Our Company

Shawnlee Inc. was founded by John R. Adams in January of 1986. We started as many other American dreams start, with a few dollars, a will to succeed, and some friends to help us along the way. John Adams and Jerry Simmer grew Shawnlee from the ground up, starting with nothing more than a pick-up truck and a handful of tools. They earned business through their attention to quality and their commitment to their people and customers. Like many other small contractors, Shawnlee barely survived the harsh economic times of the early 90s. Shawnlee worked tirelessly to meet the needs of our customers. Even though cash was very tough to come by in those years, John and Jerry ensured that employees were taken care of before directing any money elsewhere. In 1999 John M. Adams, son of the founder, purchased the company from John R. Adams. Jerry was named President of Shawnlee, and Doreen Thibedeau was named Secretary. John M. Adams had a desire to grow the business. Through his keen sales abilities and Jerry running the day-to-day operations, Shawnlee grew immensely over the next five years. Shawnlee quickly became the largest and most trusted open shop multi-family framing contractor in the Northeast.

In 2004 John M. Adams sold a 50% share in the company to UFP Industries, giving Shawnlee the ability to offer a complete turnkey framing package to its customers. The ability to provide the entire framing package from one company was unique and a first in the region; in 2010, UFP Industries completed the 100% purchase of Shawnlee, and, under a new structure, in 2020, Shawnlee is now part of UFP Site Built.

With an eye toward the future, in 2021, Shawnlee made some changes by naming Keith Monahan Field Operations Manager, and Derek Alexander became the director of Estimating and Purchasing. Both have worked at Shawnlee for over 15 years advancing from carpenter foremen to estimating and project management and finally into their newest roles.

Our Projects

Shawnlee originally started as a siding contractor. The first job was a historic rehab that involved an entire city block in Clinton, Massachusetts. From that project, we created many other rehab siding jobs primarily done in the summer months when we had seasonal help or family members who were off from school. The siding work was good and allowed us to grow our sales and crews in the initial years of the business. Seeing the need to develop and a shortage of framing contractors, Shawnlee decided to move into the commercial wood framing business in year 2.

Here are some significant projects framed by Shawnlee

• New concert hall and barn at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA.
• Framing, roofing, exterior trim, and interior finish on the National Yiddish Book Center at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.
• All phases of carpentry at the MA Golf House and Francis Ouimet Museum at the PGA Boston Golf club entrance in Norton, MA.
• Multiple high-end clubhouses, including New Seabury, Willow Bend, The Ridge Club, The Country Club, Braeburn, Great Horse, and many more.
• The Harbor View Hotel. We completely gutted the hotel and redid all the framing, roofing, siding, and interior finish. We were able to complete all of this on a tight schedule through the winter while coordinating the delivery of labor and materials to Martha’s Vineyard by ferry boat.

In 2003, Shawnlee supplied its first large apartment job as a turnkey service to a long-time customer, Avalon Bay. Working in conjunction with UFP’s component plants in the Northeast, we completed our first turnkey framing package. Since then, we have completed hundreds of other turnkey projects in the Northeast region. Shawnlee has framed millions of square feet of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hotels, dormitories, condominiums, apartments, and commercial and retail buildings. Shawnlee continues to provide turnkey framing packages to General Contractors and developers in the Massachusets, Connecticut, and Rhode Island areas.