FEATURE STORY — Mar./Apr. 2006

Darwan’s Evolution

Al Darwan started with nothing more than a dream and the desire to be his own boss. Today, his semi-custom home building company, Buckingham Builders Corporation, does $25 million annually in revenue

By Elyse Umlauf-Garneau

Al Darwan

The old saw goes that some see the glass half full while others see it half empty. And then there’s Al Darwan ’85 CBA.

For him, it’s 97 or 98 percent full all the time. Such optimism has aided Darwan in establishing and expanding his semi-custom home building company, Buckingham Builders Corporation, in an industry fraught with competition.

He started the Plainfield-based business in 1997 with several disadvantages. For example, he had minimal capital and no family connections to or experience in the industry.

Another twist: Darwan arrived in the United States in 1981 as a young man from Syria speaking only Arabic and French. His mother had urged him to leave Syria and study in the United States. She recognized that Darwan was an entrepreneur at heart and anxious to start a business in Syria, and was worried he’d start work before getting a proper education. Here, Darwan learned English and attended a community college.

From there, his story reads like a manual for budding entrepreneurs.

Gain the skills

Darwan enrolled at UIC as a marketing major, which suited his fast-talking, gregarious, idea-a-minute nature. Other majors held little appeal. He knew he didn’t want to be a working stiff in a corporation or in government. Also, the words of his father, who died when Darwan was 19, resonated in his head: “Don’t work for anyone.”

Darwan also had a theory: True entrepreneurs need marketing skills more than any other to conceive an idea, plan a business around it and run with it. His belief was that all other skills can be hired. After graduating from UIC, Darwan continued his education, earning a master’s degree in advertising from Northwestern University.

Darwan thought home building might be the business for him. “I’ve [always] had a lifelong passion for architecture and design,” explains Darwan. He put his newly minted skills to work by doing an exhaustive analysis of the Chicago-area home building market to determine where he could fit in. But Darwan found that he wasn’t prepared for home building and decided to fill in his knowledge gaps by enrolling in building-industry-related courses on topics such as construction materials, land development and project management.

Creative problem solving

Darwan built his first house, a 3,400-square-foot, single-family property in Naperville. Friends and colleagues thought he was daft to attempt something so complex, but it was in his nature to take calculated risks. It paid off. He sold the house and made a profit.

But to continue growing, Darwan needed land. He couldn’t compete with large regional and national builders that could afford to buy large tracts of undeveloped land and construct entire subdivisions. “The ability to control land and offer homes in desirable locations is key,” comments Darwan.

To find a steady supply of buildable land, Darwan networked with lawyers, excavators and engineers. They were the people who often heard about land becoming available before it hit the market. Eventually, this nontraditional approach led him to a subdivision where he was able to buy a number of lots in a neighborhood under development by a larger company. He still uses that approach today.

industry involvement

Darwan’s networking didn’t end there. His classes in home building provided a networking bonanza. “If I didn’t have connections, I’d be left out in the cold,” he says.

Darwan’s involvement in industry groups includes serving as president of the Southwest Chapter of the Home-builders Association of Greater Chicago and as second vice president (he will become president in 2008) of the Home-builders Association of Greater Chicago. In addition, he is a board member of the Chicago chapter of HomeAid, a national non-profit organization that builds and renovates shelters for America’s temporarily homeless.

Anticipating the market

Darwan believes in constantly scanning the horizon for new industry trends, which is why Buckingham Builders has grown into a business with annual revenues of $25 million. For example, when Darwan saw that people wanted homes wired for high-speed Internet service, he delivered. When consumers began asking for floor plans with home offices, Buckingham Builders provided them. As a small builder, Darwan realized he could be flexible and provide clients with unlimited customization—something larger builders could not because it would significantly increase their costs. Darwan believes his willingness to respond to consumers’ needs has given him an edge over “cookie-cutter” builders and has allowed his company to thrive in the semi-custom home builder niche.

Be grateful

Darwan is grateful for his UIC education and says he still taps into the knowledge he gained there. “Fishing for good ideas and seeing early signs of change in the marketplace are concepts I learned in school,” says Darwan.

His former professor, Gerald Hills, director of UIC Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, says Darwan has truly embraced the concepts from his UIC classes. “Al is so bright that he abstracted the most critical elements of his UIC business education and fit that knowledge into building and growing start-up companies.”

Darwan’s accomplishments as a self-made businessman led to his induction into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2005. The award recognizes those who have demonstrated entrepreneurial talent by founding and/or growing a business in the Chicago area. “Al was a slam dunk for the honor,” says Hills. “He’s a perennial entrepreneur.”

“I was flattered by that honor,” Darwan says. “It was a recognition of my hard work, and it felt like someone was watching me and decided to say, ‘Good job, Al.’ That’s what makes this country great. It rewards excellence.”

Darwan thinks his life and success illustrate American dream and lauds the U.S. system and the opportunities it offers. “We live in the freest economy of the world—a capitalist heaven on earth. It’s the system that’s closest to perfection in the world for human success. Everyone has opportunity,” he says. Though he acknowledges the imperfections—the bit of the glass that’s empty—in life and the economic system, Darwan says, “I’m willing to live with that 2 percent or 3 percent.”

A blueprint for success

Al Darwan offers some tips on how to be a successful entrepreneur

1. Master your subject. Make sure you understand and take to heart the lessons and theories you learn in school, so you can apply them in real-world situations. Don’t just know the material well enough to pass the test.
2. Be persistent. No matter how smart you are, how good your product is or how much money you have, you will face problems. “You have to have the stamina to not give up on your goals,” he says.
3. Develop a clean reputation. “The straight way is the shortest way. Aim for absolute honesty,” Darwan advises. He’s often been able to solve crises with just one phone call to a bank or a customer because he’s built trust with them. “Your reputation is like a piece of china. If it’s cracked, you can glue and repair it, but that crack will always show,” he warns.
4. Do whatever it takes. You can’t put in a 9 to 5 workday and expect success. When he started his company, Darwan put in 12 to 15 hours each day for eight straight months with only two days off.
5. Enjoy your work. If you’re putting your soul into a business, you’d better enjoy what you’re doing or you won’t be able to tolerate the long hours that may be needed. “Work is a joy for me,” says Darwan.
6. Gain an edge. You have to be better than everyone else in your niche. That edge—even a miniscule one—makes all the difference, Darwan believes.
7. Stay ahead of the market. “Being proactive rather than reactive is the name of the game in every business. That’s the difference between being an innovator and a follower.”
8. Never put your business on cruise control. “You can’t rest on your laurels. That is a formula for failure. You have to keep on working and innovating until you choose to shut down the business. It just won’t run if you stop working.”