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My name is Sam Mitchell, I reside in Gardiner, NY and was born and raised in Pine Bush, NY. After graduating from Pine Bush High School in 2012, I joined the 109th Airlift Wing as a guardsman in the United States Air Force. I worked in Aerospace Propulsion on LC-130 “Skibirds”, deploying to Greenland and Antarctica. I attended SUNY Cortland, where I majored in Community Health. After completing my undergraduate coursework, I was hired by the City of Middletown as a Career Firefighter, where I have worked since 2017. I married my wife, Melina, in 2021 and we welcomed our first child, Iris, in 2023.

From an early age, I took a great interest in solving problems. I grew up idolizing my father, who could fix just about anything. From building houses, to repairing cars, to restoring power to whole neighborhoods after a big storm rolled through. It always seemed like there was nothing my father couldn’t figure out, and I wanted to be just like him when I grew up.

My father worked as a Lineman for NYSEG for 28 years. During that time he moonlighted building and renovating houses, getting out of work at 4pm, sometimes working until after midnight and through his weekends. I watched him solve problems, and transform raw land and dilapidated houses into beautiful homes. It piqued an interest in me and I sought to learn everything I could from him as I got older. After retiring, he set off on a new adventure as his own boss building and remodeling homes in and around Warwick, NY where I worked with him on my breaks from college and time off of work until he chose to retire (again).

I was also fortunate to have my stepfather as a teacher. A carpenter by trade, he owned and operated his own construction company for over 20 years in Sullivan County before making a career change into construction sales.

During my time away from the firehouse, I remodeled 2 homes of my own, and worked for an exterior remodeling company in sales. Remodeling my own homes gave me a chance to prove the skill set I had developed over my life, and working for that exterior remodeling company afforded me invaluable experience and insight into the world of contracting. It helped me build relationships with local building suppliers, stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies in construction(which quickly became a passion), and helped me to understand what homeowners are looking for in a contractor.

Time and time again, I found myself hearing the same message from homeowners.

“Thank you so much for coming out, nobody else called me back”

or

“The other guy I called never showed up”

I was frequently presented with the same problem: the job I was called out to provide an estimate for was too small for our company. The company I worked for had a minimum price for all jobs. This was not unique to the company I worked for, nor was the owner of the company trying to take advantage of anyone. Like many others, he had a large crew relying on him to feed their families, a limited number of vehicles and equipment to spread across different jobs in different areas, and a large amount of overhead. All this meant that his business was not built to tackle small jobs.

Many times, I would see the small repair needed, and think to myself “I could have this done in an hour or two for a whole lot less than our minimum”.

I would inevitably tell them, “Unfortunately, we have a minimum on all jobs. You could get a much better price if you called a handyman”.

I gave out many referrals for projects outside of our area of expertise, but for small projects, it was exceedingly difficult to recommend a reliable handyman who delivered professional results.

Problem, meet Solution.

The goal of Meadowlark Contracting is to provide Honest and Reliable Handyman Services that deliver Professional Results, no matter the size of the project, while maintaining low overhead and great value for our Services across a wide range of trade specialties. If a job falls outside of my abilities, I am more than happy to refer you to a local professional whose character and skill I can personally vouch for.