Following his service in the U.S. Army, John Boll founded Lakeview Construction Company, an underground contracting firm. In 1964, he launched Chateau Estates, a developer of manufactured home communities that created home sites for more than 20,000 families throughout Michigan and Florida.

In 1993, Chateau Estates went public and became Chateau Properties, Inc., a Real Estate Investment Trust (R.E.I.T), listed on the New York Stock Exchange. After his company merged and was sold to the State of Washington Pension Fund in 2003, it consisted of 240 communities in thirty-six states with more than 100,000 residential home sites. Boll and his wife of sixty-seven years, Marlene, spend time between their residences in Key Largo, Florida, and Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan.

Through the John A. and Marlene L. Boll Foundation, they have provided more than $55 million to Christ-focused organizations, the arts, and educational and community development groups around the world.