Words by Justin Hunter | Image by Blakeney Clouse

Eder Martinez is seated at a large farm style conference table he built from a deconstructed rural home. A large whiteboard scrawled with client names and phone numbers in the job queue occupies the eastern wall as sunlight floods his new office on Airport Road.

 “I couldn’t have dreamed I’d be this far along at this age. I’ve been blessed,” Eder says, his words punctuated by the sound of his phone ringing. “I love seeing the transformation of the work that we do—a vision placed inside of a customer’s head, and then handing them that vision.”

 The former linebacker for Curry High School is the heart and soul behind the growing construction company, MTZ Construction (the “M-T-Z” is short for Martinez). Eder started working in construction at 14 and has never looked back. “I’ve always worked as MTZ. I never had a retail job,” he says. “All throughout high school I’d work and play football, but there came a point I had to choose between the two.”

 Eighteen years old and fresh out of high school, Eder and two buddies, Josh Harkness and Adam Denard, unofficially launched MTZ in 2010. (Denard now works as a coal miner but Harkness is still with MTZ.) The early years were lean. “We did what we had to do to get by until we landed our first big contract in 2016,” Eder says. “I get chills when I think about it. I knew in that moment I was called to be in construction.” 

With a mini-fleet of black and white work trucks, Eder and his crews stay busy, even during a pandemic. Recently, he has taken more outside jobs in order to keep his clients, employees, and their families safe. His crews are able to tackle any residential or commercial job sent their way. They specialize in home improvement and new constructions.

 MTZ is licensed and bonded with the state of Alabama. No job is too big or too small, Eder says, because each job is about creating a reality for the customer. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make your project happen. You dream it. We build it.”

 Eder says none of this would be possible without one person in his life. “I want to thank my wife, Samantha Martinez, for not letting me quit chasing my dreams, and for being an amazing wife and making sure our three kids are being taken care of,” he says.

 As the young business owner looks ahead to the future, a smile crosses his face. “I want to be the best. I strive to be the best,” Eder says. “Maybe open a second office and reach outside of Jasper.”

 Until then, those bold capitalized letters—MTZ—are hard to miss. 78