Though it started from modest roots, today, the name Orren Pickell symbolizes quality home construction and innovative design. The company began when Orren, who was a college student, decided to create a small house painting business to help finance tuition and other expenses while attending Bradley University. Over time, Orren graduated to remodeling and building luxury homes with his wife Tina and before long, his small painting business turned into the large firm we know today as Orren Pickell.
Now, with nearly a half-century in business, the Orren Pickell Building Group has completed thousands of home projects in Chicago, the North Shore, Southern Wisconsin, and Harbor Country, Michigan. The family-owned and operated business has received over three hundred awards for design excellence and innovation, and in January of 2019 was named the Best Custom Builder for a Traditional Home by Modern Luxury Interiors Chicago magazine.
“No job is too big, and no job is too small,” explains Lisa Pickell, the company’s president since 2017. The services Orren Pickell provides range from room remodeling to home building, and the company also offers a custom home maintenance program that sends a team out twice a year to complete homeowners’ “honey-do” lists: providing maintenance on appliances, wrapping and storing patio furniture, checking smoke detectors, touching up paint, and more.
The maintenance program is much appreciated by those who don’t have the time, or aren’t able to complete those tasks, but it is in the remodeling and building sectors that Orren Pickell has truly become a name associated with top-notch construction.
The business’s 30 employees, including designers, architects, project managers, accountants, and a sales team, build 8 to 10 new homes and complete 40 remodeling projects each year. And while building a home might seem like a daunting prospect, Orren Pickell’s architects and construction managers work together to make that process as easy as possible for the client.
Designing Your Custom Home with Orren Pickell
Orren Pickell’s award-winning designs are created for people to live well in their new homes, and each step in the process works to that end.
First, the building group helps clients find a site for the new home, either by choosing a new lot or tearing down an existing home and rebuilding.
After that, Orren Pickell guides clients through their wish lists for their new home, resulting in a set of final working drawings. At this point, Orren Pickell designers can recommend showrooms for clients to visit in order to choose lighting, flooring, and other home elements.
Once that process is finished, the project is assigned to a Project Superintendent who meets with the client weekly. Clients can check online photographs of the progress on their own personal and secure website. The custom-built software also includes ongoing time and money reports.
Finally, when the home is completed, the Project Superintendent and the Orren Pickell Maintenance Group Manager conduct a final walk-through of the house with the client. After the home closes, another walk-through takes place in 60 days, and yet another one year later.
The people at Orren Pickell pride themselves on finding the best value for each of their clients, and on being a second-generation family business. Whether solving problems with a good remodeling design or making a family’s dreams come true in an architecturally stunning home, the people at Orren Pickell know that their work changes the quality of their clients’ lives. And that’s something that the Pickell family takes very seriously. As Lisa Pickell puts it, “It’s not only important, it’s personal.”
For more information on Orren Pickell, visit: https://www.pickellbuilders.com/
By: Susan W. Murray
