David Nice Builders, based in Williamsburg, Virginia is a family-run company that was founded in 1975 by founders David A. Nice and Vice-President Deborah L. Nice.
Following a successful run in building high-end custom homes throughout the Williamsburg area, the company shifted focus in the late 1980s as the outlet mall boom swept the nation, concentrating on commercial retail store build-outs. In the 1990s, David A. Nice Builders expanded further by launching their sister corporation, Nicewood Enterprises, to specialize in high-end custom millwork. This growth continued into the early 2000s with the addition of civil and site development projects. Today, they are a multi-faceted organization with four distinct divisions: retail, commercial, civil, and millwork. David A. Nice Builders operates nationally across the United States and is licensed in just about every state. This includes, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 2024, the company partnered with just over 800 vendors and subcontractors.
From familiar retailers like GAP companies, to luxury boutique stores like Veronica Beard and Omega, David A. Nice Builders delivers high-quality, and tenant fit-out projects across the country. In addition to their national retail work, they specialize in design-build projects including fire stations, churches, commercial buildings, and more – providing comprehensive solutions from concept through completion.
The company delivers on four core values—craftsmanship, integrity, lasting relationships, and passionate people—guiding its commitment to excellence and client satisfaction. This year marks 50 years in business for the company, a feat that Brandon Nice, company president and son of David and Deborah Nice, says can be largely attributed to the company’s guiding core beliefs and personal values. Their vision statement,
“Guided by Faith, we will move mountains to overcome the impossible, while developing and building passionate people, through inspired projects with a hands-on team whose impact resonates in the communities where they work” is the foundation. “We also have an incredible team of talented people around us who inspire us every day.”
“Guided by Faith, we will move mountains to overcome the impossible, while developing and building passionate people, through inspired projects with a hands-on team whose impact resonates in the communities where they work”
“We do not currently have a dedicated marketing department; everyone does business development. The relationships and serving our clients to the highest possible level are what’s most important. It’s a lot of word of mouth and our reputation of performance for repeat business” Nice says, noting that the company still has its first-ever client from 30 years ago, J. Crew, in its portfolio. “Do what you say you’re going to do and treat people fairly,” Nice says. “In the grand scheme of things, the industry is pretty small, and it all comes down to integrity, honesty, and standing behind your word, which is a foundation that my parents have always instilled in us,” he adds, referencing his brother and company vice-president, Christopher Nice.
The family’s unwavering commitment to their faith, as well as their involvement in supporting local charities are equally important measures of success within the company. “Work is a gift,” says Nice. “It’s more than just a job. We believe in giving back and seeing the fruits of our labor benefiting others”. That belief shows up in the company’s ongoing support of faith-based initiatives, veteran-focused charities, and children’s organizations like Child Development Resources.
“Our mom, who is still very involved in the company, has a huge heart for charity, especially when it comes to children and she is instrumental in helping spearhead many of those efforts with us,” Nice says. “We also have a deep love and affinity for helping with church construction as well as many organizations that support our nations veterans and first responders.”
This year, David A. Nice Builders currently has 25 ongoing commercial, retail and civil projects in the pipeline, with an additional 15-20 projects happening in the millwork division. “On the commercial side, we love to work on design build projects,” Nice said. “While we once focused primarily on hard bid work, we’ve since shifted our business model to prioritize pursuing projects that emphasize design-build and design-assist delivery methods.”
This year, the company is working on a string of exciting new projects, including building the new headquarters for Child Development Services (CDR) in Williamsburg VA. With several current office buildings in Williamsburg, the organization seeks to amalgamate their team under one roof—a high-profile project that encompasses approx: 37,000 sq. ft. renovation of an existing building, with an additional new build of a training facility.
“We partnered with them a few years ago to help them with the design and the pre-construction process; this was about a two-year process,” Nice says. “We broke ground on the project about five months ago and we’re super excited about this project, and the impact that it’s going to have on the children for the community.”
Recently, David A. Nice Builders also completed a brand new fire station for the city of Williamsburg. Originally securing the contract pre-Covid, the team successfully manoeuvred challenges like rising materials costs, schedule changes and contractor shortages to open the new fire department on time and within budget. The building has since won several local awards for its design, including a Silver Award in the Volunteer/Combination Station category in the National Firehouse Magazine Design awards, and being named overall winner for the EIC Awards: Central VA/Hampton Roads Winners – ABC Virginia.
New ground up attraction projects for themed entertainment is another exciting market that David A. Nice has expertise in. The company works closely with Busch Gardens and Water Country USA, two large theme parks owned by SeaWorld. “We’ve done a lot of their premier attractions over the last few years,” Nice says, adding that the company is currently completing a brand-new roller coaster that’s set to open this summer. “We’re very proud of the relationship that we have with SeaWorld and we’ve done some very cool projects with them,” Nice says. “Roller coasters and water attraction rides are extremely fun and challenging to build,” he says, noting that part of the fun includes being among the first to experience the new rides. Both Busch Gardens and Water Country USA awarded the contract to David A. Nice for the parks two latest attractions.
An impressive clientele base and revenue stream aside, Nice says that the company tracks growth far outside its financial gains. “We always have numbers that we’re trying to hit and obtain because we have to run a business at the end of the day,” Nice says. “But for us, growth is so much more important than just numbers. It’s ‘how do we get better at what we’re already doing very well?’ How do we take care of our people better, or perform better on our projects and break into new market sectors? Rarely is it focused on just revenue drivers. We want to have a bigger impact on where we work and the people that we encounter every day.”
David A. Nice Builders is putting a big emphasis on honing in its design build efforts and its select markets as it relates to design build projects and historically, the retail industry at large. “Historically, the retail industry has always selected two or three of their prominent general contractors and scattered the work among their accounts to those contractors across the country,” Nice says. “We’ve been really pushing the envelope with our retailers…to become more involved in the pre-planning stages and the design assist stage…we’ve been able to partner with some our clients, on a national level, to allow us to come alongside them from the very beginning to work with them on a strategic rollout plan.”
Another leading area of growth for David A. Nice Builders in the near future is a complete office relocation project which will see the team transition from their current homebase, which, originally built by Nice’s father and grandfather, has been used for nearly 40 years.
“We knew it was time when we finished succession planning in 2019 to make a decision to stay here and keep expanding this building, or set ourselves up for the next 50 years,” Nice said. “We’ve acquired a really nice piece of property not that far from our current office that’s close to our family farm and our millwork company, Nicewood Enterprises where we’ll be building our brand-new headquarters.”
The new space will allow Nice and his team to focus on the mission at hand, additional staff training and additional community involvement. “We’re planning to develop the property into a vibrant community hub to allow businesses like coffee shops, restaurants, corporate offices and more – breathing new life into a rural area we’ve called home for decades. It’s a major step forward for our company, and we couldn’t be more excited.”
