James Hartwell

About James

James began his career as an apprentice bricklayer in 1972, working on housing estates across Essex before moving into site management with Willmott Dixon, where he spent fifteen years delivering residential and commercial projects across the South East. By 1987, frustrated by the compromises inherent in large-scale contracting, he founded Hartwell & Stone with two employees and a simple conviction: that every project, regardless of scale, deserved uncompromising craftsmanship.

Nearly four decades later, that conviction remains the company's defining characteristic. James has overseen the growth from a two-person operation to a team of over 45 directly employed staff, but he has never stepped away from the sites. He visits every active project weekly, knows every member of the team by name, and still insists on personally meeting every new client.

His philosophy is straightforward: employ good people, treat them well, give them the right tools, and hold everyone — including himself — to the highest standards. It is an approach that has earned Hartwell & Stone an industry-leading client referral rate of over 60%.