From the day it was founded in 1988, VB Contractors (Big50 2006) was a 50-50 partnership between Chancey Walker III (far right) and his son-in-law, Chris Ettel (second from right) ó until a couple of years ago, when they saw the opportunity to bring on two new owners. More
When he started out 16 years ago as a practicing architect and partner in Socha Builders, Rob Adler did not charge anything for the creative phase. “We charged nothing so as to get noticed, and we agreed in advance that if the client was pleased with the design, they were only obligated to pay for the construction documents,” he says. More
With half the 120 million homes nationwide having been built before the bicentennial, new-home prices spiking, and built-up equity burning holes in homeowners' pockets, most remodelers have more work than they can handle. Some sit on 18-month-plus backlogs and mentally salivate as they watch their slice of the remodeling market's $199 billion pie fatten. More
