Denver

Last week I had the pleasure of being included in Old Greenwich Builders‘ annual marketing meeting. Well, let me qualify…I happened to know that Chris Withers and Cress Carter, co-owners of OGB, host their annual planning meeting over steaks and wine. So this year, I invited myself because I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to hear from one of Denver’s most notable general contractors about how business is going and what they have planned for the future. So, over a fabulous steak dinner at Elway’s in Cherry Creek, we enjoyed a bottle of 2005 Franciscan Magnificat from Napa Valley, CA, and talked shop.

Cress filled me in and said that business is good, and that even though it might not be back to where it once was, they’ve been able to start new projects in the past few months that have taken them into new neighborhoods, as well as start new business relationships (with New World Millworks, for example, who used to only deal with large high-end commercial projects.) Part of the reason Cress and Chris are still faring well in such a tough building economy is that they measure their success very simply by 100% customer satisfaction. They told me, “We remain friends with our clients, sometimes close friends, and you couldn’t do that if you didn’t feel like your clients weren’t completely happy with their homes.” Makes sense.

I asked them during dinner if it’s possible to complete a project on time and on budget–you hear so many stories on the contrary–and they told me that it definitely can be done, but that oftentimes their projects’ budgets are extended because their clients are exposed to far more detail than they know is possible. Once a client knows what kind of custom detailing is available to them, they often make decisions to increase their budgets and upgrade their design and finishes.

It doesn’t hurt that Cress and Chris are the nicest, most honest, interesting, and easy-on-the-eyes guys you will ever meet. If you are looking for a high-end renovation or custom-home builder, check out OGB’s work: oldgreenwichbuilders.com.