Horizon Builders , Crofton, Md.
Type of business: custom builder
Years in business: 25
Employees: 105
2006 volume: $35 million
2006 starts: 7
Custom builders Joe Bohm (right) and George Fritz (left) are both sons of former combat infantrymen, and some of their employees have family in the armed forces. They know that not every soldier serving overseas has a supportive family back home. Through a program called Any Soldier, their company, Horizon Builders, has sent dozens of letters and care packages to soldiers on deployment who might not otherwise get any mail from home. “It seems a small thing to do,” Bohm says, “to send a wave to them and say thanks.” A different family connection led the company to support an effort closer to home, Maryland Therapeutic Riding. Bohm’s daughter participates in MTR’s program of horseback riding for people with disabilities. “It gives a huge amount of physical therapy to folks who need it,” Bohm says. “Doctors actually prescribe it.” In addition to serving on the organization’s board of directors and contributing his own money, Bohm leverages his standing in the community by inviting clients and subcontractors to MTR’s annual fundraising concert. The company also pitches in to help with the event. “If there’s something to be moved around, we send a truck over with four or five guys. We bring out some backup generators. We’ve also built a few things on their property.”
The company’s largest community service effort, though, is an annual shopping trip on behalf of an inner-city Baltimore Catholic church. Each year, before Christmas, the company descends on a local big-box store with a blank check and orders to fill a 20-foot trailer with food, clothing, and other necessities for the church to distribute to those in need. The tab comes in at about $30,000. While the goods will go to people that Bohm, Fritz, and their employees will never see, for the partners the matter is still very personal. “George and I have been in business for a long time, and we’ve done pretty well,” reflects Bohm, who says he only wishes he could provide 1,000 jobs rather than 100. “We can’t afford to do that, but we can afford to do this.”
