Onyx Builders Founder and Owner Lauren Tonti Young comes from a long line of well-respected new home builders stretching back to the 1940s. It’s been a family affair, with her great-grandfather Al Tonti, grandfather Pat and dad Tom preceding her in acquiring, renovating and building properties throughout the Columbus, Ohio, area.

Lauren began working for the Tonti Organization and following in her family’s footsteps over a decade ago while in college. Now she is leading this new family business endeavor with the aim of building on her family’s core values by creating high-quality, attainable homes. Her passion is to renovate and build homes that are warm and inviting, thoughtfully designed, and functional.

“Our goal is to create spaces that serve as the perfect backdrop for lasting memories,” Lauren says.

Lauren’s home-building approach seeks to blend traditional principles with a touch of modern uniqueness, offering a variety of finish packages to suit diverse style preferences. Click here to see Onyx Builders’ four interior design package options.

Besides working on single-family home renovations and building new homes, Lauren has worked on a large range of other projects from commercial finish-out jobs for office users to adaptive reuse of buildings. One project included turning abandoned office space into mixed-use, loft-style apartments with first-floor retail.

And all the while, Lauren continues the family tradition built on the foundation laid by Al Tonti when he began renovating homes on the west side of Columbus as America emerged from the Great Depression. Pat Tonti used to talk about growing up going from job site to job site cleaning up the trash and sweeping floors when he was a little kid, Lauren says. Her dad, Tom Tonti, also began working for the family at a young age, sweeping out apartments and houses and scraping subfloors before new flooring went in.

“The mission — although no one would have called it that then — was always to build good houses for people at a price they could afford,” Lauren says. “And I like to think we’re still doing that.”