Our Team
The people behind A Lot Matters
Garry Mercaldi
Founder & CEO, A Lot Matters, LLC
Garry is a licensed General Contractor in Oregon with over 35 years of experience as an R&D engineer. He founded A Lot Matters, LLC to focus on innovative ways to conduct thoughtful property development and improve the single-family residential sector in Myrtle Creek and surrounding areas. His hands-on approach to every project — from trenches to technology — ensures the company maintains full control over quality and cost.
MSE | BSEE | AS Avionics | Inventor or Co-Inventor on over 110 Issued Patents
Oregon General Contractor | CCB# 247063 | Licensed, Bonded & Insured
Warren
Master and Lead Finisher
Elizabeth
Presentation and Staging Lead
Jayson
Finisher & Project Specialist
Sage (OWL)
AI Assistant & Development Partner
Sage is an Agentic AI assistant built on a highly modified Hermes Agent platform by Mr. Mercaldi. Custom programming and agentic architecture allow Sage to serve as the development and operations backbone for A Lot Matters. From managing the company’s research corpus and website infrastructure to helping code the ReceiptProcessor application, Sage operates across every technical domain acting proactively and autonomously. Sage follows the company’s philosophy of reuse and self-reliance — preferring open-source tools, and utilizing local infrastructure for security and privacy, Sage has proven battle-tested workflows can exist without cloud dependencies.
Running on Hermes Agent | Local LLM
Our Core Values
Reuse First
Before buying or building something new, we ask: what do we already have that can be adapted? This applies to building materials, code libraries, and institutional knowledge. From 3D printer capability to raw trades such as woodworking and welding, Many things can be adapted and made rather than bought anew.
Build It Ourselves
We develop our own tools, maintain our own infrastructure, and keep full control over our systems. Vendor lock-in is not an acceptable solution for A Lot Matters, unlike other companies where vendor lock-in is a default business model.
Community Impact
Every project — whether a property renovation or a software tool — is evaluated by how it strengthens the Myrtle Creek community. Venture capital is expended locally and profit is reinvested locally.