As part of our ongoing "Getting to Know Your Local Businesses"
series, this week we sat down with Bruce Ashworth Sommers, founder and
president of Ashworth Design & Remodeling, LLC.
Tell us a bit about your business: What does your business offer, and how long have you been around?
From concept to completion, we offer Residential and Commercial Building Design, Design-Build and Construction 
Services, including Remodeling, Renovation and Custom Homes.
From
our office in Kingwood, we serve the Greater Houston Metropolitan area
with primary emphasis on the Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita
communities.
Ashworth is a local Kingwood
family and veteran owned business. Two of my three sons and a daughter
in-law work with me. We are all cross-trained and involved with each and
every project and are readily available to meet and respond to our
client’s needs.
Ashworth Design &
Remodeling, LLC was established in 2011. We were formerly known as
Ashworth Associates Inc. from 1983 to 2000 and Ashworth Construction,
Inc. from 2000 to the end of 2010.
How did you decide to get involved in this line of work?
When
I was in elementary school, I assisted my grandfather working on
remodeling projects on several of his properties. I took Architectural
Drawing classes during high school and won Best of School in a Plan
Drawing Contest sponsored by a local Building Contractor Association
back in 1964.
I served in the United States
Army during Vietnam after which I continued my college education and
graduated with an Architectural Associates Arts degree in 1971.
In
1972, I married my wife Nan and started our family while working
full-time at several architectural, construction and development
companies and attending University full time at night and finally
graduating with a B.S. Degree in Urban Studies: Urban Management in
1975.
We moved to Kingwood, Texas in 1976 and I
worked for several Commercial Development companies and at an
architectural firm completing over $7,600,000 of residential and light
commercial Design Build projects.
In
1983, I started the first of my Ashworth Companies providing commercial
design and construction services and also provided in-house project and
or corporate management for several other companies.
In
the mid 90’s, commercial construction became less profitable so we
started looking for Residential Design and Design Build projects. In the
beginning Jason, my eldest son and I strapped on our tool belts and
actually started doing the work ourselves. Then, as we developed
relations with several residential subcontractors, we gradually phased
out of doing the work ourselves.
Tell us a couple things you are proud of about your business. What are you known for? What separates you from the competition?
We
are a local family and veteran-owned company and we work well together.
We have been recognized by local, state and national industry groups
for outstanding accomplishments and awards.
From
concept to completion, our unique blend of talent and experience, and
patient attention to detail in all phases of both design and
construction, provides a quality project within budget and on time.
Through every phase of every project, large or small, we make it our
business to meet or exceed your expectations.
What is your favorite part of running this business?
I love working with my family and, through the art of Design, helping our clients realize their dreams.
Who is your ideal customer/client? Who do you serve best?
Our
ideal customer is looking for an experienced, reliable and
straightforward company that can provide a creatively inspired design,
remodel or renovation project or that can design and build a new home
from concept to completion.
Is there any other information you'd like your potential customers/clients to know about your business?Visit our
website
to view a sampling of project photos, to identify the organizations
that we are involved with and the professional certifications that we
have earned and to read helpful articles about the design and build
process from concept to completion.
We
provide accurate pricing while maintaining quality control, timely
completion and a safe working environment on each of our projects.
How do you see your business growing and improving over the next couple of years?
To
sustain growth in these turbulent times, we will be improving our
response time with prospects within 12 hours from receipt of the initial
contact.
We will
also continue to provide our customers with quality workmanship and
timely completed projects within the agreed price. This approach has and
we hope will continue to result in satisfied repeat customers and
referrals.
Maintaining our excellent relations and prompt payments to
our subcontractors and suppliers is another must to sustaining our
growth.
