From a firm of union carpenter self-performers in 1986, Jeff Pettit and his team at New Star General Contractors look to summit new peaks as they continue building out the Wasatch Back and beyond. By Taylor Larsen
Building on Hospitality Prowess
New Star resumed its successful trajectory in 2012, leaning into Utah’s stalwart resort and hospitality market.
“Hospitality has been something that we’ve always been involved in,” said Pettit. The challenging nature of delivering mountain-town developments has been one that New Star has welcomed and wanted since 1986. The secret to success, he continued, “whether it’s trade coordination, deliveries, or scheduling—you really gotta be on it.”
The carpenter’s mindset of high-end finishes and attention to detail has kept their clients delighted, especially on the Snow Park Lodge Expansion, Silver Lake Lodge, Black Diamond Lodge, The Inn At Silverlake, and others in Deer Valley. Pettit said the resort has been great to work with throughout New Star’s 40 year history, especially with the opportunity to complete Phase 2 of the Stein Erickson Lodge—a project that the original founders of New Star, Williams and Love, worked on while at Cannon Construction in the early 1980s.
Pettit noted that his team won a project for the Deer Valley East Village developer, Extell, adapting to the massive learning curve required for multifamily sequencing to deliver four buildings totaling 400,000 SF and 402 units—The Residences at Pioche Village.
Further into the city, the firm completed Park City Resort Legacy Lodge and other developments, “and all up and down Park City Main Street,” with projects like 205, 632, and 692 Main Street, Parkwood Place, 820 Park Avenue, and Caledonian Town Lift.
New Star has also completed many golf clubhouses, cabins, and other buildings in luxury mountain developments like Tuhaye, Glenwild, Victory Ranch, and Skyridge.
Currently, the firm is working on many more projects in Deer Valley. New Star just installed a Sprung Structure—the massive, tension fabric structures used for indoor tennis and other sports—as Deer Valley Resort’s temporary skier services facility in the rapidly transforming East Village. This spring, the team will also start on 32 ski-in/ski-out condos, The Havens at Deer Crest, which Pettit said are a major draw in luxury developments. Ski Rail, a workforce-housing project for Alterra Mountain Group, is set to start in July.
Whether it is Peace House, Deer Valley, Tuhaye, Empire Pass, or the many other mountain resort projects New Star has completed, Pettit said, “I’m excited that we’ve cultivated these relationships and that they are still bringing us more work today.”
Pettit sees Utah in good shape as the state prepares to receive visitors and athletes for the 2034 Winter Olympics, saying, “The economy and the state are doing well, and the Olympics are exciting for our line of work.”
New Future for New Star
Pettit has been the full owner of New Star since 2024, purchasing Love’s remaining shares after acquiring 49% of the company in 2015. Sadly, Love passed away in July of 2025, but Pettit reflected fondly on his 30-plus years working with the New Star founder.
“Dave was always the brightest star in the room!” Pettit recalled. “37 years ago, he gave me, a carpenter at the time, the opportunity to move into the office where he had a profound impact on my personal life and career.”
Pettit, 62, gestured around the conference room, reflecting on all the work done across their domain in the Wasatch Back, and on a promising future, as he envisioned a succession plan for New Star and its 30 current employees: “This is the retirement plan.”
New Star is looking to increase its team and revenue by 20% each of the next five years, aiming to double both. It’s ambitious, Pettit said, “But I like to reach.”
Part of that growth will come from working within the framework and strategic plan developed last year. Longtime colleague and mentor Tom Case, Managing Principal at TCM Services, along with the rest of the executive team—Alicia VanHolten (CFO), Taylor Burton (Director of Project Development), and John Plyer (Director of Operations)—identified what is important to the firm and where New Star can improve to meet their growth goals. Once the new strategy was implemented, the team brought Kara Southwick aboard as Business Development Director to help New Star soar.
“We’re not looking for growth to become just a bigger company,” said Pettit. Instead, New Star is looking at growth as a chance to diversify their markets, build on old relationships and create new ones, and continue finding “good projects with good value”.
He hopes that, since the first generation of the company has retired, New Star can continue getting team members in the field as much as possible, “and promoting those in the field because they understand what to build. […] There should always be someone in management who knows how to build.”
“We started as carpenters and builders,” said Pettit, whose passion and respect for those in the field who build was evident in every word. “My first 25 years were about learning the job” as a carpenter, project engineer, project manager, and estimator. He continued, “The last 10 years have been learning to run a business,” he said. “And I love learning.”
Pettit was mentored and raised in the industry as a tradesman and businessman, and hopes to continue that ethos. With a new strategy in place, New Star General Contractors continues to shine, building on a legacy established across the Wasatch Back and beyond.
