Retirement doesn’t seem to be in the future just yet for a 91-year-old Pasco man who’s built homes throughout the Tri-Cities, including ones featured in the Parade of Homes. 

AJ’s Classic Homes is a one-man business, and its owner, AJ Wade, loves the work.

It was 1964 when Wade built his first new home in Kansas, and since then he’s built nearly 200 homes throughout Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Washington. He moved to the Tri-Cities area in 1991, where he’s been building ever since.

His daughter, Lisa Ekstrom, said his family hosted a retirement party when her dad turned 90, but within the month he had bought a duplex. “Nobody believes he’s ever going to retire,” she said. “It’s kind of a running joke.”

Now 91, Wade is at work on another project, a repossessed house that he’s remodeling. “I like to get up and go to work. I’m not a good loafer,” he said.

Building homes hasn’t always been a piece of cake during Wade’s 60 years of building, but he keeps doing it. 

Getting started

Wade does a variety of work, from occasional remodels of existing houses to his own custom-built homes. 

Before building his first house, he initially worked to renovate a fixer-upper he and his family moved into after he got married in 1959. It was the money that came from selling the remodeled house that allowed Wade to invest in building more. 

But building wasn’t what kept Wade afloat at first.

He spent 18 years as a barber to support himself and his family, working on houses nights and weekends before he could transition to building homes full time. 

“It was hard to get where you felt confident enough to do away with your day job,” Wade recalled.

Paying bills always came first, and “nobody gave me a nickel or knowledge,” he said. But eventually, he was able to fully pursue his passion. 

When his wife’s relative told them about the opportunities in the Tri-Cities, he ended up moving to the area, where lots were cheaper and more available than they are today. 

Wade has built an average of about six houses per year, though the rate’s closer to one or two now. He’s built close to 50 homes in Pasco alone, including the one where he lives, and also has built in developments such as Canyon Lakes and Park Hills in Kennewick. 

In 2014, Wade’s house at 11804 Pelican Road in Pasco won Parade of Homes honors for best interior design and the People’s Choice Award in the category for homes between 3,000 and 3,250 square feet.

AJ Wade has built close to 200 homes throughout his 60-year career, and many of them are zero-entry, meaning there are no steps or stairs to get in the house.

| Photo by Rachel Visick

Building a home 

It’s harder now than it used to be to buy land to build on, especially for a small builder, Wade said, but it’s the first step in the homebuilding process.

Once land is acquired, Wade must design the home and secure building permits. He still does all of his designing by hand, Ekstrom said, drawing plans with a pencil and ruler.

“They’re no two the same,” she said. “He’s truly a custom builder.”

Wade also has built several “zero-entry homes,” or houses with no steps. He had noticed that many of his buyers were older people who didn’t like steps. Ekstrom said he did that kind of work well before it became popular.

After the design stage, work begins on the lot. “I just love looking at a pile of lumber, and two weeks later, there’s a house,” Wade said.

He oversees the process every step of the way, staking off the foundation, calling in excavators and getting cement poured. Then he begins framing the house, ordering windows, scheduling utility work. 

“To me, every house is personal,” he said. “I want my people happy the day they move in. If they’re not happy when they move in, they’re never going to be happy.”

When Jacquelynn Evans stumbled across the open house for one of Wade’s Pasco homes, the big arch windows in the front immediately caught her eye. 

Although she’d been working with another builder on a waterfront property, that builder had been unwilling to make the adjustments Evans had been looking for, including that kind of arched window.

She moved into the Pasco home Wade built, which is zero-entry and boasts a spacious front porch, in 2009 and lives there still.

“We loved AJ from the beginning. He’s quite a character,” Evans said. They’ve been friends since then, she said. “Once you know him, you’ve known him forever.”

Homebuilding passion

Aside from the houses he’s built, Wade also has built a legacy of relationships through the building industry.

“I’ve made a lot of good friends through the building and through the construction end of it. I’ve got people who would really go to bat for me,” he said. He’s had several subcontractors that he’s worked with exclusively for over 20 years each.

Reid Craigo, owner of Kohler Plumbing, said he’s done plumbing for nearly all of Wade’s projects since the ’90s. It’s been a relationship that has worked well for them both, Craigo said. “(Wade’s) always been excellent to work with.”

Ekstrom also has a role to play in her dad’s business: as a Realtor at Keller Williams Tri-Cities, she lists, advertises and stages all her father’s homes.

Wade’s been lucky in terms of health, he said, and has been able to keep building in his 90s. 

“As many people have said, if you enjoy your work, it’s not work. If I hated it, you can bet your life I wouldn’t be out there doing it,” he said.