2010 Home Builders Association of Delaware (HBADE) Regal Award
MIKEN Builders facilitated the entire construction for the Becker Morgan project that won the 2010 Home Builders Association of Delaware Regal Award for Remodeling Excellence in the category Best Residential Addition/Alteration over $500,000.

Bethany / Fenwick Chamber of Commerce
2007 Bethany Fenwick Chamber of Commerce Lighthouse Award
2001 Business of the Year

Excellence in Construction Awards from Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC)
MIKEN Builder’s projects were awarded Excellence in Construction 2003 – 2005. In 2007, 2008 and 2010 two projects each year were chosen for the award.

Safety Training & Evaluation Process (S.T.E.P.) Award from ABC 2002, 2003, 2006-2008

For nearly three decades, Mike Cummings, president of Miken Builders Inc., has perfected his business into, arguably, the most prestigious contracting establishment in the state. Their work earned them merit awards in 2004 and 2005, as well as a renowned reputation covering development from minor renovations and extravagant custom homes to recognizable staples in Delaware’s commercial industry.

Mike Cummings, president of Miken Builders Inc., at his desk in his Millville office.The Wilmington native began his career with Miken in 1985, at the age of 25, alongside partner Don Jester. “I was primarily doing renovation work at the DuPont Company,” said Cummings.
Although he only accomplished $180,000 of work in his first year of business, Cummings clearly possessed the mentality required to turn a business into a thriving venture. He describes the first four years as a growth period.

“Each year, I tried to expand the company 10 percent,” he said. “I always had a very slow growth plan, because I knew that the most successful companies are ones that have a good foundation, understand what they want to do and understand their limitations.”
After extending services to DuPont and other clients in Wilmington, Miken Builders branched out to projects for St. Francis and Christiana hospitals, the University of Delaware, Winterthur Museum and the Rockford Psychiatric Center.

“What we try to do is work with a company to build a relationship. I’ve been [working] with DuPont since ’85 and started with Verizon telephone in ’87, and I have carpenters still there today,” he said. “We’re not just in there to do construction. We try to see what the needs are for our clients and create a need for us.”

In 1989, Cummings moved to Sussex County, seeing it as a suitable location to raise his family. The Miken name was stretched to the area when Cummings opened an office in the area in 1993. With the existing office in New Castle and the expansion into Sussex County, the company was able to better service all of Delaware.

“I was a residential carpenter by trade,” he said. “We started out, down here, building decks and putting A-frame roofs on mobile homes. We then got an opportunity to do some larger renovation work in Lewes.”

It took two years, Cummings noted, to really connect to the area and establish relationships with residences. “I learned from DuPont that in order to build a good construction business, you needed to be a professional corporate structure and have a good presence. People were really receptive to that down here.”

As the company expanded and gained more recognition, they found themselves handling more and more projects, including local edifices such as the Lewes Yacht Club, the Mediacom building and Raskauskas Retail Center off Route 26 in Ocean View, which houses Blockbuster and Papa John’s, among others.

Miken has also served the community with renovations for businesses such as Hocker’s G&E grocery, Beach Liquors, Baja Beach House Grill, Connor’s Liquor Store, Millville Church and First Shore Federal Bank in Millville. He has recently teamed up with Paul Clark to form Cummings & Clark Properties. The partners are currently working with Centex homes in Dagsboro to develop 80,000 square feet of retail and office space beside Royal Farms.
Cummings was determined not to back himself into a commercial corner, though. Since the company’s expansion south, the business has built nearly 100 beach homes in Sussex County. Miken Builders’ work covers projects from small additions and single-family homes to custom, executive beach homes.

“We hold a strategic planning meeting every November and evaluate what we did the year before,” he explained. “Then we plan what we want to do next year. I really work hard at getting everybody to follow the plan. There are always plenty of opportunities; but if you don’t do the right thing for them, that’s where people fall short.”

