Atlanta Design & Build is celebrating our 20th Anniversary this year. We also celebrate the addition of Keely Contant, who has been with the company three years now. Keely assists with both the production and administrative teams. She is the wife of H. Dale Contant, President and Principal Owner of Atlanta Design & Build.
Keely Contant and The Importance of Family
Keely and her twin sister, Kirby, along with four siblings, grew up in Boca Raton, Florida. In 7th grade, Keely met Dale, but they didn’t start dating until after high school. Once married, the newlyweds decided to move to North Carolina. Keely’s parents had already relocated to Bear Wallow Mountain in the Hendersonville, NC area, and NC seemed like a great place to start a family.
With the help of his father, Dale built a house for himself and Keely on top of Appalachian Ski Mountain between Boone and Blowing Rock where they lived for seven years. Keely was a certified travel agent and Dale worked as a mason contractor, eventually getting involved in the insurance industry. Their first daughter, Lindsey, was born in Boone. In December of 1988, pregnant with their second daughter, Sydney, they moved to Marietta, Georgia, where they have been ever since—almost 28 years. In 1993, last but not least, their twin daughters, Ali and Alex were born.
Dale and Keely decided that she would stay at home with their children and strive to be the best mom she could possibly be. It was Keely’s wonderful mother who inspired her to do this. “It was not the most popular decision amongst my peers, nevertheless one that made me who I am today. Staying at home and raising my daughters taught me what was most important in life, how to balance and prioritize my life, and certainly how to multi-task!”
Perfect Timing: Keely Begins Work at ADB
Keely started working at ADB on September 5, 2013. Having this job helped fulfill her and Dale’s desire to pay for their twin’s college tuition, and at the same time allow her to travel with Dale for business. She spent the first four months at ADB going through all of the file cabinets and boxes, organizing the files and shredding the outdated material. “Early December we were notified that we needed to find a new office space—we were to move out by January 1, 2014,” said Keely. “It was kind of cool how God orchestrated that, we were totally prepared to move at that point.”
In ADB’s new location on Canton Road, Keely’s responsibilities increased. Keely now handles job permitting and inspections. She books all of Dale’s travel arrangements. A creative part of her job is working as a liaison between ADB’s photographer and the homeowner to take photos for marketing/advertising, to use in their Leave Behind Portfolios, for various contests, and for Dale and Steven to use as a sales tool during appointments with perspective clients. This is followed by downloading and organizing the photographs to ADB’s computer to be added to their website photo galleries, and various social media venues. She is responsible for building the job notebooks and manages ADB’s business apparel, among other responsibilities.
Last, but not least of Keely’s job responsibilities: she supports her husband. “He is the dreamer, I am the realist. He is the kite, I am the string. He’s extremely passionate, I am more reserved,” explains Keely. “Although Dale and I are so different, and we’ve been on both the mountaintop together and in the deepest of valleys, we have made our marriage work for almost 33 years now. ADB has been in business for 20 years with employees celebrating 20, 15, 14, 11, and 8 years with our company. Like our marriage, the business has gone through its ups and downs, and although our team consists of very different personalities, we share a great sense of commitment, loyalty, and respect towards one another, true-blue employees—it works!”
What Keely enjoys most about her position at Atlanta Design & Build are the challenges she faces. With everything from computer work to filling out permit applications from a dozen different cities and counties in the area that ADB works in, her job responsibilities often take her way out of her comfort zone. However, having new and challenging experiences, learning something new every day, not only build her confidence, they also give her a sense of achievement.
Outside the Office
Outside of the office in Keely’s free time she loves to spend time with Dale, their girls, extended family and friends. She exercises as much as possible, and always has a book to read. She enjoys working outside in their yard/garden, or succumbing to her addiction of leaf blowing. They spend time on the lake in their boat, and Keely enjoys cooking healthy, tasty meals. “Whenever given the opportunity, I travel,” Keely confesses. “Whether it’s with Dale on a business trip, visiting a daughter, a family vacation or reunion, or an annual anniversary trip with my husband—I’ve got the travel bug bad, always have!”
