In 1966 Joe Friedman immigrated to this country from Israel. He brought with him the experience and knowledge he acquired in building some of the first roads, homes, and hotels as a contractor in Israel to Philadelphia. Upon arriving in America he went to work as a carpenter for a local home builder. In 1968, he established Joe Friedman Construction Corporation. He began doing commercial projects for local retailers and shopping center developers. In 1973 he was introduced to a Philadelphia based women’s clothing retailer company called the Deb Shops Incorporated. Joe Friedman Construction has been building stores for the Deb Shops ever since. Over the past thirty years we have constructed and remodeled over 500 Deb Shop stores in over forty states. Joe Friedman currently stays involved with the Deb Shop projects.

In 1976, after six years in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear reactor operator and a brief stint in retail, Richard Seitchick came to work for Joe Friedman Construction. He began working on projects as a laborer and worked his way up to carpenter and superintendent. Richard constructed retail stores throughout the country. In 1981 he became head estimator and project manager for the company. He sought out new clients, to give the company a more diverse portfolio of projects. He brought in new clients such as Spencer Gifts, Electronics Boutique, Famous Footwear, Hallmark Cards, CVS and many more. He also got the company involved in various projects with mall and shopping center developers in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey area. The company blossomed into a well known and highly reputable construction company in the local and national market. In the 1990’s he broadened the company’s client base by bringing in such accounts as FIRSTRUST BANK, Jefferson Bank, and First Union National Bank. In so doing, we became one of the premier bank contractors in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey markets. Under his guidance we have added Genuardi’s Supermarkets (Safeway Corp) and LA Fitness Sports Clubs to our growing lists of clients.