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.

THANK YOU for Voting Us a Winner in the BEST OF OBX Contest!
2024 WINNER
Best Home Builder

Kitty Hawk
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Real Estate
Jimmy's Seafood Buffet

Jimmy's Seafood Buffet

Home of the Crab Leg & Lobster Buffet for 25! years! Jimmy’s Seafood Buffet is a great stop for an all you can eat affordable dinner extravaganza. The buffet offers over 100 different items. It even serves Jumbo Alaskan crab legs and Jumbo steamed shrimp, something you will not find on any other buffet in the OBX. The buffet offers a variety of seafood and non seafood options. Try some of Jimmy’s seafood options and load your plate with blackened tuna, Louisiana crawfish, steamed scallops and mussels, fried oysters and deviled crabs. Not in the mood for seafood? Fill your plate with steak, pineapple glazed ham, fried chicken, BBQ ribs, and fettuccini Alfredo to name a few. The buffet also offers a kid section. Let your kids load their plates with chicken tenders, mac and cheese, and corn dog nuggets. Don’t forget dessert! The buffet also offers soft serve ice cream and a plethora of baked goods. 

 

It’s been 25 years since Jimmy’s Seafood Buffet opened its doors for the first time. Since that inaugural summer, the goal has remained the same: provide customers with a tasty, fresh array of seafood full of Caribbean flavor.

 

Elizabeth Dowless and her husband Jerry had always worked in restaurants in the Outer Banks, so when the opportunity to open Jimmy’s Seafood Buffet with a couple of friends arose, it was an easy yes. The Dowlesses bought out the business in 2003, excited to turn Jimmy’s into an Outer Banks staple. When Jerry passed away later that year, Dowless knew she wanted to continue pursuing their dream on her own.

 

Dowless went all in on the concept of a fresh, flavorful seafood buffet and her hard work paid off. Jimmy’s Seafood Buffet is a beloved fixture of Outer Banks dining, with customers returning year after year for the fresh fare.

 

“Customers keep in contact with me throughout the winter. I get people every day asking me when we’re opening for the season, and customers book their vacations around our opening,” Dowless says. “I absolutely love getting to see familiar faces come back to see us each year. I love seeing them lose their minds over the buffet! Their excitement is what I love most about my job.”