Built America Magazine
later helping uncles and friends on job sites, and building things whenever he was stateside in the Army. “I always loved building. I just never pictured it as a career.” But when he needed direction, construction answered. “I applied to everything. One company called me back and hired me. That’s how I ended up building entire subdivisions.” He loved the work — the craft, the problem- solving, the people. The corporate politics? Not so much. So he tried another company. Then another. Same rules. Same red tape. Same disconnect between leadership and the people actually building.
From that frustration, Valhalla Deck & Patio began.
For Hendrix, retiring from the Army wasn’t a calculated career move. It was simply time. “The military is a young man’s game,” he says. “After 20 years, things hurt. Injuries add up. It’s like being in the NFL for 20 years.” He considered law enforcement, but the politics changed — and his wife asked him not to pursue it. Corporate America came next. On paper, it seemed promising.
In reality?
“It was way stuffier than the thermostat would lead you to believe.” So he walked away. No plan. Just the weight of a decision that hit hard when he went home and looked at his kids. Construction wasn’t a dream or a long- term plan. But it was something he’d always done — starting at 14 on landscaping crews,
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