Many a real estate agent considers jumping the fence to the home-building side. Why not build houses instead of selling houses that other people build? In 1989, Mike Ford did just that.
After selling houses for 25 years, Ford launched Mill Creek Development Inc., which he named for the creek that flows behind his Palos Park house.
Although the Mokena-based company’s projects have radiated west from Chicago to the southern and southwestern suburbs, its focus remains the same — affordable, single- and multi-family homes.
Mill Creek’s current projects include a mixed-use development in Mokena called Old Mill Pond. Its two-story townhouses have price tags as low as $314,900, while its one-story townhouses start at $289,000. They are selling to first-time buyers and empty-nesters, reports Ford, but the common thread is their desire for low-maintenance homes.
At the same time, Mill Creek is building single-family houses starting at $279,900 and duplexes starting at $189,900 in the Las Fuentes (Spanish for “the Fountains”) development in Richton Park. Las Fuentes includes two-story houses, plus houses that Ford calls bi-levels, but are labeled by some builders as tri-levels. (Half flights of stairs lead from the main level up to the bedrooms and down to a family room.) Unlike the bi-levels of the 1960s, though, these have 2 1/2 bathrooms, volume ceilings and open floor plans.
“The bi-level gives you more square footage for your money than the two-story because the lowest level has no basement. We save foundation costs and pass that on to the buyer,” Ford explains.
Mill Creek’s buyers’ wish lists include granite counters, hardwood flooring and stainless-steel appliances. “But, not all the younger buyers can afford these things,” says Ford. “So we tell them to buy what they can afford structurally and add these later. You can get a Formica countertop now and replace it with granite later.”
Unlike home buyers in the northern or western suburbs, Ford observes, the south suburban buyers prefer stained-wood trimwork. Ditto for brick or partial-brick exteriors. “It’s because of their brick-bungalow roots and because more of the south suburbs’ building ordinances still require brick,” Ford explains.
After Mill Creek completes a home, the buyer receives a list of its subcontractors. While some general contractors guard the names of their subs, Mill Creek encourages its buyers to call them for follow-up work.
Mill Creek is a family affair, with two of Ford’s four grown children on staff. Daughter Karen Barry is the company bookkeeper, while son Brian Ford is the assistant site superintendent.
Ford’s wife, Trudy, wears several hats, decorating models and reviewing proposed floor plans. “She knows what’s practical,” Ford says. “She looked at a sunroom I had planned to connect to a dining room, for example, and said it would make more sense to have it off of the family room.”
Orland Park architect Duane Linden designs Mill Creek’s homes.
If Ford had a motto, he says, it would be “stick-to-it-ive-ness.” “I remember seeing that word when a high school classmate wrote about it,” he recalls. “It’s a good word to live by. You have to keep plugging away, even when things are not going well.”
Off-duty, Ford keeps in shape by playing golf and racquetball. His drug of choice: Robert Ludlum thrillers.
Philanthropy is central to Mill Creek’s mission, says Ford. In 2009, the company donated the land for a house that was built by volunteer tradespeople and sold to raise money for the Disabled Patriot Fund in Orland Park. Mill Creek also is hosting a raffle for Blue Cap, a Blue Island-based organization that helps people with developmental disabilities.
Looking into his crystal ball, Ford says the new-home market will emerge from the recession with a different orientation. “There will always be some buyers who want the big house with a big yard,” he says. “But, more and more, we’re seeing younger and older buyers wanting smaller homes with more functional floor plans, nicer amenities and no maintenance. They still want the American Dream but they don’t want to spend all their free time maintaining it.”
