Category Archives: The ADB Team

Atlanta Design & Build has Exciting News

Fall is a time to focus on change. As the warmer months’ hustle and bustle die down, we at Atlanta Design & Build have some exciting news to share. Our stellar reputation and our 24 years of delivering exceptional quality and service, has brought a significant opportunity our way.

Alair, an international network of professional builders with hundreds of offices throughout the United States and Canada and about a dozen in the Southeast, has chosen our company to represent them as Alair Homes Marietta, creating the third Alair office in Georgia.  

With over 125 offices across the U.S. and Canada, Alair is changing how custom home renovators and custom homebuilders work by collaborating with experienced builders, including our own Dale Contant. Alair Homes takes a unique path in the remodeling and home industry, one that we have grown to love as a company. A few months ago, Dale made the decision to partner with Alair Homes finding our processes similar and yet seeing many benefits to enhance our client experience.

Transforming into Alair Homes Marietta will not change who we are, as you know us; Dale Contant is still the owner with the current team and core values that lead us all to the same goal. Alair Homes brings improved processes and systems that will benefit our organization. We are confident these will translate into additional value for all of our clients and partners in the future.    

To celebrate this new chapter and season of change, Alair Homes Decatur is hosting an inclusive ribbon-cutting event in Marietta to honor their new partner as ADB steps into Alair Homes Marietta. The event will have a unique theme featuring special surprises for Dale and his guests.

“We are very excited to surprise Dale with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate his new and well-deserved role,” said Peter Michelson, Alair Homes North Georgia Regional Partner. “This opportunity presents an exciting next step for Alair Homes as we begin to develop roots and build new relationships within the Marietta community.”

A Visionary Leader: Atlanta Design & Build President Dale Contant

Part 2: Kernels of Wisdom from an Industry Leader

According to Dale, the best advice he could give to someone just starting out with their own business is,

Stay focused on your core business. Be resilient and nimble enough to make changes. Be tenacious and persistent. Don’t chase rabbits, or ‘opportunities,’ because they may lead you down a rabbit hole. Stay focused.

In the past, he has witnessed people falling down various rabbit holes, to the detriment of their businesses. Staying focused on your core business purpose and message, and being the best at what you do, is a formula for success that Dale incorporates into his own practices. He also advises newcomers into business ownership to develop a value proposition to everything you do: whether it’s sales, service, marketing, or whatever you do, always look at your ROI. Above all else, treat everyone how you want to be treated: be respectful to everyone. Dale’s formula for success also includes happy clients, successful employees (in both their personal and professional lives), being consistent and persistent, not asking someone to do anything that you wouldn’t do (unless it’s something you do not know how to do).

Dale’s Sage Advice on Work/Life Balance

Early on in his career, when his four daughters were young, Dale worked many hours and a lot of weekends providing for his family. His advice is “Find a work/life balance, don’t sacrifice your family for your business.” He was able to take his family on vacations several times a year for quality family time, but if he had it to do over again, he would have made more time daily. Dale found more work/life balance when he joined NARI.  It was here he established peer relationships, and made friends who became mentors, among them, three fellow-contractors with whom he can share anything and ask any question he has. Currently, he works approximately 50 hours per week, spending his time working on clients’ files, meeting them face to face, and overseeing the entire business operation.

Dale and Keely Contant’s four daughters: Lindsey, Sydney, Ali, and Alex
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A Visionary Leader: Atlanta Design & Build President Dale Contant

Part 1: The Professional Side

Dale receiving a NARI Lifetime Achievement Award from Tom Miller, the National President of NARI, in April, 2018

Dale Contant is the President and Principal Owner of Atlanta Design & Build. ADB has been in business since 1996 and is one of the few National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) Accredited Remodeling Companies in the nation, and the only one in GA. Dale’s commitment to raise the level of professionalism homeowner’s can expect when contracting a remodeler has motivated his active involvement in the remodeling industry.

He is a licensed contractor in the state of Georgia. Dale holds NARI credentials for Master Certified Remodeler (MCR), Certified Remodeling Project Manager (CRPM) and Universal Design Certified Professional (UDCP). He has also served in leadership for NARI at both the local and, for 15 years, at the national levels; holding NARI National officer positions since 2013 culminating in 2018-2020 as National Chairman of the Board. He also spent 5 years on the board of Rebuilding Together Atlanta, an organization assisting elderly homeowners and veterans with major home repairs.

