The Amish Tradesmen based in Seaford, offers quality-built pole barns and more. It’s a family-owned and operated business, providing the personalized service and quality craftsmanship of Amish families who are pole builders, carpenters and masons.

 

Rob Harman, a successful Realtor and businessman, came to be the owner of The Amish Tradesmen by happenstance. A mutual friend referred the former owner to him when she needed help to sell her business. Harman, who was 70 at the time, was already busy with his own real estate company, and his wife, Lynn, also had a full-time job managing the local Chamber of Commerce.

 

He tried to sell the business for her, but knew it would be a challenge because a new owner would have to commit to running the company on a daily basis. After several attempts, the owner revealed she had been diagnosed with stage four cancer and had a special needs son she was caring for. She asked Rob if he would be willing to purchase the company because God was telling her he should buy it. After a lot of prayer and discussion the Harmans decided God was leading them in that direction, so they bought the business and relocated it to Seaford. The purchase provided the funding to support her son when she passed several months later.

 

Rob & Lynn had a pole building built behind the real estate office to serve as a sample as an example of the quality of work performed by his Amish team, the Miller family who lives in Dover. The construction team consists of the father with over 40 years experience, his two sons and another relative, along with a licensed mason and his family who do the concrete work. They also employ a Mennonite gentleman who does the site work, and a husband and wife team to install the gutters.

 

“These are mom and pop businesses that we are working with,” Harman said, “and we are exclusive with those contractors. They are a part of our family now.” Their son Carter, now age 25, joined the company when he was 20 as a full-time employee, and now is managing a large portion of the day-to-day sales, administrative and bookkeeping duties of the company. Lynn works as the coordinator of logistics, schedules site work and construction, sets up inspections, arranges the garage door and gutter installation and coordinates any additional work to be done by other contractors. They also have Jaden Ullman in the office daily who contributes to the sales, writing proposals and some outside field work.

 

Harman continued, “It’s such a fun business. Since my days of running video stores in the mid-80s, I’ve had the blessing of family working together in business. We all work very well together.”

 

The Amish Tradesmen builds about 60 -70 buildings a year. Pole buildings are useful for residential garages, car collectors, boat storage, hobby and woodworking shops, offices, personal gyms, sports and party facilities, horse barns, pool houses, airplane hangers, pickleball courts, storage for farm equipment, commercial buildings and even pole building homes or “Barndominiums”.

 

During an initial face-to-face meeting or phone inquiry, there is someone available to answer any question and custom design a building, which within a day or two will then provide an itemized proposal along with a set of 3D elevation drawings of the proposed building. A portfolio of buildings by The Amish Tradesmen can be found on their website, www.theamishtradesmen.com or on Facebook. To set up a complementary design appointment or for more information, call 302-349-5550.