Like many immigrants before him, Nicolo Scozzari saw America as the land of opportunity when he arrived here from his native Italy in 1925 and found work as a stonemason. Little did he know that a century later, his family would be following his lead—on a much larger scale, of course, but with the same principles of honesty, integrity and attention to detail that he built his reputation on.
Scozzari Builders, Inc. is now one of the region’s most respected general contracting firms, specializing in new construction, expansion and renovation for a wide range of commercial and industrial clients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Led by brothers Leonard and Nick—Nicolo’s grandsons—along with their sons, Nick Jr. and Anthony, the company continues to put its customers first while striving to make their visions come to life, on schedule and on budget.
“It originally started with our grandfather,” Nick says. “Then our father joined the business, and from there my brother and I made it three generations. Now our sons are here, making it four generations. It evolved over time, as any company does, and we found our niche. We’re fortunate enough to do all types of construction, from historic restoration to retail, industrial, commercial, institutional and medical, and we continue that to this day with both public and private clients.”
The family tradition of putting in 100% effort and taking pride in a job well done was instilled in Leonard and Nick at a young age, and both started working for the company as pre-teenagers.
“That was very important to us,” Leonard says. “We heard those business conversations every day at the dinner table. Nick and I worked our way through school, and every summer at the business, and we learned the trades when we were younger.”
That background and experience proved critical as the brothers moved up the ranks and eventually transformed into leadership positions in the company. Their firm offers the full gamut of services from conception to completion, including pre-construction services and design-build services, while also collaborating with outside architects, engineers and subcontractors when the project calls for it.
“These days, a lot of other companies our size or even bigger are brokers, and they don’t have a lot of in-house manpower to perform certain trades on the projects such as masonry, concrete, carpentry, etc.,” Nick says. “So that makes us more hands-on, and we see the daily operation of the project. We always have a pulse on the project because we’re involved.”
That also allows them to stress transparency on every project, especially when the inevitable hiccups arise.
“In addition to having an on-site superintendent or project managers, Nick and I remain in constant contact with them daily to make sure the job is on schedule,” Leonard says. “We want to know good news and bad news so we can react accordingly, and relay that information to the owners. That’s where we’re a little different: We roll up our sleeves and jump right in when we need to.”
Scozzari Builders, Inc. has been particularly successful lately with new construction of commercial and industrial facilities, along with tenant fit-outs for a variety of clients, including the educational and medical fields. It recently won awards for renovating an old building in Willingboro into a state-of-the-art medical space for Everside Health, and for constructing the brand-new, 20,000-square-foot headquarters for Switlik Survival Products, which manufactures safety products for the aviation, marine and military markets.
The brothers expect fit-outs to remain a key piece of the business as the industry reacts to changing times.
“Since COVID, there are a lot of businesses that now realize they don’t need 10,000 square feet of offices because their people are working from home,” Leonard says. “In their next lease renewal, they are only taking 3,000 square feet, so in a case like that, there’s 7,000 square feet of space that has to be repurposed. The landlords are faced with trying to re-rent it, and as a result, they need to reconfigure the space. Some of them are even being turned into warehouses if the structure is adaptable to that, because that’s a stronger marker at the moment.”
No matter what a client is seeking, with Scozzari Builders, Inc., they can expect a team that goes above and beyond in making the process as smooth as possible. That has continued with Nick, Jr. and Anthony assuming important roles with an eye on running the business in the future.
“No project is black and white, and in the situation that an issue may arise, we’re prepared. As the old saying goes, ‘We do what we have to do to get it done,’ and we have excellent project teams in place to facilitate that,” Nick Jr. says. “We like to think like a client. For example, if there comes a point in the project where we can pass on savings to the client, oftentimes that’s the conversation we have. We can reduce costs and, in the end, still produce a beautiful space or building.”
Scozzari Builders, Inc.
Trenton
(609) 989-1221
Scozzari.com
