About Us

Miscellaneous Enterprises Etcetera LLC, , the corporate parent of LDR Group was originally formed in 1993 as a Delaware corporation, and later formed in New York in 2008 in the depths of the Great Recession.  Doing business as Local Dad Repairs, it had at its heart the goal of helping people in our community keep their homes repaired in hard times.  In 2015, with the economy booming and the need for our services diminished, the company shifted its focus to commercial consulting, serving companies in the NYC and Washington DC markets.  When the corona virus pandemic besieged us all, we realized that there was an opportunity to once again serve our community, but in a more future focused manner that made full use of the skills gained in energy efficiency and home improvement over the years.  LDR Group is now future focused on providing a very special, very important need to our community and our world-hyper energy efficient Passive House buildings.  

Jeff started with woodworking, a love and skill imparted to him by years in school wood shops.  During his summers in High School in the 70's he worked in a series of jobs building homes and fine furniture for local craftsmen.  The science of building has always been what held his interest the most; from roofing to cabinets. Even the mundane things like insulation and waterproofing inspired in Jeff a need to dig deeper and know as much as was possible.  In the 80's, bitten by the music bug, Jeff became a professional audio engineer and eventually toured the world with some of the most famous rock performers of the age.  For more than 20 years he alternated between touring and working in wood shops in the off seasons, honing two highly skilled trades at the same time.  After getting married and retiring from music, he worked in electronics sales and began making stained glass windows as a hobby, eventually moving to North Carolina to hone a third skill and eventually become an award winning juried glass artist and educator, teaching all over America and producing a television program on his craft for public television.  Jeff is a professional construction estimator and a member of the American Society of Professional Estimators and will be certified as a Passive House Builder in the fall, with a focus on retrofitting existing homes.

Juhani is the newest principle team member and a graduate Cum Laude of the New Jersey Institute of Technology in architecture, and certified in New York and Massachusetts for more than 20 years.  He is certified in Passive House Consulting and Design, NCARB, and is a member of the American Institute of Architects.  Juhani was also a satisfied LDR customer in 2015, when we constructed a large synthetic deck for him and his family.  When the pandemic began Jeff was reaching out to family, friends and clients to see how they were doing when he and Juhani began talking about 'what next'.  Juhani was the one that piqued our interest in Passive House design and how this could not only provide an important service but allow us all to live our ethic and make a difference for the planet.  With Juhani as our Chief Design Officer, LDR is forging a path and laying a foundation to help New York achieve the goal of being carbon neutral before 2050.