The architect George Godwin (1813–1888) was editor from 1844 to 1883, and turned The Builder "into the most important and successful professional paper of its kind with a readership well beyond the architectural and building world.

Other contributors to The Builder over the years have included architects such as Robert Dennis Chantrell, Henry Clutton (1819–1893), Josiah Conder, James Fergusson, William Curtis Green (1875–1960), John Woody Papworth (1820–1870), Howard Morley Robertson (1888–1963) and William White.

[6] They have also included the novelist Hall Caine, the engineer and antiquary G. T. Clark, and the short-lived journalist Charles Chaloner Ogle.

[1] Having acquired the magazine a year earlier from Vivendi Universal, in 2003 Aprovia UK sold Building to UBM plc as part of a £79m deal.

[citation needed] In January 2018, UBM sold Building (plus Building Design, a venue directory and various events) to a management team, Assemble Media Group, led by former editor Tom Broughton.