Our History
We have been on a mission from day one to create a positive impact in other people’s lives, starting with our employees and extending to our customers and the communities we serve.
Jessie and Travis Martin founded the company on April 28, 2003, with a truck and one employee. We ramped up the company quickly and developed a niche in fast-paced volume housing.
In 2008 the housing collapse struck, and we nearly went out of business. We survived without bankruptcy or restructuring by scratching and clawing for jobs, inside and outside of our industry. In 2011 there was a “last man standing” feeling in our market and we began to grow the company again.
Over the years, other like-minded leaders in the construction industry took notice of what we have created with the Chesapeake brand and wanted to be a part of it. Since 2008 we have proudly launched 4 new companies – Chesapeake Climate Control, LLC, Chesapeake Fire Systems, LLC, Chesapeake Home Performance, LLC, and Chesapeake Home Services, LLC.
In 2014 we made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in the nation, and we’ve been on the list every year since then.
We didn’t do all this hard work alone. We would like to extend special thanks and gratitude to the following people – Kathy and Bert Winfield for the mentorship, Dick and Karlene Martin for being both the eternal optimist and the voice of reason, and our amazing employees who have helped shape and mold this company into something really special.