Wayne Grebe is the President and CEO of Handcraft Homes, LLC. His interest in
building started early when he and his brother Richard built a retirement home for
their father, Alfred, when Wayne was 19. During that time Wayne took architectural
drafting courses at
Suffolk County Community College in New York.
When Wayne decided to go to college he wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do.
He had always enjoyed flying with his father, who at the time had a private pilot's license,
so he then decided to study Aeronautical Science at
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
in Prescott, Arizona.
After one year of flight school Wayne decided that was not the path he wanted to take.
Around this time, 1979, the computer industry was really starting to take off. So Wayne
decided to go to
University of Arizona's School of Business Management and received
a B.S.B.A degree with a major in Management Information Systems in 1984. That was also the year
he moved to Richmond, Virginia where his father had relocated to.
Wayne then became a computer programmer at
Owens & Minor, Inc. and spent the
next 11 years there working his way up to the position of Group Manager in charge
of their Automated Warehousing Systems. For 7 years after that Wayne worked in the
telecommunications industry in the midst of the local service deregulation era.
The experience Wayne received while working in the various IT jobs was invaluable
in the areas of business administration and project management. These skills have
helped him tremendously in his new life as a home builder.
Over these years Wayne's passion for home building became more and more apparent.
He continually read books on various design and construction methods with a keen
interest in the areas of energy and ecological conservation. Some of his early interests
were in the straw bale and rammed earth construction which he saw much
of in Arizona
when he lived there. When the Telecom IT bubble burst in 2001 and Wayne's current
consulting contract at the time was not renewed and he decided it was time to finally do what
he had been thinking about for a long time... home building.
Since then Wayne has found home building to be a highly rewarding
experience. He takes great pride in designing and building homes for the
people of Virginia.