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Jan and Harry, October 1952 "williams-BUILDER has pioneered the designBUILD path—under the same ownership for over 50 years—and we look forward to meeting our clients' needs well into the future." |
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Company History Looking back on the last 50 years, one thing is certain, experience teaches wisdom. When Jan & I started out, there were no handbooks on running a company and no “For Dummies” guide books. Ignoring our parents’ advice to earn an MBA while on someone else’s payroll, Jan, a children’s librarian, and I, a recently matriculated civil engineer with a single summer’s experience as a carpenter’s helper, decided to enter the construction business. Influenced by an architect who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright, we built “The House of Tomorrow” in yesterday’s village of Allentown, NJ. Many visited, none bought. Fortunately, a couple of RCA physicists were intrigued by the concept embodied in the structure and we built two more homes in Princeton. This led to williams-BUILDER’s phase of building custom, architect-designed homes. We found, however, that all too often the only criteria for awarding a contract was the lowest price and that quality of craftsmanship was consistently riding in the back seat. From here we moved on to Ridgeview Road and an adventure in speculation. This was Ridgeview Road before Stuart, PDS, and Cherry Valley Country Club. In fact, the area was deemed ‘too far from the center of Princeton’ by those in the know. Today, Jan cannot drive down Ridgeview Road as she cannot bear the pain of seeing homes that were begging to be sold at $40,000 now on the market for a million dollars or more. At this point it was the early 1960s and we were more than $100,000 in debt and had three children under the age of 5 years. Luckily, two things changed our lives. One, probably the most important, was our discovery of an accountant who not only gave sound advice, but became our valued friend. Second, as they are wont to do, real estate values began to escalate and as a result, individuals who had bought modest homes 10 years previously, now elected to improve their residences rather than seek grander homes further afield. This enabled them to stay in their neighborhoods, close to schools, and the conveniences of Main Street. So began williams-BUILDER’s home remodeling years and the continuing endeavor of looking for a better way to service the client during the building process. We knew that keeping all of the key players under one roof would create a single point of contact for the client, and thus make a previously segmented process streamlined. Over the past 40 years, many remodeling firms across the country have modeled their methods after ours and this type of business has even warranted it’s own moniker… Design-Build. No matter what you call it, williams-BUILDER has pioneered this path, under the same ownership, for over 50 years and we hope to meet the needs of clients well into the future. Sincerely, Harry H. Williams |
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