the bosgraaf story
Three generations of the Bosgraaf family have worked for more than 35 years to establish Bosgraaf Companies as West Michigan’s leader of Energy Star Plus Qualified Homes.Bosgraaf builds West Michigan’s Greenest Homes in 12 premier residential neighborhoods, or any location within the Michigan Lakeshore, Southwest Michigan, or Greater Grand Rapids communities. Bosgraaf is known for ease of purchase, special financing, pre-designed home plans, and an easy-to-build process.
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The Full History of Bosgraaf Homes By Amy (Bosgraaf) Alderink
Over the years, many people have asked how this family-owned business known as Bosgraaf Homes came to be. Well, it started 30 years ago when the family learned to downhill snow ski.
You see, there was a farmer, Ted Bosgraaf, who owned sod farms with his brother Jack and father Ben.
In the late 1960′s there was a new ski mountain under construction “up north” called Schuss Mountain. They needed sod, a lot of it. We needed ski lessons, and a lot of them, for our family of four kids (I was still a glimmer). So, my dad, Ted, traded sod for all the ski lessons and lodging we could handle. Did I mention we are a family of very good skiers?
Well, sod was not a very fun thing to farm. Kind of like — sitting around watching the grass grow — but a lot of work because of the mold, disease, and critters that invade the product. Therefore, when Ted was approached with an idea to build a dam, flood his 812 acre farm to create a 228 acre lake, and turn it into a resort area, it sounded like a great idea. The onion and sod farm is now the 2,400 campsite community in Allegan County known as Sandy Pines.
Members started living at Sandy Pines in 1972, the year I was born. Living in a trailer with five children was a cozy experience. My crib was the bath tub and my brothers, Mike, Brian, and Scott, slept in the screen porch whenever possible.
Ted continued to develop Sandy Pines as well as farm celery and onions on various farms that his family owned in West Michigan through the 1970′s.
In the late 1970′s, Ted, his brother Jack and other partners started development and construction of 220 condominium homes surrounding a small par 3 golf course in Hudsonville, called Summergreen.
Summergreen was followed by the condominiums in Grand Haven called Sandpiper. For all of you Pronto-Pup lovers, these are the condos directly across the street. The city of Grand Haven approached the Bosgraaf company regarding the re-development of the old Story and Clark Piano Factory in downtown Grand Haven. We purchased the buildings and renovated them into condominiums, retail shopping, and restaurants. At this time, the company was known as Bosgraaf Sales and Leasing.
In the mid-80′s, my mom (Pat Bosgraaf) became a real estate broker and set up her office in Holland. In fact, her office was directly across the street from our current office building on Douglas Avenue. Pat had one employee, my brother Mike. Mike was still attending Calvin College but had earned his real estate license. Pat and Mike were selling our condominium development on the south side of Holland called Spring Lane, as well as selling general real estate (also known as “used” houses).
Bosgraaf Sales and Leasing decided to split in 1985. At that time, Ted and my brother Brian formed the company Bosgraaf Homes and took over the Holland developments. My uncle Jack and other partners kept the name Bosgraaf Sales and Leasing and took over the Grand Haven/Hudsonville/Grand Rapids developments.
In its first fifteen years in Holland, Bosgraaf Homes would launch such developments as Bay Meadows, the Cottages at Bay Meadows, Windstream, Rolling Oak, Tall Grass, Sunflower, Silver Ridge, Sunridge, and Woodwind. Brian led the construction side of the business, Ted the development side, and Pat and Mike the sales.
In the meantime, I was plodding through high school and college, and my job title at Bosgraaf Homes for the summers was construction waste engineer. Basically, I drove the cleanup truck and picked up trash all day.
In the late 90′s, Brian felt a calling to sell his part of the company and volunteer for Inner City Christian Federation (ICCF), which builds homes for low-income families in the inner city of Grand Rapids. After spending 2 years at ICCF, he started a home design company. Brian does some large remodel jobs and builds a few custom homes per year.
On January 1, 2001, Mike and I completed our buyout of our dad, Ted. Ted is still very involved in the land development for Bosgraaf Homes. Mike and I are the sole owners of Bosgraaf Homes and we are having a great time working with an incredibly talented team of people. Kris DeVree, Norm Vredeveld, and Doug Ritsema have been with us almost since the beginning and helped us grow from a handful of homes per year to more than 100 per year.
It has been an honor for our family to build homes for more than 1,000 families in West Michigan and we look forward to many more years of partnerships with our team of employees, our trade partners, and our homebuyers.
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| Bosgraaf Companies builds neighborhoods and dream in West Michigan ... |
