by Christy Heitger-Ewing

Originally from northwest Indiana, Joe Garcia earned a mechanical engineering degree from Purdue University before going to work at U.S. Steel in Gary. After moving to Indianapolis in 2001 to work as an engineer at Eli Lilly, Garcia built his own house and a seed was planted.

“I was ready for a career change and was itching to start my own business,” says Garcia, who erected a few spec homes on the side for a couple of years before diving, full-time, into the business in 2005.

“I left Eli Lilly in May, and my wife and I had our first baby on the way in December so people thought I was nuts to leave a stable job with insurance and all of that, but I knew I loved building homes so I went ahead and made the jump,” says Garcia, who, along with his wife launched G&G Custom Homes in May 2005, building beautiful custom homes on Indy’s northside.