Page 29 - BusinessWest August 18, 2025

Over the past 13 years, they have kept Integrity on a course
of steady growth, building a deep portfolio of residential, com-
mercial, and institutional work that effectively conveys the
diversity that has enabled it to withstand several downturns in
the economy and other recent challenges ranging from work-
force shortages to price and supply chain issues.
“We do a little bit of everything,” Flanders said. “That really
helped us survive when commercial work was drying up; we
could shift to other things.”
On the residential side, the company handles everything
from new home design and construction to kitchen remod-
els; from porch, deck, and garage additions to aging-in-place
design. On the commercial side, it specializes in office renova-
tions, commercial storefront improvements, new office build-
ing design and construction, and more.
There is still demand for work in pretty much all those cat-
egories, said the partners, adding quickly that the unsettled
nature of the economy and widespread uncertainty about what
comes next has some clients, on both the residential and com-
mercial sides, pumping the brakes.
“We’ll have a preliminary conversation with someone,
and then they’ll come back to us and say, ‘we just want to
let the dust settle for a few months — we’re not sure about
the state of the economy,’” said Cook, adding that some who
once thought their jobs were stable are now not quite so sure,
especially in the higher education sector, which dominates the
firm’s primary coverage area.
But, overall, the company has a considerable amount of
work on the books, said Flanders, adding that 2024 was a
very solid year, 2025 has been strong to date, and the simple
plan moving forward is to continue building on solid word-of-
mouth referrals and a pattern of smart growth.
“Our goal over the past 13 years has been to grow steadily
— we don’t want to see large peaks and valleys in that growth,”
she went on. “And we want to continue on that path moving
forward.”
For this issue and its focus on home improvement, we
talked at length with Flanders and Cook about what they’re
building — both in the field and with their company — and
where they want to take this venture.
Solid Foundation
Flanders told BusinessWest that her mother has run a
mom-and-pop store for decades, and she learned a lot from
her about all that’s involved with owning a business.
“I’ve watched her work every day, 12 hours a day, 364
days a year, so I know what it takes to go into something like
that,” she told BusinessWest. “That piece of this — know-
ing that I would be working long hours and knowing that I
would be doing just about anything on any given day — didn’t
scare me.”
It didn’t scare Cook, either, which explains their willing-
ness to take a risk in 2012 to acquire Integrity from Jessop,
who would stay with the company in a type of advisor and
mentor role for several years.
But they didn’t consider it a huge risk because of the solid
foundation they, Jessop, and the rest of the team had built,
and confidence in themselves.
There were some learning curves along the way, especially
on the accounting and HR sides of the ledger, as there are
with almost all small business owners, and COVID proved to
be an anxiety-filled time. But the two knew the business and
what it took to continue that pattern of steady growth, and
they’ve been hitting their targets since taking ownership.
As for the current and recent portfolio, it includes, as noted
earlier, projects across a wide spectrum, with most work
undertaken in Amherst and surrounding communities, includ-
ing Belchertown, Northampton, Conway, and others.
On the commercial side, the project list includes a law
office renovation, a dental office, the Trolley Barn in North
Amherst, some historic preservation work at Amherst College,
as well as an intriguing project to convert a two-family home
into a veterinary hospital in Turners Falls.
On the residential side, the company handles new home
“We’ll have a
preliminary
conversation with
someone, and then
they’ll come back
to us and say, ‘we
just want to let the
dust settle for a few
months — we’re not
sure about the state
of the economy.”
MAKE
YOUR
PROJECT
COME TO LIFE
One cohesive team to
design and build the
space of your dreams
413.549.7919
[email protected]
www.integbuild.com
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