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Business

Cleaning Up
n Construction
oti

rofessional

Todd Sachse has spread his
diverse talents over a number
of business endeavors.

Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News

A

fter Todd Sachse completed pre-
medicine courses and graduated
from the University of Michigan,
passed entrance tests and got accepted
to medical school, he called his mother,
Andrea, and told her he was going into the
window washing business instead!
"Can you imagine a Jewish mother
being told by her son that he doesn't want
to be a doctor," Sachse said in his office
overlooking downtown Birmingham.
"But she wasn't upset:' Sachse contin-
ued."She just said she wanted me to be
happy and do whatever I wanted."
It's a long entrepreneurial story from
that point, but window washing and other
businesses evolved over the years into
Sachse Construction & Development, a
$40 million-a-year business that has pro-
duced many projects in the Jewish com-
munity, Detroit and throughout the nation.
His mother couldn't be more proud.
Sachse Construction is in the limelight
now because the company built the new
$6.5 million Mandell L. and Madeleine
Berman Center for the Performing Arts
at the Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield. The Berman Center will open
March 23.
"The Berman Center is coming in on
time and within budget; it's a real state-
of-the art facility functionally and techno-
logically. And it will thrill the Jewish com-
munity," Sachse said. "It was the perfect

22 March 3 • 2011

project, with no big problems or delays."
Construction began last summer on the
15,000-square-foot theater, featuring 350-
and 600-seat configurations, a computer-
ized lighting system, high-caliber sound
and acoustics, a sophisticated system to
move scenery and equipment on and off
stage, and other high-tech functions.
"The heating and cooling systems are
amazingly quiet because, remember, those
systems must operate very quietly in a
theater so as not to bother the performers
and audience."
Ironically, Sachse, who is extremely
active in Jewish community activities,
was JCC president when the project was
announced in June 2009, although, of
course, he had to bid on it against other
companies.
"This theater will open many new pos-
sibilities for arts, education and entertain-
ment throughout our community," he said
at that time.

Washed Windows At 16
"Amazing" is the word that also aptly
describes Sachse's career. At age 47, Sachse
lives with his wife, Karen, and three chil-
dren in Huntington Woods. He became
an entrepreneur at age 16 while attending
Birmingham Seaholm High School, wash-
ing store windows "for about $4-$10 a
pop:'
At U-M, he launched Todd's Window
Washing and hired employees to help him
in Ann Arbor and the Detroit area. During
his junior and senior years, he opened

Todd Sachse stands

outside the new

Berman Center at the

West Bloomfield JCC.

American Home Cleaning, later becoming
American Maids, hiring women to clean
homes in Ann Arbor and nearby areas.
That led to washing, under Al
Window Washing, and cleaning work in
Farmington Hills, with a work force of
20-80. At about the same time, he began
buying, renovating and selling student
rental properties.
"I was 26 in 1989 when someone asked
me to build a 100-unit apartment complex
in Ann Arbor, but I had absolutely no
experience in that type of work:' Sachse
said.
"When you're 26, you'll try practically
anything, so I spent a year on develop-
ment work for the project, then put in 14
months on the job site as an assistant to a
superintendent — even though he worked
for me."

Business Acumen
With a satisfying taste of success in con-
struction, he sold the Farmington Hills
and Ann Arbor washing and maid busi-
nesses, rented a 10- by 10-foot office and
opened Sachse Construction in 1991.
But Sachse's entrepreneurial adrena-
line kept flowing. With partner Richard
Broder of West Bloomfield, he also oper-
ates Broder & Sachse Real Estate Services,
handling property development and man-
agement; Broder & Sachse Mechanical,
mainly heating and cooling work; and
Broder & Sachse Maintenance, doing gen-
eral maintenance and repair — all based
in the Birmingham office. The real estate

operation manages almost 10 million
square feet of space in more than 3,000
apartment units at 85 properties.
"Our entire operation is very diversi-
fied, and because there are many ups and
downs in the building business, we don't
specialize in one type of construction;
instead, we maintain that diversity and
cover everything," said Sachse.
"Building homes and condos was a big
thing in the early 2000s, but now all of
that residential business is gone, so we're
involved in commercial projects through-
out the country and even Canada [with an
office in St. Thomas, Ont.]."
There were more "downs" than "ups" in
construction in 2008-2009, which affected
the bottom line of the Broder/Sachse
companies, but the two principals made a
curious decision. "Whereas other compa-
nies were halting new investments, laying
off gobs of people and just cutting back in
general, we decided to make a new invest-
ment in our businesses:' Sachse said.
"The 'investment' was to keep most of
our employees and push ahead on new
projects. It has paid off, because business
turned around last year. We employ 45
people in the construction business here
and another 60 in the real estate opera-
tion. We're aiming for a $100 million a
year by 2013 as the economy improves.
"The biggest challenge in this business
is simply to make money in an incredibly
competitive market."
Sachse Construction may accomplish
that with some exciting new projects,

