When Chandler Cabinets began, the staff was all family— Buster Chandler, Vickie Chandler and Danny Chandler.
“It’s incredible what my dad and my mom started and we’re able to continue the legacy,” Chandler Cabinets CEO Josh Chandler said. “... It’s even more meaningful we were able to build it with them.”
In the beginning, it was Buster and Danny building and installing the cabinets.
'It was those two, and then they slowly started adding people,' COO Coby Chandler said. 'They were in Krugerville at that time, so that's when they opened in '76.'
When Josh and Coby were growing up, they were helping with the business.
'If there was an off day or an early day out of school, I was expected to go to work,' Coby said.
Vickie took care of the operations side of the business in an era when fewer women worked outside of the home.
Josh and Coby both expressed gratitude for the example their parents set for them.
“When my dad was in his prime, I was coming out of college and was able to help, and then my brother joined us and we ended up being a great team,” Josh said.
Now that they are at the helm of the company, the brothers lean into their strengths and personalities to balance each other in the business.
Josh serves as the visionary, pushing them to grow and explore new opportunities.
Coby is the quiet strength in the office who ensures everything is running smoothly and the staff has what it needs to operate.
It’s that approach that harmonizes the business as it grows.
“I have big hopes and my brother helps me pull back and kind of meets me in the middle and makes it work,” Josh said. “You can’t be the visionary without somebody on the operational side.”
One positive side effect of the growth in the housing market is Chandler’s location makes it easy to head out to jobs throughout North Texas.
“We love Pilot Point, and it ended up working out in our favor because everything’s moving north,” Josh said.
Over the last 50 years, the number of people on staff has grown by leaps and bounds, but the focus on a family atmosphere has stayed the same.
Because they worked side by side with their parents to grow the business, Coby and Josh have experience in every aspect of the business, which their staff know.
'It takes everybody,' Coby said. 'You can't take that for granted, for sure. I think you get a level of respect when you work side by side with people and they know you've been there, you've done it and you know what you're talking about.'
And Josh and Coby keep working on staying connected to the process.
“Even with the automation, ... we continue to learn because we want to know what’s going on,” Josh said.
From early on, Josh was often out in the field and Coby was in the shop, Coby said.
That grew into the way they split the leadership duties when they took over the company for their parents.
The work Buster did to get good customers and build strong relationships set up the business to grow, Coby said.
'That was really key,' he said. 'We got some really good accounts and just built off of it.'
They have to continually work to keep those developers happy as well, Coby said.
'It's not like you've got a contract and you're locked in,' he said. 'They can boot you anytime they want.'
Service and pricing the product well is important.
'And just building a good product,' Coby said.
That requires a good team.
Their employees are grateful for the way the company treats them.
Jerrid Dye, who handles IT for the company as well as some of the operations, has worked at Chandler Cabinets since 2016.
'Buster Chandler took me under his wing years and years ago, brought me in and treated me like family ever since,' he said. 'Josh and Coby have been the same way. I look forward to coming to work every day. … I love this family. This is like my second family.'
Cassandra Dye, who greets everyone who comes to the front doors and is Jerrid's wife since 2024, joined the staff in 2020 as her children got older.
'It was just like a prayer answered,' she said. 'They're so family-oriented and just family-driven. It means the world to be able to still provide for your kids but be there for your kids.'
Soon after she came to work at Chandler, her mother joined the staff, too.
Chris Carr, who has worked for Chandler Cabinets for several years, loves the 'family-oriented' feel of the business.
'Even though it's large, it operates like a small family,' he said.
He also loves the way the company invests in the community.
'Now they don't have kids in school, but they still [give],' Carr said.
Josh feels a drive to make sure the business is as strong as possible, not just for the sake of honoring what their parents built, but also for the next generation of Chandler family members.
“We really have to be careful and make sure that we hand them something special and they can continue forward with what we started,” Josh said.
Some members of that next generation have decided to make Chandler Cabinets their professional home.
Camryn Chandler Reed is the production coordinator.
'I love it up here,' she said. 'I get to work with my dad. My daughter can come visit me anytime she wants, which is awesome. A lot of people don't get to say that, and I just feel really proud and honored just to even be a part of it.'
When she came onto the staff, she worked with others to tackle the inventory system.
'Before it was just kind of a free-for-all for inventory, so when we went in, we had to kind of build that from the ground up,' Reed said.
Overtime, she also took over the production schedule when she came on full time.
'Even just the builders that we work for, too, they've grown a lot,' Reed said. 'It's like they've grown with us, we've grown with them.'
In just the time she's been with the company, she's seen the number of houses they produce the cabinets for daily increase from around five to 20.
'It's been a lot of change the past few years,' Reed said.
Some of those cabinets are headed to Florida because one of the main builders Chandler works with has started building out there as well, and they wanted Chandler to grow with them.
It's important to stay up with the trends in cabinetry, Reed said, and that's one of the things her sister, Cennady Chandler, focuses on for the design side.
Both expressed appreciation for their parents, Coby and Brandi Chandler, for encouraging them and their two younger siblings to graduate from college before deciding whether working full time for the family business is for them.
'It gives you a chance to grow up, because when you do start working here, there is a little bit of pressure,' Reed said. 'You have to show up and you have to work hard.'
They want to honor the foundation their grandparents set that their uncle and dad have expanded upon.
Cennady added that it gave her a chance to grow through her shyness to be able to speak with customers.
'I never in a million years would ever think that I would be a designer,' she said. '… Going to college really changed the way that I speak to people.'
Reed, who named her daughter Chandler, plans to follow the model her parents set in helping her know it’s her choice whether to work at Chandler Cabinets.
The sisters also expressed appreciation for how much work their grandmother put into the business, with Reed saying their 'grandpa was a big piece, but she [was], too.'
'Pretty much all the ladies in the office took over what my grandma was doing, and if you count how many ladies are in the offi ce, it's honestly a little insane that she did all those things,' Reed said.
'Every little thing,' Cennady said.
They also talked about how much it meant to them that Vickie never made them feel like a bother at the office.
'We actually probably distracted her a lot,' Cennady said.
Now, Coby has a special place for his granddaughter to make her feel welcome at the office.
Buster always had a soft spot for making kids' lives easier, Coby said.
'He wanted to make sure kids don't do without,' he said.
Being part of the Pilot Point community was another major focus Buster and Vickie instilled in their boys by example.
“Now that he’s not here, we want to continue what he was doing for the community, and the funny thing is he was such a humble man that we didn’t even know exactly what he was doing until after he passed away,” Josh said. “We really got a better idea of what he was doing, and it was pretty incredible. So, it’s a lot of pressure on us to continue his legacy, not just with the company, but also with his giving.”
And they love their home.
'Growing up here just gives you really a sense of appreciation for the town, because it's a small town and everybody, in my opinion, has each other's back,' Coby said. 'When someone's in need, everybody comes. That's just what Pilot Point is.'
Abigail Bardwell/The Post-Signal
