About Barefoot Backyards
In 1977 Doug Woodside went to work for a small family homebuilding contractor Al Whitehead Construction, (AWC) .The Company was used to doing six homes a year but in the boom of 1978 & 1979 they had skyrocketed to sixty homes a year. After the boom went bust due to high interest rates in the early ‘80’s AWC changed to Corporate Construction and targeted the niche sector of building & remodeling restaurants. In 1981 he started working in the office & training to do estimates and take over operations. Things evolved and by the age of 22 he was field supervising jobs and by 25 he had sixty carpenters, two phones and was completing 4,000 to 7,000 square foot new restaurants and remodels in 90 days.
From 1985 to early 1989 Doug was on the decks of a long liner in the Gulf of Alaska as a commercial fisherman. He was married in 1987 and in 1989 he became a father. Though he enjoyed the industry and the challenges it brought both mentally and physically it became too much for Doug that his loved ones were on the beach while he was working somewhere in the Gulf of Alaska.
Woodside Construction, Inc. was established in 1989 and began building four to six homes a year. 1991 brought about new energy codes and this is where Doug’s interest in “Green Building” began. In 1995 he was recruited by the Home Builders Association of Kitsap County to become a member. The association had received a grant from the Department of Ecology to create the first public/private green built program in the United States. He was one of four builders and the consulting team of O’Brien and Associates to build this program whose mission was to “Move 100 Builders an Inch and not just One Builder a Mile.”They worked on this program for over a year and in the spring of 1997 released their 1996 version of “Build a Better Kitsap.” They received both state and national awards for their program and this program became the model for the National Association of Home Builders and most of the “Green Built” building programs in the United States. This accomplishment led to Doug speaking on public radio, cable TV features, newspaper features and speaking at seminars teaching others about advanced framing, conserving lumber and energy efficiency. Woodside Construction received the first Award of Excellence “Environmental Achievement Award” in 1997 for being the first builder in Kitsap County to walk the talk. In 1999 the company proudly received this award for a second time. Doug became president of the HBAKC and was also awarded the “Builder of the Year Award” in 2000 for efforts to promote the building industry. Green building was just starting to become the buzz and he spent time with Fannie Mae and others talking about incentive programs. As president Doug helped to grow the association from 365 to now over 650 current members as well as being a state and national director.
As a builder one of the things Doug is most proud of is his involvement with the Puget Sound Environmental Learning Center (now called Island Wood). In 2001 he was contacted by the owner’s representative to work on the staff and grad student housing from a design build perspective to control cost. This was a three year project for Woodside Construction. The company built all the staff housing, did the development and built an experimental wetland that the effluents from the drain field flowed through. It was an amazing project and they came in below budget!
2003 saw the winding down of Woodside Construction and the establishment of Barefoot Decks and Patio Covers. While Doug had enjoyed the Home Building Industry and contributing to the “Green” movement he felt it was time to focus on the outdoor living environment and “Making the Backyard A Better Place”. After four years of installing thousands of square feet in decking, thousands of lineal feet in railings and hundreds of patio covers Doug felt it was time to expand his service and product offerings. 2007 saw the completion of a new showroom featuring a wet tester spa and Aquatic Fitness System, becoming a Dimension One Spa and Aquatic Fitness Systems dealer, Twin Eagles BBQ; Primo; and Traeger Wood Pellet Grills dealer to mention just a few of the new products. The new showroom has led to a spa specialist, a spa service tech and an operations manager/sales support person for Doug.
2008 sees Doug having the time of his life. “Changing peoples’ lives by providing a first class service and first class products, going to home shows and having past clients come by to sing your praises, watching people have that moment of happiness when we put back their patio furniture on their new deck and they sit back and you can feel their joy, that’s what it’s all about for me now.”
