Our Story

Our Meritus Homes Family Grows Larger Each Year

Running Meritus Homes is a division of love, labor and laughter for its founders. If that sounds a little bit like a marriage, it's because it is. As former division presidents for the nation's largest homebuilder, Karen and Brian Brunhofer had the rare opportunity to work in an industry they loved, for the same company. After twelve years at the company, 10 years of marriage and three children later, Karen and Brian realized the only way they could enjoy their jobs more was to form their own homebuilding company in Chicago – Meritus Home.

Since 2010, Meritus Homes has been able to acquire strategic land assets in some of the most highly desirable submarkets in Chicago's north, northwest and western suburbs at below market pricing and pass the savings onto its growing family of buyers. Your timing to own a new home could never be better.

Building with the Best

Joining Karen and Brian in their pledge to build the quality new home your family deserves are some of the most experienced and respected construction and sales teams in the Chicago area. By building Meritus Homes around a core team of dedicated, industry experts who embrace the small business mentality of working together and the value of entrepreneurship, we can focus on doing things the right way for our customers, our trade partners and the communities in which we build. With decades of homebuilding experience, our teams have helped deliver more than 10,000 homes, so we understand the concerns you may have about building and buying a home and are eager to listen to your questions and respond to your needs.

In a time when buyers may still be questioning a builder’s staying power, you can feel confident in our financial strength due to our strong capital assets and disciplined business model. Aligning with a successful entrepreneur, Gary Janko, founder of Janko Group, whose real estate investment company has an existing portfolio of assets in excess of $300 million, allows Meritus Homes to continue through challenges and be positioned well as the market continues to stabilize and improve.

We’re not in a rush to quickly build communities just to see our name. Like today’s buyers, Meritus Homes is also discerning when it comes to selecting where to build a home. We take our time, waiting for just the right development with the right price and the best location, schools and amenities to offer an amazing value to our buyers.

And that is why Meritus Homes has experienced the success that we have in a very challenging time for the industry. We built a solid foundation for the Meritus Homes family of employees and buyers, and are excited about the future ahead.