A Local Black Owned And Operated Father And Son Construction Company Builds its Family Legacy And Profits Brick By Brick

Christian Searles and others posing in front of the Englewood’s EGWoode Food Hub before the completion of the renovation. PHOTO PROVIDED BY RISE COMMUNICATIONS.
Christian Searles and others posing in front of the Englewood’s EGWoode Food Hub before the completion of the renovation. PHOTO PROVIDED BY RISE COMMUNICATIONS.

A Local Black Owned And Operated Father And Son Construction Company Builds its Family Legacy And Profits Brick By Brick

 

By Citizen Staff Writer


Christian Searles is a partner in the Francis Construction firm. The young Searles has been busy working alongside his father Steve Searles building their family legacy. 


Together the two have taken their Chicago based construction firm from ‘concept to profit’, doing it in four years.  Steve Searles came into the partnership with years of experience in construction. After merging his business experiences with those of son’s Christian’s, the birth of Francis Construction happened in 2019 but did not take off until 2023 Christian said.


Christian grew up in the construction business accompanying his dad on different work sites since he began walking, he recalled.  Being around heavy equipment and becoming formula with the different construction tools, it was a perfect learning environment for skill development. 


At the age of 30 years old, he is now a lead partner running the day-to-day aspects of the firm.  He looks back on when he started his career in the industry with fondness remembering when he wasn’t sure what area of construction, he wanted to be in. 


When Christian was 16 years old, always feeling like he needed a job to earn money during his time off from school, he started running property demolition (demo) crews with his friends.  “We would be gut houses on sites my dad was either rehabbing or flipping,” said Christian. 


Christian played football while attending college at the University of Dayton.  Being named an ‘All American’ player during college and wanting to play football professionally, he landed a free agent contract with the Washington Redskins until being injured.  After sustaining the injury he left the football industry, it was his father idea for them to come together on a small renovation project which turned into a $1.5 million venture in the Los Angles California area.


Christian built his first home out of state, calling it his ‘baby’.  He recalls receiving long distance support from his dad via telephone when he wasn’t able travel to his work site in person as well as support from others.


Christian completed the project and assisted in the sale of the property after receiving his real estate license.   The rest was history according to him. 


Christian said the project was the first real residential building project that he completed from conception to completion, although he had done demolition before.


In June of 2023, Francis Construction through a relationship with ‘Alpine’, were tasked to carry out the demolition on the old Arlington Heights Racetrack facility, the place in which may soon become the new home to the NFL’s Chicago Bears Franchise.


Francis contributes its growth success partly to resources provided through HIRE360 Organization.  HIRE360 is a workforce and contractor development organization that helped forged the rapid scaling of Francis early projects. That relationship unlocked many pathways for Francis Construction allowing them the affordability to employ more than 300 union tradesmen across their job sites.


Francis Construction Company is currently working on 2 major projects in the underserved community of Englewood on the city’s south side.   One of the projects is a $6 million development, working with the Residential Associations of Greater Englewood (R.A.G.E). The second project is a $5.5 million development project called the E.G. Woode Food Hub.  Christian said upon completion of the project the community residents are going to be proud of the work and the resources that will come because of the construction.


Christian said, being a part of such an historic opportunity in Englewood is special.  They get to see firsthand the improvement to the area and how lives will be changed.  The E.G. Woode project was a challenging project for the company in part due to the amount of work needed at the site.  When a structure is deemed historical, it is not a work as usual type job.    The roof on the building clasped caving from the top floor crashing down into the basement preventing the job from being your ordinary construction job. 


Next on the horizon for Francis Construction according to Christian is to keep doing the work, growing their client base and to continue improving and changing lives through each completed project.


Francis list of completed construction jobs, from demolition to complete build out include notable spaces like: Googles downtown Chicago headquarters, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, the National Public Housing Museum and the Ramada Inn near Ohara Airport to name a few.  The Francis Construction Company is also working at the site of the first Leon’s Chicago’s Best Barbeque and Grill location at 59thand Racine.  The Racine restaurant location was opened in 1940.


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