The McCaffrey, Bonadelle, and De Young families have been recognized for building upon the family business legacy of the late John Bonadelle Sr., who founded Bonadelle Neighborhoods nearly 80 years ago. Photos by Devon Jacoby/Backstory Creative

To spotlight how one of Fresno’s first homebuilders gave birth to a family of companies with about 30,000 houses between them, The Business Journal’s Family Owned Business Awards (FOBA) created the Family Heritage Award for 2025.

The FOBA program was held at Pardini’s in Fresno on Tuesday, Aug. 19. The Business Journal online will feature stories about the winners in the coming days.

It started with Fresno-based Bonadelle Neighborhoods and De Young Properties, both FOBA honorees for 2025. The family connection runs through both builders — Paula De Young, De Young Properties co-founder, is the sister of John Bonadelle, president of Bonadelle Neighborhoods.

To show how ingrained homebuilding can become if it is part of your childhood, a third Bonadelle sibling, Karen McCaffrey, went on to create McCaffrey Homes, offering a complete homebuying experience.

The Family Heritage Award was created to recognize the unusual situation of three companies — independent of one another, technically competitors — bound together by a shared bloodline. Their story begins with John Bonadelle Sr.

 

A farm kid

 

John Bonadelle Sr., born in 1917, grew up on a farm near Corcoran. He made his way into construction after a back injury prevented him from deploying overseas with his Army unit during World War II.

It started with someone asking if he could build an addition to their home, then a garage. Soon he was buying lots and building his own homes, selling them to families realizing the American dream as soldiers returned home from the war.

Some of the first Bonadelle Homes subdivisions were located near Fresno State, Saint Agnes Medical Center and Manchester Center in Fresno, as well as near what later became the site of Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera County.

Those homes are still standing today — and they were made possible through a family effort. With his wife, Pauline, Bonadelle, known as JB, introduced his kids to the building industry early. Vacations always had to include a visit to a model home to see what other builders were up to.

The homebuilding bug stuck.

 

Bonadelle Neighborhoods

 

The company founded by JB in 1945 is today known as Bonadelle Neighborhoods. It has since built more than 10,000 homes.

The three-generation legacy is carried on through JB’s son, John Bonadelle, who serves as president, while his wife, Lisa Bonadelle, serves as executive vice president.

Their son, John Anthony Bonadelle, serves as vice president, and their daughter, Bianca Bonadelle, serves as vice president of marketing and design.

John Bonadelle hopes that Bonadelle Neighborhoods stands out for quality for generations to come.

“We want to back to that neighborhood in 75 years and be able to say, ‘Our family built that, and it is a vibrant neighborhood and vibrant part of the Fresno neighborhood,’” John said. “We are a generational company that has been a huge part in the growth of not just Fresno and Clovis, but the entire San Joaquin Valley.”

Since 2000, Bonadelle Homes has built more than 40 communities in the Central Valley and is currently building in Madera, Clovis, Dinuba, Tulare and Bakersfield, with plans for an additional Fresno community soon.

Since the company’s initial efforts focused in the Fresno-Clovis area, its expansion across the Central Valley has allowed Bonadelle Neighborhoods to serve a broader range of homebuyers, increase its scale and bolster its employee base.

Today, Bonadelle Neighborhoods has 55 employees and outsources work to 50 local trade partners.

Looking ahead, the family plans to focus on adapting to economic growth and market fluctuations while preparing the next generation of leadership. Their goals also include expanding homebuyer opportunities, diversifying home offerings and strengthening their philanthropic efforts to give back to the community.

“I always say this to my kids — it’s not about making money; it’s about growing together. We have one goal and that’s to build a great product that we are proud of,” John said.

 

De Young Properties

 

De Young Properties was founded in 1974 by co-founder and executive vice president Paula De Young, daughter of John Bonadelle Sr. With her husband and CEO Jerry De Young, the company has built more than 8,000 homes.

Since its founding, De Young Properties has also led innovation within the industry, such as creating the first grid-connected zero-energy home community in Central California — the largest in the state.

The third generation is currently helping run the company, with Ryan De Young serving as president, Brandon De Young as executive vice president and Ashley De Young as executive vice president of sales and marketing.

Paula De Young said the family has poured its passion into the business and is honored to be recognized alongside so many outstanding family-owned companies.

“It’s not just about the homes we’ve built, but the relationships, the community and the legacy that has grown alongside us,” Paula said.

For the last 18 years, De Young Properties has been the builder and sponsor of the Central Valley St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway campaign. In its first 17 years, the company raised more than $16.5 million to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The family regularly engages in succession planning to ensure long-term stability and growth, with the third generation deeply involved in day-to-day operations and leadership of the company.

De Young Properties will continue to expand its presence in the Central Valley, increase the number of families in energy-efficient homes and deepen its ongoing support of local community organizations.

 

McCaffrey Homes

 

Nearly 50 years ago, Bob and Karen McCaffrey followed her father into the homebuilding business.

Bob serves as CEO, Karen as vice president and their son Brent as president.

After having built at least 10,000 homes, JB allowed Karen and Bob to acquire the business, which they put under the McCaffrey name.

The company was founded in 1976.

Over the years, McCaffrey Homes has built more than 10,000 homes.

The third-generation family firm now offers McCaffrey Home Mortgage, McCaffrey Home Realty and McCaffrey Home Design to provide a complete homebuying experience.

Karen said one of her earliest memories was her father taking her and her sister, Paula, on horseback rides into the fields where he would be building homes, sharing his vision of communities to come.

Her father’s passion inspired Karen to join the family business.

Karen said the most important lesson she learned from her father was to stay positive, be resilient and be adaptable. She described him as enthusiastic about his work, with that enthusiasm being contagious.

She said it is a special feeling to be honored and recognized in her own community.

“It’s very fitting and meaningful to the family. To continue my father’s legacy with all three of his children and now his grandchildren. I think both he and my mother would be deeply moved,” Karen said.

She said she hopes the family’s grandchildren are inspired to get into the family business and see the fourth generation continue the Bonadelle legacy.