Twenty years in, same owner, same town.

Andrew Webster started the business that became Soap Stone Construction in 2006, running it on the side for years before it was his only job. What he ran in those early years was actually called Webster's Handyman Service — clients kept coming back asking for bigger work than the name implied, and by 2018 it had grown into something else entirely, so the name changed to Soap Stone Construction. Same owner, same company, twenty years in as of this year.

Construction wasn't a career he stumbled into. His grandfather worked as a general contractor building nursing homes across the Midwest, and he grew up with multiple uncles in the trades. He learned the foundation side of it working under his uncle, and went on to work as a foreman at Continental Construction in Grimes, supervising crews of six through foundation layout, pre-pour prep, and waterproofing — a job he held through the first year of Soap Stone's life, before Soap Stone became the main focus. In the years after that he kept adding to what he knew: cutting and demolishing concrete on commercial and government jobs, then, later, wiring new construction and running service repairs as an electrician. He's never held an electrician's license, but two years doing the work firsthand still shows in how he scopes and estimates the electrical side of a remodel today.

Andrew, his wife, and their four kids live on a small acreage outside Panora with a handful of animals. It's not a detail that belongs on a services page, but it's part of why the business is run the way it is: word travels fast in a town this size, and there's no version of the job where cutting a corner doesn't come back around.

How the work actually gets done

Soap Stone pairs its own hands-on work with long-term trade partners it's worked with for years — not a rotating cast of whoever's available, but the same people, job after job.

Why DIY Coach exists

A lot of the people Andrew talks to want the work done but can't afford a fully turnkey project — and a lot of them are more capable than they think. DIY Coach is what happens when someone ambitious enough to do most of the work themselves gets real guidance instead of being left to figure it out alone or hire it all out at full price.

Why Home Care exists

Most expensive repairs start small. An annual inspection catches the kind of thing that's a $500 fix in year one and a $4,000 fix in year three — and members get a discount on any work that comes out of it. It's less about selling a membership and more about not getting the 2 a.m. call for something that was preventable in March. See how Home Care works →

The project he's proudest of

It happened during the pandemic: three additions on the same house, back to back, for a family with real health concerns about anyone coming in and out. Soap Stone built as much of it as possible without ever entering the occupied part of the home — framing, roofing, and drywall on the new spaces, all before cutting a single opening into the existing house. The connection happened last, once the new spaces were essentially finished. It's the kind of job that doesn't show up as harder in a photo, but it was.

Twenty years and 200+ completed projects later — additions and full remodels alongside the window replacements, repairs, and smaller maintenance work that don't make a portfolio but are just as much the job — Soap Stone is licensed in the State of Iowa and carries liability insurance, with a 5 rating across 24 Google reviews from Panora, Adel, Ankeny, and the rest of Central Iowa.