With more than 60 employees, Miken Builders Inc. assembles anywhere from 12 to 15 custom homes each year.

“Don [Jester] once taught me that you’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with,” said Cummings, “and I had the philosophy that it wasn’t about me, but about the people that are employed by Miken, and helping them grow to become better. That’s what’s really helped the business grow.”

Jester retired in 2004, leaving Miken Builders to the direction of Cummings and his wife. Cummings said he wouldn’t be where he is today if it wasn’t for the chance Jester provided him.

“He gave me that opportunity and really believed in me,” Cummings said. “I had to take the ball and run with it, and I feel really fortunate. Now, I look for the good in other people to find who the next leaders are.”

His new venture in the business is the development of a home-maintenance company.

“I’ve found that one of the biggest investments that most of us make is either our primary or secondary home at the beach,” said Cummings. “There’s a need in the community for maintenance that will take care of minor or larger repairs on the home. It will help people maintain and keep the highest equity return on their investment. You really need to maintain your home at the highest level you can, inside and out.”

Cummings has set his goal as becoming the best home-maintenance company in southern Sussex County. He plans to sell maintenance contracts to service homes from a carpentry aspect. Cummings said he wants to expand this business more in the future, with more marketing and re-branding.

“The problem is when people see Miken, they think, ‘Oh, they build big beach homes or shopping centers.’ I want to refocus people and let them know that we do small work, too. We can handle the smallest details in your home.”

He said he hopes that his sons will someday run the business and carry on the success of the company. His eldest son, Patrick, earned a marketing degree from Del Tech Business School and currently works with Miken.

“We’ve diversified our business a lot,” said Cummings. “We found a niche in medical. We found a niche in telecommunications and private industry group. In residential, we work on different layers, between custom homes, high-end renovations and now, the home-maintenance group,” Cummings said with pride.

“We’ve built our business from 1985 from doing less than $200,000 to doing $25 million a year [in the state of Delaware],” he added. “I’ve found that there’s truly a need for our type of company here at the coastal area.”

“AboutMyBeaches started back on July of 2009. It was one of those ideas. I am a frustrated concierge. First it was going to be just a website. When my webmaster, Ed Timmons, met with me, I kept talking and talking. He probably thought I was more of a blogger. So, really, it was his suggestion. Here I am. I consider myself to be in the business of Word of Mouth.”

Click here to read the whole article.

MILLVILLE – For Mike Cummings, founder and CEO of Miken Builders, his business has been his life and passion since 1987.

Celebrating its 25^th anniversary, the company began in Wilmington specializing in commercial construction and later expanded to offer residential construction, a part of the business that grew with the 1994 opening of the Millville location.

“The one thing I’ve always been in tune with is that you never stop learning,” he said. “I’m always thinking about what we can improve upon to provide a better service.”

Miken Builders has expanded to meet the needs of its clients with two businesses. Betterliving Patio & Sunrooms provides outdoor living spaces while Delmarva Daylighting offers eco-friendly products to reduce energy costs.

“You have to be able to recognize that if you’re not changing or improving, you are dying,” Cummings said. “You need to look at what the needs are in the present environment while sticking to your core.”

President Mike McKone came onboard 10 years ago and brought with him more than 30 years of experience in commercial construction as a carpenter, superintendent and project manager. Combined with Cummings’ residential carpentry background, the two work great together.

“We both come from carpenter backgrounds,” McKone said. “Our similar but different backgrounds help make a great partnership.”

Cummings said the business prides itself on open communication, which goes hand-in-hand with his goal of providing the best service, experience and products.

“We have an excellent communication process in place and that’s one of the reasons our clients like working with Miken Builders,” he said. “Our goal is to provide customer service that is second to none before, during and after the sale. The most important thing you can do for your client is provide great communication.”

After moving to Sussex County with his family to open the Millville location, Cummings also made community service a big part of his focus.

“I’ve always been a believer and taught my children that if you are a member of the community it is your duty to give back to that community in which you work and serve,” he said. “I preach it to new businesses and our employees.”

