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Orren Pickell worked his way through Bradley University by opening a painting and decorating business. He studied and mastered architecture and construction. After college, he transformed his decorating business into a remodeling company. In 1975, he built his first home, and he did the majority of this with his own two hands, from drawing the plans to pouring concrete to framing drywall, and trimming it. For years, he continued to build his own homes himself, gaining invaluable experience at the grass roots level. Obsessed with quality and customer service, he grew the business.
Today, Orren Pickell Designers & Builders is a 30-year-old company, the premier custom home design/build firm in the Chicago area. The business has evolved to include a number of divisions. The purpose of each division is to help create a better quality home and to provide better service and value to the client. The divisions include the custom home building group, the broker/site-location group, and the rough and trim carpentry group (which operate under the corporate umbrella, Orren Pickell Designers & Builders); the Design Group (architecture); the Remodeling Group; CabinetWerks (Pickell's kitchen and bath cabinetry design/build company located in Lincolnshire, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin); and the Home Maintenance Group. Each step in the process is quality-controlled, so that the houses are built and maintained to the highest standards in the industry.
The corporation has won well over 170 awards for excellence in innovation, design, and construction. Mr. Pickell has been named Builder of the Year, CEO of the month by the Lake County (Illinois) Business Journal, and has been a featured speaker for years at the National Custom Builder Conference. In 1999, Orren Pickell Designers & Builders was named one of the top eight builders in America to work for by Builder Magazine.
In January, 2001, Orren received the ultimate honor. Custom Home Magazine, the business to business bible of the industry, named him America's "2001 Custom Builder of the Year." Orren was the keynote speaker at the industry's largest national convention, the Custom Home Show, held in Baltimore in September, 2001. Over 4500 Custom Builders, Residential Architects, and Interior Designers from across the country and the world were in attendance.
Other prestigious awards include winning the "2003 Best In American Living Award" from the National Association of Home Builders. This is the highest award given in the industry and was presented to the Vacation House in the South Shore Club on Lake Geneva. The company was also awarded the "2003 Pacesetter Award for Innovation" for the client websites, and 11 Key awards in 2003 for excellence in design and construction. The company also won 10 Key Awards in 2004, and the 2004 Constructech Award as the single-family home custom builder with the best technology in America. | 