N&O Profile of Hank Wall

Remodeling hobby becomes career (from a 1996 News & Observer profile)

Hank Wall was a teacher in Charlotte, when he got the remodeling bug. It’s common to buy an old house, a house with character, and fix it up. It is less common to act on that desire, but Wall did.

He found an old two-story home near Charlotte in 1975. The price was $14,500 and the home needed major work. So over two and a half years, Wall taught school and worked on the house. By the end, he was hooked. He quit teaching and was doing remodeling projects full-time for friends and neighbors.

Fast-forward to 1990. Wall opened his own remodeling business here in Raleigh, Wood Wise Design & Remodeling. Wall now does less carpentry, and more running a business. “I haven’t done it myself in years,” he said. “I’ve got people that are better carpenters than me these days.”

His business has grown steadily and he focuses on major projects. For example, he built a 1,250 square foot addition onto an 850 square foot bungalow in Five Points, a project every bit as extensive as building a home. The addition was two stories, with a bathroom, kitchen, living room, dining room and stairway. Wood Wise won Remodelors Council awards for both Best Bathroom and Best Kitchen that year. Four years later, they did another addition to the house.

Wall also built a remarkable bathroom in the Hayes Barton area. The beautiful tile floor is heated with wiring underneath, and the room is vaulted with six skylights. Those skylights are equipped with sensors to close automatically when it rains. The project cost $120,000. What a bathroom!

And what a success story. When asked what led to his success, Wall replies: “I vacuum.” “My first carpentry teacher had me vacuum every day before we left work. He told me it would lead to more clients than good carpentry. He was right.”

Besides good carpentry and good cleaning habits, Wood Wise emphasizes materials that are non-toxic, a practice they began when working on jobs for pregnant clients. They don’t put particle board on the interiors because of the formaldehyde smell, and they frequently use paint that is non-toxic and low odor, without the volatile organic compounds. “It’s latex paint that paints on just the same. Our crew liked it so much that we adopted it.”

So whatever happened to that old house south of Charlotte that began Wall’s remodeling career? “I sold it, actually had a little money for a couple of years,” he laughed.