Formative Years: Raised on the Job Site

Dale was born in Ft Lauderdale, FL, and later his family moved to Boca Raton where he lived until his mid-20s. His father was a contractor, and he began spending time on construction sites helping his dad work on residential projects when he was 8 years old. Dale studied drafting in high school, and began junior college with plans to become an architect. His interest, however, changed to construction.

In his early 20s, Dale married and the couple decided to move to the North Carolina mountains. Dale built his first home there, and pursued the path of a contractor. Several years later, when the opportunity presented itself, he became a licensed insurance agent for a local insurance agency. He credits his sales acumen to his time spent in insurance sales; the company he worked with had extensive sales training based on well-honed, time-tested systems. Dale and his wife, Keely, remained in North Carolina for 7 years before accepting a regional management position with the insurance company and relocating to Marietta, GA in 1988. In 1989, having several years of sales behind him, Dale began using his knowledge of both construction and sales and returned to his field of preference as a salesperson for a sunroom company.    

This is the first home Dale built for his family over 35 years ago in Boone, North Carolina.
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The Skilled Trades: A Direct Path to Success

Now that a huge number of millennials are buying homes, the US is experiencing housing shortages in many parts of the country. Part of the reason there are more home seekers than available homes is the skilled labor shortage. The skilled labor shortage doesn’t just impact home buyers and homeowners seeking needed remodeling for their current homes, it has an enormous impact on interior designers, builders, and remodelers. Due to an inability to find professionals in the skilled trades, many building and remodeling companies feel their growth has been slowed. Some companies could take on more projects, and serve clients faster, if they had plentiful skilled trades to employ. Many companies have to pick and choose which jobs will be the most profitable, leaving homeowners with smaller projects at a disadvantage.

Times Have Changed: A Generation Disinterested?

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https://www.atlantadesignbuild.com/blog/infrar2020 Residential Coty award-winning bathroom

ADB Wins NARI Regional Contractor of the Year (CotY) Award for 2020

Atlanta Design & Build has been named 2020 NARI Regional CotY Winner, in Region 2-Southeast, for Residential Bath $75,001 to $100,000. Look at this amazing master bath transformation:

This elegant, spa-like bathroom also won a 2019 NARI – Atlanta CotY award.

2020 NARI Residential CotY bathroom vanity, water closet, heated towel bar
View of the water closet, built-in vanity, and heated towel rack

Winning a CotY Award is a distinguished recognition. We are honored to be in the ranks of the best in the remodeling industry. NARI received almost 500 entries valued at over $138 million, and our project stood out as the best in our category for our region.

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ADB’s Newest Kitchen and Bath Expert: Heather Marcet-Henderson

We are pleased to have Heather Marcet-Henderson, AKBD (Associate Kitchen and Bath Designer), as our Design and Sales Consultant and part of the ADB family: she has been with us for nearly a year! Heather is originally from San Diego, but her father was in the military, so they moved frequently. She relocated to Georgia in 1997 to attend The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and now resides in Kennesaw with her husband and son. Heather earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology before she decided to study design, and she received a Master of Arts in Interior Design from SCAD.

In addition to her extensive education, Heather has a strong background in design. In the past, she has worked as a designer of model homes and clubhouses, a design representative for a tile company and a design studio manager for a new home builder. Heather has also worked as a private designer. As our Design and Sales Consultant, she works with clients making selections for cabinetry, countertops, tile, plumbing fixtures, etc. and choosing space planning design options for kitchens and baths. She does everything from drawing kitchen and bath layouts in Chief Architect to suggesting various organizational features for increased functionality.

A Solid Team with Integrity

Heather met Dale, and other ADB team members, 8 years ago when she worked with us on a client’s home where Dale was the contractor. She was applying for a job and called Dale to see if he could give her a reference. He said that he needed to hire someone with her skill set. The timing of their conversation was serendipitous, and it all happened organically. When Heather had previously met Dale, and other members of the ADB team, she thought it would be great to work with us—according to her, it has been great!


Her favorite part about being a member of the ADB family is that “ADB is a good, solid team of people. The level of integrity that Dale has matches my own personal level of integrity.”

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