__________________________________________________________________ Middlefork
Luxury Homebuilder
“ I never imagined myself as an entrepreneur ; I just had a passion for both architecture and business and always hoped to somehow combine those things ,” Andrew begins . “ I was fortunate to acquire land at a discounted price and build at a low cost , starting by building luxury speculative ( spec ) homes . These generated enough profit to really kickstart and continuously develop the business .
“ Then , in 2016 , for several reasons but primarily due to market changes in my area , I moved to working on only custom homes . Today , we work on a plethora of projects , but I particularly encourage clients to adopt a design-build approach . This means we take responsibility away from the client and are involved in the project from the very beginning , all the way through to completion , acting as our customers ’ sole point of contact throughout .”
“ Using our 15-year history of industry experience , we assist clients with finessing their design program to really understand what they want on both an aesthetic and practical level ,” says Andrew . “ We think about the functionality of the house , so zoning , for example , means deciding how many children ’ s bedrooms the client wants and where they want them located .”
He continues : “ From a family perspective , your house must suit your unique lifestyle . Say , for instance , our client wants a playroom , we try to understand how the room , as well as the entire house , will be used day-to-day . If they want a structured family room where games are put away after use , then the clients may not mind the room being in-view of guests , whereas some families want a messy , active playroom that is totally out of sight .
“ That ’ s where we ’ re different ; we make sure that the design adheres to those programmatic design objectives and meets clients ’ goals , while staying on schedule and within budget ,” Andrew states . “ We try to remove a lot of the questions and decisionmaking associated with building a home , but equally , if a client wants to be involved in every tiny detail discussion , they can be .”
Preservation projects
During its 15-year history , the business has completed numerous projects , including work on some of Chicago ’ s most protected buildings . In 1871 , the Great Chicago Fire ravaged through the city , destroying nine kilometers of land , including 17,000 structures . As a result , numerous organizations and charities were set up to manage the preservation of Chicago ’ s historic buildings .
Andrew elaborates : “ We work closely with the Commission on Chicago Landmarks ( Landmarks ), and the Historic Preservation Division , which have identified either specific buildings or blocks that are deemed historically significant because they survived the fire . The regulations are very rigid ; not
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