MIKEN Builders President Mike McKone, left, and founder and CEO Mike Cummings proudly display the company’s new BBB of Delaware Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics in front of their Millville headquarters on Cedar Drive.

MIKEN Builders, a Millville-based Delaware residential and commercial design/build and remodeling firm celebrating its 25th anniversary, was awarded the Better Business Bureau of Delaware 2012 Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics March 12.

The award, commemorated with an engraved crystal bowl, was presented to MIKEN founder and CEO Mike Cummings and President Mike McKone on the stage of the Sheraton Wilmington-South in New Castle during the BBB annual banquet.

MIKEN was one of four businesses in the state to receive the award. The BBB award is one of many earned by MIKEN Builders, including nine Excellence in Construction awards from Associated Builders & Contractors, a Bethany-Fenwick Chamber of Commerce Lighthouse Award and a Bethany-Fenwick Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award.

“The BBB Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics,” said Cummings, “is personally satisfying to receive because it recognizes the principles and ethics we live and work by, all that we stand for and that MIKEN has worked so hard to achieve for our customers over the last 25 years.”

Reviewed in the judging process were company histories, management practices, marketing and communications, and company reputations.

MIKEN Builders was founded by Mike Cummings in 1986 in Wilmington. The company expanded in 1994 by opening a second office in Millville, near Cummings’ Bethany Beach home. This expansion allowed MIKEN to serve the community by offering a wider range of services, both commercial and residential, in a larger geographical region.

In 2011, MIKEN Builders consolidated the two offices into one in Millville, with a shift in focus to primarily residential home building, additions and remodeling. Cummings said the consolidation enables the company to continue to “serve customers with the service they deserve, at a price that is fair and allows for a more focused and customer-driven company mind-set.”

One of the ways MIKEN has increased the quality of customer service is through communications technology, particularly the use of a project website. Project owners, designers, subcontractors, suppliers and MIKEN employees all join the project-specific website. This ensures that all communication is tracked, recorded and heard by each party.

Another side of MIKEN Builders cited in the award review is MIKEN’s commitment to “always be a company that values the importance of community and is dedicated to enhancing that community.”

MIKEN has been involved in numerous charitable organizations throughout its quarter century of business on Delmarva. The company is an active member of Contractors for a Cause, of which Cummings is a founding member, and is a regular contributor and supporter of the Justin Jennings Foundation. MIKEN played a vital role in the fundraising for and building of Justin’s Beach House in Bethany Beach.

MIKEN is a regular contributor to many local foundations, including the Delaware Blood Bank, Beebe Medical Center’s South Coastal Health Campus and Ronald McDonald House of Delaware.

MIKEN is a Certified Green Professional committed to protecting the environment through sound building practices, a member of the American Institute of Architects for Delaware and for the Chesapeake Bay region, the Home Builders Association and the National Federation of Independent Business, among others.
All of these factors went into the BBB decision to present MIKEN Builders the 2012 Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics.

For me, and for the company I founded 25 years ago, this time of year brings reflection and with it tremendous appreciation for you, the people we have worked with and served over the years.  And it brings renewed commitment and focus on what matters most.

Our focus has always been the highest quality workmanship for our residential and commercial customers, balanced with volunteer efforts for the communities we serve.  The world around us has changed, but we haven’t.  Our commitment remains the same, but with added emphasis on technological advances in design, materials and customer-builder communications that enable us to streamline the building process, cost-effectively creating new homes and updating and expanding existing spaces to be more efficient, comfortable and enjoyable.

Over the coming months, I’ll be sending those who’d like to receive them occasional tips about these advances and ways we can help you take advantage of them.  If you’d like to receive them you don’t need to do anything.  If you’d prefer to opt out, just click SafeUnsubscribe™ at the top or bottom of this email and we’ll unsubscribe you immediately. We hope you’ll stay with us.

