Three generations of building.

James Neth grew up on construction sites. His grandfather, Henry Neth, framed houses on Chicago's North Side from 1948 until 1979. His father, Robert Neth, ran a custom kitchen shop in Wilmette for thirty-one years. The family business has always been the same business: making rooms people want to live in.

James founded Neth Built & Co. in 2011 with a single carpenter, a borrowed pickup truck, and a single client — a Highland Park kitchen that's still standing, still loved, and still photographed for our portfolio. Fourteen years later we're a 14-person design-build firm with a permanent studio in Highwood and a calendar booked twelve months out.

What hasn't changed: every project is overseen personally by James. Every site visit is logged. Every change order is written. Every walkthrough is real. The company is bigger now — but the standards are the standards my grandfather set in 1948.