BERLIN – A drab, brick building which sat vacant for years has new life, and a fresh look.

Artisan Building & Remodeling now occupies 230 Deming Road. and Economic Development Director Chris Edge could not be more happy.

“Everyone who has seen this building over the past five to ten years knows it literally just sat there, and there were no more than two cars in the parking lot,” Economic Development Director Chris Edge said. “This wonderful family has helped not just to change the look of this building, but the feel of the building.”

Owner Brandon Buchanan started working as a carpenter in 2009, fresh out of Cromwell High School. He built Artisan Building & Remodeling from the ground up.

“College just wasn’t for me,” Buchanan said. “I tried almost every trade out there and found my passion in construction.”

His business opened in 2017.

“In 2019, we found our niche and switched our services to exterior service only; specifically roofing, siding, gutters, windows and doors,” Buchanan said.

Before moving to Deming Road, Buchanan and his team worked out of a cramped space on the Berlin Turnpike. Artisan Building & Remodeling’s new location is 8,000-square-feet.

“We’re happy to be here in Berlin,” Buchanan said. “We’ve grown in size as far as gross, in terms of sales as a business, and people doubled each year since we’ve been in business. We now have 20 employees.”

Buchanan’s happy he skipped the traditional high school-to college-to a career route, and advises young people to blaze their own path, as well.

“You don’t have to follow the equation that society tells us you have to follow,” Buchanan said. “I know if I could go back to high school, I wouldn’t pursue all the college courses. I would have dived right into the trade, because there’s a lot of money to be made in trades. There’s also a whole awesome lifestyle. I think the stigma of construction, specifically roofing, needs to end, because we’re changing people’s lives.”

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