Our Story · Est. 2011
Two framers. One truck. Fourteen winters.
Platte River Builders was never a business plan. It was two guys who were tired of watching other people's crews cut corners, deciding they'd rather answer for their own work.
How It Started
Lot 14, a 2003 F-250,
and a handshake.
Marcus Reyes and Danny Kowalski met in 2009 on a production framing crew in Highlands Ranch, cranking out tract homes for a national builder at a pace that left no room for doing anything twice.
Marcus had grown up framing with his uncle in Pueblo and could lay out a complicated roof in his head. Danny had come out of a Wisconsin carpentry apprenticeship and cared, almost to a fault, about flashing details nobody would ever see. They got along because they were both the guys who stayed late to fix what the day crew had rushed.
In March 2011, a small builder in Thornton offered them six lots on their own if they could start in two weeks. They bought a used F-250 with 190,000 miles on it, borrowed a framing nailer, and named the company after the one thing every Denver address has in common: the elevation.
They framed all six lots in nine weeks. The builder gave them the next twelve.
The Timeline
Fourteen years,
one lot at a time.
Every division we've added came from a client asking "can you also…" and us deciding the honest answer should be yes.
Platte River Framing LLC
Six lots in Thornton, one truck, two founders and a borrowed nailer. By December: 22 homes framed and a second crew hired off the same production site they'd left.
The storm that changed everything
A May hailstorm shredded siding across Aurora and Centennial. A framing client asked if we could re-side 40 homes in his subdivision. Danny said yes, got Hardie-certified in three weeks, and the siding division was born by accident.
Platte River Builders
Clients kept asking us to run their whole addition, not just frame it. We hired Alicia Tran as our first project manager, got our Class C general contractor license, and renamed the company to match what we'd become.
200 homes in 8 months
The May 8 hailstorm was the costliest in Colorado history. We restored more than 200 homes that year and built the insurance-restoration playbook we still use, including a firm rule: we never inflate a claim and we never eat a deductible.
The Brighton Blvd shop
We moved out of Marcus's garage and into a converted brick warehouse in RiNo with a lumber shop, a training bay and, finally, an office. Elena Vasquez launched our in-house drafting studio and Tyler Brooks opened the permit desk.
Home #1,000 and the partner network
We framed our 1,000th home in Parker and formalized what we'd been doing informally for years: a vetted, insured, scheduled network of 38 trade partners who work under our contract and our warranty.
Outdoor structures & the Builder Program
Mike Okafor's deck and outdoor living division became its own team. We launched the Builder Program for production and custom builders who wanted a framing partner on a recurring schedule.
42 people, 4.9 stars, still showing up at 6:45
Three framing crews, two siding crews, an outdoor structures team, drafting, permits and project management, all under one roof. Marcus still walks every framing inspection. Danny still checks the kick-out flashing.
What We Believe
Five rules, painted on the shop wall.
Square, plumb & honest
The frame and the estimate are held to the same standard. If a number's off, we say so before you find out.
Show up at 6:45
Crews are on site before the coffee's cold. Schedules hold because people do.
Own the whole problem
If the electrician is late, that's our problem, not yours. One contract means one person accountable.
Build for 50 winters
Every detail assumes hail, 100-mph wind, and 200 freeze-thaw cycles a year. Because that's the forecast.
Leave it cleaner
Broom-swept every night, magnet-rolled for nails at the end. The neighbors should be sorry to see us go.
The Team
The people who
answer the phone.
Forty-two on payroll. These are the ten you'll actually talk to, from the first site walk to the final inspection.
Marcus Reyes
Third-generation framer from Pueblo. Still lays out every complex roof himself and walks every framing inspection. Has never lost a Sunday morning dominoes game to Danny.
Danny Kowalski
Wisconsin apprenticeship, Colorado convert. Built the siding division from a hailstorm and a three-week Hardie certification. Reads installation manuals for fun and can spot a missing kick-out from the street.
Alicia Tran
Our first hire that didn't swing a hammer, and the reason the schedules hold. Ran commercial GC projects for eight years before joining in 2016. Owns the partner network and every master calendar.
Jerome Whitfield
Thirty-one years of framing, the last nine with us. Runs the custom home crew. If your house has a roof that makes architects nervous, Jerome is the one who will build it.
Sarah McAllister
Your point of contact on pop-tops, additions and whole-home remodels. Sends a photo update every day at 4 p.m. without being asked. Former interior designer who decided she liked the framing stage better.
Carlos Mendoza
Leads our lead siding crew. Certified installer for Hardie, LP and three steel systems. Known for cutting fiber cement so clean that the trim carpenters complain they have nothing to hide.
Priya Nair
Turns your drawings into a line-item proposal in 48 hours. Structural engineering background, so her takeoffs catch what the plans forgot. The reason our bids and our invoices match.
Tyler Brooks
Lives in the Denver, Jeffco, Douglas, Arapahoe and Adams permit portals so you never have to. Knows every plan reviewer by first name and which ones want the snow load calc on page one.
Elena Vasquez
Produces our permit-ready drawings for additions, ADUs, decks and remodels, and coordinates with partner architects on custom homes. Twenty years of residential drafting and a very specific opinion about window proportions.
Mike Okafor
Has built more than 300 decks along the Front Range and designs every one around how the family actually uses the yard. Trex Pro Platinum. Will talk you out of a deck that's too big and into one that's right.
Plus 32 lead carpenters, framers, siding installers, laborers and apprentices, every one of them W-2, insured and background-checked. No 1099 day labor on our sites.
Licensed, Insured, Certified
The paperwork
behind the promise.
Ask any contractor for these before they set foot on your property. Here are ours.
Careers
Build with people
who take it seriously.
W-2 pay, health insurance, paid training, a real apprenticeship path, and Fridays that end at 3. We hire for attitude and teach the rest.
ApplyLead Framing Carpenter
5+ years residential framing · Run a 4-person crew · $34–$42/hr
Siding Installer
Fiber cement or LP experience · Hardie certification paid · $26–$34/hr
Project Coordinator
Office-based · Scheduling, client updates, close-out packets · $58–$68k
Carpentry Apprentice
No experience required · 2-year paid program · $20/hr to start
Deck Builder
Composite & hardwood experience · Trex Pro path · $28–$36/hr
Work With Us