.png)
Date: 1/19/26
Duration: 22:17
Guest: Natalie Carter
Website: Driven Construction
Listen on Spotify:
Summary:
in Episode 19 of Living Local with Frisbee Real Estate, Ed sits down with Natalie Carter of Driven Construction, a husband and wife construction team that’s been building and improving homes for over 13 years across Western North Carolina and beyond. Natalie shares how she went from earning a business degree and working in the manufactured/modular home world to helping launch Driven Construction with her husband Brent, shifting from “office life” to hands-on work in the field.
Natalie explains what makes Driven stand out: they’re built for variety. From smaller residential projects to larger jobs, they tackle a wide range of construction needs and rely heavily on word-of-mouth referrals instead of advertising, which says a lot about their reputation. While they serve plenty of clients in Asheville, Hendersonville, and surrounding areas, their work has also stretched into South Carolina, Tennessee, and even as far as Austin, Texas.
The episode also touches on Hurricane Helene’s impact and what recovery has looked like from a contractor’s perspective. Natalie shares how four major projects were located in some of the hardest-hit areas, where missing roads, downed trees, and destroyed bridges brought work to a standstill. Even a year and a half later, she notes that places like Swannanoa and Black Mountain still show visible damage, and the long road to full recovery is far from over.
Keeping it local and fun, Ed and Natalie trade recommendations for where to eat in the Asheville and Hendersonville area, including Post 25, Hannah Flanagan’s, and favorite brunch stops like Seasons at Highland Lake, Arabella’s, Tupelo Honey, First Watch, and Red Stag Grill. There’s also a lighthearted “finish the lyric” segment that turns into a country-music win, plus a quick talk on local favorites like the Biltmore Estate, Grove Park Inn, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and even Topgolf trips to Greenville.
To connect with Natalie and Driven Construction, Ed points listeners to their website: drivenconstruction.co (yes, .co, not .com).
If you’re looking for a trusted construction company in Western North Carolina, or you want a real-world look at how rebuilding continues after Helene, this episode is packed with local insight, personality, and practical takeaways.
Watch on YouTube:
Transcript:
thanks for joining us today. My special guest is Miss Natalie Carter. She's with Driven Construction and we're super excited to have her. Natalie, thanks for joining us today. Thank you so much for having me. And we're on Living Local with Frisbee Real Estate. So Natalie, give us a quick overview of what Driven Construction is. what y'all do and a little bit about yourself. And then I have some questions. Okay. So Driven Construction is my husband and I's construction company that we started over 13 years ago. And we, you name it, we can do it. So there's not a job too small and there's not one too big. So we can spread the gamut ⁓ of whatever needs to happen. ⁓ We are very excited about the ⁓ future and what we have in our thoughts of where we want it to go and how we want it to grow. So I'm very excited there and a little bit about myself is my gosh. So went to school, got a business degree, then decided to get into the sort of kind of real estate world by selling manufactured and modular homes and then ⁓ And that was alongside my father-in-law and with Brent, my husband. And then we decided ⁓ sitting in an office was not always exactly what we wanted to do. So we decided to do more hands-on and then started the construction company. So here we are. are you from the area? I am. And what area is that? The Asheville. Asheville area. it. So a lot of people end up telling us they're from Hendersonville. or Fletcher, but you claim Asheville. Yes. That's awesome. Yes. And y'all do work just in the Asheville area or? No, we do work actually really all over. can really say the United States, mainly on the East Coast. lot of it is North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee. But we have actually had work all the way over to Austin, Texas. Wow. That's not on the East Coast. That is definitely not on the East Coast. So if people are listening, they're wondering about Driven Construction and they don't want to wait till the end. How do people find you or get in touch with you? So they can go to our website, which is drivenconstruction.co. is .co. It is not .com. They can find us there. And of course, there are ways for you to contact us through that website. And Driven Construction. Driven is D-R-I-V. Got you. It's nothing creative with a Y or anything. No, it is not. I'd like that. Just co drop off the ⁓ Correct. It's like there's a little hiccup. That's interesting. I have seen dot co's out there, but I haven't paid a lot of