Saturday, August 31, 2024
Since moving to Gatesville in the 1990s and starting his own specialty stucco business, Socorro Marquez, Sr., along with his son, Socorro Marquez, Jr., have completed a wide range of home improvement projects across Central Texas.
However, Marquez Specialty Stucco took on one of its largest projects yet in more recent years with Magnolia Homes in Waco. In 2021, the father and son team received an offer from Chip and Joanna Gaines to help restore Cottonland Castle, a 100-year-old stone home that is considered one of the largest ‘Fixer Upper’ projects yet.
“At that time, we felt pretty special, because they said they wanted us to do it. I didn’t believe it at first,” Marquez Sr. said.
When he first received the offer to work at the Castle, Marquez Sr. admits he was hesitant to take on the job since he had a severe injury that left him on crutches at the time – leaving his four-to-six-person team shorthanded. However, Magnolia and its contractor still wanted his group to help restore the historic home.
“They worked with us and told us to do what we had to do because they wanted us to do the work,” Marquez Jr. said. “They worked with us through it all.”
At the Castle, the Marquezes worked with a special kind of interior plaster to restore the original crown moldings and walls throughout the house. Since the task required preserving the crowns and replicating the material to replace the missing or broken ones, Magnolia needed a team that specialized in historic plaster work.
“Nowadays, it’s hard finding people to do that,” Marquez Jr. said.
He adds that most of the work at the Castle was done by hand, taking nearly three months to complete.
“It is much harder working for something like that because it’s old, so you have to preserve as much as you can instead of going in and tearing everything down and starting new,” Marquez Jr. said.
He adds that Chip and Joanna would stop by the house at least twice a week to check on their progress.
“When we were at the Castle, (Chip) was constantly checking up on us to see how we were doing,” Marquez Jr. said.
The six-episode series on the Castle aired on “Fixer Upper” in 2022.
After the Castle, Magnolia asked Marquez Specialty Stucco to work on a mid-century modern Lakehouse, which was featured on “Fixer Upper” this summer. The project consisted of renovating the fireplace, kitchen, and bathroom.
After working on two projects for the Gaineses, the Marquezes said they have plans to work on more homes for Magnolia in the future.
Marquez Sr. first started Marquez Specialty Stucco in 1997. Now, it provides a variety of services for residential and commercial buildings – from interior and exterior work to stucco, lathing, plaster, and more.
The business has also worked on other historic buildings in the Central Texas area, including the Bell County Museum in Belton and the ballroom in the Roosevelt Tower in Waco.
Marquez Sr. started learning stucco work when he was only 14 years old after moving from Mexico to the United States. After settling in New Mexico for a few years, he was led to start his construction business in Texas after a family friend asked him to work on their house in Gatesville.
“I first learned from my brother, and I started with him, but I have also worked with a lot of different people,” Marquez Sr. said. “And with every different person, I have learned something different.”
Maquez Jr. shares that he has worked alongside his father since he could walk. After graduating high school, he joined his father’s business full time.
As both family and business partners, Marquez Sr. and Marquez Jr. say they feel blessed to work with one another.
“The day he’s not there, I miss him, and the day I’m not there, he misses me,” Marquez Sr. said.
