Next generation taking over St. Charles home builder business, shifting focus to renovations

Janecek Builders, a family business in St. Charles, is passing ownership to the second generation and changing the business model from custom home construction to custom remodels and renovations.

Caroline Janecek Korakis has been involved in the family business on and off for about a decade. She grew up around the business and after leaving to start a career in fashion design, is getting back to her roots and taking over for her father.

Janecek Builders was founded in 1973 by Bill Janecek and his brother, who eventually split off to start his own building company. The business is headquartered out of a home office in her father’s house at 38W710 Bonnie Court in St. Charles.

Janecek Builders will no longer build homes from scratch, shifting its focus to renovations, including kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms and even full home makeovers.

Korakis said they intend to work with clients of all types of budgets, from minor renovations and updates that will make a big impact at a low cost, to large, high-end full kitchen and bath remodels.

Korakis said she and her brother spent a lot of their childhoods around the family business, walking around the job sites and seeing the building process from beginning to end countless times. She said their first jobs growing up were sweeping out the basements of the newly constructed homes.

“We were always kind of entrenched,” Korakis said. “Our father would build homes for people and develop relationships, so we’d end up getting to know the customers and we were pretty involved, in terms of growing up around the business.”

Korakis said her father was an incredible builder, and while he left a lot of the design side of the business to his customers, she plans to be much more involved with the design aspect.

Korakis acts as both the client’s designer and the general contractor, eliminating the need for them to hire their own designer. She said clients can also be as involved as they want in the design process, whether they want to have a hand in every step of the process or they want her to take care of everything.

Korakis has a background in design, having owned her own wedding gown business for nearly 20 years and worked in costume design in Los Angeles for several years. She has degrees in fashion design and merchandising from the University of Illinois and the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.

“I always loved the Hollywood glamour red carpet kind of thing,” Korakis said. “[Wedding gown design] was a way to use the design. I love the design process.”

Now married with three children, Korakis is back in Kane County and ready to take the reins from her father.

Korakis said her transition into designing custom remodels from wedding gowns was easy thanks to her extensive experience with her family’s business. She said having grown up around the business, she’s known most of the company’s subcontractors for nearly 30 years.

“I think my focus just switched. ... Really, it was that I just shifted into what I was interested in at the time; kids, family and working with my dad,” Korakis said. “I just really started enjoying putting my design effort into the home side of things more than the fashion side of things, and I had the perfect outlet to do it.”

Korakis said the pandemic played a part in getting out of the wedding gown business, but her desire to get into the home renovation business began with working on her own homes. She said she found her passion while working with her husband and her father renovating her homes.

“I’ve always enjoyed [renovating homes],” Korakis said. “As the other business slowed down, I just decided I think this is where I want to go. I guess it did start with working on my house, but I did always enjoy it.”

Korakis said the business’ transition from home building to renovations does not require a lot of changes, as remodeling and renovating was already a part of the business. She said the main change will be to no longer build full homes, but she will continue to offer the quality of work that customers have come to expect from working with her father.

“[Her father] has always prided himself on being open and honest with his clients, getting the job done at a reasonable pace and getting it done well, and I want to continue with that,” Korakis said.

Korakis said the company’s new emphasis on custom renovations will allow for more focus on the design element of the process and greater collaboration with the clients. She said while clients often have an idea of what they want, they don’t always know how everything works together, which is where Janecek Builders can help.

“It was very similar to wedding gowns, in a way,” Korakis said. “You’re working with a client to do something very custom and personal to them, so it’s working through that process with them so that they’re happy and that end process looks good. ... It’s a lot about getting to know the client and creating something for them that they’re going to live with every day.”

Korakis said her father, 77, will still be around to help as a consultant and oversee some of the smaller projects.

“He’s earned the right to relax a little bit,” Korakis said. “He’s worked hard for so many years, but he’s still going to be around. He’ll be my guide.”

Korakis and her father are the company’s only employees. They oversee all the planning and design, and all of the work is done by trusted subcontractors who they have been working with for years.

Korakis said a benefit of working with Janecek Builders is that their clients work directly with her and her father and never have to deal with different contractors. She said every job begins with meeting the clients and learning about their goals in order to deliver the final product they will be happy with.

“He’s been in this town forever, building a lot of great homes in the area,” Korakis said. “I just want to continue the good name he built for himself and his company and really carry that forward with my own take on things.”