A great community is built one relationship at a time—and sometimes, quite literally, one home at a time. For more than 40 years, PortSide Builders has been helping families throughout Northeast Wisconsin turn their ideas for a home into spaces where life happens.
Founded in Sturgeon Bay in 1977 by Fran Shefchik, PortSide Builders began with a simple goal: provide the Door County community with creative, individualized home designs, quality construction, and ongoing customer service. Those values—customer focus, respect, and teamwork—continue to shape the company today.
From Door County to Northeast Wisconsin
What started as a Sturgeon Bay business has grown considerably over the years. PortSide opened Door County’s first home showroom in 1989 and expanded into remodeling that same year. By the mid-1990s, the company had expanded its reach into the Oshkosh, and eventually opened a second office and Design Center in Neenah. Today, PortSide serves customers across much of Northeast Wisconsin, from the northern tip of Door County through the Fox Valley and Oshkosh area.
The company offers a wide range of services, including custom home design and construction, remodeling and additions, residential condominiums, and light commercial construction. Whether the project is a brand-new home, a vacation cottage, an addition, or a renovation that gives an existing home a new life, PortSide’s team guides customers through the process from planning and design through construction and beyond.
Building Is About More Than Four Walls
One of the things that sets PortSide apart is the emphasis it places on the experience of building. The company describes its approach as beginning with a conversation about a customer’s dreams and vision, followed by careful planning, site evaluation, design, product selection, and construction.
PortSide’s two Design Centers—in Sturgeon Bay and Neenah—give customers an opportunity to see and experience many of the products and materials that will become part of their homes. The company also emphasizes evaluating each building site early in the process so that the home’s design can work with the property’s unique characteristics and surroundings.
And when construction begins, PortSide’s team of designers, construction coordinators, carpenters, and trade partners work together to bring those plans to life. The company’s goal isn’t simply to finish a project, but to create a building experience that is as enjoyable and stress-free as possible.
A Company Owned by Its Employees
There’s another important part of the PortSide story: the company is employee-owned.
In 2005, PortSide converted its ownership into an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The idea was to give employees a shared stake in the company’s success and encourage a culture of pride, teamwork, and long-term thinking. Today, PortSide continues to highlight its employee ownership as an important part of who it is.
That sense of ownership fits naturally with PortSide’s philosophy of building lasting relationships with its customers. The company talks about its goal of “making customers for life”—being there not only during construction, but afterward whenever questions or additional service arise.
Building Community
At Third Avenue PlayWorks, we know that a thriving community depends on people and businesses who are invested in making the place they call home better. PortSide Builders has been part of the Door County community for nearly five decades, growing alongside the region while continuing to call Sturgeon Bay home.
From custom homes and renovations to the relationships built along the way, PortSide’s story is ultimately about creating places where people can live, gather, grow, and make memories.