Ashley Thompson, a 45-year-old Hartselle resident, reached a high point in his home building career when he was honored as Home Builder of the Year for 2022.  

“I was surprised when I got the word from the board of directors,” Thompson recalled. “There are many members of the organization besides me who were qualified for the nomination. I was pleased and especially grateful that my parents, Kenny and Vinnie Thompson, were present when I accepted a plaque to commemorate the award at a Christmas meeting in Birmingham.” 

Thompson is an active member of Morgan County Homebuilders. He previously served as vice president and currently is secretary of the organization. He is in the running for Alabama Homebuilder for 2022, the award for which will be announced later this year.  

As an elementary student, Thompson shunned from carpentry as a career choice. “I remember saying I wanted to become a teacher when I was asked by my teacher in first or second grade,” he said. “I guess it came naturally,” My father is a retired teacher and school principal and my mother taught school at Danville-Neel Elementary School for 38 years before she retired last year. Additionally, my father doubled as a part-time homebuilder for many years. He is also a veteran member of Hartselle City Council, serving as council chairman 

We lived all over Hartselle,” he recalled. “We usually had two houses. One was our home and the other one, or both, was subject to being sold to the highest bidder. If we had to vacate the house we were living in, the other one would become our new home. This would set the stage for my dad to start building a new house.” 

“ I was probably in junior high school when I got the itch to build something on my own,” he said. A masonry crew was laying brick on a house my dad was building. I thought it was cool what they were doing, and decided I would try to duplicate their work. I gathered some of the brick they had cast aside and used their water hose to make a batch of mud. I laid out a run of bricks and used the mud to hold them together. When I finished, I had a good-looking brick wall that I took pride in until it had to be moved to make way for the yard work? 

A 1996 graduate of Hartselle High School, Thompson attended Wallace State Community College for two years and graduated from Athens State college with a B.S. degree in business administration. His first full-time job was as a plumber and electrician with Jackson Plumbing Company. He stepped out on his own in 2004 when his father stepped down from the business.  

The business has experienced steady growth under his ownership and management. He currently has nine homes under construction with five of them being in Hartselle.   

“I prefer to build a home under contract with the buyer; however, I have taken on projects on the basis of locating a buyer after the house is finished.”  

Thompson said he uses sub-contractors for a big part of his construction work while handling the finishing work on his own. 

Higher costs of lumber and other building materials and rising interest rates haven’t had a major impact on construction activity, according to Thompson.  

“I’m still getting the usual number of phone calls from individuals who are interested in building or buying,” he said. “I expect that to continue as long the economy is growing and new families are moving in.” 

“I take pride in the work I do and can think of no other job I could do that would bring a bigger smile to the homeowner’s face than the moment they receive the keys to their new home.”