Home builders stand on the shoulders of the builders who taught them the trades. Skills pass through, and as each generation gathers new layers of knowledge — of design, materials, and building codes — the end result, especially in the case of a custom home, is a safer and more efficient, comfortable, and beautiful space to be in.
Back and forth across the States in his pickup truck early on, Giffin & Crane cofounder Bruce Giffin cut his teeth in construction under many established builders, including J.W. “Bill” Adkins. Between jobs in 1979, Bruce was driving through downtown Santa Barbara when he noticed Adkins’s shop. He pulled over and asked for work, remembering, “I think I was looking for a father figure, and he was looking for a laborer.” They worked together for about a year, but the lessons learned would last a lifetime.
“Bill taught me to think outside the box,” Giffin remembers. “And who says the box has to be square?”