From a young age, Bobby Booras was passionate about building. His earliest jobsite memory was around age 3 when he went with his dad to “help” build a deck. While Bobby’s dad was auguring post holes, a little dog came running at Bobby who turned and fell into a 12” posthole with his hands being the only part of him sticking above the ground. The dog seemed to endlessly lick his hands until his dad came and pulled him out of the hole. Despite that rough start, Bobby could never get enough of construction and had a fascination with what his dad was able to accomplish with his tool belt on. Bobby’s obsession with building included both work in the field as well as designing (one of Bobby’s grandfathers was an engineer, the other an architect). Bobby’s parents would buy him large drafting paper and encourage him to design houses with any cool ideas he could come up with (unfortunately, his idea of flip-up Oakley sunglasses as a roof has never come to fruition). As Bobby grew older, he thought about becoming a carpenter right after high school. His affinity with math and physics, however, provided him with a scholarship to study engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

Through the college years, Bobby would work for different construction companies and his love for construction only grew. Hoping to start his own construction company someday, he was determined to work where he could learn as much as possible. After researching construction companies, his attention turned to Turner Construction since they were the biggest builder in the world. Fortuitously, Turner Construction was actively recruiting engineering students from the University of Illinois to be field engineers. After six interviews, Bobby was offered a full-time position starting at Turner’s Chicago office upon graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics. Bobby eagerly and thankfully accepted it. After six years of working hard and learning as much as possible at Turner Construction, Bobby was at a place where he was ready to quit his job and start Booras Builders at the beginning of 2011.

In the early years, Booras Builders would self-perform everything: excavating, concrete work, framing, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, trim, custom woodworking, painting, siding, roofing, etc. As more opportunities came and Booras Builders began to grow, we realized we couldn’t self-perform every trade on every job and grow a business. As a result, Booras Builders developed processes and programs to train others and manage the quality control we expected. Booras Builders was able to grow beyond the leadership of one person and provide the same level of quality control and craftsmanship. Booras Builders grew to be a custom home builder that is a team of professionals working diligently together with a common goal of building custom homes at the highest level for its clients.