With a focus on business development and streamlining systems for the benefit of the clients Southern Oak Woodwork serves, Ted regularly leans into his strengths as a people person and a pleaser. This Army veteran has always loved taking things apart and putting them back together – making him a natural fit for this industry. He recalls getting into more than a little trouble at the tender age of nine for cutting all the limbs off his mother’s favorite dogwood tree with a handsaw from his newly acquired junior toolkit. In the years since, Ted developed a passion for woodworking and the accumulation of new power tools. This Presbyterian College grad began honing his skills and building furniture in his fully operational basement wood shop – growing from grill tables and cornhole boards to farmhouse tables and bunkbeds for family members and friends over the course of a decade and a half. Unfulfilled by his chosen career in finance, he transformed a hobby and stress reliever into a true calling. In 2021, he met Andy Smallwood and fulfilled a lifelong dream of owning his own business by purchasing Andy’s established company and rebranding it as Southern Oak Woodwork. With a genuine fondness for seeing a customer’s eyes light up when he delivers a piece, it’s his goal to create the best customer service experience anyone has ever received from a cabinet company. In addition to cabinets of unsurpassed quality delivered by long-tenured craftsman, Ted’s vision for the company includes an emphasis on communicating well, scheduling accurately, nailing deadlines and executing a client’s vision perfectly. When he’s not hard at work at Southern Oak Woodwork or out visiting clients, you can find Ted spending time with family, including his wife, Michelle and their two children, Kinley and Hudson. These Sandy Springs residents can often be found out on the ballfields at Chastain Park – with Ted often tackling the role of his kids’ coach.

Andy’s earliest memories of working with wood were of building dog houses and small furniture projects with his father. As he got older and more skilled, he collaborated with his uncle on cabinet making. In 1989, he opened his first shop with his uncle, and in 2005, he opened a shop of his very own – Smallwood Custom and Commercial Cabinets. After nearly two highly successful decades, he sold his shop to Ted Kalb – which was rebranded as Southern Oak Woodwork – and stayed on as company president. In addition to his skill as a woodworker, Andy has a proven track record of relationship building and problem solving. The longevity of his clients and abundance of referrals are a testament not only to the quality of work Andy and his team produce, but also to the overall customer service experience. With Ted on board in the role of CEO, Andy is afforded a little more time to spend with the family he loves, including his beautiful wife, four grown children, and grandkids. When he’s not in the wood shop at Southern Oak Woodwork, introducing Ted to a long-term client or enjoying family time, you can find Andy out fishing, hunting or spending time with friends that date all the way back to high school.