About Tay River
A craftsman, a building scientist, and a lot of houses.
Tay River was founded in 1999 by brothers Jesse and Abel Smith. Between us we cover two parts of the building world that rarely meet: skilled, detail-obsessed construction and the science of how houses use energy. We get a lot of satisfaction out of every job we take on.
Abel
The hands.
Abel has been building since 1989, when he started out installing cabinets and renovating historic buildings, and he holds diplomas in Architectural Technology and in Heritage Carpentry and Restoration. He’s the one turning an artist’s pencil sketch into built-in shelving, stitching a cracked cherry slab with handmade butterfly keys, and laying out a winder stair so it meets modern code. A couple of our favorite projects are in his own house.
The stair in Abel’s houseJesse
The data.
Jesse has worked in construction since 1991 and finished his carpentry apprenticeship in 1998 (now, in his words, “a fond but vague memory”). After the 2008 crash he steered the company toward air sealing and insulation, then earned his New Jersey master HVAC license in 2015. He runs the blower door, reads the research, and writes about building science for Asterisk magazine, usually with more opinions than the average contractor.
Jesse’s field notesHow we think
Five principles.
These have been on our website since 2012, and they apply just as much to a heat pump as to a bathroom.
- 01
The house is a system
The parts of a home affect each other. Replace or renovate one piece and it can cause problems, or create opportunities, somewhere else. Too few contractors understand how the pieces relate. We make sure the systems in your home work together, so it ends up more efficient, more comfortable and more durable.
- 02
Big changes enable other changes
When a house changes a lot, other systems can often be eliminated or downsized. Add insulation and air-tightness, and you can usually scale back the heating and cooling equipment. That’s how we approach every project: a home that works well, with lower energy costs and a smaller footprint.
- 03
Redundancy makes houses tougher
There are several ways to protect a roof: an airtight ceiling, a ventilated roof, controlled indoor humidity. Any one helps. Doing all three makes the house far less fragile, and saves the most over the long run.
- 04
Test and measure
Testing and measuring drive progress in a lot of fields, ours included. The surgeon Atul Gawande showed how simple measurements can improve medicine, and we think the same is true for houses. If you’re serious about your home, repairs and renovations should be guided by evidence.
- 05
Follow the science
People often change their homes based on advice from friends and neighbors instead of the best available research, and that can damage a house. We keep learning and replace outdated practices with newer, empirically tested methods.
One company, two names
Why The Big Chill?
Because the best heating and cooling system is one designed for the house after it’s been fixed, not before. Having our own HVAC division means the people who seal and insulate your house are the same people who size the equipment for it.
The Big Chill Heating & Cooling launched in 2026 as Tay River’s heating and cooling division, with Jesse as master HVAC technician. Its focus is converting homes from fossil fuels to air-source heat pumps. It’s the same people working from the same principles, so the whole house gets one plan.
How a project works
Four steps, and a visit a year later.
Your satisfaction is how we stay in business: most of our work comes from referrals and repeat clients.
- 01
Feasibility
We work out the rough scope, sketch a preliminary layout with general specs, give you a ballpark budget based on past projects, and check with the town for anything that could slow the work down.
- 02
Design & estimate
You should like and understand the design, it should improve your home, and it should fit your budget. For the largest projects we bring in an architect and work alongside them. Then you get a detailed estimate with fixed costs for everything we can specify.
- 03
Building
We’re with you through every step, right down to choosing a paint color. Renovation is disruptive, so we work hard to keep it as unobtrusive as possible.
- 04
Follow-up
At the end we do a full job review together. Then, one year after completion, we come back to review both the design and the construction.
Where we work
Princeton and the towns around it.
We’ve worked extensively across central New Jersey, from Princeton to Manalapan, and will travel up to about an hour for energy work, which covers much of Bucks County and the Philadelphia suburbs.
- Princeton
- Hopewell
- Pennington
- Lambertville
- Hightstown
- Lawrenceville
- West Windsor
- Plainsboro
- Manalapan
- Yardley
- New Hope
- Newtown
- and nearby
Start a project
Tell us about your house.
Whether it’s a cold bedroom, a tired bathroom, a heat pump quote you’re unsure about, or a dormer that’s seen better days, start with a conversation. We’ll tell you honestly what we’d do, and what we wouldn’t.