James McClister

2 days ago | builtworlds.com | James McClister

The Contractor’s Choice and Tech Excellence Awards are set for their inaugural ceremony at the 2025 Construction Tech Conference, taking place July 8-9 in Chicago’s historic Willis Tower. The awards will celebrate the top tech solutions across a variety of fields, as identified through BuiltWorlds’ research, and contractors demonstrating outstanding tech adoption and application in those same fields, respectively.

1 month ago | probuilder.com | James McClister

While the NEWLOOK Idea Home will ultimately blend into the nature that surrounds it, builder and architect Michael Freiburger never tried to hide the fact that the structure is unique—not that he could have. It’s an 11,000-square-foot home, with 10,000 square feet of finished space, set on about 100 concrete pillars.

1 month ago | probuilder.com | James McClister

By his own account it was secure, rewarding work, but never more than that. And as his passion for creating became more evident, so did his awareness that he was cut out for something different, something more his own. Michael left the comfort of his corporate 9-5 to join his father in the field, working again at the business he would one day call his own. At the time, the company was known as NEWLOOK Exteriors.

1 month ago | probuilder.com | James McClister

Part 2 of 2: Faced with a new reality and definition of “home,” Micheal Freiburger reimagines a place where almost every personal and work life experience is accommodated. In the years after taking ownership of NEWLOOK Design+Build+Development in Wilmette, Ill., Michael Freiburger has stretched and flexed his creativity by reimagining what’s possible in the residential space and in the process often finding ways to leverage his engineering and commercial building skills.

1 month ago | probuilder.com | James McClister

In Chicago’s North Shore, set along the historic Winnetka Road—a road famously lined with some of Chicagoland’s most exceptional custom homes—is a beautiful piece of land, bordered by a forest preserve and natural waterway, that, until recently, had remained unoccupied and untouched for more than a decade. Not because builders weren’t building or buyers weren’t buying. It’s an area always in demand.