~ GarnBuilt ~

 As a young child, I thought having a dad who built cool tree huts, his own homes,  and by age 40 had built and sold over 100 homes was the norm. Many of these homes were sold to Vietnam Veterans who had recently returned home. Vets could qualify with no money down for the 800 - 1,200 sq. ft. starter homes.

Garn Christensen was born in 1939 in Salt Lake Utah. He was the youngest of four and raised mostly by his mother as his father died when he was 8. His mother Latuna, supported the family as an LPN nurse.

He was the first in his family to get a college degree thanks to Army ROTC. After his 4 years as an officer, he went on to work for IBM and AT & T. By age 30 he had left those and started his own business. Over the next decade, he grew a land development and construction company, owned his own savings and loan, and designed, fabricated, and marketed products for computerized finance, air quality testing, the display wall, and the toy shelf.

By the end of his 40s, he had reversed his economic growth, shut most everything down, and was working to create a new age community of people in a mountain wilderness. Things never quite materialized to what he hoped. Yet his new age/hippie refugee in the mountains did inspire many to go on an be builders, engineers, providers of public service, and creative and technical types of all flavors. The children and grandchildren of those involved still use the cabins and mountain hot tubs built there over the last 50+ years. 

Today, GarnBuilt is owned and operated by one of his children with assistance from a great granddaughter and other regional fabricators and designers. The hope is to continue to refine and expand our products through the never ending cycle of improvement inherent in the design and building process. We use all our products personally to ensure function and durability are always the foundation of everything we build.