About A to Z-Man Construction

My name is Nathan Zirkel. I’ve been running A to Z-Man Construction for over 16 years. I started it while I served our community as a fireman. 

My business really got started when I remodeled the house we currently live in. Friends and family started hitting me up, like, “Hey, can you remodel a bathroom?” Or “Could you help me with an addition?” 

I was always in the construction industry, even before I was a fireman, and my schedule as a fireman was pretty flexible with 24 hours on and 48 hours off. 

Eventually, the projects I was working on became bigger and bigger. It just took on a life of its own. I was very busy with my fireman position and remodeling homes. 

Three years ago, an injury forced me to step away from the fire department. That’s when I moved into A to Z full time. 

I’ve done pretty much everything you can think of in the remodeling business. My biggest challenge in my transition was how to complete jobs on time and on budget, while giving great results for my clients. 

I’m very fortunate to have a great wife and great accountant. Both of them have helped me make wise decisions and keep focused. 

Kansas City is always in a perpetual state of growth. We’re such a large metropolitan area with a great variety of homes. Right now we’re doing a lot of remodels on homes built anywhere from the 1920s all the way up to just a few years ago. 

Our clients have become more sophisticated over the last decade. They watch the remodeling shows on HGTV and get on Pinterest. They know better what they want. It used to be that I would go on a consultation for a kitchen remodel and they’d say, “What do you suggest? How would you do it?”

Now they have notebooks, Pinterest boards, and ideas all lined out, which is great for us.We love that they have concrete ideas we can give our input on. 

One of the main things the remodeling shows have brought to light is the idea of open concept. Over the years we’ve become experts at open concepts by making sure everything is properly engineered and the home looks like it’s been that way from the start. This is true for both the older homes we work on, as well as the newer homes. 

One of the things that makes this job so rewarding is making lifelong friends with our clients. Because we can be in a home for three to six months, we get to know our clients, their kids, their dogs.That’s probably the biggest bonus I’ve enjoyed.

Contractors get a bad rap. They don’t return calls. They’re late. They do all this sort of stuff. I think my background as a firefighter has set me apart from other contractors because of my service mindset and the need to prioritize communication. Both of these have helped me to be where I am today.