OUR STORY
“To stay competitive and offer our clients the cutting-edge service that we require from ourselves, we recognized early that we needed to be more than general contractors.”
Since 1949, throughout upstate New York and western New England, U.W. Marx has earned and maintained an industry-wide reputation for commitment to service and quality as a building contractor. Company founder Ulrich Marx once said, “There is no secret (to success): you have to work hard, have some luck and have some common sense; and I think luck and common sense have more to do with success than anything else, provided you have the will and the push to do it. We worked 16 hours a day when we started.”
Marx, a native of Leipzig, Germany, left his homeland and family for England to escape Nazi persecution in 1936. His interest in woodworking grew when he got “sick and tired of farm life,” and found a job in an aircraft production woodworking shop in Australia.
During World War II and after, Marx became a skilled carpenter. He worked for several contractors in Australia until 1948, when he decided to come to the United States where his parents had immigrated. Marx first landed in San Francisco, where he was told there was no work. Traveling by train to Troy, NY, Marx reunited with his parents, where his father was a highly-regarded Professor of Physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Ulrich would later honor his parents by funding the U.W. Marx Scholarship in Civil Engineering, bestowed annually to a deserving RPI student.
Although he had a partner in his first business venture, he eventually went out on his own. “I wanted to be successful,” Marx said, when explaining why he wanted to be in business for himself.
Marx soon began working on small jobs for architects, and eventually, started to bid on larger ones. The rest, so to speak, is history!
In 1977, U.W. Marx embarked on its first Construction Management Project, a $5.5 million building expansion for Saint Mary’s Hospital in Troy, NY. This was a major undertaking at the time, and was completed two years later, on schedule and within budget. From that point forward, U.W. Marx provided Construction Management and General Contracting services, each of which are tailored to meet the customer’s needs.
Today, and for the past last 30 years, U.W. Marx is led by Ulrich’s son Peter Marx. Under Peter’s direction the company has maintained a solid reputation as a premier commercial construction firm within the markets that we serve. U.W. Marx typically puts in place $50 to $100 Million in construction volume each year, with individual project sizes ranging from $2 Million to $50 Million.
SUSTAINABILITY
A commitment to “Green Building” for a healthier future.
U.W. Marx has provided LEED® Adminstration and/or sustainable construction review services for the following recent projects:
COMMITMENT TO OUR COMMUNITY
U.W. Marx believes it is our duty to support programs in the communities and markets in which we do business. The following is a partial list of events and organizations we are involved in.
