ENTERPRISE — A local man has transformed what had been a weed-spraying business into one that does home renovations, particularly specializing in tile work.

Josh VanderZanden had been in the spraying business since 2010 and just last year, got into construction.

In the spraying business, he worked for Wallowa Resources on rangeland, helping that group fight noxious and invasive weeds in Wallowa County.

“I went in backpacking, on four-wheelers,” he said.

Change of direction

But an investment he’d made in 2011 led him in a new direction.

“I bought a little fixer-upper house here in Enterprise and it needed a ton of work,” VanderZanden said. “It needed more than I understood when I first got it. It needed a full-on gut job. I worked alongside a local contractor, Bob Wadsworth, and I learned a bunch from him.”

He purchased three “fixer-upper” houses locally in recent years, repaired them and sold them.

“I had to move into them to get out of paying capital gains (tax),” he said.

Then, he purchased his current home on a 5-acre lot along Stockton Road on the south end of Enterprise. He and another contractor finished work on it just last year.

VanderZanden hopes to make such remodeling work his stock in trade.

“That’s my gig,” he said. “I’m close to that point.”

He’d like to get to the point where he builds a home from the ground up.

“I’d like to get to where I could take new builds on, but I’m not quite there,” he said.

The housing market has put a bit of a hitch in VanderZanden’s plans, too. As housing prices have gone up, it makes it more difficult for him to buy a house, remodel it and “flip” it.

“What I enjoy doing is buying these old ‘flipper’ houses and fixing them up and sell them,” he said. “But those deals, you can’t really get those deals anymore.”

He said he paid about $70,000 for the first place he flipped.

“You just can’t find those deals anymore,” he said. “The market’s changed so much.”

Tile specialistIn the meantime, tile work is VanderZanden’s specialty. Customers requesting his work keep him going.

“That is my specialty trade,” he said. “People are calling me for tile work. I wish I could get it out there a little more that I’m trying to pick up remodels and whatever else I can do. I’d like to be doing that a little bit more.”

While he enjoys and survives on the tile work, it’s not what he hopes to continue.

“I’ve stayed busy enough,” he said. “People still call me for tile work, but I would like to be doing more of (home remodels), yes, and then I could be doing the ‘flipper’ thing.”

Family manVanderZanden grew up in the Portland area. His father, Mark VanderZanden, moved the family to Wallowa County in 1999 in time for Josh to attend his freshman year at Enterprise High School.

Now, Mark and his elder son, John, farm on Elk Mountain.

Right out of high school, Josh began learning the tile trade. He spent seven years in Bend doing the work.

He’s now married to Shilo, with whom he has three kids — Gavin, 14; Jack, 6; and Vienna, 4.

Looking aheadAt present, he works alone. VanderZanden has had employees in the past when operating his spraying business, but he really doesn’t have enough work to take on extra help for now.

“I decided with this transition, to scrap it with the workers comp and payroll,” he said. “For now, I stay busy enough to keep myself busy.”

But it remains his hope to do more “flipper” houses and even build new. That might lead to taking on employees, he said.

“I’d like to get to the point where I can build new,” he said.

Who: Josh VanderZanden

What: Home renovations

Phone: 541-398-1092

Where: 65075 Stockton Road, Enterprise

Email: josh.vanderzanden@gmail.com
Online: Facebook