ack in the 1990s, Jim McMahon was a successful trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. With a reputation for shrewdness, drive and talent, he was building a great future for himself. But then a personal project changed his life.
McMahon and his wife started building a house in the suburbs. At first, he put the entire project in the hands of a project manager. But McMahon quickly started taking an interest in the details – such a strong interest, in fact, that he showed up to the building site every morning. “I lost a lot of income not being at the Merc, but it meant that much to me,” he said. “After it was all done, I said to myself, ‘Five years down the road, I’d like to be doing something like this.’”
It didn’t even take that long. One year later, McMahon launched his own company, J. P. McMahon Builders, which has earned a stellar reputation for its architecturally distinct homes. “You won’t see me repeating the same details,” McMahon said. “I believe that when people drive by my houses, they shouldn’t be able to identify them as a J.P. McMahon Builders home by identifying some duplicated characteristics from other homes. They should be able to identify one of our homes by its curb-stopping appeal and distinctive architecture.”
McMahon’s homes have won many accolades. Among them are two Crystal Key awards from the Home Builders Association — awards that designate the best home built in the Chicago area. He has also won a wide assortment of Gold, Silver and Bronze Key awards from the HBA for his innovation and ingenuity.
McMahon’s intricate details delight home buyers and artisans alike. In an English Tudor home he completed, the architectural plans called for unique elements such as an enclosed swimming pool in the basement, a wood timber porte cochere, and a corner turret that encapsulated a two-story library. With every element, McMahon’s builders achieved the highest quality, right down to the spiral wrought iron staircase.
“There’s no compromising on a property like that — or on any other property, as far as I’m concerned,” McMahon said. “Everything needs to be right — the materials, the design, the execution.”
In another property built to resemble an old graystone mansion, McMahon’s team created another breathtaking feature — second-floor verandahs with bluestone floors. And in a French Chateau created in the countryside tradition, natural cut stone made up the kitchen walls with heated limestone flooring, an expansive island of deep wood, and white perimeter cabinets in a custom distressed lace finish with an espresso glaze.
“Every project has its own distinct characteristics that set it apart from other homes,” McMahon said. “The fun and the challenge is to execute those characteristics in a way that’s stunning and unique.”
McMahon has been a voracious student of construction since his firm’s inception in 1997. “Our first house was in Clarendon Hills,” he said. “We bought a $200,000 residence that was a tear-down. We constructed a brick residence on the property and it sold for $630,000 within three months. That was a big confidence booster, and the company has been successful since then. We now concentrate on the $3 million plus market.”
McMahon is also acclaimed for his interiors. His homes are known for fine details such as coffered ceilings, textured walls, unique mahogany front doors, hand-hewn hardwood floors, full-wall raised paneled libraries and great rooms, finely crafted old world cabinetry, Brooks Brothers display-type master closets, floor-to-ceiling stone fireplaces, and custom-built hardwood staircases with continuous rails and wrought iron balusters.
McMahon’s projects are known throughout the Chicago area, but his favorite region is still his company’s home in Hinsdale, a city that McMahon calls “the gem of the western suburbs.”
“There are other communities around us equally nice in terms of the architecture, but Hinsdale has a train, a downtown, a place where kids can go on their bikes to get a Slurpee,” he said. “It’s a great place to be.”
High-end home buyers in the western and southern suburbs are continuing to seek out McMahon for personalized service and custom construction, so his work keeps him busy constantly. But it’s a career he enjoys and doesn’t plan to leave.
“For me, it’s always been more satisfying than my work at the Mercantile Exchange,” he said. “I was not creating anything in the trading pits, just commissions. Here, every day, I’m committed to building and creating something that I know is going to be there for 100-plus years, and that’s an amazing feeling.”


J. P. McMahon Builders
811 N. Elm Street
Hinsdale, IL 60521
(630) 325-7800
(630) 655-0887 (fax)
www.jpmbldr.com
jim@jpmbldr.com