Serving Since 2009
Brighton | Coulson is a full-service residential home builder and construction management services company. Formerly known as True Life Construction, Inc., the firm began in 2009 and has steadily completed over 100 single family and multifamily homes between California and Colorado.
Our Specialty
Specializing in complicated projects, the Brighton Coulson, Inc. team brings over 85 years of collective experience developing residential real estate projects including attached and detached single-family homes, multifamily homes, apartments, podiums, and commercial spaces.
From Start to End
Under the executive team of Scott Menard & Russ Schaeffer, the company’s expertise extends well beyond building to entitling multiple types of projects, as well as managing any type of build from dirt purchase all the way through to project close out.
Our Team
Scott Menard
Scott is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Brighton Coulson, a full-service residential building and construction management company. During his career, Scott was actively involved in the development and construction of over 3,500 single-family and multi-family residences throughout the Bay Area, Arizona and Colorado. Additionally, Scott serves as the Executive Vice President of The True Life Companies where he manages the acquisition, entitlement and disposition of land for the San Francisco Bay Area Division.A leading figure in the residential real estate industry, Mr. Menard’s expertise covers nearly every aspect of the new home sector including land acquisition, development, planning, construction, purchasing, and sales and marketing.Prior to his current roles, Scott held senior executive level or management positions at many prominent new home building firms including SummerHill Homes, Taylor Morrison Homes, Shea Homes, Ryland Homes, KB Home, Waypoint Homes, Arbor Development Group, and Trumark Companies. Scott was named in the East Bay Times as well as the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s “40 under 40” in 2006 and 2007 and has been an active member of the Building Industry Association throughout his career.Scott received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Russ Schaeffer
Russ is the Chief Financial Officer and co-founder of Brighton Coulson Inc. California licensed general contractor #561506 and truly a veteran of the real estate industry, Russ has been actively involved in the acquisition, disposition, development and construction of residential and commercial real estate. Prior to forming Brighton Coulson, Russ served as the Chief Development Officer at The True Life Companies developing the land acquisition strategy, he helped grow the company from 5 to 50 employees and acquired over 10,000 lots. Russ founded Defender Partners LLC to develop Assisted Living Communities (from raw land to fully furnished homes). Defender Partners built ALFs in Redding, Citrus Heights, Manteca and San Leandro, California. These communities serve over 300 residents. Mr. Schaeffer’s commercial real estate company, Schaeffer and Foster Inc. brokered the sale, lease and/or exchange of over 500 retail, industrial and office properties throughout the Northern California. Actively involved in community service, Russ served as Club Director for Young Life, Secretary of the Board of Directors for New College in Berkeley, and many other organizations. Russ received his Bachelor of Science from Purdue University in Industrial Economics and pursued graduate studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, New College Berkeley and the University of California, Berkeley.
Adam Poffenbarger
Adam is the Construction Manager at Brighton Coulson and is responsible for all phases of the construction process, including value engineering, project management, estimating, pre-construction services, project feasibility and budgeting. Mr. Poffenbarger has a wide range of experience in the construction industry and has worked on projects ranging from multi-family development and student housing to mixed-use podium and high-density single-family residences. Currently Adam is overseeing a residential development project, Fairbanks Ranch, which will deliver 129 high-end single-family residences. Prior to Brighton Coulson, Adam held a lead role at Robbins|Reed, Inc. where he oversaw the development of a 27-unit private student housing project as well as a 105-unit apartment complex. Additionally, Adam has held management positions with Webcor Builders and Pulte Homes. A self-proclaimed construction nerd, Adam received his Bachelor of Science in Construction Management from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.
Brandon Ledesma
Project Superintendent Brandon is a Project Superintendent with Brighton Coulson. Presently, Brandon assists the Construction Manager with building single family houses at Appian Hills, El Sobrante, California. He is responsible for subcontractor supervision, scheduling and quality control. He conducts buyer orientation and customer service after delivering houses to buyers. Brandon has 6 years of experience in construction primarily with the United States Air Force. Brandon joined Brighton Coulson in 2017. He was called to Active Duty in 2018 and Staff Sargent Ledesma, returned in June 2019. Brandon holds many Equipment Operator Licenses and Certifications and maintains many construction core qualifications. Brandon is certified by the USAF Technical School, Civil Engineering Technical Program and Building and graduated from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco with a Bachelor of Art in Fine Art.
