Black River Builders may have started in 2025, but the foundation was laid long before that. Owner/Operator, Chris Bachinski has been in the trades since high school.

He began his career while in high school working, for his uncle who was a general contractor in Northern Wisconsin. He would perform odd and end jobs on nights and weekends. This sparked his drive for the building industry. 

After he graduated high school, he decided to pursue his dream of becoming an engineer. He attended the University of Minnesota-Duluth and enrolled in Mechanical Engineering. During this venture, he began working for another home builder in the same area. Shuffling the work load of school and work full time became too much. A decision was to be made. He chose construciton.

During his time working in Northern Wisconsin, the skills he learned were invaluable. He worked on a small crew that would physically build the house. Quality was at the forefront, because every imperfection would effect the work they would perform down the line. During this time he gained experience in the following areas: Dirt work, forming, concrete finishing, framing, window/door installation, insulating, siding/roofing installation, drywall, cabinet/trim installation, tile/flooring installation, and you get the point.

In 2018, Chris met his beautiful wife Kate and moved to the Twin Cities. He worked for a well known custom home builder in the twin cities as a carpenter. He quickly realized his skill set was not suited to be wearing a tool belt, but to switch to a management position. His skills as a master carpenter were not lost, but had to be transformed. 

He switched roles to managing the warranty side of a local builder, diagnosing warranty issues performed by sub-contractors. This brought invaluable knowledge of how the subcontractors interact with each other as well as with the builder. He quickly rose to managing homes, estimating new homes as well as overseeing the  completion of 25 million luxury condo. This was the end of his stint with this home builder.

He found a new home with a luxury builder based in Wayzata. He was hired to design and estimate new builds/remodels. This entailed working with clients, sub contractors, designers and architects. He was the lead from sales to completion. As time went on, he was forced back into the field. This was not a demotion but lead to several keystone projects which include: $700,000 condo remodel in downtown Minneapolis and a $4,200,000 new build in downtown Wayzata.