Licensed, bonded and lead-safe certified in Missouri

96%of 2025 clients would hire us again (sample figure)

Book your renovation: (314) 555-0159

About us

A remodeling company built around the difficult conversations

Most renovation problems are known before demolition starts. Somebody just has to say them out loud, price them honestly and put them in writing. That is most of what we do.

Founded
2009
Projects
742
Carpentry crews
3
Buildwell carpenter on a St. Louis job site

Our story

Seventeen years, one metro, one way of working

Marcus Delgado started Buildwell in 2009 after sixteen years of framing and finishing other people's projects, most of them commercial. What he wanted was simple and turned out to be hard: a residential company where the person who priced the job was still there when the tile went in.

The first few years were kitchens and bathrooms around Tower Grove, one crew, working out of a rented bay. The company grew slowly and deliberately. We brought design in-house in 2016 because subcontracted design kept producing drawings that were expensive to build. We opened the millwork shop in 2019 because built-ins ordered from a catalogue never fit a hundred-year-old wall properly.

Today there are six people in the office on Manchester Avenue and three carpentry crews in the field. We run between eight and twelve projects at a time, which is roughly the point where a project manager can still walk every job twice a week. We have turned down growth that would have broken that, and we would do it again.

We are not the cheapest remodeler in St. Louis and we do not try to be. What we sell is a number you can rely on, a schedule someone owns, and a crew that will tell you what they found behind the wall before they cover it back up.

Buildwell carpenters framing a new opening

17

years of St. Louis houses, and the things they hide

How we behave when it gets awkward

Four rules we do not bend

Every remodeling company says it communicates. These are the specific behaviors we hold people to, including ourselves.

Say the difficult thing early

If the drainage needs fixing before the basement gets finished, or the addition will not clear the setback, you hear it in week one. Nobody enjoys that conversation in month four.

Price it properly or walk away

We would rather lose a bid than win it on an allowance nobody can hit. Our exclusions section is the first thing we ask clients to read.

Own the schedule

One project manager holds the trade calendar. If a trade partner cannot make Tuesday, that is our problem to solve, not yours to chase.

Leave the house better than the room

Containment, floor protection and a broom-clean site every evening. Your neighbors should not be able to tell from the street that there is a job running.

Seventeen years on St. Louis job sites

Numbers we are happy to be held to

742
Projects completed

Since 2009 across the St. Louis metro

96%
Would hire us again

2025 post-completion survey, 148 responses

3 yr
Workmanship warranty

Three times the one-year industry standard

17
Years in business

Founded in 2009 on Manchester Avenue

Figures are sample data for this demo site.

How we got here

Six moments that shaped the company

  1. 2009

    Two people and a van

    Marcus and one apprentice, working out of a rented bay off Manchester Avenue, mostly kitchens and bathrooms in Tower Grove.

  2. 2013

    First whole-home gut

    A vacant 1908 two-family in Benton Park. Ten months, every system replaced, and the project that taught us to schedule backwards.

  3. 2016

    Design brought in-house

    Priya joined and we stopped subcontracting design. Measured plans, elevations and selections became part of every project.

  4. 2019

    The shop opened

    A millwork shop behind the office so built-ins, floating shelves and site-matched trim are made by our own carpenters.

  5. 2022

    Warranty extended to three years

    We had been quietly honoring it anyway. Putting it in writing made it easier for clients to compare us properly.

  6. 2026

    742 projects

    Six people in the office, three carpentry crews, and a trade partner roster we have used for more than a decade.

Six people, one job site at a time

The people who will actually be in your house

No rotating cast of subcontractors. You meet the person who runs your project before you sign anything.

  • Marcus Delgado, Founder and lead carpenter at Buildwell RenovationsMarcus DelgadoFounder and lead carpenterSixteen years framing and finishing in St. Louis before he started the company. Still runs a tape on every estimate.Read more

    Marcus came up through a union carpentry apprenticeship and spent eight years on commercial interiors before going residential. He does the structural walkthroughs on every addition we price, and he is the person who will tell you when the answer is to fix the drainage instead of finishing the basement.