attention. Yes. Awesome. Well, thanks for joining us, Natalie. We're not ending, but tell us a little bit about family. Do you have family? I do have family. They live in the area also? Yes. You don't have to expand on the whole family tree, but yeah. So you have children? I do have children. Awesome. We have two boys. We have a 17 year old and we have a 13 year old. Awesome. And are they in construction also? No. So the 17 year old is a host at a local restaurant and he absolutely loves it. And he thrives there. Nice. A hundred percent. Our youngest actually I guess I couldn't I didn't really have to say no to construction He likes it. He's testing the waters to see if it's something that he wants to You know potentially make a career or dabble in so every now and then he will come to work with us and spend the day or spend a week and See if he's you know interested in that side of things. That's cool. I'm sitting here as you talk and I'm trying to reflect on the previous guests we've had on the podcast so far. And I think you're episode 19-ish maybe. ⁓ And I'm thinking, ⁓ full disclosure, my family met Natalie, Brent, her family in 2008 when we moved to the area. So all that to say, I'm thinking, have I interviewed someone that I've known that long? And I don't think I have. it's hard to attempt to remain professional about touching on personal stuff that I know about. each other. Natalie, how about food? Do y'all like to eat out? We eat out a lot just because of work. Gotcha. So, so ⁓ let's keep it to the Asheville, Hendersonville area. You have some favorite spots you recommend to people when they come visit the area. Like, hey, you got to go try and don't name McDonald's. I don't want to go to McDonald's. So one of our favorites is obviously where our son works is post 25. off of Henderson Verve Road. We love that because of the variety of their menu. So it's not just burgers and fries and things they have, they spread across all of the yummy entrees. So honestly, that's where we go a lot of the times, but we also like to go to Longhorn, some of your staples off of Airport Road. So that's kind of your... Your area Airport Road ish. Airport Road ish. Hendersonville, South Asheville, yes. And post 25 in case people are wondering is South Asheville area. is South Asheville, ⁓ You've only named two so far. Is there a third by chance? So we don't spread out a whole lot because really post 25 is where we go. go-to. That is our go-to. ⁓ I would probably say actually here in Hendersonville we like to go to Hannah Flanagan's. yeah. We do like to go there. That is one of our favorites here in Hendersonville to go to. Nice. I don't know if anyone's ever mentioned Hannah Flagons. Ed (06:34) So what about brunch? Do y'all go out to brunch anytime? I think I've seen you out once or twice at brunch. Okay. Yes, we love to go to brunch. That is our weekend thing as a family. And thank you for clarifying that because some people may not know what brunch is. Okay. Gotcha. So we go. Anywhere from 1030 to 1145 is what we consider brunch time. Yes. So where we like to go is we like to come out here to Seasons at Highland Lake in Hendersonville. Yes. We like to come to Arabellis that's right here in downtown Hendersonville as well. We also enjoy going to Tupelo Honey. That's south Asheville. And then at the Bohemian Hotel, we have went to the Red Stag. We have been back there once since Hurricane Helene. That was my next question. They got back up and running. We also like to go to First Watch. Of course, we would go to the one that was downtown, but it is definitely not there anymore as far as downtown Asheville. So we come to the one here off of Longsholz. I only knew of the one on Longsholz. I didn't know there was one downtown in the past. ⁓ yes. So it got, of course, with Hurricane Helene, it got flooded. I didn't know. Yes. I've heard great things about it though. It's very good. We like it a lot. So speaking of Helene, what has been your experience? What have you seen happen since Hurricane Helene damage, recovery, fill it in? It has definitely been very eye opening for us. ⁓ We chose as a construction company to not really I guess the best word would say chase the work that we knew that would be there potentially. We would much rather it come to us. ⁓ We don't advertise per se. It's all word of mouth is how we get our business. So we have been very fortunate and very blessed through this trying to navigate because when Hurricane Helene hit Four of our major projects were in the hardest hit areas. So we drove out that following Tuesday just to see ⁓ if we had an opportunity to even show up at one of the sites. And we could not because there were roads missing, there were bridges missing. Of course, all of the trees and power lines and all those things were in the way of us being able to even get to a job site. So that was a... very ⁓ interesting time whenever you knew that you had