The Story behind Horizon Builders

Joe Bohm and George Fritz, the founders of Horizon Builders, were neighbors when they met in the early 80’s through their wives, who had become friends. At the time, Joe was an accountant working for a large manufacturing company and George was a Maryland State Trooper.

It was through a series of backyard barbeques that Joe and George realized they had a lot in common. Both were interested in home building. George had just built his family’s home and had previous construction experience. Joe had bought and sold several homes for his family and was intrigued by the home building business. They also found that they shared an entrepreneurial spirit. Both wanted to work for themselves. But they had families to support.

So in 1982, the two decided to form a company and start building homes part time. Headquartered in the basement of Joe’s home, the business did well from the start and, as a result, became quite time consuming. Shortly thereafter, with the support of their families, both Joe and George left their jobs to focus on the business full time.

In its early years, Horizon took on all sorts of residential projects, but the company’s focus was always on quality. This commitment to quality led to a call one day from a young architect who had just signed a prestigious contract with a journalist and needed a builder. Horizon took on the project, and through the building process, developed a great relationship with both the architect and the owner, as well as a reputation for high quality work. This resulted in more calls from architects, more high profile projects — and kudos in the marketplace.

These early experiences define how Horizon does business today. In fact, Horizon calls the relationship between the builder, architect and owner the "golden triangle" and attributes its success to this important partnership.

Today, Horizon Builders has grown into what is now one of the premier residential builders in the Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC areas. While the company is highly recognized as a specialist in building architect-designed homes, it does much more — from renovations to additions to more traditional homes. And regardless of the size of of a project, Horizon always remains true to its mission: to construct architect-designed residential projects on time, on budget, with precision, extreme craftsmanship and exceptional service.