BusinessTN

When Warren Strickland saw an ad for Clay Chapman’s Early American Inc. that showed a combined horse stable and residence, he wanted to know more about the builder that promised “historic design and new construction.”

A plane flight to North Carolina and a visit to Chapman’s most recent project was all he needed.

“When I saw the craftsmanship, it didn’t take long for me to understand whom I wanted to use,” says Strickland, an executive with Toone-based Kilgore Flares in Hardeman County.

Chapman worked with Strickland for more than two years to design and build a stable/residence in Pinson, just south of Jackson. With its foot-thick brick walls and massive timber frames, it’s a structure that commands attention and renown, Strickland says.

For Chapman, “historic design and new construction” means employing time-proven construction methods of structural masonry and timber framing. Also, Chapman designs, engineers and works as a laborer on all his projects. He even draws all his plans by hand, without computer assistance.

Any vertical wall Chapman builds will likely be 12-inch thick brick—not the thin brick skin seen on most “stick-frame” houses these days. He’s also skilled at designing and installing brick fireplaces, elegant brick archways and other brick architectural elements.

Walls that aren’t vertical—pitched roofs or horizontal ceilings—are constructed with wood planks Chapman mills himself. Mortise and tenon joinery carry the weight of the wood frames and are held together with wood pegs— not nails.

Chapman, 38, began working on construction crews near Jackson to earn extra money to attend college at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson. He built a stable one summer and used that job to sell his talents. After that, word of mouth and advertisements in horse industry publications got him work all across the Southeast.

To his surprise, a full-page color ad he placed in Practical Horseman in 1996 landed him the Strickland job back near the familiar ground of FHU and many of his old friends.

“I had not yet built anything major in Tennessee,” Chapman says. “Pinson was 15 minutes from my alma mater where I have all these connections. What was the chance of this happening?”

That experience reconnected Chapman with the Volunteer State and has fueled his goal to live and work here. His next major project is to attract investors and to build a spec house—to be priced near $1 million—that showcases his talents. After completing a house in northwest Georgia—which took him 18 months—Chapman took a sabbatical in September and October to make plans for the house, which he wants to build in Tennessee.

Chapman’s most recent client, the Georgia homeowner, had visited the house/barn Chapman built for Strickland. When she saw it in person, she cried.

“Chapman takes pride in being extremely creative with all of his work,” says the homeowner, SunTrust executive Laurie Lee of Atlanta. “People are constantly saying that my brick archways look ‘alive’ or ‘organic,’ like they are growing right out of the wall.”

Chapman is not stuck in the past with his methods, he says. Rather, he’s got the future on his mind. Current building practices don’t produce anything of lasting value, he says.

“It’s all about the dollar,” Chapman says. “Modern architects and engineers are designing buildings that can be built at the bare minimum of cost and materials. They’ve made things so economized that there is no room for aesthetics.”

For Strickland, the extra effort was worth it—and so was using Chapman. “He brings a lot to the table, with respect to design,” Strickland says. “And he’s a true craftsman, when most people today are just nail pounders.”

Web links: For more pictures of Clay Chapman’s work, check www.christianclay.com. Strickland’s house in Pinson is located on 2475 Dry Creek Road.