Square One builds architect-designed homes and renovations. Steve Howard has been building since 1990 and founded Square One Development Group in 2017.
Steve Howard has been building homes since 1990. In 2000 he joined the custom-home builder Gibson, where he spent eleven years mentored under master builder Jim Gibson — the apprenticeship that shaped the discipline and craft behind his work today.
At Gibson he ran construction as project manager and superintendent on David Jameson's Blaisdell residence, and a friendship formed on the job site. During a brief break from Gibson, he built Jameson's Jigsaw on his own, start to finish. It received a 2009 AIA Institute Honor Award, one of the profession's highest national distinctions.
Steve Howard founded and owned PureForm Builders, a partnership with Nancy Jameson. The firm ran until 2023. Square One Development Group started in 2017, so the two overlapped. PureForm's work continues as Square One Development Group. Among the recognized homes from that run are Tom Kundig's Blue Ridge House (featured in Dwell), David Jameson's Hull House and Ontario, Wildcat Mountain, and the Liminal guest house — Wildcat Mountain is the main house on that property.
Today, as Square One Development Group, we continue that work at the highest level — Pivoting's sweep of AIA and Home & Design awards with MODE4 Architecture, the Kalorama residence, and a roster of the country's most celebrated architects: Olson Kundig, Allan Greenberg, Dirk Denison, MKCA, and more.
The common thread is simple. We build quietly and precisely, in close collaboration with the architect, to a standard that lets the design speak for itself.
Every design award belongs to the architect. Our credential is having built the recognized work.
We've built for public figures, private families, and institutions whose names we don't share. Discretion is part of the service — and part of why the region's leading architects trust us with their most important work.
Precision in the details. Collaboration with you and your architect from the first conversation. And a respect for craft that shows in everything from board-formed concrete to a custom pivot door. We don't simply construct a home; we make a place built to be lived in, appreciated, and passed down.