HOME PORTRAIT
From the Ground Up
Builder Doug Best Creates a Caring Rapport with His Team...and Clients
By Abby Remer, Photography by Bob Gothard
Doug Best of D. Best Construction & Painting has been building new homes from the ground up, creating additions, and undertaking historic renovations for 25 years. With some 1,000 projects to date, the company has won the prestigious Best of the Vineyard Award five of the last seven years for Construction, and two of the last four years for Painting. Of those years they didn’t win, they came in Second. Doug is passionate about creating a caring rapport with his team and clients, with many of them returning for repeat business.
Looking at their mission statement, it’s easy to tell why. “Our mission is to bring your vision to life–better than imagined–on time and within budget” says Doug. “We pride ourselves on honesty, integrity, and delivering every project with a professional yet friendly, approachable style. With meticulous attention to detail and strong Island relationships, we consistently provide our clients with the very Best.”
One of the company’s latest inception-to-completion projects was this new home in West Tisbury, which began with 5.5 acres of forest. The stunning home, with its skylights and many floor-to-ceiling windows, highlights the owners' impressive contemporary art collection. The surrounding natural scenery, visible through the glass, punctuates each room, creating a seamless connection with the exterior greenery.
Keith Moskow, a renowned architect, designed the home. He is well known for his clean, straight-lined contemporary style, enhanced by natural materials, which in the home includes white oak floors, a vertical cedar plank exterior, and mahogany decks.
Moskow recommended Doug, who met with the clients. Their shared background in the cable and media industry created immediate rapport. Together, they looked at the plans and re-engineered several elements which significantly improved the construction timeline. They also made several key changes, including converting an attic space into a yoga studio.
Doug brought in Kristen Reimann, a Vineyard landscape architect who was engaged to develop a plan that enhanced the property’s natural beauty, including a stunning botanical center island in the driveway and the front yard. The backyard, which slopes down gradually into a field of wildflowers, is punctuated with remarkable boulders sourced from the property and the excavation.
From start to finish, the entire project–from permitting application to fully-finished construction–took just over two years.
Doug’s pull to build things began as a child. “I used my dad’s tools to build forts and go-karts.” He also grew up around job sites in Denver and suburban Chicago in the 1960s. “I watched them being built and crawled around them, played on them. This started my familiarity with how homes are constructed. Little did I know that my early beginnings and curiosity would lead to my profession later on in life.”
Doug worked in the booming steel industry in the 1970s and in various construction trades through college. He graduated from Western State Colorado University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, a major in Business, and a minor in Economics. Although Doug’s career took him into corporate finance and operations in the media industry, construction was a constant. “It was my therapy. I’d come home and rebuild a bathroom or kitchen or put on an addition. It was a love, and I always had a natural ability for it. When I wanted to buy my first home in Ohio, I couldn’t afford anybody else to work on it, so I picked up the tools and learned the trades out of necessity. I could tile, do the electrical work and plumbing, as well as the roofing and siding. It was a natural fit for me. I built my second home in Connecticut, and then I moved to the Vineyard in 1987.”
Doug came to the Island with Tele-Media Corporation, where he oversaw the acquisition and management of Dukes County Cable, the Island’s local cable TV system. He bought his first Island home the following year, renovating the historic 1780 house on North Summer Street over the next 15 years. “Since then, I’ve built and/or renovated eight more of my personal homes on the Island,” he adds.
Doug left the corporate world to devote himself to construction full-time in 2000. “I decided to go back into my first love. There was so much activity on the Island, it was a perfect opportunity to succeed. Construction was now both my passion and a career.”
Over the years, Doug has built strong relationships with all the major Island businesses involved in the construction industry. “We are one of the few companies that endeavors to buy locally with the majority of all our products.”
At any given time, his company may be working on 20 to 25 projects and employing as many as 60 to 120 subcontractors and staff members. “We work with more subcontractors than anyone else on the Vineyard, which gives us the ability to get the jobs done, meet timelines, and obtain the best contractors and control pricing.”
With so much going on, Doug has systems in place to keep everything on track.
There is a weekly meeting covering all the projects. “We bill and do detailed budget tracking reports every week on larger projects, too, so clients know exactly where they stand on the project at all times,” Doug explains. “We also provide photos, which many appreciate. That’s the kind of thing that endears us to our clients.”
In terms of his team, of whom Doug is exceptionally proud, he relates, “I always swore that having been involved with a big company, I wanted the feel of a family company–a small business where everybody is somebody. Another thing I do is allowing a significant degree of flexibility with their lifestyle. You want to take your kids to the bus stop in the morning? Go do it. Do you want to leave early and coach the softball team? Go do it. One of our team members was a professional soccer player, and he leaves for two or three months in the summer to teach a soccer camp at the high school.
Everybody wears a lot of different hats on the Island, and you need to allow what I think is an opportunity to enjoy the Vineyard.”
D. Best Construction & Painting strives to give back to the community that supports it. Doug has initiated a multi-faceted effort that includes donations to local causes and organizations, volunteering, and fundraising. They have long supported more than 30 nonprofits, sports teams, and events both financially and physically. “We proudly wear the emblems of all the entities that we support on the arms of our shirts and sweatshirts. The business is a tool to help support the community.”
Doug himself has been deeply involved in the community in various ways. For example, he has served on the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard board for 14 years, including roles as treasurer and chairman of the finance committee. He is currently the Chairman of the expansion committee. He also served on the board of Harbor Homes, an Island organization dedicated to housing people without housing and caring for the less fortunate. Additionally, he was vice president and chairman of the membership committee for five years at the Martha’s Vineyard Builders’ Association. “It’s a significant entity on the Island that has helped many, not just builders and contractors and subcontractors, but the towns and the permitting agencies,” he explains.
Speaking about working on the Island of which he is so intimately a part of, Doug says, “It’s an Island of interesting people and as a result, interesting projects, which is one of the reasons we love this business so much. No two projects are the same, which keeps everybody interested, busy, and having fun.”
For more information contact:
Doug Best Construction & Painting Office: 508-696-8448, Cell: 508-737-3278, dbestconstruction.com, dougb@dbestconstruction.net
Keith Moskow Moskow Linn Architects, 617.292.2000, info@moskowlinn.com, moskowlinn.com
Kristen Reimann Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers, kristenreimann.com, 508-696-4590, kbr@kristenreimann.com