Aaron Bartlett (left) with Prodigy Kitchen & Baths’ owner, Tom Dedio (right). Allstar Construction Services was responsible for installing all of the electric for Tom’s showroom.

Bartlett has been in the construction and electrical fields his entire life, so he knows his way around the job site. His parents ran their own contracting business in New Hampshire, followed by a move to South Carolina.

“Those trade fields are in my blood,” he says, with a laugh. “… I did start out wanting to go into the medical field to become a registered nurse because there was a big demand for them at the time, but I just couldn’t do it. The classes were very hard and it wasn’t me.

Instead, his career path returned to his roots, and his official training started in 1998 at age 21, when he took electrical night classes at Horry Georgetown Technical College. He also worked for an electrical and plumbing contractor during the day.

“I already knew some of the trades from my dad, but I really learned the trades in-depth here,” says Bartlett.

With that training fresh under his tool belt, Bartlett started his own business, Allstar Construction Services, that same year, with a full-force focus solely on electrical services for about two years. Soon after that, he built his own house locally, with the help of his dad, which was the catalyst for his current roster of services.

“When I started building that house, I had people coming along and saying, ‘Hey, you build a nice house. Could you build my house?’ And that’s how I started building houses,” says Bartlett. “They just saw my product and they asked me if I could give them a price and so forth, so I started custom-building houses.”

Bartlett returned to the technical college to get his general contractor’s license in South Carolina (and, more recently, North Carolina), and significant opportunities soon followed. Allstar became the selected builder in the Creek Harbour at Prince Creek development, featuring quite a few high-end homes, as well as the prestigious Blackmoor Golf Club, both in Murrells Inlet.

Both of these South Strand communities have a reputation for showcasing beautiful homes complete with custom features throughout the up to 6,000-square-foot and five-bedroom floor plans, plus lovely layouts with outdoor living spaces. And Allstar’s reputation for high-quality construction aligned perfectly with this.

“I love starting something new from the ground up to a final product and making the homeowner happy in anything that we do,” says Bartlett. “For example, we put three pendant lights up for a lady the other day and she was just beside herself … Things like that make their day for sure. Plus, we like it and get to make a living doing it.”

Bartlett backs his claim that Allstar will do any job of any scale – from full custom home builds to residential remodels and renovations to home additions to electrical wiring to just tasks around the house that his clients don’t want to tackle themselves as a DIY.

“I have clients that call me that have been with me for about 20 years and say, ‘Hey, can you hang some pictures for me? Can you hang some mirrors?’ says Bartlett. “These are older people that can’t do it themselves anymore, so I help. Sometimes they’ll call me for advice on who to call to do it, and I just tell them I’ll come over and do it. It gives them that peace of mind because they trust me and I trust them. … I always try to take care of my clients that have been with me and have been loyal to me throughout the years. Of course, we’re always looking for new work, but we’re very blessed by that loyalty. We don’t advertise very much; it’s all word of mouth.”

A prime example of word-of-mouth marketing was a recent remodel and addition project Allstar completed in the Mt. Gilead community in Murrells Inlet for Sara Hunt. She says all of her neighbors would stop by to ask her how the experience of working with Bartlett and the team has been, as Allstar crew transformed the front façade of her 1973 brick ranch into a more updated craftsman-style home.

Allstar Construction Services was responsible for transforming the front façade of this 1973 brick ranch home into a more updated craftsman-style home & also added the addition seen in the photo to the right.

“It needed more dimension because I didn’t like all the brick, so they replaced it with an accent Hardiplank,” says Hunt. “The addition on the side of the house was done to move my mother into a bedroom with a handicap-accessible bathroom. … Aaron was wonderful to work with! I never worked with a builder more trustworthy. I felt so comfortable with him and all of his subcontractors. He was just so honest. I would recommend him to anybody.”

Bartlett currently has two full-time employees and a loyal team of subcontractors that have been working with him for nearly 20 years.

“I cherish my employees,” he says. “They work long hours and they are the team with an engine that’s running all the time. They’re good people and I try to take care of them and listen to them, too.”

Jeannemarie Brady, a former client, appreciates the all-star team surrounding Bartlett. She hired Allstar Construction to build her new home in Surfside Beach that’s about a block from the ocean.

“We’ve known Aaron for like a zillion years, back when he was primarily an electrician – he was always our electrician,” she says. “And when we were getting ready to build our new home, he was our first to call. Because he’s been doing this for so many years, he easily referred us to a draftsman to get started. Aaron’s very good at what he does and very patient and accommodating. He also gives good suggestions when it’s needed.”

Allstar Construction Services was responsible for replacing all of the older doors in the parking garage area for this local resort. Allstar Construction Services works with several Property Management companies throughout the Grand Strand to handle many of their maintenance requests.

Allstar’s residential services are provided mostly up and down the Grand Strand, with a few new home building projects in Columbus County, North Carolina, as well as a possible townhome community slated to be built in Shallotte in the near future.

Electrical work still remains one of the pillars of Bartlett’s business. He currently wires new construction homes for four area contractors and has an ongoing schedule of punch-out electrical work for Realtors and property managers, from lighting to hot tubs and everything in between.

Neil Geiler, a Realtor with James W. Smith Real Estate Co. in Pawleys Islands, says Bartlett is one of his top-two referrals for his clients.

“I met Aaron through my father-in-law’s shutter business, used Aaron to do some things in my own house, and was so pleased and comfortable that I refer him to any of my clients in need of his services,” says Geiler.

When Bartlett isn’t hard at work, helping others, or solving problems, he enjoys hunting, fishing, & being outdoors with his wife Gina and children, Noelle (7 years old), Grace (5 years old) & Elijah (18 months old).