Blackline Construction, Inc.

Joe Metz is a licensed building contractor and electrician with over 24 years of professional experience in construction and project management. He has held positions in all levels of construction including carpenter, electrician, project manager, and business owner.

In his role as construction project director, Joe specializes in helping clients navigate the often complicated construction and renovation process from beginning to end. Joe is an excellent communicator with an innate ability to listen to and understand his client’s needs and desires. He draws on his more than two decades of experience in order to guide clients through the process of building their dream home or commercial space.

In 1999 Joe furthered his interest in green building practices by installing the first of several residential solar electric systems. He has since become a certified green builder and has gone on to install numerous environmentally conscious, high performance, energy producing technologies.

When Joe met partner Klaus Chalupa, he recognized their complementary vision and skills. Together, they developed roles that allow them to combine their experience and talents to better serve clients. Today Joe and Klaus are enthusiastically building Blackline Construction to be the San Francisco Bay Area’s leading builder of projects with a modern design aesthetic. 

For the past twelve years Blackline Construction’s founding partner Klaus Chalupa has helped transform his clients’ dreams and plans into a built reality.

A professional with an eye for beautiful design, Klaus has discovered that construction has a lot more to do with people’s dreams than it does with wood, nails, concrete, or glass. This discovery has led Klaus to continually refine the approach that Blackline employs in building relationships with clients, architects, employees, vendors, and subcontractors. It is an approach that is reliant on effective communication—communication that keeps clients well informed of progress and team members informed of their responsibilities. Klaus believes that when a team of professionals works cohesively together, the construction process moves smoothly toward a successful outcome.

Klaus’ role at Blackline spans strategic planning, marketing, sales, and client management. When Klaus met partner Joe Metz they were both working individually as licensed general contractors. They quickly discovered that their communication styles were similar and that they possessed complementary skills. The formation of their business partnership provides their clients with a broad range of construction experience, as well as a sound methodology for efficiently managing projects.

Prior to founding Blackline Construction (formerly Advanced Design and Development) in 1997, Klaus worked for six years as a project manager, carpenter, finish carpenter, and intern architect for a number of architectural firms, construction firms, and a real estate development company. Through these roles Klaus gained hands-on skills as well as extensive experience managing construction projects from inception through completion.

Klaus gained much of his interest and understanding of modern design while studying architecture at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. He received his Bachelor of Architecture there in 1992 and had the good fortune of studying for a year at the University of Sheffield in Sheffield, England.

When he is not busy overseeing the construction of a client’s dream home or commercial space, Klaus can be found organizing and participating in events for friends and family which often involve adventures of travel, snowboarding, and mountain biking.