Robert Caruso, founder of Purple Thumb Partners, has been building custom residential projects for over 30 years. His work has been featured in Architectural Review, Home and Trends periodicals. Robert has worked closely with local and internationally acclaimed architects such as Jeremiah Eck, Kent Duckham, CBT and Robert Gatje of Marcel Breuer Architects. He has been working as a builder since the age of 16 and has continued building even while earning a Geology B.A. (Williams College) and extensive course work at the Boston Architectural College. His work on the Vera House, Martha's Vinyard, won an American Wood Council Award, juried by some of America's most well respected architects. He has been the president of Ironwood Inc. and Artisan Builders LLC as well a the national coordinatior for the building rehabilitation program for the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America serving 30 U.S. Cities. He has worked in Amsterdam (Writers Barge Project), Haslemere, U. K (English Tudor Renovation) and Culebra Island, P.R. (Hurricane Hugo Relief Housing). Robert's work includes the restoration of the Benjamin Simons Tavern (built 1769, Williamstown MA), a Traditional Japanese Tea House (Cambridge MA), a solar heated greenhouse (Nantucket Island,MA) and the Hibernia Restaurant which one restaurant reviewer called a Celtic meets Klingon interior. Creativity and innovation are the hallmarks of Robert's work with a strong commitment to conservation and reuse. His own home which was the smallest in the city now has an addition built using materials salvaged from various  renovation projects. He sees reuse of quality building parts as the most green of all construction approaches as it keeps the materials out of the land fills while eliminating the raw material, energy and transportation cost associated with any construction material.

With Purple Thumb Partners, Robert hopes to transfer some of the skill, knowlege and joy of the design / build process to individuals who want to experience the satisfaction of shaping their own built environment.