that much work ahead of you and then it basically comes to a halt. So you almost feel like you have to start over, semi, know, contacting people just to, you know, because you have a team of people that are counting on you. So we... sort of kind of just made some phone calls and things just happened and we got very busy. So we are very blessed to not have much of a lull in that time and space, but it has been definitely an awesome opportunity to see how the community has come together during this, ⁓ to see people and businesses helping out other businesses. ⁓ But I think There's still lots that has to be done. It is definitely not over. You can still drive down through the streets and see how much is still here that still looks like it did after the water receded. So when you say that, what parts of town do see it worse still? We're almost a year and a half away from the hurricane. We are definitely the Swannanoa Black Mountain area is probably one of the hardest. areas to actually still drive through. It's it's just mind boggling to know where the water level was and to know the roads that we drive on that water was still above us 10 or 15 feet potentially. ⁓ So those areas are still probably the most prominent ones that for me it's really hard to take a drive on the backside. I think if people have never experienced a hurricane, it's hard to wrap your mind around the damage and destruction, the power of water. Especially being in the mountains. Excuse me. So I think that's with us traveling with work, going down to South Carolina into Tennessee, some of the areas that got maybe remnants of it, but they didn't get hit as hard as we did. When you say that you're from Asheville and they ask how we were affected, it is very difficult to explain to them and help them understand just the magnitude of what it really looked like. ⁓ Because just like you said, it's just not something that you would expect to have happen in the mountains and how much water can really do. Yep. What's happened with real estate since the hurricane is some people are afraid to come to the area because they, you know, start to think we're now like Florida, which is far from the truth, but you can't tell people otherwise if that's what they have in their head. But, ⁓ it's, it's funny to think how, it's actually, as I'm saying that I can think it's people from Florida, which is weird to me. You're living down there. So from our perspective, you're in. Hurricane Alley in there. yeah, the destruction is for people not... We've come so far as a community. And when I say community, I'd say 50, 100 mile radius. Correct. In the past year and a half, but there's still lots of pockets with years of repair. And that repair is roads, utilities, some houses, things like that. Yeah, every day is better. It is. what I would say. It is. So Natalie, I know you like to sing. So I I have something Exciting that I'm gonna do and I and because you like to sing. I'm pretty sure you're good with lyrics So I'm gonna test you. I have a few little a few little things We want to call this living local Finish the lyric Maybe yeah, I think you'll be great at it I'm not gonna name the song. I'm not gonna name the artist, but I'm gonna sing I'm not singing I'm gonna say a phrase and see how you do. If I have to hum, I will, so. You might have to hum. We'll see how you do first. Okay. Just a small town girl. See, I see it in my head. Woo, just a small town girl. You know, see it. Living in a lonely world. All right, we'll try again. That's Journey. That's from the 80s. Maybe that's, maybe you're younger than I thought. or, let's try a different in 82, how about that? I can't sing this one, but this hit, That Ice Cold. Say that again? This hit. That ice cold. Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold. Yeah, no. Uptown Funk? You don't know Uptown Funk? No. Wow. Okay. I live in the, it's sort of like a bubble. Country? Some. All right, let's try Country Let's try Country. All right. I thought this would be, you'd be doing better than this. I told you I'm terrible. Actually, you need to ask. here's one, here's one, okay. Ask my husband, he's very I got friends in low places. Yes. Do I really have to sing it? what do don't have to sing, just tell me the words. I got friends in low places. That's what I said. I know. You have to finish it. I know this. ⁓ Hold on a minute, I'm singing this song in my head. Okay. where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases my blues away. We need like a little buzzer or a little bell that goes off. Sorry, I had to sing in my head. All right, so since you did better with country, let's try another country song. How about, oh, I can't remember this tune. Headed down south to the land of the pines. To the land of the pines. It's Wagon Wheel. Yeah, I'm thumbing my way. into North Carolina. there you go. Waggon Wheel. Good job. One more? Sure. Natalie, so people