Yet the elder Carey wasn’t willing to just pass all of what he built along to his son, Luke.

“I purchased the business from my dad in because that is how we were raised. He said, ‘I’m not just going to give it to you — you have to work hard.’ There is nothing free in my family,” Luke Carey said.

The Carey family has been in farming, ranching, logging and construction in the region for more than a century. Charles Carey Sr. was a barn builder and craftsman in the Dickinson County and surrounding areas in the early 1900s.

That history continued when his son, Lawrence, came along in the mid-1920s. Lawrence Carey eventually became a logger, farmer, miner, and jack of all trades after the Depression era.

The 1992 Carey Contracting family included Mike Carey, Colleen Carey and Lawrence Carey. (Carey Family photo)

As the construction boom came along in the 1950s, Mike Carey followed his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps in the trades. Mike Carey had a passion for construction, working with his father on multiple farm building projects.

He put himself through college doing different building projects such as decks, garages, sunrooms, house painting, home rewiring and plumbing, concrete and masonry, as well as anything else someone might hire an 18- to 23-year-old college student to complete.

In 1986, he founded Carey Contracting in Iron Mountain. Early on, he got his son involved as well.

“My dad brought me into the company when I was nickel high — mowing lawns, cleaning toilets, sweeping the warehouses. When I was old enough, he would throw me on crews, throwing lumber around, cleaning up job sites,” Luke Carey said.

Luke Carey graduated from Iron Mountain High School in 2013 and enrolled at Michigan State University to pursue a civil engineering degree. Yet only a short time into his studies, he realized he hated his chosen field — but was very familiar with the construction business.

CAREY CONTRACTING IS at 639 Industrial Drive in Iron Mountain. (Theresa Proudfit/Daily News photo)

Luckily, Michigan State was in the top five in the country for construction management, so it was easy for Luke Carey to change his major.

“As I was going to college, I was coming home in the summer, and he would teach me the estimating side, the salesmanship, the bidding, the general knowledge of what it takes to run a business,” Luke Carey said.

Luke Carey graduated from MSU in 2017 with bachelor of science in construction management. He considered working in Chicago or lower Michigan, but the idea of sticking with the family business, being his own boss and not having to work for someone else seemed a better option.

“Not many people get this opportunity, and it would be stupid to pass it up. So I called my dad up and said I would be interested in coming back. He was going to retire and close up shop,” Luke Carey said.

Mike Carey was happy to get the call. “As a dad, it’s thrilling to have your kids come into the business … to continue that trend is really nice. To be able to work every day with your kids. The Carey tradition of honest, hard work runs strong and deep through our family and our entire team,” he said.

Luke Carey officially took over his dad’s company Jan. 1, 2018.

The Carey Contracting team has 18 employees, including Mike Carey as vice president and head of estimating and sales and his wife, Colleen Carey, as office administrator.

“It was my first year getting up to speed with the employees and the crew and really putting together what I learned from my experiences growing up and college and applying it to the business. It’s been great. I’ve learned a lot. You can only learn so much in school. You really learn when you dive into it,” Luke Carey said.

As for working for his son, the elder Carey said, “I personally love it. I’m trying to escape to the back office, so I am here purely as a coach. I’ve been there, done that and had all the benefits of owning a business and now its time for him to do that,” he said.

Luke Carey is excited to take the reins. “I want to make a difference in the community that raised me and use the company as a tool to help solve the communities problems,” Luke Carey said.