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. 

During the summers and at times throughout the school year, Bobby would work for different construction companies and his love for construction only grew. He hoped to be able to start his own construction company someday but knew he needed to learn a lot more. Towards the latter half of his four years at college, he was determined to work for a construction company 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. Coincidentally, Turner Construction sought to hire engineering graduates from the University of Illinois as 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, now having the opportunity to learn as much as possible about construction from the biggest construction company in the world. While excited at this opportunity, he knew it wasn’t going to be just knowledge and ability that would allow him to start his own construction company; he would need to prepare himself financially too. On his train ride into Chicago early each morning he would read different books about investing, real estate, owning a business, and the Bible (which happens to give a lot of financial advice). During that time, Bobby’s then fiancée, Heather, and he were saving up money and searching along every train route into Chicago to find a place that they would call home once they were married. They found a duplex in Chesterton where they could live in half while renting the other half to cover their mortgage (Bobby’s uncle had done this when he was a boy and it seemed to be a smart idea). After six years of working hard and learning as much as possible while climbing the ladder at Turner Construction, and generating sweat equity in real estate on nights and weekends, 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 of Booras Builders, Bobby would self-perform everything: excavating, concrete work, framing, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, trim, custom woodworking, painting, siding, roofing, etc. In regards to construction, Bobby loved it. As more opportunities came and Bobby hired employees to join him in the field, he eventually realized that he couldn’t do every trade on every job and run a business. This was a hard reality to deal with. He needed to develop processes and programs that he could train others to follow. Though it was disappointing to spend less time with a toolbelt, Booras Builders was able to grow beyond one person and still provide the same level of quality control and craftsmanship.