Tom McHugh Construction opens new headquarters, design facility in Fox Valley

Judith Munson

Contributor

August 11, 2025

APPLETON – Tom McHugh Construction’s grand opening of its new headquarters (2910 Tempest Court in Appleton) and design facility last month, Owner Tom McHugh said, marks yet another milestone for the business, which he founded in 2008.

Specializing in custom homes, as well as spec and turnkey homes, McHugh said the company – which has seen significant growth in the last 17 years – is expecting to do $52 million to $60 million in revenue this year.

“I was swinging a hammer and framing houses in my early teens,” he said. “I grew up around it with my dad working second shift at Hillshire and first shift building houses. I started doing trim, flooring, tile, roof and siding work.”

Then, McHugh said, the 2008 Great Recession happened.

Seeing opportunity where others saw uncertainty, McHugh – who was only 21 years old at the time – said he started buying some of the foreclosed lots and Tom McHugh Construction was born.

“We also had a family concrete company at that point,” he said. “We did stamped-concrete patios and decorative concrete. So, I started doing the building [aspects of those projects] – custom projects, remodels, kitchen remodels, additions, eventually moving into spec home builds, about one a year. I was basically just a small contractor for about the first 10 years.”

Then, now, next

McHugh said Tom McHugh Construction landed its first multi-unit project in New London six years ago when he acquired 13 remaining lots in a subdivision that originated 20 years ago.

The experience, he said, showed him the potential involved with volume work.

“I learned I could buy a semi-load of cabinets, a semi-load of flooring – that you could buy just about anything at a major volume purchasing discount [by the semi-load],” he said. “So, I warehoused everything and got to work on the 13 sites.”

McHugh said he started to transition into more of a project manager role with this job, but still did much of the work with help from subcontractors and friends.

After that initial large project was done, McHugh said Tom McHugh Construction took on a 22-unit build in Kaukauna on a site that was previously home to a school.

This project, he said, marked the company’s entry into turnkey pre-sales.

“The developer kept lots for duplexes and single-family homes in a couple of sections, and I decided to create floor plans for the others, as well as build spec homes,” he said. “We offered pre-sales to customers, where they could come in and pick out their preferred floor plans, and we handled everything from start to finish.”

Shortly thereafter, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and McHugh said this approach proved very attractive in a booming market.

He said the company started on more turnkey developments in addition to custom work, pivoting solely to new home construction.

In the early days of the company, McHugh said he obtained a real estate license with Score Realty, so he could buy and resell homes on his own.

Today, he said, he acts as agent and broker, allowing the company to host open houses and assist buyers during the entire purchasing and building process.

“We can help you find a lot, because we have the agents in-house,” he said. “Or, if you own a lot already and just want us to build, we can do that, too.”

Continuing to grow its portfolio, McHugh said the company constructed 129 homes in 2024 and expects to finish between 130-150 this year – averaging five new-build starts a week.

The company’s largest project to date, he said, is the Freedom Meadows Subdivision in Neenah, where a 150-unit housing community is under construction in its fifth phase.

This fall, McHugh said, Tom McHugh Construction will embark on its largest development to date – a 270-lot community in Appleton.

The continued growth of the company, McHugh said, prompted the construction of the recently opened headquarters in Appleton.

Up until then, McHugh said he was renting space from Score Realty, but needed to expand to keep up with growth and a desire to offer more services – such as walk-through tours in a home model. 

Unable to find an appropriate preexisting property, McHugh said they did what they do best – built their own facility and new design center.

“It doesn’t look like a corporate, commercial building,” he said. “It’s more like a house when you walk into it, letting people get an idea of what their new home will be like. So, all of our showrooms here [have] all of the design selections from flooring to cabinets.”

When moving day came in June, McHugh said Score Realty decided to move along with them, renting the office space upstairs.

In addition to its project portfolio, McHugh said the company has also seen significant growth in its staff.

In addition to himself, he said the company employs six additional realtors, office staff and three project managers – including his brother, Mitch – who are in charge of the builds.

Ever changing

Since transitioning from contractor to builder to developer, McHugh said Tom McHugh Construction’s core business is building housing communities – though it continues to do custom homes to keep pace with ever-changing demand.

“Generally, we run three to five active community [builds] at a time at the very minimum,” he said. “With the market today, we’re running about 40% spec homes on our schedule, but for the four years prior, we had less than 5% spec homes.”

The advantage for a prospective McHugh Construction homebuyer, McHugh said, is the simplicity his business provides to people who want to build a house without the headaches that come with it.

“We have two styles available,” he said. “From there, people can create a package, including the lot number and floor plan, with a three-page list of options available. They pick all the colors, their siding, their stone and their garage door styles. It’s basically a semi-custom house.”

Making the process even simpler – and affordable – for the customer, McHugh said the company provides the construction loan with a $5,000 deposit.

“We’ll take out a construction loan or use our own cash to build the home,” he said. “There are no fees, there’s no interest, no utilities and no insurance policy for the buyer, and then they purchase the home at the end.”

Through Tom McHugh Construction, McHugh said customers can get a three-bedroom, two-bath home on a lot for $299,000.

“Our average sales price across all of our communities is about $380,000 to $400,000,” he said. “It helps a lot of people, because to get a construction loan, you have to have a higher down payment. You generally have to have a higher credit score, so it really bumps out a lot of people.”

Solid market in Wisconsin

The Midwest in general, McHugh said, is known for a fairly stable housing market versus the coasts and other areas known for boom-and-bust extremes.

“We may see a slight slowdown during those periods, but, because we’re isolated, by the time their markets are coming back, we’ll be coming back faster,” he said.

McHugh said the housing market is also starting to normalize a bit – following a hot seller’s market in recent years.

“I feel like real estate is coming back to a pre-COVID market, where buyers are having a little bit more time with offers and not feeling rushed or the need to overbid,” he said.
McHugh said roughly 20% of his buyers are downsizing, often as empty nesters who “don’t need that monster house anymore and want something easier to take care of, so they can travel.”

Another 20-25%, he said, are first-time home buyers.

Seventeen years ago, McHugh said he imagined the business would lead to him managing 30-some rentals where he “kind of gets to relax.”

Instead, these days he said he’s busy meeting with municipalities, land sellers and other stakeholders, growing the business – and he said he’s okay with that.

For more information, head to tmbuilds.com.