    Founded Buildwell in 2009

  • Priya Raghavan, Design director at Buildwell RenovationsPriya RaghavanDesign directorInterior architecture background. Draws the plans, runs the selections, and keeps the allowances honest.Read more

    Priya trained in interior architecture and worked for a kitchen and bath showroom before joining us, which means she knows exactly what a cabinet line costs and how long it really takes to arrive. She produces the measured plans, the elevations and the 3D views, and she runs selections sessions so nobody is choosing tile at 9pm on a phone.

    With Buildwell since 2016

  • Thomas Whitfield, Senior project manager at Buildwell RenovationsThomas WhitfieldSenior project managerHolds the schedule, the trade calendar and the answer to what is happening tomorrow.Read more

    Tommy manages our largest projects and is the single point of contact once construction starts. He runs the weekly on-site client meeting, updates the shared photo log daily, and has the unenviable job of telling a trade partner they have to come back on Saturday.

    With Buildwell since 2014

  • Danielle Okafor, Client experience lead at Buildwell RenovationsDanielle OkaforClient experience leadAnswers the phone, books the visits, and follows up at 30 days, 6 months and a year.Read more

    Danielle is the first person you talk to and the last one to check in after the job is done. She schedules estimate visits, keeps the pre-construction paperwork moving, and runs the post-completion follow-ups that catch a sticking door before it becomes a warranty claim.

    With Buildwell since 2019

  • Jonah Brenner, Site superintendent at Buildwell RenovationsJonah BrennerSite superintendentRuns the job site, the dust containment and the daily clean. Former commercial superintendent.Read more

    Jonah is on site first and leaves last. He sets the containment, checks the protection path, coordinates deliveries so the street stays passable, and walks each trade's work before it gets covered. If your neighbors have his card, that is deliberate.

    With Buildwell since 2018

  • Elena Vasquez, Selections and procurement at Buildwell RenovationsElena VasquezSelections and procurementTracks every lead time, every backorder and every tile that shipped in the wrong dye lot.Read more

    Elena places and tracks every material order on every active job. She is the reason cabinetry lead times appear on your schedule in week one rather than week nine, and she checks dye lots and box counts on delivery so a shortage turns up before the tile setter does.

    With Buildwell since 2021

Licences, insurance and guarantees

Checked before we set foot in your house

Licensed and bonded

Missouri contractor registration #RE-0000000 (sample)

EPA Lead-Safe certified

Firm certification NAT-F193742-1 (sample), RRP trained crews

$2M general liability

Certificate issued directly to you on request

W-2 carpentry crews

Workers' compensation carried on every employee

NARI member

National Association of the Remodeling Industry, St. Louis chapter

3 year workmanship warranty

Written, transferable once, with a named claims process

Inside the work

See how a Buildwell job site actually runs

Buildwell carpenters working inside a contained job siteWalk six finished projectsBefore photos, scope, budget band and what we found in the walls
  • A millwork shop on Manchester

    Built-ins, floating shelves and site-matched trim profiles are made in our own shop, not ordered from a catalogue and shimmed to fit.

  • Containment before demolition

    Negative air at every opening and HEPA extraction on every sander. The reason clients can stay in the house.

  • Every wall photographed open

    We shoot each wall before it closes and hand you the file. Five years later you will know exactly where the wires run.

Where to find us

The office and shop on Manchester Avenue

Drop in if you want to see how a built-in is made, or book a selections session in the sample room. There is parking behind the building off Tower Grove Avenue.

4120 Manchester Ave, Suite 210
St. Louis, MO 63110
Mon - Fri
7:00 am - 5:30 pm
Saturday
8:00 am - 2:00 pm
Sunday
Closed
The Buildwell millwork shop with tools and a work bench

Free estimate

Come and talk to the person who will build it

Marcus or a project manager does every site visit. You will not meet a salesperson and then never see them again.

Or come and work with us

742 projects since 2009 · 3 year workmanship warranty · Licensed, bonded and lead-safe certified (sample figures)

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