David Allan Ramsay started out as the owner of a nursery garden in South Kensington. He was one of the creditors of the builder, William Reynolds. Despite the example of Reynolds' unhappy experience as a speculative builder, the experience seems to have inspired Ramsay to try his hand at the building business himself and he became one of the principal builders working in the Ladbroke estate.
Ramsay became Charles Blake’s favoured builder. In 1851 Blake granted him building leases of plots in Elgin Crescent, followed in 1853 by 40 houses in the Stanley Crescent and Stanley Gardens. He worked with most of the big developers in the area. Between 1851 and 1853 Richard Roy granted him building leases of 80 plots in Portland Road and Heathfield Road. Ramsay also took a number of plots from Dr Walker on the north side of Elgin Crescent.