OUR HISTORY
The story of A-1 begins with Robert J Delaney a restaurateur and entrepreneur.
In 1982 Robert J Delaney a restaurateur and entrepreneur decided to go back to his original roots and his first career. It was located in Slidell, Louisiana. He had worked with his grandfather in New Orleans Louisiana as a young man doing house raising, remodeling, building and problem solving. He ran the business and his wife and partner Carmel helped him run the office.
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When Robert started on this familiar road he brought his sons with him. He felt that family was important and he felt that his sons should know the trades even if they decided to embark on a different career. He felt they should know how to repair or build things when needed.
MIKE DELANEY PICKS UP THE HAMMER
Mike Delaney the Youngest of three children worked with him Weekends, Summers and eventually went into this as a full time career in 1988.
A-1 HOME REMODELING
Robert re-named the business A-1 Home Remodeling and Robert felt A-1 stood for the highest or the top quality of work.
A-1 REMODELING & BUILDING INC.
In 2001 Mike then re-named the company A-1 Remodeling & Building Inc. to better describe the company size and projects they were taking on. Mike felt Home no longer applied as much as the word Building because they no longer just worked on homes. By this time the Company had involved into doing Commercial & Residential projects. Some to include Building, Remodeling, House Raising, Mold & Lead Abatement, Spray Foam , Polyurethane foam jacking, Void fill, Kitchens, Baths, Additions, Renovations and Custom projects of all types. Also in 2001 in Mike had his first son Dylan and within two years after had two twin boys Logan and Zander.
HURRICANE KATRINA
In 2005 A-1 Remodeling & Building and its owners were crippled by Katrina. We had lost all our tools. Our building we worked out of was damaged and had no insurance coverage due to a bank error. Instead of suing the bank that had a written agreement to cover its building with flood insurance. Mike Delaney opted to hire in employees and be apart of the re-build of the greatest natural disaster up to that time. Which in turn became its most profitable years up to that date.
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Mike Delaney knew that the on coming years would be difficult because most homes & businesses were remodeled in the area. He was concerned that there may be a downturn in the economy. With these possible issues Mike Delaney had to think of something that would be more recession proof and would be needed. He then built his own house raising machine to be a part of the Road Home Program and house lifting grants that came available. A-1 Remodeling & Building lifted many homes and eventually bought one of the largest and most optioned Unified jacking systems in the US.
A WELL DESERVED RETIREMENT
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In 2010 Bob & Carmel Delaney retired.
DYLAN DELANEY
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In 2018 right out of school Dylan Delaney oldest of Mikes three son’s decided to join the team of A-1 Remodeling & Building inc.
NEW TECHNOLOGY & THINKING FORWARD
In 2019 Mike Delaney started implementing new software and systems to better manage productivity.
COVID 19, PARTNERSHIPS & SWIMMING POOLS
In 2020 Due to COVID 19 Mike Delaney started partnering with other companies to better serve the community. Then with most people wanting to stay home due to COVID 19 brought custom swimming pools and pool Liner replacements on to the list of services
Some of our larger Commercial projects or companies we have worked on or for have been the Louisiana Super Dome, Toys R Us, The Wyndham hotel, The Ole Saints bar, Bed Bath & Beyond, LSU medical, Popeyes fried chicken, Textron , The City of Slidell, The Grande Theatre, Pier 1 and Habitat for Humanity.
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Some of our more custom projects we have done on a case by case basis include building a 8 foot brick wall around a clients home with re-claimed bricks. I have never seen a wall built of this caliber or beauty. We built 17 foot ceilings and walls on a existing home, imported tile from Spain and replaced the foundation on the home for this tile. Spraying the facility of Textron with foam insulation in one day. Saving the Ole Saints bar and Wyndham hotel from flooding by pumping foam through the foundation to stop water infiltration flooding in. The Owl Door which consisted of a custom door built with wood from another country and two separate artist carving a owl in the door and putting custom art glass in the side lights. Remodeling 6 of the elevators for the Super Dome in two days. Lifting and raising homes and structures. Building a large addition on top of a existing home and we have actually moved a client into a home and hand polished the china and put it away amongst many other incredible projects.
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I really don’t feel we have competition and when I say that I do not say that pridefully. I say that with respect for all others in our field or any other businesses. I feel like we are our only competition. We are the only ones that are in control of our own ultimate failure or success. We as a company control our destiny by watching market trends and predicting the future of certain industries, trades and or the economy.