Who we are

For James “Jim Bob” Cucciarre, dependability is the goal for the contracting business he and his wife own. “I always try to look at it as if I was the customer, how would I want to be treated?” Communication is the number one thing. Jim believes it’s a key reason why Jim Bob Contracting has grown in 22 years from an operation based on the kitchen table at their home to a business which now employs 15 workers. “We show up and do what we say we’re going to do.”

A good old-fashioned work ethic helps, too. Cucciarre, whose middle name isn’t Bob, by the way, honed that attitude at an early age in the Catskill Mountains of New York where his father was in the construction business also. By the age of 16, Jim already had his first job at a furniture store and was made the night foreman. When he got his high school diploma, he struck out on his own and moved to Florida, working on a construction crew building houses. He stayed in Florida for several years, returned to New York where he met his wife-to-be, Robin, then returned to Florida.

In 1988, he accepted a job offer from an advertising company in Chattanooga as administration manager, and his wife was named office manager. That brought them to Southeast Tennessee and they rented a farm in Etowah while commuting to their jobs in Chattanooga. A year later, they went to work one day and were told the business had closed. And that was the start of Jim Bob Contracting. It wasn’t a matter of confidently launching their own business so they wouldn’t be left out of work again. “Actually, it was one of fear, because I didn’t know what to do.” They started with the smallest, simplest jobs, just trying to get established, mostly mowing yards and cleaning gutters.

It’s not as if Jim Bob Contracting was an overnight success, however. “It was a long, hard road to go”. “Anybody who starts a business, don’t think you’re just going to put out a shingle and make a million dollars right away.” Instead, getting a business established required hard work and patience. When Jim and his wife began, they started out earning about $5 dollars an hour. “We worked hard at it for about two years and then it took off.”

They’ve been in their present location in beautiful downtown Athens for 20 years. The company is licensed in plumbing, electrical, and carpentry. They also do fire restoration and water extraction work, as well as repairs from wind and hail damage. They provide both commercial and residential work with free estimates. Twenty-four hour emergency service is also provided. The work Jim Bob Contracting provides has ranged from “freebies” to $150,000 projects. Regardless of the price tag, the principles of reliability and communication with the customer remain the same.

Jim thinks those principles have helped overcome one if his initial concerns, that a transplanted New Yorker
with a northern accent might not go over so well in the South. That’s one of the reasons he took on the name
“Jim Bob”. “It’s not been an issue anymore,” he said. Jim keeps a humble attitude about the company’s growth
as well as its future. He continues his education to keep up with the times. Last year he completed solar training
at Cleveland State Community College and is now licensed in solar (visit our website at JBCSOLAR.Com). He
and his wife have been pleasantly surprised by the growth of the business. He’s also succeeded despite not
following all of his father’s advice. His father told him to get an education so he wouldn’t have to work as hard
as he had. “I got an education but I’m working like we did back then.” Not that it’s been a problem,
though. “We were raised on hard work.”