The Crazy Wisdom Community Journal • May through August 2026 • Page 60
Building A Green Legacy with Mike & Andrea Mahon By Hilary Nichols The Mahons don’t endeavor to build their client’s dream home. “We prefer to build their ‘legacy home’ to be passed down for generations,” said Andrea Mahon. The goal is anchored in something more tangible than today’s dreams. “We build homes to last, but more so, to matter,” Mike Mahon added. And that is what the Mahons work so hard toward. In 2006, Mike Mahon founded Adaptive Building Solutions (ABS) here in Ann Arbor to be part of the zeitgeist. “I knew it was the perfect place to start a business that focuses on sustainability.” As he was getting ready to wrap up his youthful adventures, skiing in Telluride and driving his VW Bus around San Francisco, Mike Mahon saw the US Green Building Council’s presentation of San Francisco’s new library. He was struck. “I was fascinated with the concept of sustainable building practices to address climate concerns, before that notion was really commonplace.” He had dabbled in construction jobs over the summers and was ready to start a business. “Knowing that everything that ends up in Michigan starts in California and takes a couple of years to get here—I figured I had a head start.” When he returned to Michigan to finish college at EMU, Mike visited Ann Arbor and understood, “It is an educated community that was already oriented around an environmental mindset.”
We build homes to last, but more so, to matter.
–Mike Mahon
When Haiti was devastated by an earthquake in 2010, many of the Mahon family traveled to the island to volunteer with medical mission services. Mike knew that his talents as a builder were needed there as well. “We had to fly into the Dominican Republic and drive over the mountains to get in. The whole country was pretty terribly demolished. The work was endless,” he reminisced. “I ended up flying back every month to respond to the devastation. I was working on building orphanages, infrastructure projects, and fund raising.” But what he could do with his own two hands wasn’t enough. So, he and fellow builder Michael Rath of Denver, Colorado, came up with the idea for a nonprofit organization called the Haiti Orphan Rescue Program.
The operation was designed for a double positive effect. Our business model employed Haitians themselves to do the work with local materials, to quickly improve the conditions for orphans and caregivers as well as the local economy in a very tangible way. “The operation was designed for a double positive effect,” Mike said. “Our business model employed Haitians themselves to do the work with local materials, to quickly improve the conditions for orphans and caregivers as well as the local economy in a very tangible way.” It became a very personal project. “We didn’t just show up, do the make-over, and leave,” he said. “These people became our friends.” After his sister adopted her daughter from a Haitian orphanage, that sentiment became even more true. “Now,” he shared, “Haitian people are our family.”
Having graduated from MSU, Andrea chose Ann Arbor for its vibrancy. “I realized that I would want to raise children here because I loved how Ann Arbor supports diversity.” Mike’s lifelong friends were supposed to introduce Mike to Andrea DeLuca on a blind date, but they took too long to set it up. So, Mike jumped the gun and called her. Their first date was at Pacific Rim. It was not long after that they were planning their wedding at the Gandy Dancer and their life in Ann Arbor. Mike took a job at a lumber yard to learn the local construction field. The first house he ever built was LEED Certified. “Yeah, it was quite ambitious for never having built a house before,” he laughed. “I had to do a deep dive to meet all the milestones to earn that certification.” It was the 2nd LEED home in Ann Arbor. “It put us on the map,” Mahon said. Andrea officially joined the business a few years later. She had been working for GE health care, managing forty projects in three time zones, while she had two small children at home. Realizing something had to give, she asked herself, “What changes could I make to have a better work life balance?” Mike had been a one man show, and it was clear there was an opportunity there. “As a member of the family business, I was able to apply my skillset to bring more rigor and process to his building science world. And we could streamline two careers into one.” As a husband and wife team, Adaptive Building Solutions doubled in strength.
Introducing green building techniques to the orphanage renovations just made sense to Mahon. “In a country that may always have energy insecurity, increasing sustainability elements can offer stability that counts.” That idea made him think, “I wonder if the USGBC [US Green Building Council] would be interested in promoting a project in Haiti?” Mike cold called Rick Fidrizzi, the CEO, and got a call back in 15 minutes. “How soon can you get to Washington DC?” was the response. The time was right. That collaboration birthed a major project that succeeded in building the William Jefferson Clinton Children’s Center and Orphanage. It was designed to be “net-zero” for critical independence from the unreliable power grid in Port au Prince.