Hitchcock Builders’ story began like many other contractors or construction firms: a fellow with a hammer and a knack for joining pieces of lumber together starts a business, running the new small business from his home.

Over time, the projects he takes on grow larger. He takes on a helper, and eventually builds a team of building professionals all the while building his own reputation. The builder continues on in the trade until retirement.

That’s the course that many builders’ stories run. Hitchcock Builders’ story, though, is a bit different.

Dennis Hitchcock had worked for around five years as a carpenter when he started his company in 1975, working out of his home in Maplecrest on land his ancestors, including Lt. Deacon Lemuel Hitchcock, settled in 1795.

“They came by oxcart over the mountain,” he says with an easy, friendly manner. But his historical reminisces are cut short by his son, Bill, and daughter, Kristin Corbett, who now staff the company’s office opened in 2000 on Main Street in Windham, roughly opposite a certain church with a leaning steeple.

Dennis recalls his early days in business as working in the field all day and then coming home to handle the paperwork. As work increased, he got home later and spent even more time administrating after hours. With a wife and two young children at home, it was a less than perfect arrangement.

“We started off building little ski chalets, now we’re building 8,500 square-foot homes,” says Bill, who returned to his home town to join the family business after around a decade running a graphic design firm. He says he was drawn to the building business because of its relative permanency. “Graphic design work, that’s … disposable. Print collateral is disposable. A house is going to be around for a long time.”

“We do everything from kitchen remodels to new construction. After 30 years, we have a huge client list and they’ll come back and say ‘let’s redo a bathroom or a kitchen,’” although, he adds, that “at least 10 percent of what we do is large additions and remodels.”

While leading me on a tour of several of Hitchcock Builder’s projects in the towns of Windham and Jewett, Bill described the timelines: when a kitchen was added, then replaced with an addition and an all new kitchen, for instance. The work appears largely seamless and all displays a high attention to detail. “We’ll take a 3,000 square-foot house and add 4,000 square feet to match the original,” he says. “Sometimes you hit a threshold where for a little bit more you can go all new.”

“Our clients, they have a level of expectation for the level of finishing. Their attention to detail is a lot more honed,” says Bill. “There are a lot more publications out there, more TV shows. People view their homes as refuges.”

“In 1975 they’d say we want three white toilets. Now there are zillions of different makes,” says Bill, part of whose job it is to make sure the right fixtures in the right quantity are available at the right time at the correct job site. If there are 300 recessed lights to be installed, the client doesn’t want to hear that the last dozen are back ordered, he explains.

And in the world of high-end homes, it’s all about choices. Recently at a house currently under construction, a special-order door procured from a local building supply store was subject in a side-by-side comparison with a one-of-a-kind door built by a local craftsman and a temporary section of a custom installed wooden wall. The house will need around 30 doors, regardless of the model chosen.

The homes built by Hitchcock Builders are all different, although seem to share only one or two main qualities: they’re beautiful and generally large. Additions may house massive indoor pools, gourmet kitchens and game rooms or even just more living space, often maximizing the foot print of modest lot sizes.

Their styles vary from arts and crafts to contemporary, relying extensively on wood, or glass, or stone. They really are magnificent.

There’s another common thread among several of these homes in the town of Windham: they’re built adjacent the ski trails from Windham Mountain for families who take full advantage of that proximity.

While the firm does rely on the services of several skilled subcontractors, years ago it began to integrate related trades within the company. “Plumbing, heating and electrical is handled in house,” says Bill. “We feel that gives us more control.” Dennis adds, “it (also) improves our scheduling. We do about everything ourselves.”

This vertical integration came about in response to customer input and lessons hard learned tidying up after some subcontractors in the field. Client complaints, if there were any, tended to center around portions of projects completed by subs, for which Hitchcock Builders was ultimately responsible. “We used to have a feedback sheet which we kept boiling down and boiling down,” says Bill. “It came down to one question, how likely would you be to recommend us.”

Controlling the sub trades streamlines the project and becomes more cost-effective and results in fewer workarounds, according to Bill. After all, you can’t tile the the bathroom until the plumbing is in.

“Our clients come in and we evaluate them, as they evaluate us,” says Bill. “What is the likelihood that they will say we were great builders and we’ll say they were great clients.”

The company, which often has about a one-year waiting list for new projects, receives a tremendous number of referrals, according to both father and son. “It’s word of mouth,” says Dennis. “Other people talk to our clients, like the Windham Fine Arts Gallery. People we do projects for, their friends call us.” And that word of mouth has garnered Hitchcock Builders a lot of business: “From a production standpoint, we’re at critical mass now,” says Bill. “It’s hard for a small business to do everything,” he says. “We’re small … but large enough. There are some contractors who don’t want to take on larger jobs because they’d be overwhelmed by them. Other guys don’t want smaller jobs because they don’t want to be bothered by them.”

Although Hitchcock Builders will take on smaller projects, “most of our homes are multimillion dollar homes ... higher end,” says Bill. “We’re not doing $400,000 to $600,000 projects as much.”

And Hitchcock Builders is here to stay: “I started off putting on a porch, and now … We’re not going anywhere,” says Dennis.

Hitchcock Builders employs 11 people year-round, including the three family members. Some crew members have worked for Hitchcock Builders for decades. The staff is local, the subcontractors are local and much of the materials are sourced locally too, though items are also ordered from around the globe, according to Bill.

Dennis says the company’ rates stay the same “whether we’re doing a roof for a local client or a multimillion dollar home.” He says that by the time Hitchcock is consulting on a project, or into the earliest phase of design, the job is already theirs. There are no free estimates. “If someone is calling for an estimate, they’re shopping for price,” says Bill. “Shopping on price is a very bad way to build a house. I tell people to interview several builders and pick the one you feel most comfortable with.” And clearly, Hitchcock Builders’ clients have been comfortable with their choice, encouraging Bill to show their properties off for this feature.

While the company’s Web site is presently no more than an item on Bill’s “to-do” list, the firm is up to date on another business trend that’s also here to stay. Bill says the company is active in the green building realm, relying increasingly on energy-efficient materials and even reclaimed wood in finishing. “We always meet or exceed all the energy codes,” he says. “The thing about green building is that while some people are concerned about the environment, everyone is concerned with energy efficiency. Different people are tied into different scenes.”

Hitchcock Builders’ office is located at 5376 Main Street in Windham. For more information, call them at 518 734 3494.