Jill Sutton is the owner and president of Lofty Ambitions LLC, a Rhode Island company focused primarily on the renovation and transformation of historic properties. Sutton first became registered as a general contractor in early 2022, just prior to Lofty’s acquisition of its first project property, the Second Clarke House, located in the Blackstone Historic District in Providence and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
After an almost two-year renovation of the Clarke House, Sutton undertook her second and third projects with the high-profile redevelopment of the southwest corner of the Wayland-Lloyd intersection in Wayland Square. This involved a subdivision of the Main House from its original carriage house and transformations of both homes, respectively.
Sutton’s background includes more than 15 years of direct boardroom advisory work. Since 2022, she has served on the board of directors of Potbelly Corp. She holds multiple degrees from Ohio State University, including a juris doctor, a master’s degree in health administration and a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
PBN: How long have you been in the business of renovating houses and how did you get started?
SUTTON: From a young age, I developed an emotional attachment to home renovations. I have fond memories of my late grandfather traveling several hours from northwest Ohio to our home in Sunbury, Ohio, to assist my father with his ongoing improvement projects – from smaller-scale window replacements to a large addition that doubled the size of our modest home.
A lawyer by education and professional training, I spent over 20 years as a corporate lawyer and as general counsel for large public companies. During this time and with the substantial work of many professionals, I also redesigned and renovated my personal residences from my first home at age 25 to my current home at age 53, which was my first project as the solo general contractor.
We moved several times for my career, so there were many home projects and usually the entire home was renovated. In early 2022, I decided to follow my passion for historic home restoration and became registered in Rhode Island as a general contractor through my business, Lofty Ambitions, LLC, making my professional transformation from general counsel to general contractor complete.
PBN: Why historic homes and why Providence?
SUTTON: My love of history and historic properties makes Providence an ideal match for Lofty Ambitions. The impressive craftsmanship of these homes, and the stories of those who built and lived in them, fascinates me. As we re-make these homes for the modern day, we bring these stories with us, honoring and embracing as much of their unique history as possible.
I am originally a Buckeye but have also lived in Michigan and Canada, and have had the good fortune to travel extensively for my corporate career before landing in Providence for the general counsel position with United Natural Foods Inc. As a newcomer to R.I., I have found Providence to be incredibly welcoming and a uniquely wonderful place to live, especially for a history buff. It is a “manageable” but sophisticated city, with idyllic buildings and museums to explore, and replete with culture, the arts and education – not to mention the culinary delights of many fine restaurants rivaling Boston and New York.
With pristine beaches and quaint Northeastern coastal towns within an hour’s drive, the summers here are truly spectacular. All Providence has to offer fuels my passion for historic home transformations and provides an avenue for me to contribute to the historic charm of this amazing city.
PBN: What has been the most challenging aspect of starting your business? And what do you enjoy most?
SUTTON: Starting a small contracting business, I have found it difficult to maintain consistent work for Lofty’s subcontractors and to build that loyalty in exchange. However, as my business expands, this is improving. I work with a very talented group of craftsmen on my projects, and I am so proud of the high standards and quality that we have achieved.
My business model is also different from other general contractors, which presents certain challenges. At Lofty, we own the projects, as well as redevelop them, and as such, our objective is to minimize costs. General contractors working for private clients often have a cost-plus or percentage charge for all labor and material, insulating them from underlying input costs for materials and labor, or actually benefiting them from those increases, whereas these impacts (particularly increases) directly reduce Lofty’s profit margin on project resale.
Aside from financial matters, one of the most significant challenges of physically revitalizing historic homes is that the families originally inhabiting them simply did not use them in similar ways to modern families. This is true for most major areas and structures of these homes – for example, the elevation of the kitchen from outdoors or in basements to the central and primary gathering space – and the desire for larger rooms and open floor plans unburdened by the historical daily concern of heat preservation and natural circulation.
This fundamental challenge is the most enjoyable and rewarding aspect of my job – to successfully transform spaces to optimize the layout and use of the interiors for comfortable modern living – promoting both togetherness and carving out private chambers and areas for personal retreat. We bring a similar focus on both utility and enjoyment to the exterior areas of our properties as well.
PBN: How does Lofty differentiate itself from other real estate investors and developers?
SUTTON: At Lofty, we take pride in “transforming” our buildings and properties, embracing and restoring the treasured historical details these homes have to offer, and at the same time making them comfortable for the needs of modern families. We undertake these transformations with significant care and diligence, and I am personally on-site daily, making decisions first and foremost on the impact to the ultimate homeowner and the end product we are seeking the home to deliver.
We champion high standards of quality in our craftsmanship and design, truly sweating every detail. Describing Lofty’s work on our first project, the Second Clarke House, Christopher Foster, the glass artist who was remaking a stained-glass transom for that project, quoted the German-American architect Ludwig Miles van der Rohe stating: “God is in the details,” (not the devil). This resonated with me immediately as our guiding principle at Lofty Ambitions.
In our daily work and efforts, from the project’s beginnings in design, structure and framing to rough-in and final finishes, we positively and enthusiastically seek a “higher” level of attention to detail and truly believe to end higher, you must aim higher. The time and financial investment necessary to get the details right isn’t the work of the devil, not when the result you seek is heavenly.
We also believe that “good design sells,” and we restore or add design elements to our homes that we believe enhance and drive cohesiveness with the original, historical features of these homes. We are especially proud when our guests are unable to discern the original craftsmanship of the home from our modern adaptation. Our relentless focus on details drives a profoundly premium result and differentiates Lofty as developing and delivering a new paradigm for luxury homes in Providence.
PBN: What have been your experiences from a business perspective being a woman navigating a male-dominated field?
SUTTON: As a corporate lawyer starting off in 1997, just before Blackberries and iPhones and the ushering in of the email age, I was also, at the beginning, a woman in a male-dominated field. I never focused on general expectations or roles in my career; rather, I placed my energies on working hard and learning as much as I could to drive value for my clients, and also for me in the furtherance of my professional goals.
I have found that I approach my new general contractor career in the same way. I work hard and stay present with our subcontractors so that I learn the trades and best practices directly. As I look back, the times of my most expansive growth were those when I mustered the courage to take calculated risks to follow my passion – moving from private practice to my first in-house position; moving from [Columbus, Ohio] to Toronto; and then, ultimately moving to Rhode Island, to name a few. These formative, earlier decisions in my professional journey were certainly part of the mental calculus as I launched Lofty Ambitions as a second career.
Similar to my legal professional experience, I am sensitive to what I may not know. I do not hesitate to research specific aspects of the building transformations, engaging with structural engineers, surveyors, designers and architects, as well as seeking help from more-senior builders, general contractors and extremely competent and experienced subcontractors. I have also found Providence city building officials and their talented and dedicated staff to be very diligent in their work, while also educating contractors and trades to deliver code-compliant and beautiful homes that, for Lofty in particular, will continue to outshine the test of time.
Marc Larocque is a PBN contributing writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X @Marc_La_Rock.
