Who We Are
We know that the building and remodeling processes are full of challenges and can be stressful for clients. We also believe that we can minimize and possibly eliminate much of that stress by placing more emphasis and value on clear and consistent client communications.
The smallest of projects has a lot of moving parts, so even with the best preconstruction planning in the universe, “stuff” happens. And when it does happen, Harjo Construction proves its integrity in craftsmanship and communication with consistent, honest feedback and engagement on every client project.

Kurt Harjo
Principal, General Contractor
Since the age of 19, Kurt has dreamt of starting a business to build beautiful things. Growing up in construction, Kurt had a lot of preparation before founding Harjo Construction, including building tree houses, growing up with a home workshop, working in commercial construction during college, and later working in the field and project management. If he had to choose the single most important thing to do in a day, Kurt believes it’s understanding priorities. He enjoys solving problems with clients, putting together strategies, and helping them visualize a new reality for their home. Inspired by Coach John Wooden, Kurt motivates others by helping people see new or bigger realities for themselves — discovering a capacity within them they weren’t aware was there. Evident in his management style, Kurt encourages his employees to grow by offering them new challenges. If he wasn’t improving homes, Kurt could see himself sailing around the world or designing and building furniture. In his spare time, he likes competitive mountain biking, playing volleyball, cooking and conversing with his wife Meghan and young son Koen.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Mountain Biking
Listening to: Khruangbin & Bears Den

Meg Harjo
Controller
Meg grew up in New Mexico and spent time in St. Louis and Chicago before moving to Seattle in 2012 to work at Starbucks. After eight years at Starbucks, Meg left to join Harjo Construction and is currently serving as the company’s controller, overseeing financials, pipeline management, human resources and a variety of special projects. She enjoys learning and is embracing the opportunity to learn the construction industry. When she’s not working, Meg is spending time with her toddler Koen and baby Anna.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Hiking & Backpacking
Listening to: Bloc Party, Passion Pit, The Postal Service & The XX

Drew Robertson
Director of Operations
Although born and raised in Colorado, Drew has been an active PNW resident and entrepreneur for three decades. In addition to his architectural background and training, Drew has worked in the new construction industry since 1991 with experience in custom and spec residential homes, multi-family townhomes, apartments buildings, product development and project management. Prior positions, Drew managed the construction department, project managers, purchasing department, product development team and warranty/customer service. His experience and knowledge in design, construction, management and leadership is unparalleled. In his free time, you can find Drew hiking, mountain biking and outside doing anything outdoorsy while exploring the Cascades and Bellevue with his daughters and yellow Labrador – Fergus.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Mountain biking, or on a boat
Listening to: Luke Combs to Alice in Chains to H.E.R.

Kayla Morrison
Director of Sales & Marketing
Kayla grew up in Oklahoma but always dreamed of living in the PNW to be closer to the mountains, tall trees, cooler weather and rain. She moved to Seattle in 2021, bringing along her partner, their pets, and a menagerie of houseplants. She has a degree in strategic communications and has worked with both in-house marketing teams and agencies. Kayla has experience with planning and executing strategies including all components of digital and experiential marketing for a broad range of industries, and she brings her love of process development and optimization wherever she goes. Outside of work, she likes going to concerts, reading, listening to podcasts, playing board games, going for easy hikes, and eating a ton of food. One day, she’d love to be on the TV show Survivor- her dog Ozzy is actually named after her favorite player.
Favorite summertime activity: Bonfires & picnics on Alki beach
Listening to: Kesha

Beth Skirvin
Accountant
Beth was born and raised in Seattle and attended WSU. She married a year later and had a son, Zach.. Beth has been working in the construction industry ever since. She started as an accounting assistant for a large commercial contractor before joining a smaller residential remodeler where she really learned about the whole construction process, which Beth enjoys for all its varied experiences. She hopes to be an asset to the Harjo team!
Zach is Beth’s only child however she had 2 foster children (brothers) that she raised as well. They are Beth’s hobbies. Zach is an undergrad at WSU right now studying Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Science, a brand new program in the United States. And now Beth is a grandmother to a beautiful 3 month old little girl. When she can, Beth heads to Pullman to see them and help work Zach’s own farm (crops and animal rescue). Maybe one day Beth will have time for more hobbies!
Favorite Summertime Activity: White water rafting, seeing shows & gardening when at her sons farm
Listening to: Classic Rock & Country

Sadie Waddell
Designer and Preconstruction Manager
A PNW native, Sadie graduated from Oregon State University in 2016 with a BS in Interior Design, followed directly by a move up to Seattle. She started working in the hospitality industry where her role included project management as well as design and permitting for hotel renovations across the country. With a love for old Seattle homes, Sadie loves giving each home a new life and improving the functionality of the spaces within. On a more personal note, Sadie has a fluffy cat named Stevie, after Stevie Nicks, and in her spare time she enjoys seeing live music, camping with friends, and rollerblading around Green Lake.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Rollerblading at Green Lake
Listening to: The Shins

