Skelton Home Services
Hi, I'm Ben Skelton, owner of Skelton Home Services, based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. We mostly provide clients with professional home remodeling and renovation services, but we do lots of things well!
I often tell clients that we can build, repair, or replace everything in, on, or around their house except the roof. That's just too far from the ground for my anxiety!
Here are some projects we've completed in the past year:
- hardwood floor refinishing
- new flooring installations
- interior stair remodels
- new drywall hanging and finishing
- drywall repairs and patching
- interior and exterior painting projects
- minor electrical and plumbing repairs
- custom carpentry, including wainscoting and cabinets
- new egress window installations
- door and window replacements
- deck design and builds
- lean to shed construction
- custom tiny home construction
- concrete sidewalk installation
- new tub/shower installation with tile work
- bath vent fan and range vent fan installation
I also specialize in designing, installing, and maintaining pollinator gardens and bird-friendly landscapes with a strict emphasis on using native plants. My sustainable and ecologically-minded practices are a benefit to both my clients and the natural world.
My family and I moved to Eau Claire in 2020 from North Carolina. My wife is an associate professor of education at the University of Wisconsin.
From 2015-2020, I owned a landscape design/build service in North Carolina. Before that, I worked at the North Carolina Botanical Garden doing invasive plant management and growing plants for habitat restoration work. I've been a Peace Corps volunteer in sustainable agriculture in Senegal, and I've worked as a middle school reading teacher, as well.
My passion for gardening comes from my parents, who are both avid gardeners in Mississippi. Their lifelong admiration and respect for the natural world was uninteresting to me when I was young, even though I earned a few dollars here and there picking up sticks in the yard. Now that I understand their love for gardening, I appreciate my time spent with them outdoors even more.
I served my community in North Carolina as a member of the town of Carrboro's Environmental Advisory Board, and I was a volunteer with the New Hope Audubon Society's Bird Friendly Habitat Certification program.
Please take a look at my Services page to see what I like to do, and see the Gallery page for a look at some of my favorite projects.
What My Clients Say
"Ben is every prospective landscape client’s dream. He arrives on time. He completes what he starts. He is knowledgeable about native plants, their growing requirements, and how to arrange them so they not only look great when he plants them, but also in following years. He knows how to correctly prune trees and shrubs, and his knowledge of invasive non-native plants and their control/eradication methods is invaluable. In short, Ben and his work are always professional and of top quality. I regularly recommend Ben to friends and strangers, and I haven’t received any negative feedback from any of them." ----- C.B.
"When Ben was recommended to me by both a volunteer at the NC Botanical Garden and a member of the New Hope Audubon Society, I knew I was on to something. I wanted someone who could help me transform my yard into a pollinator paradise and bird sanctuary. Not only has he helped me do just that, but it has been an ongoing pleasure to work with someone who is smart and knowledgeable, has a great sense of humor, and loves what he is doing." ----- S. G.
"You haven’t met Ben yet? You are in for a treat! If you want to work with someone who is knowledgeable, efficient, observant, and fun to be around, with wide-ranging experience in landscape maintenance and design in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area, look no further. He has perfected an easy method to control stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum)-need I say more? I predict that you will look forward to every session with Ben and I know that both your landscape and our ecosystem will benefit from his considerable talents." -----P.J.P.
“It has been a true pleasure planning and planting my garden with Ben. Ben is knowledgeable, friendly, efficient and reliable. He has a reservoir of plant knowledge and finds solutions for planting in even tricky soils, patchy light and dry locations. Ben works closely with the customer, allowing real collaboration and improvisation during the planting process.” -----A. G.
"Ben is a volunteer for and vital part of our Bird-Friendly Habitat Certification program. Ben serves as a native plant expert for the certification team, and his remarkable knowledge about both native plants and invasive plants is essential to the certification process on site visits to people's yards. Our program has been successful in encouraging people to make their yard's more bird-friendly, and Ben's contribution has been essential to this success." ----- Jim George, New Hope Audubon Society Director and co-chair of the Bird Friendly Habitat Certification committee.
"Ben and his team did a really great job doing the landscaping on our house. They did the work quickly and efficiently and met the time and cost estimates Ben provided before hand. Ben is very knowledgeable about all types of plants, particularly native plants, and he thinks carefully about what to plant and where. He also valued our feedback and worked hard to make our small project feel unique. His work is excellent and competitively priced, would recommend to anyone."
------- James W.