Michael Kuebler is an attorney and owner of Kuebler and Associates, PLLC. He joined AGC East Tennessee as an associate member, is a primary chapter sponsor, and serves on AGC’s Legislative Committee.
We asked Michael to share his evolution from a laborer into becoming an attorney and owning several successful businesses.
“My Dad was a builder and I started working on houses with him at a very young age. Immediately out of high school, I took a job as a laborer then as a union carpenter working on the construction of Hamilton Place Mall.
I had a lot of ambition and wanted to advance in the industry quickly. To do that, after Hamilton Place, I went back to Chattanooga State and received my Associates Degree in Construction Engineering in 18 months. That got my foot in the door at EMJ working as an expeditor and then superintendent on several mall projects. My first solo superintendent job was building a Food Lion grocery store at about the age of 23, so I got really great experience at a pretty young age working on substantial projects.
In 1993, my Dad started his own commercial construction company and so I joined him at the age of 26. As we expanded, I got my GC license in Virginia and then in 12 other states overseeing more than 350 industrial, retail, hospitality and church projects.
In 2010 I left and started my own company, Embark Project Services, focusing mostly on residential and select commercial work, which is still in operation today.
I was always interested in being a lawyer but when I was young I wanted to be independent and was too impatient to spend 7 more years in school. But after being in construction and construction being what it is, I decided it was time to shift gears and do what I should have done when I was young and impetuous, and finally get my law degree.
I went back to get my degree in Bachelor’s Administration and was accepted to the Nashville School of Law in 2012. I commuted to Nashville for 4 years while building Embark Project Services. It was tough on me and my family but worth it. After graduating in December 2015 (tied 4th and at the top 10% of his class), was inducted into the Coopers Inn Honor Society, passed the February 2016 bar exam, and in 2018, I became an authorized Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 Civil Mediator.
I now my own law firm, Kuebler and Associates with a focus on transactional and civil litigation in construction, business, property, and estate disputes. What sets us apart from other law firms is my experience in the construction and business fields. I really understand the inner workings of construction and can anticipate pitfalls to watch out for and understand what can and does go wrong. I can help my clients figure out challenging issues because more than likely I’ve experienced them myself.
At the end of the day I’m an entrepreneur at heart and enjoy supporting people and giving them a sounding board. To that end, I’ve helped launch several businesses that are all on the periphery of what we do. By way of example, Embark found it difficult to get electricians and plumbers, so we hired our own, and then started contracting them out for other subcontractors.
When our accountant at Embark got his CPA license, I helped him start a CPA firm. We were paying a third party to do payroll and realized we could do it ourselves, so we started our own payroll company. I also assisted in starting a dumpster company, and a durable medical equipment company that provides equipment for women with breast cancer.
I’m pretty excited about the future. Kuebler and Associates is bringing on associates from outside and within. We’re actively looking for the right associate to add to our firm and from within, my paralegal is a licensed attorney in India who came to the US and got her LLM. She just sat for the Tennessee Law exam this week and hopefully will have her law license in October. I have other plans for expanding the firm that are quite exciting and will put us on a whole new level that I’m not prepared to disclose. I have no plans to slow down just yet.”