Gwendy Lara
Office, Marketing & Sales Coordinator
Gwendy grew up in southern California moved to Washington about ten years ago. She has a background in customer service, managing, building, and training teams, and she also was the Director of Outreach at local church. She loves people and helping them grow in their spiritual journey. She leads a young adult women’s group weekly. You can always find her hiking a mountain or on the road visiting the National Parks in the USA. Gwendy supports the Leadership Team of Harjo Construction while also leading initiatives for our Marketing & Sales Department!
Favorite summertime activity: Hiking everywhere!
Listening to: Hillsong, Upperroom, and Jesus Culture

Stacey Spencer
Project Manager
Stacey fell in love with construction the very first time her father let her ‘work’ on one of his sites. From that moment on, she was hooked. He taught her everything, including how not to use a drill press! Before joining the Harjo team, Stacey flipped countless houses and has developed a strong appreciation for quality craftsmanship. Art is her other passion and she loves turning architectural salvage into up-cycled pieces that can be enjoyed in our clients homes. She spends her spare time with her husband and two teenage daughters.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Hanging at the Lake near her cottage
Listening to: The Rolling Stones

Cory Zeitlin
Project Manager
Cory has worked as a finish carpenter, siding installer and project manager in both the commercial and residential sides of the remodeling industry. Cory’s passion is in restoring, renovating and transforming homes, the client experience and team collaboration. He was born and raised in Washington but left shortly after high school and lived in Oregon, California, Georgia, South Carolina and New York. Cory, his wife and their 12-year-old pup moved back home to Seattle a few years ago to get back into nature and the things they love. They enjoy taking off on Friday nights for camping, kayaking, biking and skiing. They are avid travelers and amateur chefs, and board game night at their house gets scary competitive.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Hiking and BBQing
Listening to: Enya, Wu Tang, and Memphis Slim

Max Kenmir
Project Manager
Max was born and raised in the PNW. From a young age, Max loved everything about construction and seeing complex ideas come to life. He graduated from WSU with degree in Business Management where he worked his way through college as a laborer for a local remodeling company. Throughout his career, Max has had the opportunity to work in multiple different sectors of the residential remodeling space ranging from custom design/build to institutional single-family rentals. Outside of work, Max enjoys everything to do with the PNW outdoors. You’ll find him hiking up in the mountains with his partner, their two kids, and mini-Aussie – Mowgli, fishing in Puget Sound, or trying a new local restaurant.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Sunrise Hikes
Listening to: Anything from Morgan Wallen to Red Hot Chili Peppers

Lindsay Perrigo
Project Coordinator
Lindsay was born and raised in Northern California (wine country), went to UC Davis and graduated with a degree in International Relations and Socio-Cultural Anthropology. After college, she snapped up the first job that would have her and learned a lot about corporate office work. She moved to South Lake Tahoe to enjoy the mountains every day as she transitioned into a new role. In 2014 her boyfriend (now husband) and her moved to Washington for a change of scenery. Lindsay transitioned to working in the food & beverage industry, starting as customer service at Chateau Ste. Michelle then working in a local bar as a hostess, a brewery as a server, a steakhouse as a sommelier/server/manager and then most recently at the Herb Farm in Woodinville. After 7 years in hospitality, Lindsay went back to school for Project Management and transitioned to her Project Coordinator role at Harjo Construction. Her hobbies include photography and hiking (usually both together), skiing, traveling to new places, WINE, hanging out at home with her husband and 3 cats.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Intense hikes & photography
Listening to: Classic Rock, AC/DC, etc.

Tracy Renick
Project Coordinator and Designer
Tracy was born and raised in Seattle and loves the area. She has been an interior designer for 15 years and has a degree in Interior Design. In college Tracy lived abroad in London and did an internship with a small company in residential design. Her first job out of college was with a residential design/build firm. Tracy has always loved the construction side of design and has stayed in that field her entire career. She loves creating beautiful spaces for people to enjoy. Tracy has a husband, Joe, and they have two girls (Sadie, 13, and Summer, 10) & a mini dachshund named Piper. For fun they love being in the outdoors. They love to camp, hike, swim, run, ski and eat s’mores by a fire. During the spring Tracy coaches Girls on the Run at her daughter’s school. She has always enjoyed woodworking and remodeling her own home. Tracy loves to stay busy. The things she enjoys most in life, though, are friends and family.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Paddle Boarding
Listening to: Classic Rock… I really love all types of music, it all depends on my mood.

