Devon Hartman and Bill Baldwin are 50-50 partners in Hartman-Baldwin Co., a design/build construction firm in Claremont, Calif. Today their company employs more than a dozen people, and operates out of a building they designed and built to house their offices. But it wasn't always that way. As we talked about making the transition from independent tradesmen to business partners, we learned something about the obstacles a partnership presents and the means Devon and Bill use to overcome them. JLC: How did your partnership come about? Devon: About 16 years ago, we ran into each other on a job, and hit it off as friends immediately. Bill: In the years before we were partners, I worked for Devon or
