Remodeler Fred Case Remembered as an Industry Icon

The concept of design-build is widely known, even by those outside of the remodeling industry. One of many people who made that happen was Fred Case, the founder of what is now Case Architects & Remodelers in Bethesda, Md. Case passed away on Dec. 20. Among his many accomplishments, acknowledgements, and accolades, he’s perhaps best known for being one of the visionaries who pioneered design-build and turned the concept into an everyday practice. 

Case founded his original firm, Case Construction Company, in 1961, and over the years became a successful developer of government-funded, low-cost apartments on the Mid-Atlantic shore.

In 1980, Case was looking to expand the design build concept, when he met Mark Richardson, a young architectural graduate whose college thesis focused on the idea of connecting design and construction.

“I joined Fred and the company when it was still quite small,” recalls Richardson. “Case had a one-step construction process back then, and we added a second step, which was design.” A year later, the company was renamed Case Design & Remodeling, and just a few years after that, the firm had grown from around $500,000-$600,000 into an $8 million business; in 2024, revenue was around $40 million. Richardson spent 17 years as president and co-chairman of Case, leaving the company in 2012. Today, Fred’s son Bruce Case serves as CEO.

Another industry icon who remembers Fred’s influence on the industry is Tom Kelly, owner of Neil Kelly Company in Portland, Ore. Tom’s father Neil Kelly was also an early pioneer in the design-build concept, and he and Case Design & Remodeling were peers and frequently exchanged ideas.

“I remember my father talking with Fred about design agreements and how they were structured and how they did this and that,” says Kelly. “Fred was closer to my father, but he was always really great to me. He was a mentor.”

Forward Thinking

Case was a philosophy major in college, and Richardson remembers him smoking a pipe while the two of them spent hours together talking and brainstorming ideas. “He was very much a thinking kind of guy, very matter of fact and absolutely a visionary,” says Richardson. He noted that Case had a special ability to recognize talent and find people who could help grow businesses and says he should be remembered as much for the environment he created that allowed others to grow and flourish as for his own professional accomplishments.

Kermit Baker, chief economist for the American Institute of Architects, also lauds Case for his thoughtfulness and broad viewpoint on remodeling. “He very much had a global view of how the industry worked. And that's rare. He had unique insights and thought about the industry as something beyond just a pickup truck and a hammer. He thought about different segments and different approaches to running a business. That sounds second nature today, but it really wasn't back then.”

Giving Back

Case Design & Remodeling established the Fred Case Remodeling Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2007 to recognize the entrepreneurial spirit of remodelers and the importance of creativity and innovation in the industry. Baker worked closely with Case on the awards, serving as one of the reviewers while he was project director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.

“Fred had a different vision for what he wanted to do,” says Baker. “[He] gave exposure to a portion of the industry that really gets almost no exposure and got publicity for a whole different sort of category of remodelers. He honored entrepreneurship in an industry that was not really known for entrepreneurship.”

Case continues to honor remodelers with the award and has recognized 18 entrepreneurs over the years.

Work with NARI 

Fred was also instrumental in developing the first certification system for remodelers when he chaired the National Education Committee of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. “He drove it,” recalls Richardson. “He was a very good thinker, a visionary.”

Case won the first NARI “Contractor of the Year” Award in 1976 and was recognized in 1984 with NARI’s Harold Hammerman “Spirit of Education” Award for excellence in education and training. In 2002, Case was inducted into the National Remodeling Hall of Fame.