Frank Ballif is a small business owner here in Charlottesville who has given his time and finances to support the Charlottesville community. Ballif is the president and founder of the home building company, Southern Development Homes. His company’s work can be found in well known places such as Old Trail, downtown Charlottesville, and other places in Albemarle County.
He grew up in Springfield, Virginia, and came to Charlottesville when attending college. He went to the University of Virginia and majored in civil engineering.
Along with the homebuilding industry, Ballif owns a cattle farm where he sells beef. He has had one favorite cow, with the name of Franky. Franky “was an orphan at birth and we bottle raised him, really sweet, kind of like a pet,” Ballif said
“I would say from the time I was a teenager, I wanted to have my own business,” Ballif explained. His father worked for the federal government, and always talked about “the benefits of taking risks.” Before Ballif found the idea of building and selling houses, he jumped around to many different jobs. “I didn’t know what that really looked like, but I tried a bunch of different things. I sold mulch, ‘cause you could get free mulch in Fairfax County. I did tree work for people. I did enjoy the freedom. Enjoyed the sales aspect. And of course, I enjoyed getting paid and it was more than my friends were making working at a regular job.”
Ballif’s favorite part of his job is the people aspect. “I like people,” he said. “Just being connected with a group of people for a purpose.” He strives to create his company environment as “people that work hard, but also know how to have fun and aren’t too serious.”
His work place feels “a lot more like family. I feel like as a group, we’ve worked together for so long, you just know each other really well.”
As a company, Southern Development’s team also does volunteer work. “We’ve been a part of the kettle campaign you see around Christmas. And as a company, we’ve sponsored the telephone, the last four or five years in a row. Which is one of the main operational fundraisers that they have.” This event is where they serve meals and ring bells to raise money for the local Salvation Army to provide places to sleep, food to eat, and clothing.
With being a small business owner, he gives back to the community of Charlottesville. One of the programs is the Blue Ridge Homebuilders Association, a program where a group of volunteers come together to make sure that there are educational opportunities for those who want to enter the business.
Blue Ridge is the local part of the state wide part of the organization. He has been president of the Blue Ridge Homebuilders Association twice, and is now a state officer. Bailiff said, “It’s fun, much in the sense where I say I like people and people working together, kind of with common interest and a common goal. It’s the same thing across multiple companies. So it’s something I’ve always enjoyed.”
The local Salvation Army is another volunteer program that Ballif is engaged in and is on the board for. The Salvation Army is a national program, where they provide food and shelter to the homeless. They serve meals and rely on donations to keep running. “I think in a lot of ways, that speaks to me in ministry that there’s a lot of needs that need to be met and then a lot of action that we have to take to meet those needs. And the Salvation Army does that right here in our community,” said Ballif.
Bailiff said, “Yeah, I mean, they are our neighbors, right? They’re people in the greater Charlottesville area that have need. And that need can be a lot closer than people think. I think there’s a lot of families that are one paycheck or one bad thing away, bad medical bill, or something else, that they could find themselves without housing.” The Salvation Army in Charlottesville is fundraising to build a new building where it could fit two times the amount of people. “There are people that need a place to stay that aren’t able to get it. So the need is there. And that is 100% serving, serving our neighbors in our community,” Ballif.
“I do really enjoy that we produce something in our craft that you can see and be proud of. That gives me tremendous satisfaction,” Ballif said. The biggest advice Ballif gives to everyone is to, “be kind! We all struggle with something, and it takes all of us working together to get things done.”