In 1900 Mr John W. Steele, joined by his sons Harold and Tom, commenced trading as a small Building Company.
The work was very hard with little mechanical assistance.  At this time JWS was very skilled at constructing brick lined wells by hand, often to depths of around 70 feet.  Most of the early work came from farmers and other owners of large country houses.
The firm grew until the Second World War came when it was passed to Harold and Tom.
Through the war years the firm was actively engaged in carrying out bomb damage repairs to buildings and extensive work was carried out in connection with houses that were requisitioned by the local council for workers.
When the war came to an end, the firm was made into a Limited Company.  At this time the Company was heavily engaged in constructing new Council houses in the Chelmsford Area.
Tom and his wife had one child, Eileen who married John Geer.  John joined the Company as a Director in 1965.  Tom passed away in1979 and later Harold’s son, John Steele, joined the Company as a Director.
Over the 20-year period from 1965 to 1985 the Company flourished, expanded, and consolidated its client base of Public Sector and larger commercial clients.
In 1985 John’s son, David Geer, joined the Company aged 31.  David was a Chartered Civil Engineer and brought with him an additional set of skills which he used to further consolidate the Company.
Harold Steele died in 2000 and Mr John Steele left the Company in 2001.  David Geer became Managing Director in 2002 with his father John remaining as a director until passing away in July 2017.
Nic Duggan joined the Company as General Manager in 2007, bringing diverse experience in project management and engineering, and was appointed a director in 2010.
In September 2020 an Employee Ownership Trust was created and David Geer transferred ownership of the Company to it whilst remaining as MD.  Alice Howgego, who joined the Company in 2008 was appointed Finance and HR Director in July of 2022.
David Geer retired at the end of 2023 and Nic Duggan became Managing Director on 1st January 2024. At the same time to complete the new board leading JWS, Operations Manager Richard Moore was promoted to Operations Director.