Brook Polling
Brook is Brighton Coulson’s Executive Assistant. She has been with the company for about a year and a half and has taken on multiple roles and tasks along the way. Her accountability, organizational skills, personality and eagerness to learn have helped her thrive. She is currently acting as accounts payable/receivable, managing our options program and the ad hoc for our superintendents and project managers out in the field. Her previous 9 years of experience as a property and office manager have groomed her to be able to take on various responsibilities and she is exceeding in all aspects.
Chris Evans
Chris is a project manager with Brighton Coulson. In this role, Chris is responsible for the coordination of all aspects of the construction process and serves as the liaison between owners, architects and subcontractors. Bringing over 20 years of experience in the industry, Chris most recently was the project manager for a 5-story, mixed-use project in San Francisco, CA, as well as a 32-unit single family subdivision in El Sobrante, CA. In this capacity Chris handled all scheduling and permitting, as well as maintaining budgets and overseeing the field staff and superintendents. Chris also handled RFI requests, estimating and lead weekly ownership meetings. Prior to joining Brighton Coulson, Chris spent 13 years with Bigge Crane held the title of Project Manager of Major Projects as well as the Tower Crane and Hoist Operations Manager. At Bigge Crane and Rigging, Chris increased sales from $15 million to over $40 million in the first year of operation and was able to increase the tower crane fleet from 15 cranes to over 150 cranes making Bigge the second largest fleet of Tower Cranes in the United States.Chris received his Bachelor of Science from California State University at Chico.
Devon McKissick
Devon is currently a Construction Manager with Brighton Coulson. In this capacity Devon manages all on and off-site project coordination, organizes subcontractor activity, supervises and manages the warranty service process. Additionally, he is responsible for all production for scheduling and quality control through buyer orientation. During his 25 plus years in the industry, Devon has overseen the development of over 400 single-family homes and over 150 multi-family units. He has extensive knowledge of structural, architectural and civil plans, estimating, budgeting and job cost analysis.
In addition to owning his own construction company, Devon has held supervisory roles at Western Pacific Housing, William Lyon Homes and Paragon Custom Homes, Inc.
Luis Maldonado
Luis (Louie) is a Project Superintendent with Brighton Coulson. Louie has over 25 years of experience in all aspects of construction. He has started his career early working as a laborer and can’t think of any aspect of construction that he has not learned firsthand. He understands that at the end of the day what counts is maintaining a budget, timely progress and control of quality keeps clients happy. He is fluent in English and Spanish and can give clear and concise instruction in either language.
Louie started in the industry in Fresno learning from industry stalwart John Frankian Construction before moving to the Bay Area. He started a self-help program for Burbank Housing in Santa Rosa, training candidates to perform ground-up construction, foundation and framing. Most recently, Louie worked with John Doerr Construction from Davis developing a 7,000 square foot cave, custom home and guest house in the Napa Valley.
Hassan Naboulsi
Hassan provides tech-savvy services to Brighton Coulson’s home building. Hassan’s background in finance and his understanding of general construction processes and techniques are a valuable asset to our clients.
Hassan was formerly with SiliconSage, a full-service design/build California-based multifamily/mixed-use developer and general contractor. Led all technology and project controls initiatives integrating acquisition, financing, design, construction,sales/marketing, and mortgage lending. Formerly, Hassan was a Cofounder of Path Water, a start-up natural drink company.
Hassan is a graduate of California State University, East Bay.
Gene Madrid
Gene provides customer care for the Buyers of projects built by the Company. Gene started his career 20 years ago providing repairs and warranty services for Pacific Union Homes. He understands that at his responsibility is to keep buyers happy. He is fluent in English and Spanish and can give clear and concise instruction in either language.
After Pacific Union, Gene learned cabinets, from building to repair. How to make a damaged cabinet look new or blend stains, reglaze and reface. He moved on the Property Management business as Lead Maintenance Technician. In this role he led all service requests both indoors and out. Gene became a Site Foreman for a Company specializing in finishing homes, all those items from tile, carpeting, wall treatments and troubleshooting all home mechanical, electrical and plumbing.
Before joining Brighton Coulson, Gene provided warranty services for City Ventures, a multi-family builder. He is a native Californian primed to resolve all the complexities of home delivery.
Full Range of Services
Based on this multifaceted skill set, Brighton | Coulson, Inc. offers a full range of services including general contracting, project management, design and specifications, land development, horizontal and vertical purchasing, job site management, home sales, marketing, warranty and customer service, and project acceptance. Their ability to move projects forward on time and work through complicated processes to completion sets them apart in the industry and makes them a valuable asset on any project.