Lan Linville was born in Sacramento, California. As a kid, he grew up on construction sites, working weekends and summer breaks with his father, a masonry contractor. Lan became a masonry contractor himself in the early '60s. With his father and small crew, Lan built many of the masonry walls, decks, houses, and chimneys in the Greater Sacramento area during this time. In the mid- '60s, he took a break from construction to work for Aerojet as an electronic tech and eventually joined the USAF Reserves until receiving an Honorable Discharge in 1971.
At the end of his military service, Lan returned to construction. Using his own house as a testing ground, he completely remodeled it--adding a second story, more bathrooms, and bedrooms, etc, until nothing remained of the old track home. In 1977, Lan became a full General Contractor and built homes from the ground up over the next five years. One of his houses was the featured home in the Sacramento Bee's Home and Gardens section in 1981.
As his three children reached their teens, he took a more conventional job to focus time with his family--coach their soccer teams, etc. Lan took a job with Lukenbill Construction as a Project Manager. As Lukenbill Construction winded down as a company, Lan moved on to other things.
For a few years after that, he worked in Los Angeles with one of his sons repairing homes damaged by the Northridge Earthquake, then spent time as an Electrician in the Bay Area for a few years, and a couple of years as an Estimator for UC Davis, estimating repair and renovation costs. The last fieldwork job he did was for a major construction company in Bakersfield, who sent him to Puerto Rico to estimate damage from Hurricane George.
Finally, in 2000, Lan decided to put down his General Contractor's hat and start a drafting company. For over two decades, Lan has designed houses in the Greater Sacramento area.