Faces in the Crowd: Josh Stiles

For half of his life, Josh Stiles has been working in construction.
He got his start at the age of 16, working on homes at the career center in Jackson County, Michigan.
And after moving to Marion in 2020 – along with his wife Erica, and their 7 kids – he’s continued his construction career with their family-owned company, Your Way Construction.
Although the couple is relatively new to the area, they’re loving the peace and quiet that comes with being out in the middle of nowhere. They love building a family-owned company and being a part of the Marion community.
We caught up with Josh recently and learned a little bit more about his story, his company, and family. We learned that Josh Stiles is certainly more than just another face in the crowd.
Marion Press: Where were you born and raised?
Josh: Born and raised in Jackson County, but if you were to [be more specific] it would be the Hanover-Horton area. I went to East Jackson High School.
MP: What kept you busy growing up? Is construction something you’ve always been doing?
Josh: Always done it. Everybody in my family was either in the Army, or in construction. I chose to stay out of the Army – because of everything going on at the time – and did construction! We had a career center in our high school; I did construction there. We built a few houses as part of our construction projects down there through the school program. Other than that, I did volunteer firefighter work as well.
MP: How’d you find your way to Marion?
Josh: Me and my wife [Erica] – we’ve been together for about 4 years now. So it’s me, Erica, and our 7 kids! Her mom lived in Houghton Lake at about the time we got together. When we moved up here, we liked the area, but we wanted to be maybe an hour, 45 minutes from all family. So we picked the center of Michigan! We found the house, and we’ve lived here going on 3 years now.
MP: What were your first impressions? We’re you at all familiar with the area?
Josh: I had never even heard of Marion. I’ve got family in Kalkaska, and Traverse City, so I was definitely familiar with northern Michigan. My grandpa lived in Manton, which isn’t too far away.
But when we first moved here, and we got our house – we got a really decent house for all of us, on 10 acres, out in the middle of nowhere – so that was perfect for all of us. Marion is a really small town, with the one four-way stop, and we fell in love with that; because there ain’t much to it. And that’s what we wanted – the peace and quiet.
MP: Tell us about Your Way Construction. How did that come about?
Josh: Before Your Way Construction, I had Stiles Construction, and I was a subcontractor through Lowe’s with that company as well – that was before my wife and I got together. Once we were married, we wanted our own thing; and we wanted it family based. Something that the kids could grow up and take over…
When we moved to Marion, I got back into subcontracting through Lowe’s. For the first year, I was subcontracting with Lowe’s and doing decks, windows, doors, fencing, through Your Way Construction. Then I got sick of the travel – I was spending 4 hours on the road some days. It definitely kept me away from home. The pay was great, but it was crazy as heck hours.
I had taken a break last winter, after my first season up here with Lowe’s, and stayed home with the kids. Erica had wanted to go back to work, and she ventured out and realized that she didn’t really care to do her type of work anymore either. So right after this past Christmas, we finally buckled down and decided, “You know what? Let’s do what we want to do. Let’s get it done. We’ll get everything set up and start getting some clientele and start spreading the word about Your Way here in Marion.”
We got started with snowplowing, and it was probably April when we got our first construction job. And things started taking off from there.
MP: What all types of construction projects do you take on?
Josh: We do from the ground up, anything. Foundation work, to roofs, to chimney work. This year, we’ve mainly worked on roofing, decking, remodels, bathrooms, doors… We do a lot of that. On the website, you’ll read, “No job too big or small.” We try to do everything. We’re always really clean, we’re always real thorough. If there’s something that somebody is unsure of, we’ll always [work with them]. Everybody that works for me, and everybody that I work with has a pretty good mindset, so it works out pretty well.
MP: What do you enjoy the most about working in construction?
Josh: The end result. Seeing everything come together. Seeing how everything turns out. Not only that, I like teaching, and having new things to teach every job – because no job is the same.
MP: Outside of work, what keeps you busy?
Josh: I have 7 kids, so they keep me pretty busy. And on top of that we have 4 dogs. I’ve got a boy in football right now, and a couple girls who want to do volleyball and basketball. They do a little bit of everything. Between 7 kids, 4 dogs, and I think we’re down to 4 or 5 chickens… Not a whole lot of time. And I’m a busy body. Even at home, I’m remodeling our house, and constantly cutting down trees. My end goal would be to work on cars and have my own garage one day.
MP: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Josh: Every time I get down in the dumps, I call my dad, John, and he tells me to keep plugging away, and to never give up. And that’s what I do.