Framing crews at seventeen, lead carpenter by twenty-four, project-manager-in-chief running walk-in shower tear-outs and grab-bar retrofits on hundred-year-old houses. Greybough is what the family had to learn the hard way — written down so the next family doesn't repeat the same Google session at midnight.
Not a CV — a list of the job sites that taught me what a real bathroom remodel looks like, and the ones that taught me what a senior-friendly one looks like. The short version: it looks like 2x6 walls with blocking, a curbless shower with a linear drain, a 36-inch doorway net clear, and a comfort-height toilet — every time, no matter the budget.
Summer job between high-school years. TGI joists, hand-driven nail guns, a foreman who wouldn’t let us leave the site without sweeping the lumber pile. I learned to read a tape measure without flinching.
Two winters hanging doors and trim. Learned the meaning of plumb, level, and reveal — the kind of tolerances inspectors don’t forgive. Pocket doors terrified me for a month.
First time a client trusted me with a key. Ran my own punch-list, scheduled sub-trades, and learned that the most expensive mistake on a remodel is letting one trade wait on another.
Every bathroom wall got 2x6 studs with plywood backing between them — future grab-bar reinforcement hidden inside the finish. The clients never asked for it. I never stopped doing it.
Took out a 4-inch shower curb, rebuilt the pan with deck mud and a Kerdi-board surround, set a linear drain at the wall. The client walked in on her own at the final walk-through. I’ve been chasing that feeling since.
Three-day course at the local HBA. Walked a real house with the instructors and counted the things my usual specs had missed: rocker switches at 36" AFF, contrasting nosing at the top stair, a 60" turning radius at the toilet.
Six-figure kitchens, primary-bath gut jobs, the garage-to-living conversions. Every job had a checklist the same length no matter the budget: blocking, doorway 36" net clear, comfort-height vs standard-height toilet, night-path lighting.
Stopped scoping curbless showers as an upgrade. Started scoping them as the default for any first-floor full bath. The cost difference between deck mud and a pre-formed wedi shower pan is smaller than the cost of one fall.
My dad’s 32-inch doorway and a tub he couldn’t climb into anymore. The four-field lead-routing form we use on Greybough is the same one I filled out for him. CAPS-certified local pro, one business day.
Editorial on the products, lead-routing for the pros. We don’t swing the hammer, hire the sub-trade, or staff a call center. We just tell you which CAPS-certified local contractor to call, and email the Audit Kit so the call starts on the second or third page instead of the first.
Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist is a real credential, issued by the NAHB Remodelers — the remodeling arm of the National Association of Home Builders. Three days of coursework, a real-house walk-through, and a renewal cycle every three years so the techniques don’t drift out of date with the code.
What the credential forces on a senior-friendly remodel isn't a checklist of gadgets — it's a way of seeing a house. The list on the right is what every Greybough lead-routing contractor has to pass before we hand them the lead.
The whole list is also the front page of the contractor brief — every lead routed through Greybough comes with a one-page recap, so the pro shows up to the first walk-through already speaking the same language.
My dad is eighty-one and lives alone. Two winters ago he tripped on the 4-inch curb going into a stand-up shower and cracked a rib. The doorway to the powder room swallows his walker. The kitchen cabinets are 42 inches off the floor — he keeps a step stool in the pantry, which is its own problem. None of that is rare. None of that is unique to him.
What was unique is the Google session at midnight. We — my sister, my wife, me — all searched the same six things, in the same order, and recommended the same walk-in tub to him twice because the second article didn't know about the first one. The articles were fine. They just weren't routing anywhere. None of them said: “here is the CAPS-certified local pro who does the work, here is what a real quote looks like, here is the line of the budget you should expect.”
I'm a project manager. I had the contractor phone numbers in my pocket already. The rest of the family shouldn't have to do the Google session alone — and that's the part Greybough is for. Not because it's lucrative. Because the same Google session is happening in someone else's kitchen at midnight right now.
If you're in the same Google session I was — even the same six searches, in the same order — the form below routes your brief to a CAPS-certified local pro within one business day. The Audit Kit arrives in your inbox at the same time, so you walk into the call already on page three.
Tell us about the project and your ZIP code — we route the lead to a CAPS-certified senior-friendly remodeler in your area. They pay a flat $100 for the introduction; the family never pays for it. Your Audit Kit is emailed automatically as soon as you submit.
Open the lead formTell us about the project and your ZIP code — we route the lead to a CAPS-certified senior-friendly remodeler in your area. They pay a flat $100 for the introduction; the family never pays for it. Your Audit Kit is emailed automatically as soon as you submit.