J&R Construction Services, Inc.

Woodworking and custom building is a gift that fathers have been giving their sons in my family for four generations now.  My great grandfather, Marcus McKinney, started handcrafting custom furniture pieces, corner cupboards, and china cabinets from scratch after he was discharged from the army following WWI.  Then he bought his first sawmill.  When my grandfather, James W. McKinney finished his tour of duty in WWII, he worked for Marcus and they purchased a second sawmill.  One of their clients’ was the Blue Diamond Coal Company.  They serviced them with flooring material for the mine floors and wood to make their powder boxes.  James W. McKinney eventually became the soul owner of the mills and with a picture of a finished product in his mind; he began to construct beautiful custom pieces of furniture from rough sawn wood.  In the 1970’s, James’ son gave him his very first router and my grandfather began to make custom items such as pencil holders, grandfather clocks and multi-gun gun cabinets.  My father, James W. McKinney, Jr. was able to watch, work and learn from my grandfather.  He does his own handyman work on various projects for others and around his house to this day.  As you can see, the concept of J&R Construction Services, Inc. was started just following WWI. 

I found myself having a love of woodworking from a very young age.  In fact, at age 10, I constructed my very first club house in our back yard.  This became a popular place for the neighborhood kids to hang out because it was weather proof.  I began to focus my attention towards constructing and woodworking in high school by studying drafting and taking several woodworking classes.  After graduation, I went on to study business management at Eastern Kentucky University .  I then entered the Army Reserves and from there went to work at a lumber company and other construction companies.  I traveled around the US and learning as much as I could about the trade from others.  After several years of working and learning, I started my own company, McKinney Deck Builders.  I built the business by working full-time during the day at the lumber company, and in the evenings and weekends by working on building decks, remodeling and tile work.  The motto and foundation of our company was and still is “ Customer Service and Quality First.”

In 2003, my long-time friend Russ and I, partnered together and changed the name of my business to J&R Construction Services, Inc.  Our foundational beliefs of customer service and quality first stayed the same and we began to grow our business.  I bought Russell out in 2004, and he has since gone on to form his own company, Dreams International.  We have also co-founded Dream Sponsors, which is a non-profit organization focusing on educating people in building businesses of their own.  However, my main area of focus has stayed with J&R Construction.  This business is in my genes and my heart.  I truly enjoy serving my clients with the very best that I have.

www.jrcsi.com