already know that watch, see the scripture verse. So I'm a Christian. So we're going to jump to a Christian song. How's that? Sounds good. I think you're a Christian too. I am. Good job. All right. So this is a newer Christian song. OK. Life gave me some lemons. But my Jesus, he been making lemonade, lemonade. I know, I guess that's a way new one that this one I love that song. I have not heard that Oh, it's called Lemonade. By who? Forrest Frank. Oh. You'll have to go cue it up and listen to I will have to. Oh, Natalie, I'm sad. Wait, but it could be that I've actually heard it. You would know it. not paying attention that it's actually saying lemonade. You would know it and probably start dancing. Probably, more than likely, yeah. ⁓ Last one, let's see... You know I like my chicken fried. Cold. ⁓ you went back to country. Yeah, sorry. Cold beer on a Friday There you go. All right. We'll have to end it there, Good job. Yes, thanks. I have several pages of this, but we'll end it there. Maybe we'll have another episode someday and see. All right. So you've told me your favorite restaurants. How about favorite things to do when people come visit? Even though all your family's in the area, ⁓ if you had out of town guests come, say, hey, you got to go check out. Blink. Goodness. See, I'm just a laid back. just a small town girl. I am a small town country girl. So being at home because we are out a whole lot with work, being at home and just chilling is normally key. But I would say take a drive over to the Biltmore estate. Love to love to go over there. Also, actually, the Grove Park. to go over there. Good answer. No one's ever said the Grove Park. Go over to the Grove Park. Even staying there is nice. Staying there is nice. Their spa area is wonderful. Yep. I would say, let's see to the area. See, we like to go, we actually like to go down to Topgolf in Greenville. wish we had a Topgolf here in the Asheville-Hendersonville area, but I don't know if we have the space. I don't know if we have the population to support that but I could be wrong. don't know. So we do like to go to Topgolf. Topgolf is fun to go to. I'm trying to think as far as other local places to go to. I don't think everyone's ever said Biltmore surprisingly so good job. People tend to answer things more specific to the Hendersonville area which isn't what I'm looking for but ⁓ that's good. Blue Ridge Parkway. We have driven it from start to finish. Yep. I remember hearing stories of that, especially because y'all are into cars. So y'all, if I recall correctly, y'all have taken quite a few trips out on the parkway. We have. For a few hours, days or whatever. My last question I always like to ask guests is roundabouts. don't know how many roundabouts you've seen in the areas you live in or venture out and about, but are you yes roundabouts, no roundabouts? Honestly, I think it's It really just depends on where it is and if it's functionable. ⁓ We have been in the lots of areas that have roundabouts, namely like Hilton Head Island. I think there it works very well. We have recently been out to the Brevard area. The ones that they have placed out there work. I have heard mention, I cannot say for sure or for fact, that there's talk about putting some in the South Asheville area. Where those are potentially looking to be placed, I'm not 100 % sure it would work very well with how much traffic is in that area. So I think it just really just depends on where it's at. How about y'all drive big trucks? We do. and you sometimes pull things. do. Do you like roundabouts then or not? It has to be like a substantial like roundabout. mean it needs to be. It needs to support that. It needs to support that. Have you been through the double roundabouts? Yes, we have. Yeah, so there's one being built starting this year like into Church Street in Hendersonville. Wow. Yes. Okay. To help kind of combine that area. That's been on the plans for a while, but I've watched them start to flag it and prepare it. So that'll be really interesting to see. And I'm told it's a double. So, which is hard to wrap my mind around. Lots of real estate has to go into that. Yep. For sure. And there's older people in the area that have to learn to navigate that. So that'll be exciting. Maybe by the time it's finished, I'll be one of those older people. I don't know. ⁓ All right, well, we're running out of time, Natalie. Thank you very much for taking time to be here off your busy schedule. Thank you for having me. sure to reach out to Driven Construction. Their web address is drivenconstruction.co. Yes. This is Natalie Carter. Her husband is Brent Carter. Driven Construction. So drivenconstruction.co. .co. All right. Yes, sir. If you have questions on eating out at post 25, you can reach out to Brent and Natalie, sounds like. They'll help you out. We can. As always, thank you for watching. Thank you for listening and keep living local.