BuildingEnergy Access Interview: Square and Plumb Builders

COMPANY SPOTLIGHT: Square and Plumb Builders

BuildingEnergy Access is a NESEA initiative to support the work of WMBEs (women and minority-owned business enterprises) by connecting them with the resources of the NESEA community. Each month, we'll introduce a participating company to the wider NESEA community through a spotlight interview.

We recently sat down with Rita Dourado and Cristiano Camargo of Square & Plumb Builders, a minority-owned full-service remodeling and new construction-focused company based in Gloucester, MA. 

Ian Reed: Alright, first off, would you share a brief description of your company? 

Rita Dourado: Sure. We are full service residential builders on the North Shore. We're in Gloucester, actually, but we do most of our work around the North Shore. We do construction work ranging from kitchen renovations, bathroom renovations, to additions, new builds, and more. We are now also offering energy retrofits and high performance building.

IR: Nice. Is getting into retrofits and high performance building a new aspect to the business, or is that something you've been building towards?

RD: We started working with HELM last year and they were the ones that introduced us to the ideas. High-performance building has always been in Chris's heart, it is his passion, but it was just very hard to find support and to find people that were actually willing to share knowledge. We had a hard time finding a community of like-minded people. Through HELM, we were introduced to you guys (NESEA) and also to the Studio of High-Performance Design and Construction in Newton. 

IR: They’re a great organization

RD: Mm-hmm. Chris has taken the High Performance Building course there, as well as has an upcoming training with Phius. We’ve been building for over 10 years now, but getting into high-performance building space is relatively new for us. Chris has been exploring it for a while, and trying to implement the techniques that he knew, but we are definitely getting more and more familiar with everything now.

IR: How many years have you been in business? What inspired starting the business?

RD: Well, it's a great story, or at least I think so. Chris founded the business in December of 2014, after working for over 10 years for another contractor in town. He had a great relationship with his boss and learned everything there is to learn in construction. While he was doing that, I was working as a nanny and I was also pursuing my Pilates instruction certification. 
Some of my clients started to ask, “What does Chris do?” Once they found out he was a builder, they started calling him with all kinds of work. Chris started going out for little repairs, doing small jobs for these people. I remember that there was one family in Ipswich that had this little playhouse for the kids in the backyard, that they never finished. And they were like, ”oh, can Chris finish this playhouse for us?” <laugh>. So Chris finished building the playhouse, and did a few little repairs in the home, and that family was very pleased with the work. They sent out an email to everyone they knew, all their friends and family, introducing Chris and saying how great he was, how talented, and the community started reaching out. 
And just like that we said, ”I think we have something here.” <laugh> 

IR: <laugh> Cool. So it just kind of developed by word of mouth? That's terrific.

RD: Frustration started growing with the company he was with and so we started thinking “let's work on building some savings, so we were able to do this transition while building the business.” We had to make sure that we had enough to cover our living expenses. I was working again as a nanny, which helped with that too. That's how the business grew. 

IR: Right on, cool. That sounds very organic. It sounds like the business just kind of grew out of your skill set. It also shows the power of accessing a well-connected network.

RD: Yeah. Word of mouth is how we grew, and it's always been like that. It's always been referrals from our best clients, and it was an organic growth for us. 

IR: Could you tell us a little about a project that you're particularly proud of?

Cristiano Camargo: Well, I think one that we recently finished was pretty interesting. The project was supposed to be a 500 square foot addition, with some interior renovation. Well, at the end of the day, we basically left the foundation up and rebuilt the entire house. <laugh>. 

IR: Oh gosh, that's a big increase in project scope for you. <laugh>

CC: Yeah. We decided (after the demo) we needed to do it because the structure was very, very bad. This was a summer cottage built in the fifties that had then been converted into an all seasons cottage, so it was never built as a solid house. We ended up having to basically tear it down and rebuild it. Then, as the project started, maybe about a month into the project, the homeowner found out that he had cancer.

IR: Oh no, awful.

CC: Yeah. But we managed to finish the entire project in, I don't know, four months? Maybe five months, at the most. For us, it was very important to make sure he had the house back when he needed it, to enjoy his new space before anything worse happened to him.

IR: That's really considerate, that you're thinking about the project in those kinds of those personal terms too. Such hard news to receive for the owner. 

CC: It was, yeah. It was pretty bad. That was very important to us, especially to me, because I wanted to make sure that he had his house back and could enjoy living in it.

IR: Did the change in project scope give you an opportunity to try some new techniques? That project must have been a learning experience.

CC: Yeah, guess so. Every job is a different job. If you install 50 windows, the same size, they're all gonna be different. <laugh>, you know, there's some similarities, but they are all different. On this job, the foundation was off three inches, so we jacked it up and made the house, you know, more level. More Square and Plumb, you know….

IR: your namesake! <laugh>

CC: <laugh> Yes. We used blue skin on the outside because we are close to the water there. I also used rain mesh, so water can run faster. I think there's always that chance of learning from any project.

IR: We talked about it a little bit, but maybe you can get a little more specific about where you're hoping to take the company in the future - the kind of projects and work  you're looking to get into etc?

RD: Sure. We are really looking forward to doing more energy retrofit projects as well as some high-performance buildings. Once you start learning this stuff, it's really addicting. <laugh>

IR <laugh> I agree. 

RD: I'm very passionate about anything that can help the environment. I'm the crazy lady that's screaming at Chris at night, “turn off the faucet! It has been running too long!” <laugh>

IR: <laugh>.

RD: I'm very conscious about waste and I’m constantly finding ways to help the environment. Doing this kind of work is very rewarding because in construction you can do a lot of damage to the environment and it feels really good to be more conscious of that. It’s good knowing that many other builders are also interested in creating less waste and building with healthier materials. In the end, somebody is going to live in a place where they are going to breathe better, they're going to have better materials around them, and their health's going to be better. The environment's going to be happier. 

We are really looking forward to doing more of these high-performance projects and finding clients with similar goals. Where are these people that want these types of projects? We need to find them as well as getting to know other like-minded architects will be very helpful. We would love to find other people that think building right, and healthy, is very important, and that we need to be paying attention to how construction is impacting the environment and people's health.

We really hope to do more of that type of work, and to get to know more like-minded people. Running a construction business can be a very lonely journey. Experimenting with the NESEA community has been so rewarding because people are so willing to share and so willing to give you a hand. We're looking forward to getting to know more of you and collaborating on projects, on learning, on sharing our construction experience with the community. 

IR: What a great answer. I’m happy NESEA can play a useful role on this journey for you! That brings us perfectly to BuildingEnergy Access; I'm curious to hear more about how that program has benefited you. It seems like you're enjoying those new connections…

RD: We are definitely enjoying these connections. It's so fun and rewarding to connect with like-minded individuals. I look forward to our monthly calls and I always feel like, “oh, we need more!” <laugh> We are both looking forward to BuildingEnergy Boston (March 23-24)  because we are going to meet so many more people and I'm sure that will be a really fun experience.

IR: Well, I was going to ask if you were going to be joining us in Boston as my next question, so I’m glad to hear you’re already excited. I'll see you there!

RD: We'll be there. 

IR: Great. Well, thank you both for taking the time, it's been a pleasure to chat with you both.

RD: Absolutely.

CC: All right. Bye.