Case Studies Residential

When one’s own house is in order, it simplifies the task of building others. That’s Steve Smith’s message as he takes a break from remotely overseeing construction for Houston-headquartered Chesmar Homes to chat with Blueprint this past August. At any given time, he’s got a couple hundred houses under construction. Greater Houston remains the hottest […]

The good news just keeps on coming, the aptly named Chris Carpenter muses from the Nashville satellite of Alabama-based Signature Homes. For while the capital of Tennessee still may go by the moniker of Music City, far more than records are being made in this thriving southern metropolis with a climate largely spared extremes and […]

There aren’t many such enterprises still in existence, not when the competition is the big-box store. But here in and around central Michigan, the Self Serve Lumber & Home Center chain isn’t just surviving, it’s thriving—seemingly unfazed by the ubiquitous Home Depots and Walmarts. Then again, it preceded the gargantuan retailers by decades. It also […]

As he and a local quarry owner drove through the arid Turkish interior, still marveling at the pistachios and fresh juice from a recent roadside stop, Joe MacIsaac gazed out at the mountains and smiled. For thousands of years, this region had produced some of the finest natural stone in the world. That week it […]

Plenty of contractors know the benefit of performing services in-house, from added quality control to offering more diverse services and taking bigger jobs, but SEH Excavating Contractors also sees a much more profound benefit. “In a way, it’s how we’re able to control our own destiny,” says Vice President of Operations Mike Shenkle. Based in […]

When a client wanted to build a 35-meter-long, encased pedestrian bridge made of interlocking commercial bronze, glass and steel over Queen Street, Toronto, Canada’s busiest shopping mile, Seele Inc.—the North American division of Seele Group—rose to the challenge. The project required that an old bridge be dismantled and the new bridge be installed within two, […]

Josh Wiener grew up helping his parents restore the Manhattan townhouse they bought in 1963, but his time for sorting nails has long come and gone, replaced by loftier goals. Now he is president of SilverLining Inc. and, with his Partner Joel Arencibia and support from a tightknit group of managers, restores high-end luxury apartments […]

Joe MacIsaac may be president and CEO of a company, but he thinks of himself, and those he works with, as curators. His team at Stone Source includes product design, development and procurement professionals who visit porcelain tile manufacturers and natural stone quarries in search of high quality materials for architects and designers. In doing […]