HEATH AKERS

VICE PRESIDENT

Heath Akers also comes from a long line of California craftsmen. His grandfather built the family home on Avocado Street in El Cajon with his own two hands, back when the El Cajon Valley was still void of houses, full of trees, and wild horses who ran through those trees. 

Heath’s father, an electrician, has also worked construction his whole life, and Heath grew up on sites, helping with the family’s projects since he was able to hold a hammer. So, by the age of 15 it seemed natural that he would do the same. Heath’s first official construction job was as a laborer for a concrete company after school and on weekends.  He worked his way up the ranks quickly, from laborer to form-setter, pouring concrete and working as a carpenter.  

Heath’s life took a turn when he showed up to do some extra day labor at a site on Inspiration Street in La Jolla. “That truly was an inspiration,” he said of the project, which involved working on a 6,000-square-foot custom home. Heath so impressed his supervisor that he was offered a job on the spot with Solana Beach-based Wardell Builders, who he would work for over the next 20-plus years. 

At Wardell, Heath worked on hundreds of multi-million dollar homes, including at least a few properties valued at upwards of $25 million. He built underground parking garages in Del Mar, secret underground bars at mansions, and subterranean movie theaters, racking up knowledge and experience in the luxury home market in the process.

Headhunted by Pancho in 2021, Heath joined GDC as a partner and his goal is to help make the company the premier contractor in La Jolla, if not the whole of San Diego. “I want to build on GDC’s long, amazing heritage,” he said.

When he’s not working (and he freely admits to being a “workaholic,”) Heath manages his one-acre property in rural Ramona, where he and his wife Stacy tend for their three dogs, two bunnies, two donkeys and two 2yr old and 3yr old rescue horses that he and Stacy saved from slaughter. If there’s any time left after working on improvements to their own home, he and Stacy spend it with their four adult children and four young grandchildren.