As we enter a new era of consumer concerns, Airoom reveals how they built their history on value without sacrificing quality or customer satisfaction.

Photograph by Jon Cancelino

My dad always used to say, ‘Jack of all trades, master of none,’” says Mike Klein, CEO of Airoom. “What he was basically telling me was—You better be great at something instead of okay at a lot of things.”
Airoom has made it their business to be a master of their industry for more than 52 years. Their legacy of designing, building, and remodeling homes is apparent along the North Shore in more than 4,000 homes that bear their craftsmanship and attention to detail. Whether designing a new home, building a new addition or kitchen, or a complete remodel, Airoom has assembled teams of specialists that ensure a successful project at a fixed price. But now that value is taking precedence over all other construction considerations, it’s Airoom’s diverse abilities that keep their customers completely satisfied.

“We did a survey 30 years ago and we only had 55 percent complete customer satisfaction. Today, we run 96 percent complete consumer satisfaction. That’s attributed to our team of great people,” Mike says. “But great people alone couldn’t make it happen without a lockdown process that’s constantly being refined.”

The process reinforcing Airoom’s consistent quality is called S.T.A.R.T. It stands for System To Assure Resources and Timing. It consists of a time-tested methodology on how to routinely break down a large job into the specialties and tasks that will get it completed on time and on budget without sacrificing one iota of client customization or satisfaction. They spent their first 30 years building S.T.A.R.T., and the last 20 years refining it. From the client’s initial idea, to designing it, accurately predicting a fixed and promised price, getting the permits, selecting the materials and products, purchasing everything, moving upwards of 15 different types of tradesmen in and out, closing out, cleaning up, servicing their 15-year warranty, and securing complete customer satisfaction, S.T.A.R.T. outlines how Airoom will get the project from concept to completion with ultimate customer contentment.

“Our S.T.A.R.T. technology allows us to work for a lot of clients at one time and customize every job. We’re a production house of custom work, and those two things typically don’t go together,” says Mike. “Because we do a lot of jobs, we’re able to bring the individual pieces of the S.T.A.R.T. process to the consumer at far less a cost than if we were only doing one job a year.”

Airoom’s confidence that they can offer clients the best possible value is demonstrated in their unique Price Assurance Guarantee program. Once the blueprints are drawn up, a client can bid the project out to any other builder or contractor of their choosing, and if Airoom can’t match their price, including all specifications and warranties, then you can walk away with all the blueprints, designs, material lists, and zoning work so far completed for just 10percent of the project price with no further obligation. “We don’t try to be great at everything, but we are great at this. I know that. There’s one thing we do better than anybody else and that’s designing and building custom projects, big ticket remodeling projects, renovations, and teardowns,” says Mike. Confidence like that can only come after years of glowing client testimonials, which Mike displays on Airoom’s website along with a list of the design, building, and remodeling awards they’ve accrued.

Awards can be a tricky business. Not everyone wants their kitchen remodel under the kind of close scrutiny that comes with an award nomination. Many Airoom clients prefer to keep things simpler; they want an addition or redesign to meet a need they feel their current space is lacking. But if a client wants to execute something unique and striking that will make an awards committee take notice, Airoom has a proven history of success.

“The biggest thing we’re focused on today is making sure our clients understand that you can have really fine architectural designs and proven products married with an incredible value. For the last 10 years, it seemed like everybody wanted the best of everything and value was less important,” says Mike. “We’ve always stressed value while making sure that the consumer didn’t sacrifice design or service. That has always been our main focus.”

Airoom is located at 6825 N. Lincoln Avenue in Lincolnwood. For more information, call 847-629-4909, or visit them online at www.airoom.com.