Hi, my name is Josh Thomas and I am the Co-Owner of CWI Properties along with my wife, Carolyn.

I want to take a few minutes to introduce myself, our company, what we do and why.

I have been involved with some form of residential construction, maintenance and management since I was pretty young…over 25 years now. Mowing yards as a boy, landscaping and summer construction projects as a teenager, and working in a construction supply yard when I first moved out of home got me started. Construction came naturally. So did living and working on the land. My Dad managed large properties when I was a boy; not only did I get to help sometimes, but my love for the outdoors and nature grew. As a young man, I moved to the mountains, got a job framing houses with an exceptional builder, and got my start in custom residential construction.

Fast forward to 2002, I had graduated college with a degree in Architecture and just gotten married. We decided to start a contracting business focused on craftsmanship and integrity…that was the birth of CWI. Through those years the economy has waxed and waned and we have had various journeys within the residential construction and management industry. From a focus on finish carpentry, to building new homes in the mountains of southern California, to repairing and remodeling camp facilities and the preservation and management of hundreds of homes during the last economic crash we have been “there and back again.”

During all of this, we have personally been on our own homesteading journey, learning to live on the land and what it means to be sustainable. With a family to feed, increasing issues of food integrity and hints of uncertain economic times that always seem to be lingering around the corner, our desire to be more sustainable and resilient grew.

Why does this matter?

It shapes our view of what it means to build a sustainable home for our customers. Now, in 2016 we have been homesteading for almost as long as we have been in residential construction and management. We have come to believe that a sustainable home is just PART of a sustainable lifestyle. We believe that there are more people like us wanting to do more than put in energy efficient appliances and “green” building materials. More people want to work with the land, they want to provide for themselves and their families. Many are moving and adjusting their lifestyles, not just for food, but for their health and the health of the environment. And many of those same people want to contribute to the local economy and community they live in as well.

We agree, and this shapes how we approach new home construction in our area. For all of us to achieve our dreams of clean food, personal security, a healthier environment, a local economy and community, it has to be intentional. We have to create it. We have to design it. So we have set out, not to just build great homes, but to design the home into the landscape and to design the landscape to support you, your loved ones, and to contribute to the restoration of the local environment, economy and community.

Thanks for joining us on the journey!

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