Work Faithfully Performed

This history celebrates 144 years of the family-owned building and contracting business of E. Chapman & Son Pty Ltd, founded in Brisbane in 1869 and still thriving. Four generations of the Chapman family have devoted their working lives and more to the enterprise. The fortunes of this business have mirrored the ebb and flow of Queensland history. Ebenezer Chapman, Builder and Contractor, arrived at Moreton Bay as a youth of 14 years in 1857, completed an apprenticeship in carpentering...
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This history celebrates 144 years of the family-owned building and contracting business of E. Chapman & Son Pty Ltd, founded in Brisbane in 1869 and still thriving. Four generations of the Chapman family have devoted their working lives and more to the enterprise. The fortunes of this business have mirrored the ebb and flow of Queensland history. Ebenezer Chapman, Builder and Contractor, arrived at Moreton Bay as a youth of 14 years in 1857, completed an apprenticeship in carpentering and building in Brisbane in the early 1860s, and successfully rode the wave of economic expansion in Queensland from the late 1860s to the late 1880s. He came close to losing everything during the depression years of the 1890s, but during the early 1900s slowly rebuilt the business with the assistance of his son, Reuben. Reuben Chapman was a dynamic personality. In partnership with his father as Ebenezer Chapman & Son from 1923, within two years he had acquired the firm as E. Chapman & Son, and set about establishing the solid foundations of the present business, as well as a separate timber merchandising concern. Reuben weathered the depression years of the 1930s and the impact of World War II, and in 1943 took his sons Eric and Donald into partnership in E. Chapman & Son. In the post-war years Reuben and Eric directed their energies into successfully developing a hardware business, Wilston Builders' Supplies, while Don Chapman took on more of the responsibility for the management of E. Chapman & Son, which was incorporated in 1959. As 'home builders', the firm tapped into the post-war home-building boom of the 1950s and by the 1960s was working with many of Brisbane's leading architectural firms. Since the 1970s the participation of a fourth generation of the family, Don's son Gregory, has seen the enterprise grow from strength to strength, and two subsidiary companies established: Chapman Builders Pty Ltd and Chapman Joiners Pty Ltd. Of particular note is the firm's reputation for fine restoration and conservation work to historic buildings, maintaining Ebenezer Chapman's tradition of 'Work faithfully performed'.