Oxbow Design Build co-founder Carl Woodruff referred to multiple bottom lines as the local business celebrates its 10-year anniversary: “We use environmentally stable materials and contribute to the community by creating affordable housing while also being a for-profit enterprise with competitive wages and benefits.” In addition to aiming for lofty goals, Oxbow delivers superb results for residential and commercial clients.

Readers may recognize Woodruff’s name from a 2022 Recorder column (“From the ground up, up, and up!”) spotlighting the spectacular home he built for his family on Greenfield’s James Street. The talents that Woodruff, 37, brought to bear in creating his residence are put to good use as he and his Oxbow colleagues design and build for a wide range of economic realities, doing so with striking creativity and style.

“We work in and around the Valley,” said Woodruff. “Our staff includes a licensed architect, a licensed general contractor, and a team of designers, builders, and artists with a diverse range of qualifications. We enjoy all phases of consultation, design, and fabrication, and take pride in creating well-crafted and functional homes, furniture, and goods.” Oxbow’s projects include new structures, remodels, additions, restorations, and renovations. At the 10,000 square-foot Easthampton facility, the company offers furniture, cabinetry, built-ins, retail displays, products and custom shop work.

The Oxbow crew does not allow the pursuit of excellence to eclipse a collective sense of compassion toward one another and toward community members. In addition to including affordable housing in their admirable list of priorities, Oxbow is also a worker-owned cooperative. In attendance at Oxbow’s recent anniversary party were other members of the Valley Alliance of Worker Cooperatives (VAWC), an outfit that helped Oxbow move toward a key goal.

In 2015, Oxbow Design Build began as an LLC. “It was an easy way to start out,” said Woodruff. “We didn’t learn how to become a worker-owned co-op until 2017, when VAWC (pronounced “vawk”) helped us with the details.” 

Woodruff described VAWC as a small but mighty federation of worker cooperatives, one that’s currently made up of seven businesses.

Oxbow was born when college buddies collaborated on a major building project. About 20 years ago, while students at Bard College in Great Barrington (aka Simon’s Rock), Woodruff and a fellow named Noah Modie became friends. After Modie became an architect and moved to the Pioneer Valley, he met Chris Millette, who was also involved in the local construction scene.

Before long, the three young men collaborated on an Easthampton hydroponic park project called Mill 180 (For those unfamiliar with the term, a hydroponic park is a public or recreational site where plants are grown using nutrient-rich water rather than soil).

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“Noah designed the mycology house at Mill 180 Park – a very unusual design,” said Woodruff, “and he learned that other aspects of the overall project required completion. So Noah suggested that Chris and I put in a bid. We got the job, which turned into a much larger project; we did most of the finish work. Oxbow grew from that collaboration.”

The roots of Oxbow can be traced even further back, however, to an era when, as a young child, Woodruff tagged along to his father’s job sites.

“My dad was an electrical engineer, welder, and builder. He had a little shop behind our house, and did work at the homes and businesses of people in our community,” he said.

Woodruff cherishes a distinct memory of waiting at the base of a radio tower as his dad did repairs at the top. Building and fixing things is in Woodruff’s blood.

“I started doing hands-on construction during summers when I was about 14,” he said. “In college, I studied photography and sculpture, but then got back into building.”

Now a licensed contractor, Woodruff is also a certified Lead Safe Renovator. 

Oxbow Design Build has several projects going at once, and they’re excited about one taking shape in the heart of Greenfield.

“A house on Hope Street had been demolished, since it was way beyond repair,” said Woodruff. “In that spot, we’re building a two-family residence, following the model of Habitat for Humanity in Amherst.”

While the two units will sit on the same lot, they’ll be separately deeded.

“We won’t need a homeowners’ association, since the land will be given to a land trust,” said Woodruff. “There are income restrictions on that property, and each unit will be sold to an income-qualified family.”

Woodruff said his firm plans to break ground on the Hope Street project this year.

“Oxbow is the sole owner of this project. We’re confident that we can execute our vision of affordable housing. We’re waiting on one significant grant, which could come any day now. We have strong reasons to believe we’ll get the funding,” he said. “If not, we have other ideas. For example, we could do one structure with a party wall, divided from foundation to roof, small townhouse style. We always look for creative solutions.”

Oxbow has already been awarded Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds from the city of Greenfield for the project.

“We’re grateful for that,” said Woodruff. “We’re looking forward to getting started, and I can say that we’ll be above code minimum for energy usage. We’re also using local and sustainable materials, to keep the environmental impact low.”

The Oxbow crew has reason to feel optimistic: “We’ve already successfully completed one major project in Greenfield: we designed and built a three-family unit that prioritized providing housing for folks involved with the Compost Cooperative. (The Recorder has published several features about that project.) “We’re 50-50 owners of that structure in terms of capitalization, and we’re looking for long-term stewardship so we can eventually relinquish our part in it. It’s been an amazing project for us.” 

Given Oxbow’s skill sets, enthusiasm, and sterling values, no doubt there are many amazing projects ahead.

To learn more, visit oxbowdesignbuild.com.

Eveline MacDougall is the author of "Fiery Hope," and a former construction worker. To contact her: eveline@amandlachorus.org.