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Photo by Sam Yu
Barry McNeill, owner of Gemstone Contracting, cuts lumber on a renovation job in downtown Frederick.
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Inside the ground-floor space at 100 E. Patrick St. in downtown Frederick , Barry McNeill shuffles briskly through the wood dust and boards, and the loose jumble of construction detritus.McNeill, who runs Gemstone Contracting with the help of one employee, has been remodeling historic buildings downtown since 1996. He is most proud of the restoration he did about five years ago at 2 N. Market St., replacing about 75 of the building's windows. "I enjoy keeping the old stuff," he said. "I take a lot of pride in this work." He also manages 15 commercial spaces and 50 rental units. As he checks the phone fastened at his hip for a missed call, he explains that he is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to help tenants with faulty sprinkler systems or leaky faucets. The two jobs keep him busy enough, and if there happens to be a lull, he fills it with independent contracting work such as adding on a porch or other home projects. In the past seven years, McNeill, 46, said he has taken one day off because of a back injury. Lying in bed while recovering was not pleasant; he was "climbing the walls," he said. Even brief vacations leave him eager to return to work. A normal day brings him to the job site at dawn, and home at dusk. If dinner is sitting in the microwave when he arrives, that's OK, he said. McNeill's work life has two basic rules: No. 1: Put food on the table and pay the bills. This rule includes living within his means and not accumulating personal debt. His truck, for example, has about 190,000 miles on it and he has no intention of buying a new one until it is beyond repair. No. 2: No matter how secure a person is in a job, someone else can always take over as a replacement. "Don't give them a chance to do it," he said. Letting tenants into their apartment after they've lost a key is not a requirement of his job, but McNeill said he is happy to do it to keep his clients satisfied. His daughter, Brittany McNeill, said growing up, she remembers her father working all the time. Having parents who are constantly on the go taught her a lesson about balance in her life. Brittany, 21, works as a defense contractor and is studying for a master's degree in national security from Johns Hopkins University. She attributes her success in part to her father's example. "I didn't expect things to be given to me," she said. "I knew I had to do it myself." "He has consistently encouraged me to achieve beyond even my own personal best, always leading by example," she wrote in an e-mail. -- Nicholas C. Stern
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