In the meantime, my best wishes go out to you and yours for a safe, healthy and prosperous 2012.  Please feel free to call or email me or any of my staff anytime with questions and comments.  We enjoy hearing from you.

Sincerely,

 
Michael J. Cummings

With that in mind, I want to mention some of my Delaware advertisers, who have been in the area for so many years.  I can recommend them all fully because I use them.

Tidewater Realty is located at 32892 Coastal Highway (Rt. 1) at the Starboard Center in Bethany Beach.  Tel. 302-539-7500 or toll free 800-888-7501.  This is a boutique size real estate company catering to North Bethany and Bethany Beach customers.  Website? http://www.tidewaterrealty.com. Tidewater has been a sales leader in the community for 30 years.  Personal attention, a friendly staff, rentals and sales.  A tip for you is to visit the website and wether your interest is sales or rentals, the website will give you an idea of who they are and what is available.  Make your summer rentals choices early; you know how it is….if we have a forecast for a hot summer the prime weeks will go quickly.

Coastal Chem-Dry, is at the forefront of the carpet and upholstery cleaning industry.  A green certified company using innovative equipment and powerful cleaning solutions.  You can call for a free estimate at 302-645-2800 in Sussex County or 302-234-0200 in New Castle County. Website?  www.chem-dry.net/coastal.de.   Take advantage of the specials that are now on-going.  Visit their website www.chem-dry.net/coastal.de/specials to find out what they are offering.

Please note that once your carpet or upholstery is cleaned by Coastal Chem-Dry, it only takes a couple of hours to dry; not days.  And, if you have pets, this is the company to use.

VacationRentals.com is a national rental company.  Part of the family of Home Away.  I was surprised when last year they contacted me.  The properties that are being advertised on my website are in Rehoboth Beach.  Check http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/rehoboth-beach-delaware.html.  You can also click directly on their website, on the link available on the bottom left hand side of this blog.  Events and activities are always happening in Rehoboth.  The company has townhouses, single family, and condos all great for taking time off at the beach with a group of friends.

Miken Builders is located at 32782 Cedar Drive, Millville, DE 19967.  Tels. Office 302-537-4444, cell 302-381-0773.  Website? www.mikenbuilders.com.  Mike Cummings is the company’s Founder and CEO.  This is a commercial and residential construction company well respected in the community.  I have known Mike for many years and no job is too small or too big for him.  Find out for yourself and give his company a call.  His staff is amazing.

BetterLiving Patio & Sunrooms of Delmarva is under the umbrella of Miken Builders, but a complete different company even though they share the same address.  Tel. 302-251-0000.  Website? www.betterlivingdelmarva.com.  The company is the exclusive provider of BetterLiving 3-season year-round sunrooms and awnings.

Doggies at the Beach – I have said it so many times and here it goes again.  You can leave your dog at this cage free, temperature controlled facility, 24 hour supervision with total confidence.  Jim and his staff are wonderful and animal lovers.  Doggies at the Beach is located on Rt. 24 at 18806 John J. Williams Highway.   Tel. 302-644-8200. Website? www.doggiesatthebeach.com.   They offer grooming for dogs and cats, training for different levels of your dog’s life, web cams so that you can check you pooch while away and in case you would like a drawing of your pet; DJ who is in charge of the pooches at night can draw your pet.  For more info. call the office and talk to Jim.  Here are a few of his drawings.

Note:  The above mentioned companies can be accessed directly from my website.  Just click on their site and you will be directed immediately to all the information they have available.

And…..if you decided you would like to advertise on AboutMyBeaches, then $500/year will get you a banner on my website with personal attention, of course.

Have a good one!!

Contractors for a Cause is an organization of local contractors that give back to the community that supports them.  It is based in the Bethany Beach and Ocean View, Delaware in Southern Delaware.

Mike Cummings from Miken Builders located at 32782 Cedar Drive, Millville, DE 19967, www.mikenbuilders.com, will be the Workshop Leader.  This is a free event and it is only limited for the first 20 women that register.  You can register by calling Andrea at 302-537-4444.

