VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — When driving along General Booth Boulevard in Virginia Beach, you’ll see construction around what looks like a brand new commercial building.
The strong pillars and fresh paint signify new life after a devastating fire ripped through the building in July 2020. Four businesses were destroyed, but luckily, no one got hurt.
Two years later, one of those businesses is now back open at the same location: Custom Home Improvements of Hampton Roads.
Co-owners Tim Zweizig, John Ledgerwood, and Dana Achenbach walk in and out throughout the day as they work to get their business back and better than ever.
“It was devastating… that’s really the first and only word that kept coming to my mind,” said Zweizig. “The fire happened in the middle of the night. It only took us less than 10 seconds for the three owners to decide to rebuild and come back bigger, better, and stronger.”
Not only did the three owners decide to come back stronger, but also the entire team. They’ve dedicated years, even decades, to the business.
“We all stayed strong because of the people we worked for,” said Tina Hannah, who has worn many hats in the company over the past ten years.
“They didn’t just give you a job, they gave you a home. You’re part of the family,” said Keith Oxley, a military veteran who spent many years working with the owners.
“We are a family, we work as a family, and that’s how we are so great at what we do,” said Dakota Achenbach, one of the owners’ sons.
Zweizig said Dakota was the one who helped get them a lease on a building in a separate part of town just hours after they learned about the fire to help keep the business going.
He said every worker who started at Custom Home Improvements before the fire stuck through the re-build process and the throes of the pandemic just to come back to it.
The group of workers, skilled to build and manage roofs over people’s heads, are now rebuilding their own again.
“We have hiccups. Everybody does… but we didn’t have a hiccup when we lost the building,” said advertising general manager Bill Pyle, another military veteran who joined the team several years ago.
While the team had many challenges because of the fire and then supply chain issues delaying the shipment of tools, these workers faced another setback they didn’t think they would come back from: the COVID-19 virus.
Pyle came down with the virus around the time of the fire and then quickly became ill.
“They [doctors] said I had 40% oxygen in my blood in the ambulance, which pretty much says I should’ve been dead,” Pyle explained.
Standing next to him, Zweizig cleared his throat after getting choked up, saying, “We got to see him at the rehabilitation center and his first question was ‘Do I still have my job?'”
Zweizig said the resiliency of his team meant he and his workers never lost contact with customers and still provided them with what they needed, despite the fire.
