwide by the government-sponsored mortgage company, will allow Build UP to start enrolling students in the Titusville and Graymont areas of Birmingham.

“Students are receiving both mentorship and guidance while also developing skills along the way,” Martin said. “They also get paid, so they are learning financial literacy and budgeting at an earlier age. It exposes them to all kinds of responsibilities.”

The donated homes Build UP receives are shipped to Titusville and students then rehab the homes. Build UP accepted its first house

Who’s the BOSS

Cahaba Heights Residents Take Off on Their Own With Building and Remodeling Company

See BUILDUP, page 19

Photo courtesy Barnhill family Though becoming their own bosses was a new experience for Jessie and Billy Barnhill, the work is something both are familiar with, each growing up with parents who operated construction-related businesses.

working for his father when he could – through his time at Chelsea High School and all the way up until he began working for Signature Homes in 2015.

Jessie, meanwhile, grew up in Washington, D.C., where her parents worked in the commercial sheetrock industry.

“My parents did framing and sheetrock for grocery stores, department stores, apartment complexes and so on,” she said.

While attending college at the University of Alabama, the couple met through mutual friends.

After college, Billy spent 7 years in the Alabama Army National Guard, See BARNHILL, page 20

From page 18 donation in the summer of 2019 and has had several more donated from Over the Mountain, including more than 10 from Homewood, several from Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills, and one from Hoover.

“They are perfectly good homes that shouldn’t land in a landfill,” Martin said. “It’s a deal that’s working out for everyone and it’s good for the community. And it makes good economic sense since there are tax savings and they don’t have to have the expense of tearing the house down.”

Moving Time

The Leighs didn’t want to demolish their house, so donating it to Build UP made perfect sense.

“It was our first house and the only house our girls had known, so I got in touch with Mark and asked him about their donation program, and we took it from there,” Matt Leigh said.

Build UP teams with M.T. Kirkpatrick Housemovers to relocate the donated houses. Matt Leigh wanted to be there when they arrived to move their house on Feb. 2, but he didn’t get the chance.

On the day the house was to be moved, his youngest daughter fell and cut her ear and had to go the emergency room for stitches.

“We were there until 10 or 11 that

“They are perfectly good homes that shouldn’t land in a landfill. It’s a deal that’s working out for everyone and it’s good for the community. And it makes good economic sense since there are tax savings and they don’t have to have the expense of tearing the house down.” Mark Martin, CEO Build UP

night,” Matt Leigh recalled. “When we were returning home, we saw our Springs Highway. I never thought I’d ever see something like that, but it all came together.”

The house was transported to Titusville across from Booker T. Washington K-8 School in Birmingham.

The Leighs have been living in an apartment on Broadway Street in Homewood while their new fourbedroom house is being built. He commutes to Tuscaloosa to work as director of operations for an apparel company, Southern Shirt, while Angela Leigh works as a treatment coordinator at Birmingham Orthodontics.

Both their old home and new home are almost ready for occupancy.

“What I like is that our kids can go by our old house and see it, but also that somebody gets to own it and use it for business purposes,” house being driven down Green

Matt Leigh said. “It’s a neat, novel idea.”

For more information, visit BuildUP.work.

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Follow us The Barnhills completed a full kitchen remodel on a home in Cahaba Heights that was built in the early 2000s. The owners just wanted a more functional and updated kitchen.

BARNHILL

From page 18 serving as a 1st lieutenant before earning his Home Builders License in 2014 and joining Signature Homes.

Jessie attended and graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and began practicing in personal injury and divorce.

“I was ready to leave the law shortly after getting started,” she said. “We knew at some point we wanted to carve out a career for ourselves that involved more family time, more autonomy, and Billy has had it on his bucket list for his whole life to become an independent homebuilder and contractor.”

In 2018, she left her job and became a Realtor while Billy contin

While we are spending more time at home...

Let’s feather our Nest!

ued to learn as he worked with Signature, fostering relationships with his coworkers and vendors.

“Even when I was doing doors and windows, the entire time I just wanted to own my own business eventually and start working on new houses and what I am doing now,” Billy said.

In November 2018, he left Signature on good terms with the full support of management and staff, and the couple created Barnhill Homes.

Success Despite COVID

About three months into their new business, the COVID-19 pandemic set in; but while many things slowed down, their work has increased both in building and in real estate.

“It’s kind of a two-prong situation,” Jessie said. “Interest rates are at record lows. So, you’ve seen the housing market exploding because of that.”

Billy noted that homeowners are jumping on the opportunity to refinance their homes due to the low interest rates and are then putting the money they gain back into their homes.

In addition, home improvements in relation to purchasing and selling homes have remained steady.

In that respect, Jessie said, “People are hiring Barnhill Homes in order to get their house ready for sale.” The owners are completing projects that they have been putting off for a while, so that they can get the highest return on their investment.

Remodeling Is Popular

The Barnhills have seen a more noticeable increase in homeowners who are remodeling for themselves.

People are stuck in their homes, perhaps with their children, and they are feeling a need for more room, Jessie said.

“I think we have had four offices built in the past couple of months – people who wanted to finish off attic and basement space so they have a

quiet place to work during a pandemic,” Jessie said.

Some of those rooms are also being used as playrooms so kids can spread out and play without getting in the way of their parents’ working in the kitchen or living areas.

“Everybody is realizing what it is that their house is missing, and the funds are accessible because of those low interest rates,” Jessie said.

For example, the Barnhills completed a full kitchen remodel on a home in Cahaba Heights that was built in the early 2000s. The owners

‘I was ready to leave the law shortly after getting started. We knew at some point we wanted to carve out a career for ourselves that involved more family time, more autonomy, and Billy has had it on his bucket list for his whole life to become an independent homebuilder and contractor.’

JESSIE BARNHILL

just wanted a more functional and updated kitchen.

Reconfiguring the kitchen island in the center of the kitchen was the biggest task, according to Billy.

Before the renovation, there was a two-tier island in the center of the kitchen, which Billy said he used to see a lot of but has now become quite dated.

One side of the island offered lower counterspace and a sink for the kitchen, and the other side was raised up to accommodate bar-stool seating.

Billy and his crew brought the island down to one level and then put in a large farmhouse sink, outfitted with a gooseneck faucet.

“Then we wrapped shiplap all around the sides of that island,” he said.

A breath of new life arrived in the kitchen as Billy and his crew installed a new backsplash, new countertops, new lighting and other details.

Sharing the Work

While the work is continuing to rev up and the pandemic rages on, the Barnhills have noticed that being their own bosses and working together has made family time and organizing child care easier than ever before.

“We can just hand off the kids whenever either of us have appointments,” Jessie said.

The kids are getting used to helping out both of their parents, tagging along for some of Jessie’s home showings and helping Billy out on the weekends.

“Usually on Saturdays, we take the dump trailer to the dump and my 4-year-old son absolutely loves that,” Billy said.

“And our 7-year old daughter is convinced that she is a lucky charm for sellers or buyers, because any time she tags along for an appointment, they end up going under contract,” Jessie added.

Pandemic or no, the Barnhills count themselves fortunate to be doing what they love.

“We just wanted a family business and to use all of the relationships that we had built up until that point and put them all to use to form our dream career,” she said.

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