There will be babysitting provided on site during the workshop.  Topics will be anything from fixing a loose toilet handle to caulking and drywall patch techniques.  Also weather stripping and squeaky doors, as well.

It will be Saturday, 11/19 from 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.  Doors open at 9:00 a.m. for coffee and pastries.

Location?  Better Living Showroom located at 32442 Royal Blvd., Dagsboro, Delaware, at Clayton Crossing and next to Mediacom.

Give them a call and reserve your spot….talk to you later…

Many years ago when my husband and I came to Bethany, the “scene” was very different.  But, that’s what we liked about it.  Small town, great place to bring up a family.  Through my children I met most of my friends.  Some I saw frequently and some just once in a while.  One thing is for sure; all those friends are still there.

I met Mike Cummings and his family at the Pyle Center in Roxanna.  Yeap, we were in Little League.  Rain or shine; early mornings and at times early evenings, as well.  Roxanna is near Bethany Beach.  I am sure Mike remembers all that.  We were also on the same team.  I have forgotten if we were good or not.

Through the years I have met parents through sports and some were very intense.  Mike is one of the few people that I know that has kept it constant.  Even temper, friendly, caring, good sense of humor, and a consummate professional in his work.  It was like that then, and it is now, as well.

He is the Founder and CEO of Miken Builders, located at 32782 Cedar Drive, Millville, DE 19967.  Tel. 302-537-4444.  Cell 302-381-0773 and website, www.mikenbuilders.com.  You can find Miken Builders on Facebook.

The website will give an insight on this commercial and residential construction company.  You can also find them on the right hand side of my website and just with a click you will have direct access into his site.

Through the years Miken Builders has built a reputation as a company that is well respected in the community with high standards and superior craftmanship.

Mike’s company has received so many awards in construction and renovation from Associated Builders & Contractors.  You can see those on the website, and you will also be able to see other awards and memberships in charitable organizations.  Yes, Mike and his company have given back to the community.

Personally, I can recommend Miken Builders fully.  I just used the company to do renovations in my house.  His staff, well, I cannot say enough.  Suggestions, designs, and carrying the job through in the most efficient way was good to see and experience.

Under Miken Builders, there is BetterLiving Patio & Sunrooms of Delmarva.  Same address, but the telephone is 302-251-0000.  Website?  www.betterlivingdelmarva.com. This Miken Builders’ company is the exclusive provider of Betterliving 3-season, year-round sunrooms and awnings.  They can transform an unused deck or patio into a totally different room; a focal point of your home.

No job is too small for Miken Builders.  You can call Mike personally.  I just gave you his cell and have him give you an estimate for any work needed around your house.  If you are planning on building a house in the Delmarva Peninsula, you will not be disappointed if you are dealing with him, his company, and staff.

Talk to you later….have a good one!!

Miken Builders – Located at 32782 Cedar Drive, Millville, DE 19967.  Tel. 302-537-4444.  Website?  www.mikenbuilders.com.

Michael J. Cummings (Mike) is the Founder and CEO of this company.  I have known Mike for many years.  Very professional, reliable and knowledgeable.  I recommend his company fully.

Charles Brown Glass Co. is located at 6581 Hobbs Road, Salisbury, Maryland.  Tels. 410-749-3316 or 1-800-278-3316.  Website? www.charlesbrownglass.com.   They service the Delmarva Peninsula, so even though they are located in Salisbury, Maryland, they also work all over the beaches.  They have been in business for over 50 years.

I just used them.  They will do anything related to glass, except cars.

Grout – It looks pretty ugly when it gets dirty.  What can you do?  Grout Fix Services restores tiled surfaces with a 5 year warranty.

You can call for a free estimate at 302-236-5585.  I have not personally used this company, but it was recommended by a trusted friend.

So, these are the latest to make the AboutMyBeaches list….talk to you later.