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Home Remodeling Team Revives Old Homes in Milwaukee's North Shore

Turn on the TV just about any time of day, and you’ll likely to find a TV show about people doing home improvement projects. Many of them are trying to increase a home's resale value, and some of them are known as "house flippers," people who buy a home at a low price with the intent to turn a large profit on the property.

While it might seem like local home remodeling team John Kannenberg and Dave Jacob might fall into that latter camp, they believe their work in Milwaukee's North Shore is worlds away from "flipping." 

"These guys are going in and sometimes gutting these houses, putting on expensive additions and blowing out walls, moving staircases, doing all of that," says RichRovito, a freelance writer for Milwaukee Magazine. "These are really expensive renovations." 

Rovito profilesthe team and its work in the May issue of the magazine, and he describes them as "just a couple of North Shore guys." Still, their work has put them in the spotlight and it may be due to their hands-on approach to the business. Kanneberg is often the go-to guy during a remodeling project. 

"He'll roll up his sleeves. If they want him to run and pick up a load of wood, he'll go do that. If he needs to make a trip to Home Depot, if these guys are in the middle of their work and they need some errands done, he does it," says Rovito. "Dave Jacobs... he's a real estate guy and he's involved in the buying and selling of these homes."