Before Craig Lenard ever learned to swing a hammer, he learned the rhythm of a job site. As a kid in the late 1980s, he rode in his dad’s truck to job sites, the Hill Country passing by in early morning blue. His earliest memories are less playground and more plywood - picking up trash, sweeping sawdust, being “paid in donuts,” as he puts it. “I was raised in this environment,” he said. “Some of my very first memories in general are on a job site…. I worked framing houses with my dad and brother.”
And yet, the first decade of Craig’s adult life took him somewhere else entirely, into the classroom. He earned an ag education degree from Tarleton State, joined the rodeo team, and spent nearly ten years teaching agriculture, science and technology from Glen Rose to Boerne. If you had asked him then what he would retire doing, he might say, “I would have absolutely told you I’d be a teacher until they made me stop.”
But in 2017, something shifted. Slowly and insistently, he felt pulled back toward Lenard Crafted Homes, the family business. “I just felt God leading me,” he said. It did not fully make sense given the timing and the love he had for teaching, but he trusted the nudge. He left the classroom and stepped into the builder’s role he thought he had already left behind.
Within six months, he understood exactly why he had been called back. His mother was diagnosed with stage four cancer. His dad who ran the job sites and his mom who kept the books, were suddenly gone for months at a time, traveling from Houston to Arizona to Mexico for treatment. Craig had barely learned the software, much less the systems.
“All of that knowledge…” He said, “Gone. I just kind of fought it out. I had never used QuickBooks before, but I had people needing checks. And I had never billed clients before, but I needed to bill clients so I could pay people. I had to figure out how to do estimates, too”.
He calls that year his baptism by fire. A trial of a year that forced him to build what his father never needed - an actual company rather than just a job. A business with structure and systems and a future.
He worked with a business coach for years, building the company backwards from a future exit strategy, something unimaginable at the time. And yet, he said, “What has happened is exactly what we planned,” Even if he did not fully believe it was possible in the moment.
But the moment that truly reshaped Lenard Crafted Homes was not a business crisis. It was personal.
Craig and his wife had been living in what should have been a dream home, until unexplained illnesses began appearing in their family: Cognitive symptoms, respiratory issues, fatigue. Eventually, they discovered hidden mold. Not the dramatic black splotches people imagine, but strains nearly invisible unless you shine a light just right. Mold in the walls, behind tile, in the roof deck and inside the HVAC system. All symptoms of what Craig calls “standard building practices that are slowly killing people.”
Their home had to be torn down. And Craig, who once saw himself simply as a builder, became something else entirely - a student of building science and environmental health. He’s currently studying to become a building biologist. High performance construction was no longer a luxury upgrade. It became essential.
“It drove me to a nerdiness of needing to holistically understand how home systems work,” Craig said. “If we’re going to force ourselves to live in a box, a house, we’ve got to control it in the same way that nature is controlled…. Which means we have to filter the air, we have to circulate the air.”
That meant managing air, moisture, temperature and toxins with the same intentionality that commercial builders have used for years. It meant sealed and conditioned attics, rainscreens, hybrid insulation strategies, multistage HVAC and ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator) systems that keep indoor air clean, dry and balanced, just to name a few.
And despite the technical leap, Craig said the cost increase is modest, often only three to five percent above standard construction.
“Would you pay three percent to protect your investment,” He asked. “Or your children? Or your wife? Or your husband?”
Today, Lenard Crafted Homes builds mostly luxury custom homes, some in traditional neighborhoods but more often on private land spread across Kerrville, Fredericksburg and the rural stretches in between. Their niche is serving clients who want not only a house, but an entire property brought to life. They handle wells, roads, gates, septic, land planning and the home construction itself. Many of their clients live out of town, but the company’s communication-forward approach, including daily updates through a client portal, keeps stress low even when homeowners are watching from another state.
Unlike most home builders, projects are fixed-cost. “People walk in, and it's like walking into a resort,” Craig said. “[They say] I can take a deep breath in here. It’s fresh. Our homes feel different.”
And that’s the whole point, Craig explains. Their homes may look the same. But the underlying systems keeping the home alive, ventilated and conditioned are not the same. “We build homes to protect the people living inside them,” Craig said.
One might say houses built by Lenard Crafted Homes breathe easy, and that helps their clients do the same.
From the Lenard Crafted Homes website:
"Lenard Crafted Homes are built to last. Each home is thoughtfully crafted to be a healthy, high-performance environment where families can truly thrive. From the materials selected to the systems installed, every detail is designed to promote clean air, energy efficiency, and long-term comfort. Whether it’s a peaceful custom retreat in the Texas Hill Country, or a luxury custom home in Kerrville, TX, the goal remains the same: to build with excellence, create spaces that support physical health, peace of mind and honor God in the process."
Lenard Crafted Homes is located at 429 Peterson Dr. in Kerrville. Contact Lenard by phone at 830-928-8311 or view their website at lenardcraftedhomes.com.
Their home had to be torn down. And Craig, who once saw himself simply as a builder, became something else entirely...
“We build homes to protect the people living inside them,” Craig said.