“All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.”
—Plato

Moons ago, our firm was showcased on HGTV for our renovation of The Sumner House, a flagship historic Victorian in Claremont. Part of the show delved into a seismic retrofit concept we developed that gave old stone foundations a per-code modern foundation in steel and gunite while preserving the original alluvial stone in place. Various local cities adopted our design, and for years, we offered this as a service.

One such house in the Claremont village was underway with three of our crew members excavating under the home when I got a call from one of the team, “You need to see this!” When I arrived the team presented me with an old canvas bag… It was filled to the brim with gold coins. “We dug down about two feet inside the old foundation when we unearthed it.”

We called the owner at work, and after a long pause, she offered  “Oh my! My ex husband and I buried that down there decades ago for safe keeping… To be honest, completely forgot it was there!”

She insisted on rewarding the crew for their find and honesty, and all my refusals based on our policy fell on deaf ears. She gave each of the three-person crew a one-ounce gold coin.

One of the greatest joys of decades at HartmanBaldwin has been to work side by side with passionate, talented and… highly ethical teammates!

– Bill Baldwin

To learn more about how HartmanBaldwin can remodel your home, or design and build your dream home, schedule a design consultation. Contact us today at (626) 486-0510 or visit www.hartmanbaldwin.com/contact.