Congratulations to Darrel Hamilton & Dick Workman from the Ashe County HBA, who were selected as NCHBA January/February 2006 Spikes of the Month!
 Spike of the Month – Darrell Hamilton
Name: Darrel Hamilton
Company: Darrel Hamilton Inc
Position: President & CEO
How Long in Business: 19 years in Georgia and 5 years in North Carolina
Spike Credits: 47
HBA: Ache County Home Builders Association
HBA Involvement: President
Nickname: None
Marital Status: Married to Donna Hamilton
Children: 2 both boys Jon age 24 and Travis age 17
Favorite Food: Grilled New York Strip
Favorite Movies: Jeremiah Johnson and The Borne Identity
Favorite Magazine: US News & World Report
Ideal Vacation: Take a motor home and explore the US for about a year
Last Book Read: “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen E. Ambrose
Hobbies: Shooting Skeet and Sporting Clays; Motorcycle riding; Exploring the North Carolina Mountains
Pets: An African Grey Parrot and a barn cat
First Job: Hand digging footings at age 13
If you had 15 minutes in front of the NCHBA membership, what would you say about membership recruitment/retention?
We all make our living from the home building industry. It has been extremely good to the vast majority of us. We are doing less than our share if we do not support the industry that makes our living. There is an old saying where I grew up, “You dance with who brung you”. The home building industry “brung” all of us. We need to make sure that it continues to thrive. There are groups that would very much like to limit our ability to provide housing for the citizens of North Carolina. If we do not band together on local, state and national levels, we will find ourselves regulated out of business. Secondly, the networking and educational opportunities available through local, state and national HBA associations are priceless to the growth of each of our businesses. Just being a member is not enough, attendance and active involvement in your local HBA is the only way to take advantage of all the growth opportunities. If you have not made use of the web sites the NCHBA and the NAHB provide, you are missing another tremendous resource.
Third and lastly, the insurance provided through Builders Mutual is reason enough to make membership in the NCHBA a wise business decision. __________________________________  Name: Thomas R. Workman, Jr. Better known as Dick Workman
Company: Workmanship Financial Group
Position: Owner and Managing Associate
How Long in Business: Forty (40) years
Spike Credits: 35
HBA: Ashe Co., (N.C.) Home Builders Assoc.
HBA Involvement: Lead organizer of Association in year 2004; membership chairman from the beginning and have been told that I will “chair that committee for life”.
Nickname: Dick for Richard (Thomas Richard)
Marital Status: Married, wife’s name is Linda
Children: Jean W. Travers of Apex, NC and Major Mark D. Workman, USAF, Wright-Patterson, AFB, Dayton, OH
Favorite Food: Chinese and old fashioned homemade strawberry shortcake
Favorite Movies: Military oriented movies (I am not a big fan of movies), i.e. too, too busy
Favorite Magazine: The State (monthly magazine about North Carolina)
Ideal Vacation: traveling out West to Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Oregon and Washington State and riding horses
Last Book Read: A book about Indian archeology
Hobbies: Studying Early American history and collecting Indian arrowheads and spearheads
Pets: 1 Horse, 2 Dogs, 3 Cats
First Job: Working in the accounting department of the Norfolk-Southern Railway Co.
If you had 15 minutes in front of the NCHBA membership, what would you say about membership recruitment/retention? The membership of a local HBA is the “rocket fuel” that propels the local association an engine to drive various programs that are educational, motivational, charitable, communicational, political, and a host of many other programs that are related to the building industry. The component parts of that “rocket fuel” are the lifeblood and heart and soul and make all of the ticking parts work properly and synchronously. With the membership working harmoniously together, such as our newly formed Ashe County HBA is doing, our association is being recognized as being at the forefront at what is occurring in our county and region. We do have “clout” and respect and our association is performing activities and programs that are meaningful to the community and its membership. By having a viable, vibrant, and cohesive membership, “running on rocket fuel” the entire county and the region of northwestern North Carolina is looking to our local association for leadership.
In closing, membership and membership retention is the core, the essence, root, soul, and substance, i.e. the centerpiece of a local association. Without membership and the retention of members, “membership cardiac arrest” will occur and the local association will lapel into demise, dissolution and extinction and ultimate a fatality and just another statistic. Your “Job No. 1” is, recruit, recruit, energize and motivate, and retain, retain, and retain. |
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