Founder and Director
Andrew Slack of Bethany Homes
I was born in Kankakee Illinois where I lived until I was 5 years old. My Dad was transferred to a new job in Louisville Kentucky. I lived in Louisville until I was 10 years old and moved to Jamestown, NC which is where I lived and grew up until leaving for college. It is a small town in between Greensboro and High Point NC.
In our house in Jamestown, I spent many nights and weekends designing and helping my Dad finish our basement. My Dad was a “do it yourself” guy and we enjoyed working together. I took an assertive role and would take the lead on the job at an early age. My dad would listen and allow me to figure things out on my own. It was around 12 years old that I found that I had a lot of patience in figuring out how things work or how building worked. I had a natural passion to learn the ins and outs of construction at this early age and loved working. I would check out books from the library to learn about electricity, framing, drywall, etc. The information wasn’t just a click away back then! I always enjoyed building something with my Dad or doing projects such as fences or decks for my parents or family friends. I always played baseball and had a strong passion for baseball and played catcher position from 4 years old until the 8th grade.
I went to high school at Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, NC and played football my freshman year. I enjoyed football and wanted to get better so I joined the wrestling team in order to stay in shape for football and baseball. Wrestling changed my life and taught me how the values of setting goals to achieve your dreams by being persistent, working hard, always learning and having discipline. I was able to make the Varsity spot at 125 lbs. as a first year wrestler my freshman year of high school which was very exciting to me at the time. I won the first tournament that I wrestled and became determined to be a state champion. Wrestling soon became my top priority. I qualified for the NC State Tournament my freshman year. The next year I decided that I wanted to be the first 3 time State Champion at Ragsdale but fell short by losing in the State Finals to a guy that I had beat the weekend before by 15 points. That was a tough, but motiviating loss for me.
I had excellent high school wrestling coaches, Andy Chapel, Tim Ellenburger, Tee Dean, Mike Kendall. These guys made a huge impact on me and helped me develop the mental toughness that has helped me with my business today. I went on to win the State Championship the following two years and was recruited to wrestle at UNC Chapel Hill.
I enjoyed my time at UNC. Division I college wrestling was a much higher level than high school and most guys in college usually are or become a solid wrestler. I was able to make the starting lineup several years at UNC and learned a lot, finished 2nd in the ACC Tournament my senior year. Wrestling is a tough sport and teaches young men great values, discipline and work ethics that transfer to the rest of your life. I value my time there with the team and the relationships I made with teammates and coaches.
My second year of college, I was blessed by God to meet the love of my life. One of my best friends went to NC State and it was through him that I met Bethany. It was love at first site the first night we met. Bethany was the most pure, honest and smartest woman I had ever met. She studied engineering and NCSU. We married after I graduated from college in 2004. We purchased our first home soon after, Bethany was already working, I hadn’t a job yet so I was able to renovate the entire house myself. I wanted to do this full time because this is what I loved doing but it isn’t always practical to just jump into business for yourself without any momentum so I decided it would be best to try to learn as much as I could about the building business.
My first job out of college was working for the DEWALT brand of Black and Decker a sales rep. in local Home Depot stores. I liked this job because I was still able to be close to the industry I loved but knew that I wanted to figure out how to build houses. I worked for Dewalt for several years and then moved on to several other sales jobs selling products to construction companies. I set out to learn all I could about residential construction while also selling materials to my customers. This was invaluable for me because I was able to see how the smallest builders and how the largest builders ran their businesses. 
Bethany was working as a professional engineer and soon were able to save enough money so that I would become eligible to take the General Contractor exam in 2006. In 2007 Bethany Homes was created and we were able to get a loan from the bank to build our first house. The house was a hit and we were able to get a presale to build the same house again and begin building in a neighborhood. Bethany was able to keep working for a while which allowed me to take the plunge to start building full time and pursue my passion. Things progressed quickly and we were building an average of 2-3 custom homes per year and also working on renovations and additions. I would run the operations of the business but Bethany has always been the backbone of the business.
In 2010, God blessed us with our first daughter, Austyn Faith Slack. We started attending Grace Church in Chapel Hill in 2011 and it was life changing for me. I soon realized that my priorities were out of line and needed to put God first in my life and put family before the business. I was learning so much and loved going to church. I soon started working less hours. We have since been blessed with 3 more boys. Luke Mason was born in 2012, James Andrew was born in 2015 and Patrick Tyler was born in 2019. We are very thankful for the life that we have and allowing God to provide and to work in us everyday.
