It’s your dream to build a home on the Outer Banks.

It’s ours to help make it happen.

No one will work harder. — Austin Kelly

About Croatan Custom Homes

My name is Austin Kelly and I grew up in New England on jobsites.
My father is an architect and engineer, just like his father before him. Building is literally in my DNA.

In high school, I worked as a manager trainee at McDonald’s at my father’s suggestion. “Management experience is critical,” he’d say. (He was right.) I put myself through the University of Connecticut by framing houses and graduated with a degree in Economics. After college, I was promoted to head residential foreman at the same construction company that hired me away from McDonalds in high school.

I’ll never forget the day it happened. I was sweeping the floor in McDonald’s when a man walked up to me and shook my hand. He said he’d noticed that I was a hard worker and offered me a summer job with his construction company. Leaving work that night, I could’ve turned right to go home or left to meet him at his jobsite. In what turned out to be a life-changing decision, I turned left.

A few years later, I moved to California, where I earned my real estate license and did a lot more construction work. I also earned my MBA with a specialization in Project Management, met my incredible wife and moved back to her home town on the Outer Banks – now my adopted home – to continue raising a family.

Over 25 years in the Home Building Industry.

Licensed general contractor specializing in both custom homes and speculative builds.

MBA with specialization in Project Management.

Member of the Outer Banks Home Builders Association.

Member of the OBHBA Board of Directors.

Multi-year Parade Of Homes Contributor.

Voted the 2024 Silver Winner for Best Home Builder in the Reader's Choice BEST of OBX Contest.

 

Take a moment to see the work for our family of clients throughout the Outer Banks.

 

REVIEWS

"Of the many decisions that came with building our dream home on the Outer Banks, choosing Austin Kelly as the builder was the best.”
– C. Lakis

"Just what I love, a contractor that will put on his tool belt and work along side his guys."
— J. Nash, Framer

"Attention to detail ... he loses sleep over it!"
— Michael O.

Kitty Hawk
252-715-2731
Categories
Real Estate
Outer Banks Fishing Charters, Guide, & More

Outer Banks Fishing Charters, Guide, & More

Long before the summer vacationing families discovered the Outer Banks as a hot tourist destination, fishermen from across the country flocked to coastal North Carolina. With no roads to navigate, and no vacation homes to stay in, anglers would brave the makeshift sandy paths that ran along thebeaches, and would set up makeshift campsites whenever there was protection from the wind and waves. They went through great efforts to visit the Outer Banks for one reason: Exceptional fishing.

Big Buck's Homemade Ice Cream

Big Buck's Homemade Ice Cream

Serving our customers on the Outer Banks since 1994, Big Buck's ice Cream is dedicated serving you “The Best.” We offer a full line of super-premium ice cream products, smoothies, chocolates, and custom-made ice cream cakes! 2 locations are open all year: Duck  and Manteo, at The Waterfront Shops.

 

We offer a full line of Espresso Drinks from Hot Vanilla Cappuccinos and Hot Chocolate to Iced Caramel Lattes & Frozen Mochas, all made to order. Big Buck’s fresh fruit smoothies are lactose-free and made to order. Also offering lactose-free sorbets made from the best fruits available. Old time favorites are sure to please! Choose from a delicious collection of milkshakes, sundaes and banana splits.

 

Savor the moment with our Homemade Chocolate! Chocolates are made daily in each location. We offer a large selection from Dark to Milk to White. Milk Chocolate Oreos & Almond Toffee, Dark Chocolate Berries and Cherries Clusters & Hand-dipped Peppermint Patties with a Drizzle of White Chocolate, Extra-Dark Sea Salt Caramels & our famous homemade caramel chocolate pretzels oh & don’t forget the ever-popular caramel pecan turtle, just to name a few treats!

 

Belinda Pleva grew up serving ice cream out of her parent’s shop. She loved being part of what she calls “a happy business.” “I love it when people come into the shop and you hand them something, and it makes them smile,” Pleva says. “That moment when you hand an ice cream cone over to a little kid and their eyes just light up. That’s what I love about the ice cream business.”

 

In 1994, Pleva opened up her own ice cream and chocolate shop, Big Buck’s Ice Cream, in the brand-new Timbuk II Shopping Center in Corolla. Business was good, but something was missing.

 

“I was never satisfied with the ingredients in the ice creams and chocolates you could purchase back then. I wanted to serve my customers delicious flavors with ingredients they could actually pronounce,” Pleva says.

 

Pleva took a trip to Italy to study the gelaterias. She fell in love with the incredible flavors, and when she returned home to the Outer Banks, she began working tirelessly to perfect the flavors in her own ice cream.

 

Big Buck’s homemade ice cream combined the flavors of the Italian gelaterias and the richness of American ice cream. It quickly became a tourist favorite. After having the same unsatisfactory experience with the readymade chocolates she was selling, she also took a trip to Brussels to learn more about making handmade chocolates. Pleva brought the chocolate-making experience right back with her, and the result was the finest quality of chocolates on the Outer Banks.

 

After her huge success in the Corolla shop, Pleva was able to open up three more shops—one in Kitty Hawk, one in Manteo and one in Duck.

(More Locations)