Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew and Shelly Shetler.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Hi, my name is Shelly Shetler and my husband is Andrew Shetler. We own Monumental. We are a full-service construction company that specializes in Decks, Patios, Sunrooms, and Home Replacement Windows. We got married within 4 months of knowing one another, bought a house, and then naturally started a business. I say naturally because Andrew is a second-generation contractor. Andrew’s dad is a former Amish and ran his own construction company in Indiana for 35+ years.
When Andrew and I met he was coming up on his 5th month of redoing a full farmhouse in Massillon, Ohio. We started with Cross Home Improvement and a couple of years later at the beginning of 2020, we had our first daughter, Brogen Grace. We re-branded after finding out that we had another well-respected construction company by the name of Cross Improvement just minutes down the road. Naturally, Cross had the name first, so we re-named and rebranded our company. The pandemic made us really resourceful. We got really organized and really efficient.
We have formed many relationships through the Tuscarawas Chapter of BNI. It’s a business group that is everywhere, we meet every Thursday morning and pass referrals and talk about wins. BNI has been the lifeline of Monumental and we have met some of our best friends there. We even met Lacey PAC through there and now one of our two kiddos dances there. We have two kids Brogen Grace age 2 1/2 and Blakely Mae 10 months old both true pandemic-resilient babies.
We have worked with the same clients since 2018 when we started Cross Home Improvement, we live and breathe by our referrals. We love working with people and bringing artistry to construction.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
So, as you already know we had to change the name of our business. What I didn’t tell you was our rebranding process put us in the hole quite a bit. But, we have reaped the benefits. We believe both companies have and that has been very rewarding. As a tradesman you know your trade, but you’re not “taught” business, and business for Dean’s Home Improvement (Andrew’s Dad’s Company) to Monumental is vastly different. So, we reached out to some big players in our industry, a business coach, Michael Stone author of Mark Up and Profit, and our Construction Marketer, Forbes Published, Brian Javeline owner of MyOnlineToolbox who revolutionized our business. We have many ideas of where to go next with Monumental, however, we are in a season of wanting to slow down and be present with our girls so our ideas will hold off for a couple of years. The pandemic made business soar until it didn’t.
When lumber spiked, we sunk. We had to lay off employees and had to start from ground zero again. We started an RV Business named Family Camper RV Rental and that covered everything we couldn’t. We are so grateful to take that jump. It took so much stress from our Construction company. You had to get innovative for this pandemic.
There is no shame in starting another business. Now we run both, and they both come with their share of stress at times however we wouldn’t have it any other way. We love this way of life and the people we get to meet are great.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
What we do at Monumental is tailor our client’s projects to them. We work with them to give them the bathroom, bedroom, deck, patio, organized garage or man-cave, and more of their dreams. Andrew is known as the guy to call when you want someone to answer. He will typically answer the phone call as long as it’s before 6 pm and if not, he calls back the next morning. If we cannot help you, which is unusual, we have contacts we’ve made in this area who are good people who will help you.
We are the proudest when we get to be creative on projects and when our clients share them with their friends and family. Monumental is a very organized company and we give you options for your project where you can be the driving decision-maker. We make it easy to see what things cost and how much it is to work with us. Andrew is the Marie Kondo of not only our personal life but the construction site as well.
What do you think about happiness?
What makes Andrew and I happy are many different things, but our most similar point of happiness is spending time with our two kids. We delight in watching them grow and doing fun things with them.
We enjoy teaching them how to build, make fires, bake, and cook. Our 2 1/2-year-old can do a lot of those things already with a little assistant and our baby enjoys watching.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.BuiltByMonumental.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/builtbymonumental/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BuiltByMonumental
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvh4eiaqyot-sJbXRQvHbXg/featured
Image Credits
Racquel Jones Photography
