The Family Legacy and Rhode Island Building Code
Bob Baldwin’s career as a homebuilder in Rhode Island has always been tied to the evolving standards of the industry. The story begins with the Baldwin family’s roots in residential construction, which go back to 1917 when Bob’s grandfather started building homes in Cranston. In those days, the state had almost no building codes. Permits could be approved in as little as twenty minutes, and every builder relied on experience and personal integrity.
Bob Baldwin
“That was the very first project I was involved with in the Builders association to create a statewide Rhode Island statewide building code. Instead of having 39 cities and towns, and each one had a different building code. That was the first project that I real. I was assigned to.”
As Rhode Island’s towns and cities grew, so did the challenges. By the 1970s, Bob was one of the youngest members to join the Rhode Island Builders Association. In spite of his youth, he was asked to help lead a committee a committee focused on creating a building code that would apply to the entire state. Before this, each of Rhode Island’s thirty-nine cities and towns operated under its own rules, making construction inconsistent and sometimes unsafe.
Bob and his colleagues in the association spent years meeting, discussing, and drafting what would become Rhode Island’s first statewide building code.This process lasted through the early 1980's until the statewide code was implemented, but it fundamentally changed the way homes were built across the state. It set a new standard for safety, quality, and consistency. Bob’s involvement in creating that code is a point of pride for his family and his company. Until this day, everything Trinity Homes builds has the same committment to quality, safety and wellbeing of Rhode Island families. Bob’s legacy is not just in the homes he has built, but in helping to shape the rules that protect everyone who calls Rhode Island home.
