Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Me and my wife got together really young, she was 14 and I was 15. She got pregnant with our daughter Bianca Tavares (Borracho Miche Mix). Being so young, I didn’t know how I was going to support her and our baby so my father in law took me into work with him at a paint and body shop and taught me just about everything I know! Then at 17, my wife was expecting our second child, which is Lil Caddy… I knew I needed to make more money, being that my family was growing. I decided to become a painter because I knew that they made good money. After many mistakes and errors and never giving up I eventually became a certified painter. Now I always knew I wanted to have my own business so in 2002, we moved to Dallas from Houston to open up Caddy’s Customs but of course, it wasn’t that easy. I couldn’t afford NOT to work so I had a full-time job as a painter and worked after work, late nights and weekends at home to get to my goal of opening up my own business…
I was finally able to open Caddy’s Customs in 2004 and I was the only employee. I talked to customers, I gave estimates, I answered the phone and I did all the labor work. I started to get busy so I told my wife (Isabel) it was time for her to leave her job and come work with me and so she did. We have worked together for 16 years and we wouldn’t have it any other way. As our children got older, they came to work for us. They started at the age of 16 and grew within the business. Bianca was the first to graduate and became a licensed insurance adjuster and handled the office along with my wife. Bianca has since got married and started her own journey with her husband. Lil Caddy graduated and became a certified painter. Who now is Caddy’s Customs official painter and works side by side with me every single day! That’s how we came up with “Where One Family Turns Automotive Dreams into Reality” Things we’re going good with our business, our family was strong and we were blessed… But God had other plans and blessed me and Isabel even more with our third child Isaiah who is one years old right now. I know my son Lil Caddy will eventually take over our business and I know he will teach his little brother Isaiah everything I have taught him and our business will be forever ongoing and my name will live on.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We had to work hard to get our name out there and sometimes underbid jobs just so our work could be seen and in the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I was gonna have enough work to pay the bills. Especially now that my wife and I had no other income. We have always had faith in God and Strongly believe That he didn’t get us this far to take it away. I do my part and get up every day and work hard. I have not worked any less then the day I started.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Caddys Customs is a paint and body shop. We do paint, custom work, audio, upholstery. “Where one family turns automotive Dreams into reality,” We are well known for our paint jobs Lil Caddy does and proud of all our work. The difference between us and other shops is we are a one-stop shop. We do it all in house.
Contact Info:
- Address: Caddys Customs 612 Franklin Desoto, TX 75115
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: Caddys Customs
- Facebook: Caddys Customs
- Youtube: Caddys Customs
