NORTHAMPTON — After more than 35 years leading Wright Builders, founder Jonathan Wright has stepped back and a new president is running the company.
“It’s actually easier to give up control than I thought,” said Wright, 64, of Northampton, who downshifted from six days a week to three beginning April 4.
He remains on as an adviser, and ran late to an interview with a reporter because he was busy working with customers. “I’m not out to pasture, yet,” he said.
Mark Ledwell, 63, of Charlemont, who has been with Wright Builders for 16 years, took over as president.
“It’s a healthy shift,” said Wright. “It’s good for the company and it’s good for me.”
Wright Builders is known for its history of sustainable building practices. The company is constructing two self-sustaining buildings on the Amherst campus of Hampshire College, from which Wright graduated. He was among its first students when it opened in 1970.
Ledwell said he first encountered Wright Builders on a job site in the 1980s. At the time he ran a woodworking and building business in Charlemont. Not long after, Ledwell said, the company was looking for a new project manager.
“It looked like a good move,” said Ledwell. “I thought I had something to offer, and apparently I do.”
Wright said he’s the “worrier in chief,” while Ledwell is the “encourager in chief.”
“Mark can talk me down off a shelf when I get worried,” said Wright. “Mark’s got big shoulders and a mastery of detail.”
Wright said he feels it’s time to focus on some other gifts he has to share with the world.
“I have a lot of knowledge about sustainability and teaching, and speaking and writing,” Wright said. “I just published a book of poetry — I have other contributions to make while I continue to help my friends at Wright Builders.”
Ledwell said Tom Lucia moved up in the company as vice president of operations, which freed him to focus on the overall management.
The company at 48 Bates St. has 26 employees. Including contractors and subcontractors, Wright Builders is supervising about 120 people at any given time.
“We’re in kind of an interesting place in the market,” said Ledwell. “We’re too big to be small and too small to be big.”
Ledwell said the toughest part of their niche market is the materials. He added that Wright Builders is always experimenting with new green products — “no cheap stuff from China” — to make sure they will stand the test of time.
The R.W. Kern Center, one of the two buildings at Hampshire constructed by Wright Builders, is scheduled to open April 29. The $10.4 million building in the middle of campus will house the admissions and financial aid offices, and include classrooms and social areas.
According to Hampshire, it was designed as the ninth building in the world to be certified under the most advanced green building standard, the Living Building Challenge.
Wright said the biggest challenge was not using any toxic “red list” materials or chemicals.
Ledwell said he was inside the building last week and none of the finishings smelled like fumes, “and that tells you something.”
One polyurethane the company has been experimenting with is made from whey. Ledwell said they test new products like that one for a year before fully deploying them.
“You ask around, you experiment, you break things in slowly,” he added. “And then you take chances. And things don’t really go wrong for us — we’re advanced but we’re not nuts.”
Ledwell said the company is grooming younger employees from within so that within the next 10 years they will take over its management.
Though his company eventually reached a height of over $15 million in sales per year, Wright said he never set out to make lots of money — “it all started with two guys and a pickup truck doing repairs for $5 an-hour” — but instead to make quality buildings and treat his employees well.
“I think the buildings we have made together — they add up to some really nice stuff, that will be around for a while,” he said, glancing around at the many awards and certificates that line the walls of the Wright Builders conference room. “It’s about getting it done right.”
Amanda Drane can be contacted at adrane@gazettenet.com.