Hands-on know-how meets big business savvy in All Aspects General Contracting

Maricopa contractor Matt Gleash, who worked as a superintendent for Engle Homes, is in the unusual situation of living in a home in a Rancho El Dorado neighborhood he built.

“I started here in 2000, working out of an empty lot where the CVS is now. There were no roads or anything in Rancho El Dorado. We moved here, into a house we built, in 2001.”

Like many other large homebuilders, Engle was driven out of business by the sudden collapse of land values and homebuilding nationwide in 2006 and 2007. It filed for Chapter 11 in January 2008, but eventually went into total liquidation.

After helping the company wind down and finish projects in hand, Gleash reactivated his company, All Aspects General Contracting, in May 2009.

“I started the company in 2001 to do side jobs,” he said. “We have been around a little more than a year since I started it up again, and a majority of our work is right here in Maricopa and in Casa Grande.”

Gleash and his crew of four fulltime employees mainly do remodeling work, and he said a large part of his customer base is Engle homebuyers who plan to stay in their homes and want to fix them up. His deep knowledge of construction practices and contacts with area tradesmen give him an advantage in a competitive market.

“Knowing how to do a lot of things myself helps too,” Gleash said. “Likewise, the big-business knowledge I learned at Engle.”

His biggest residential job since reactivating his business was building a 4,300-square-foot custom home in Maricopa.

“That is the kind of work I like doing best,” Gleash said, “custom homebuilding.

But those jobs aren’t falling out of the sky right now. Instead, we are doing a lot of small remodels, add-ons, and handyman type jobs. The margin isn’t as good as on new-build, but the jobs are plentiful. Knowing how to do those smaller jobs efficiently is what is keeping us going in this market.”

MATT GLEASH
Owner, All Aspects General Contracting, Inc.

Personal
Age: 38
Hometown: Scottsdale
Current residence: Rancho El Dorado
Moved to Maricopa: 2001
Family: Wife Shannon, daughters Tatum, Taryn and Tally Belle
Pets: Gus the dachshund
Education: Arizona State University, Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS)

Business
Previous jobs: Superintendent, customer service manager for Engle Homes
First construction-type job: “I started out in apartment maintenance when I was 19 because the job included a free place to stay.”
Number of employees: 4 full-time, plus part-time workers and subcontractors
Biggest job: 4,300 square-foot custom home in Maricopa

Favorites
Tool: 18-volt screw gun
Food: Pizza
Beverage: Bud Light
Movie: “Braveheart”
TV show: “Entourage”
Actor: Russell Crowe
Actress: Sandra Bullock
Band: Metallica
Sport: Football
Team: ASU Sun Devils or the Arizona Cardinals
Athlete: Kurt Warner
Book: “Twelve Pillars” by Jim Rohn and Chris Widener
Charity: Boys & Girls Clubs (of the East Valley)
City: Cabo San Lucas
Saying: “Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
Dream golf foursome: Charles Barkley, Phil Mickelson, my dad and me