Whaling City Builders Reshapes New London's Construction Landscape

Bill Hutchens can point to nearly every building on New London's Bank Street and tell you something about it, whether his company renovated it, bid on it and lost, or is currently eyeing it for future work. "This whole downtown is basically my scrapbook," he said, standing outside a mixed-use building his firm, Whaling City Builders, finished renovating last year. "I've watched this street change more than most people who've lived here their whole lives."

Hutchens started Whaling City Builders in 2007 with one employee and a used pickup truck, taking on small residential renovation jobs around New London while working nights at a hardware store to cover expenses during the company's first lean years. Today, the firm employs 85 people and has become one of the region's go-to contractors for mid-sized commercial and mixed-use redevelopment projects, particularly in New London's historic waterfront district.

Specializing in Historic Renovation

Much of Whaling City's growth has come from a niche few larger construction firms wanted to pursue: renovating New London's stock of aging waterfront and downtown buildings, many subject to strict historic preservation requirements. Hutchens says the regulatory complexity of that work, which requires careful coordination with preservation boards and specialized restoration techniques, scared off larger competitors more accustomed to greenfield construction.

"Historic renovation is slow, and it's finicky, and the margins aren't always great," Hutchens said. "But it's also less crowded. We got good at something other people didn't want to be good at." That specialization helped Whaling City land a series of prominent projects, including the restoration of a former textile warehouse now housing offices and ground-floor retail.

Training the Next Generation of Tradespeople

As New London's construction sector has faced a persistent shortage of skilled tradespeople, Hutchens has invested heavily in in-house training, partnering with a regional vocational school to create an apprenticeship track for carpenters and electricians. Sandra Whitlock, the firm's director of workforce development, said the program was born out of necessity. "We couldn't hire our way out of the labor shortage," Whitlock said. "So Bill decided we'd grow our own workforce instead."

Weathering a Volatile Construction Market

Whaling City has navigated significant swings in material costs and interest rates over the past several years, pressures that forced Hutchens to build more conservative contingencies into project bids. He credits the firm's survival through leaner stretches to diversifying its client base across public, commercial, and residential work, rather than depending heavily on any single sector. "The years when commercial work dried up, residential renovation kept the lights on," he said. "That balance has saved us more than once."

Betting on New London's Redevelopment

Whaling City recently won a contract to lead construction on a waterfront mixed-use development that city officials have described as a cornerstone of New London's downtown revitalization strategy. Hutchens says the project, expected to take three years, will be the largest in the company's history and require hiring an additional 30 workers.

"I used to drive past these empty buildings and think somebody should really do something about that," Hutchens said. "Eventually I realized I was somebody." He says he has no interest in expanding Whaling City beyond southeastern Connecticut, preferring to stay rooted in the city where the company started. "I know these streets. I know these buildings. That's worth more to me than growing bigger somewhere I don't."