JOPLIN, Mo. — Murray Bonitt did not start out wanting to be a builder, but there was something about being his own boss, like his mentor in Joplin, that he found appealing.

“It’s been a fun way to make a living,” he said, in a recent telephone interview from his home in Alexandria, Va.

“It is really rewarding. I have built some great homes, offices, buildings and restaurants that hopefully will be here long after I’m gone. I learned early on it’s something that gets me going.”

Now an award-winning builder in Alexandria, Bonitt credits his success to the late Bob Jennings, owner of the McDonald’s restaurants in Joplin. It was Jennings who gave Bonitt one of his first building projects.

“Bob was my scoutmaster. I worked for him at McDonald’s. When I came home from college, he would find something for me to do at one of the stores,” Bonitt said. “He mentored me. Working with an entrepreneur like Bob was a pretty good way to start.

“I got my work ethic from my dad, who was a union organizer. But I learned something about being an entrepreneur from Bob Jennings.”

His father, Edward, died in April. His mother, Sarah, now 92, lives at the family home in Joplin.

On the fence at first

One of those summer projects was to build a fence at the McDonald’s at 11th Street and Range Line Road. It was a successful project, but becoming involved in construction was not something Bonitt was convinced he could do.

After graduating from McAuley High School in 1973, he attended Missouri Southern State University for two years before transferring to the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. After graduation, he worked for U.S. Sen. John Culver, a Democrat from Iowa, from 1977 to 1979.

“My brother, Jay, was already living in Washington, D.C. He helped me work on the Hill for a year. I liked it, but those entrepreneurial fires were burning. A couple of my brother’s friends were starting a construction company. They asked me to go to work for them. I initially said no, but I changed my mind.”

The company was among the first to tackle renovation projects in the down-trodden areas of Washington, D.C.

“We were in one of those urban pioneer areas. I remember when federal DEA agents were called in to rid the house of drug users and dealers before we could start work. The first thing we did was put iron bars on the windows and gates on the doors,” he said. “Of course, that was a huge conflict with the way I was raised in Joplin.”

Bonitt continued to do those projects until he met a woman who was pushing a stroller in a rough neighborhood where he was working. He asked the woman how she could raise a family in such a difficult area.

“She told me that her house had been broken into and that she was leaving. I asked her how they got into her house if the windows and doors were barred. She said they chopped a hole in her roof. That’s when I decided it was time to start looking for work in Virginia,” Bonitt said.

In 1982, he incorporated his business and started work in Alexandria.

“I remember the day I started. I had a Chevy Chevette and it was packed full of ladders, drop cloths and tools. I had things sticking out the windows,” he said. “When I drove up to the house, they looked at each other and thought: ‘This is the guy who is going to do our project?’ I looked like I had fallen off the turnip truck.”

Good business built

Today, Bonitt Builders has sales in the millions annually. His company’s work has been featured in magazines such as Home, Custom Home, The Washingtonian, Electronic House, Town and Country, and American Builders Quarterly. His clients have included Marvin Bush, brother of President Bush; Virginia Gov. Mark Warner and Virginia Sen. John Warner.

Bonitt Builders earned the 2009 Grand Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects Potomac Valley Chapter for an ultra-modern pool house set on the banks of the Rappahannock River in King George, Md. The chapter wrote: “The jury was unanimous in its praise of this year’s grand honor award winner. The clarity of concept, the rich palette of materials, the exquisite detailing and the masterful design were all roundly applauded.”

Said Bonitt: “I have a great crew. We adopted the tag: ‘We build it better.’ Our success is a testament to my crew. Everybody’s mission is to go out an build stuff better than the next guy.”

About 70 percent of the work Bonitt Builders does is residential, but it also does commercial work, including small office buildings and restaurants. The downturn in the economy has impacted business, “but I have not let anyone go. We’re busy and we’re seeing more calls of late. Hopefully, we will see some new and bigger projects again.”

As much as he loves Virginia, Bonitt still finds time to connect with his roots.

“I have to get back to Joplin to get my Missouri fix every two to three months. Gene Koester (the principal at McAuley) is a very good friend. I have to belly up at Fred and Reds. Then I take my brother, Jeff, to OK Billiards. I have to do that to recharge my batteries.”





Home away from home

Murray Bonitt lives in Alexandria with his wife, Meg, and their son, Daniel, 13. His 20-year-old daughter, Meredith, is a freshman at Radford University.