A client of CM Ragusa Builders had a bold vision for a large, semicircular room in his home overlooking a tidal estuary: Seven-foot-tall windows that sink into the floor, instead of opening up or out. The custom building company looked for solutions from all the major window companies, but couldn’t find one that exactly fit the client’s unique request. So they did the only thing they could do: They built the windows themselves.
“We actually built the windows into this house,” says Christopher M. Ragusa, principal of CM Ragusa Builders. “We’ve always been really open to a challenge. Anything complex or formidable…we’re happy to try to figure it out.”
The result is a stunning space where the 12 windows that form a half-circle around the room disappear downward into a slot in the sill when opened. The windows’ locks were all custom built, too, and a specially designed spring-loaded mechanism allows the windows to open and shut with ease. “With one finger, you can just slide this window back up,” Ragusa says. “They work flawlessly to this day.”
It’s that combination of detailed custom work, meticulous design, and innovative vision that has set CM Ragusa Builders apart for 15 years. The company works on projects on the North Shore, in southern Maine, along the New Hampshire Seacoast and Lakes Regions, and in Boston, but whether large or small, residential or commercial, all of the company’s projects are built to the same exacting standards.
Ragusa has spent his entire life with highly skilled craftsmen, including his father, and his grandfather, who was the project manager for the restoration of the USS Constitution in the early 1970s. After working as a laborer, carpenter, and subcontractor for several years, Ragusa ventured out on his own, founding CM Ragusa Builders in 2000 at the age of 27. In the years since, one-of-a-kind work has been the company’s calling card.
“We’ve never built the same thing twice,” Ragusa says. “Everything is custom.”
That custom-built ethos extends to places where it doesn’t for many builders: the millwork. At its millwork facility in Seabrook, New Hampshire, CM Ragusa Builders crafts everything from custom molding to cabinetry to stair details to built-in offices, shelving, and window seats.
“We build that all in-house from rough lumber,” Ragusa says. “We have not only a lot more flexibility over the quality of the product, but we’re able to really customize it to the homeowner’s needs. We’re only buying and using the finest lumber we can get.”
Ragusa points to one stunning home in Rye, New Hampshire, where the homeowner wanted to incorporate his love of the ocean, boating, and the design of old Chris-Craft boats into his home. The solution? Turning his home office into a replica of the boat itself by developing a barreled ceiling, made with curved mahogany beams and wooden planks of holly and teak.
“It looks like the hull of a Chris-Craft,” Ragusa says.
But Ragusa says it’s not only the spectacular finished product that sets his company apart from others in the construction business. It’s how the company works with clients from start to finish on their homes, making the process easy and enjoyable, as well as productive. “Start doesn’t mean when you dig a hole in the ground,” Ragusa says.
Instead, it means providing a host of preconstruction services such as guiding homeowners through zoning and regulatory issues, helping them with permits, guiding them in their choice of architects and designers, and providing a detailed conceptual budget, up front, so there are no surprises later on. Throughout the building or renovation process, the home is kept as neat as possible, with building materials stacked cleanly and tools parked in-line.
The company also pays close attention to the mechanical systems of a home, such as HVAC, electrical, wiring, and audiovisual components. In addition, it uses proprietary building elements that Ragusa designed and developed himself, such as a copper “micro drip edge” that’s used on the roofline between the fascia and shingles to prevent ice dams and to help shed exterior water from wind-driven rains. “I want what’s inside the walls to look as good as what’s on the outside,” Ragusa says.
The company is also often tapped to help clients maintain their homes after they’re built. “You want to show them that you really care about their home,” Ragusa says. “It’s all in the details.” Critical to the company’s success is its team. The company might bear Ragusa’s name, but he says the people he works with—from young carpenters to the veteran craftsmen who mentor them—are the best of the best.
“You’re only as strong as your team,” he says. “I certainly consider myself qualified and experienced, but what’s really the strength of my company is my employees.” In the end, CM Ragusa Builders aims for the homes it creates to be beautiful, functional, easy to maintain, and long-lasting.
In a word, says Ragusa, “Timeless.”