Eddie Sanford

President & Owner of GES Custom Remodel

From a background of growing up in the auto parts industry, Eddie learned to ask many questions when attempting to diagnose or identify what people are looking for. At age 14 he began working part time in his father’s business in downtown Knoxville. His father began Motor Products Co Inc. in 1955, basically, out of the trunk of his car selling to area garages and car dealers until he opened his first auto parts store. This later became a warehouse distributor to other auto parts stores in and around East Tennessee.

When Eddie earned the Eagle rank in Scouting he realized he had a knack for figuring things out, which would later prove invaluable in his second career. After a brief time at the University of Tennessee, Eddie realized that he wanted to join the family business full time. It was then that Eddie had the opportunity to work in all areas of the business including sales, delivery, purchasing, warehouse management and accounting.

After his fathers untimely death in 1988, the business soon started growing from its base of about 35 employees operating two locations to over 130 employees operating the warehouse and ten branch stores.

In 1998 they were acquired by a national chain known as Fisher Auto Parts Inc, the largest independent Federated Auto Parts distributor in the nation. It was then he began a long term employment agreement to serve as Regional Manger for the Tennessee operations. Eddie’s position with Federated allowed him to help grow their business further by traveling and training their future additional acquisitions. He learned a great deal with this company about communications, work processes and standard procedures. After so much time in the auto parts industry, he felt called to a different profession.

In 2006 Eddie left and began his mid-life, 180 degree career change to become a Licensed General Contractor. He had remodeled his own home a couple of times with a local contractor who would later mentor his new role. Eddie joined the local Home Builders Association of Greater Knoxville, and began attending their classes to learn more about how a professional construction business should operate. After working at base entry wages for several different trades for months, he earned his License with the State and opened G.E.S Custom Remodel LLC. The company began doing kitchen and bathroom remodels for Standard Kitchen & Bath and other local suppliers and designers. GES quickly became known as “problem solvers” who would take on projects most other contractors might decline. The more difficult the project appeared, the more interesting it became.

As the company grew by word of mouth, they developed great relationships with many area suppliers and designers. Attention to detail seemed to be a welcome to an industry where it seemed most contractors were not as focused on remodeling. By providing consistent, reliable results, GES grew into a stable remodeling company despite facing a significant decline in the industry.