Brian Wolfson

Just ask Warren Buffett or Bill Gates: A philanthropic endeavor can make a company’s image sparkle. Brian Wolfson knows as much. His business, Wolfson Custom Homes, has started a charity showhouse program he calls Vision Building. Each year the Woodbury, N.J.-based builder sends a letter to local architects, inviting them to nominate a project they’re designing as a Vision Building house. Once a home has been identified, he invites area vendors and subcontractors to contribute pro bono products and services. When the home is complete, Wolfson charges admission for tours, giving all the proceeds to a chosen charity. Then the homeowners move in, enjoying thousands of dollars’ worth of added value, thanks to the donations.

The Vision Building process takes mountains of time and effort, as Wolfson is the first to admit. “It’s a very intense people-resource-type project,” he says. But the marketing payoff is eye-popping. His first charity house, a spec residence done in 2004 with architect Thomas Wagner, garnered him additional jobs worth about $2 million. “It accomplished what it was supposed to accomplish,” Wolfson says. “It drove interest in our business and our vendors and raised money for charity. Our name got exposed through word of mouth.” The letters to architects helped him establish a connection with members of the design community. Local print and television coverage didn’t hurt, either. Wolfson has worked in real estate development for two decades, but has spent just two years as a custom builder, making the accelerated exposure particularly important. “Because we’re a relatively new company, we had to get the message out faster,” he says. “We’ve gained 25 years of marketing from this.” He’s just about finished a second, custom showhouse, and a third is in the works.