Alyssa Plett
Project Designer and Coordinator Intern
Alyssa was born and raised in Bellevue, WA and is going into her senior year at Seattle Pacific University with a major in Interior Design and a minor in Business Administration. She has a lifelong love of art, which eventually led her to some graphic design work. After starting at SPU, Alyssa realized that interior design is truly the field for her. In this field, she can combine her love of art with her logical and technical side, given to her by her engineer parents. Alyssa is passionate about using design to improve the quality of life by designing with function, beauty, and sustainability in mind. Some of her hobbies include baking, painting, and spending time with family and friends.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Spending time near the water with friends and family
Listening to: Taylor Swift

Luis Chaires
Superintendent
Luis enjoys the home building process and helping his fellow carpenters, especially with framing. A self-professed “professional learner,” he’s always looking out for the client, from cleaning the job site to securing a property before he leaves. Luis likes the ample opportunity at Harjo Construction and isn’t deterred by complicated projects. Away from work, you might find Luis hiking a trail or relaxing at Ocean Shores.

Stephen Markert
Superintendent
Stephen was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and grew up in the Shoreline/Richmond Beach area. He currently lives in Bothell with his wife Michaela and their two youngest children. Stephen’s hobbies include cooking (mainly on a outdoor grill), board games with his family and most outdoor activities, including camping, hiking and fishing (especially fly fishing). He’s also a die hard Mariners and Seahawks fan, and he’s waiting for the NBA to return to Seattle! After graduating from Shorewood High School in 1990, Stephen spent five years in the Navy. He began his journey in construction in 1996 when he entered into a business partnership in the landscape/hardscape industry where he discovered a passion for woodworking and the construction side of the business. In 2001 Stephen made a permanent move into residential home construction, and he’s been working in the industry ever since.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Camping and Fly fishing
Listening to: Classic Rock

Omar Arreola
Superintendent
Omar was born in a small town near Morelia Michoacan, Mexico. His parents moved to Washington in 1989 and subsequently Omar graduated in the top 2% of his class from Sunnyside, Washington in 2001. Omar is fluent in reading and writing both English and Spanish. He has been in construction since he was 15 years old, starting with helping his dad’s friend with remodels, to tearing off roofs, to new builds. Omar moved to North Carolina after graduating to work for his aunt’s husband as a laborer framing homes and shortly after became one of his leads. After a few years, he started his own construction company, which took a hit during the 2007-2008 economic downturn. As a result, Omar moved back to Kennewick, Washington and started from scratch again.
Omar has been framing homes since 2001 and has done just about every trade when it comes to building a new home, as well as lifting old homes to get a new foundation underneath them. When they moved back to Washington, Omar started working again as a crew leader for a construction company and, after several years of framing, was offered a position in management for an on-your-site homebuilder in 2013. Since then he has been managing new home construction in Lewiston, Idaho; Oroville, Washington; The Dalles, Oregon; and Ferndale, Washington (all those cities while working for one builder). Now he’s currently in Seattle.
In his free time, Omar enjoys looking for trails to hike, going off roading, biking, and doing basically anything that takes his two girls (16 and 15), 9-year-old boy and him outside in the peace and quiet around the mountains in the PNW.
Favorite Summertime Activity:
Listening to: Luke Combs to Cartel De Santa (Mexican Rap) to Snoop doog/Ice Cube/Dr.Dre

Jonathan Cruz-Martinez
Carpenter
Jon is a Mexican-American and has lived in the northwest for 18 years. He graduated from Meadowdale High School and enjoyed sports such as wrestling and football due to the discipline and competitiveness. Jon’s introduction to construction was being a framer. He started as the “Go-fer” until he was able to cut and measure, and soon after he got the privilege of starting to install walls and anything else pertaining to being a framer in the northwest. Jon is now a carpenter and enjoys being part of a select group as well as the whole process of a job. He’s a proud father of two beautiful children, and Jon and his wife have been together for five years. Jon enjoys whittling around in their garage working on house projects. He is a huge hiker as well; his favorite trails are Tiger Mountain and Mailbox Peak.
Favorite Summertime Activity:
Listening to:

Octavio Jimenez Duarte
Carpenter
Octavio brings a range of knowledge to the jobsite. He was a painter for a few years before he transitioned to working on framing, drywall, and finish carpentry which he has been skillfully mastering at Harjo for the past 5+ years. Octavio’s sense of humor brings our guys in the field together and adds to the camaraderie of the team. In a previous career, Octavio played in a band and would go on tour singing and playing keyboard! He is a family man so when he is not working, Octavio enjoys spending time with his son who is training to be a marine, watching boxing, and spending time by the water.
Favorite Summertime Activity: Camping with his family
Listening to:Juan Gabriel, an incredible song writer!