Val Solorzano began Chick Of All Trades as an one-woman shop, offering Home Remodeling Services to those of us intimidated by the typical estimate from Joe Contractor.

Motivated by her working knowledge of running a small business and seeking to help those working on a budget, Val started Chick Of All Trades with little more than her vision and tenacity to perservere.

In 2007, Val began Chick Of All Trades' sister company: C.O.A.T. Flagging, which offers Traffic Control Services for construction projects. It hit the ground running while providing flaggers on the Portland Transit Mall throughout downtown Portland during the Green Line installation. You have probably seen the "Chick Trucks" out and about the Portland area.

Duncan Hamilton, who worked most recently managing mortgage loan officers for another small business venture and before that in hotel and restaurant management for more than 10 years, began with Chick Of All Trades in 2008. He helps Val manage the office and handles the scheduling for C.O.A.T. Flagging.

 

Jaime Lee Christiana helps coordinate the office and focuses most of her time looking for bidding opportunities and deals with customer contracts. Jaime Lee is a singer and performer at heart and appears periodically at events in the area.

Thomas Staten also began with Chick Of All Trades in 2008. Thomas comes to us with an extensive background in construction and master carpentry. He oversees all Chick Of All Trades projects. Thomas recently became LEED certified and now holds his Weatherization Audit Certificate from the Building Performance Institute and conducts energy audits in conjuntion with the Oregon Energy Trust.