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It begins with an idea. A bank of windows embracing the Blue Ridge. A screened porch like Grandmother had. A beam of sunlight hitting a heart pine floor. If you're thinking of building, you know what you want, whether it's a floor plan or just a feeling.  And Smith & Robertson is there to make it happen. Custom builders since 1976, Glenn Robertson and partner Ron Smith build 5 to 8 projects a year, ensuring that each client gets the one-on-one attention that turns daydream into day-to-day.
Robertson met Smith when both were students in business management at the College of William & Mary in the early 1970s. "We spent four years surrounded by the finest Colonial American architecture." By the time they graduated, Colonial Williamsburg's humble cottages and grand public buildings had left a lasting impression. Within a few years, the friends reunited in Charlottesville, where they worked for Smith's uncle, a carpenter and "old school" perfectionist.
Now with over 30 years under their belts, Smith and Robertson have established themselves as collaborators in the creative process that building a house can be. "Ron and I need a customer," Robertson explains, "someone we can bounce ideas around with. Our specialty is transforming a client's vision into something they love living in."
Communication is key. "We like to meet, talk, see the land a client is considering," Robertson explains.
"Glenn was a great listener," says Karen Lansing, who with her husband Jim built a post-and-beam residence in 1999. "It was so important to the whole process that we all be good listeners. That's what helped us achieve our dream."
Once a project is under way, Smith spends most his time out in the field, overseeing the site work, development, planning, and execution.
 "If Ron felt there was a problem we had overlooked," says Althea Scheman-Moje, "he notified us immediately, which not only resulted in our greater satisfaction with the home, but it also saved a considerable amount of money we would have had to spend to make changes."
Accompanying Smith on site is a team of longtime employees who share the company's commitment to quality. "Our employees are one of our greatest strengths," says Smith. "We value them highly and treat them right with things like health benefits, a retirement plan, and vacation and sick leave. I believe that makes a difference both for them and for the customers whose houses they build." The result? A team of artisans who take pride in what they do.
With Smith in the field, Robertson is available to meet with clients at every stage of the decision-making process. "It really is a collaboration," Robertson says, "between the clients and us, between Ron and me and our staff, the architects and designers who may be a part of it. And it's that dynamic that results in a house that is a very personal expression of the people who inhabit it."
Perhaps not surprisingly, that rare blend of art and craft has not been lost on the media: Smith and Robertson projects have appeared in Traditional Home, Washingtonian, Rural Living, Albemarle magazine, Mountain Living, Builder/Architect, Timber Home Living, Timber Homes Illustrated, the Timberpeg National Newsletter and as backgrounds for the Plow & Hearth and American Country Home catalogs.
Still, says Smith, seeing their work in print just can't compare to watching a structure go from plans on paper to finished form. "By the time we complete a project, we know the land, we know the house, and we know the clients. For us, it's personal."
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