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BUFF HOFFBERG    1951 – 2016
IN MEMORIAM TO OUR FOUNDER Buff Hoffberg left us on April 1st, 2016 after a valiant struggle with cancer. Houseworks Daylighting Solutions is a result of Buff's vision and our success is largely due to his efforts.   He opened Houseworks in 2001 selling only tubular skylights.   When he passed in 2016 the company was one of the largest VELUX Five-Star Dealers and well on its way to $3 million in annual sales with offices in Illinois and Iowa.  We will miss Buff's glass-half-full attitude, his guidance and his thorough knowledge of skylights...and of course Buff himself.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="5747" img_size="full"][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]
JEFF BROOKS – Owner
VELUX Five-Star Certified Skylight Specialist Following Buff's passing in 2016 Mr. Brooks took over as owner.  He joined the Houseworks team in 2007 when he purchased part of the firm. Prior to that he had run a successful custom millwork company and had spent over 20 years in the securities industry dealing in institutional fixed-income securities. An avid woodworking hobbyist, he brought many innovative solutions to certain installation challenges and has been a champion of employing innovative technologies to assure a smoothly running organization. Those innovations help keep costs in check allowing Houseworks to be highly competitive in bidding skylight installations.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="6268" img_size="full"][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]
LEE COLLINS – Manager and Senior Estimator
Five-Star Certified Skylight Specialist Lee manages our Iowa office and has been in the window and glass business for over ten years. Formerly with a Pella Windows dealer, Lee has seen his share of old skylights that need to be replaced. He brings more experience to Houseworks Daylighting Solutions of Iowa than his age might predict. Lee grew up in South-central Iowa, graduated from UNI and is married with three children. He covers all of central Iowa for both residential and commercial skylight applications.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="5753" img_size="full"][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]
LEANN LEDGERWOOD – Office Manager
 VELUX Five-Star Certified Skylight Specialist Following Buff's passing Leann took over as Chief Operations Officer.  Her attention to detail and her extensive business and bookkeeping background have made her a very valuable and important part of the management team.  Leann was actually our first employee and she has helped us grow in many ways. YES, she is a graduate of the VELUX Five-Star Skylight Specialist program.  Even though Leann will not be installing skylights on your roof, she feels it is important to know about the products we sell and the process required to install them properly.  Leann may be the first Houseworks personality you meet as it is she who answers the phone with our cheerful “How May We Brighten Your Day”.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="6045" img_size="full"][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]
MARK BECKER – Estimator
VELUX Five-Star Certified Skylight Specialist Mark is our  senior estimator in Illinois and  has been in the skylight and window business since 2006.   He brings a great deal of experience to his job and approaches each opportunity as a consultant might.    Very customer oriented, Mark enjoys finding solutions others may have missed.  Our customers find Mark to be a straight-shooter  who tells it pretty much the way it is.  Mark lives in Tinley Park with his wife and three teenage children. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="6544" img_size="full"][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]
LARRY ZINTAK – FOREMAN
VELUX Five-Star Certified Skylight Specialist Larry joined Houseworks in 2016 and quickly established himself as a go-to guy whenever our customers presented us with a difficult installation. Larry is very resourceful and seems to figure out solutions to some of our most complicated installations. He joined us as a journeyman carpenter and his experience and knowledge recently earned him a promotion to Foreman. In this roll Larry supervises all our installers and their installations. He reviews every job that comes in and makes certain each is properly quoted and that the are installing the correct products. Employing installers with Larry’s abilities is what makes Houseworks special; we simply will not put rookies on a skylight installation.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="6300" img_size="full"][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]
TOM LABAN – INSTALLER
VELUX Five-Star Certified Skylight Installer After chasing jobs as an independent carpenter for years, Tom decided to join Houseworks. He quickly graduated from the VELUX Five-Star program and is putting his experience to good use. He is especially strong in trim carpentry and we find his jobs finish out very nicely. A very thorough guy, Tom really cares how his installations turn out; his attention to detail is evident in the work he does. He is a Grandfather (the only one of those we have) and lives in Lake County, Illinois. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="6920" img_size="full"][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]
TOM EDSON – ESTIMATOR
Tom comes to Houseworks with a wealth of experience in both the construction and real estate markets. He is a licensed real estate agent and owns a successful remodeling company; needless to say, Tom is a go-getter. With his background he is well suited to help our customers make good choices when it come to installing skylights. He understands the economic value skylights can add to a property. Tom will be handling leads in Northern Cook County. He is a Purdue graduate. In his spare time Tom is a Boy Scout Leader and loves the outdoors.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="6924" img_size="full"][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]
DON MUELLER – ESTIMATOR
Don joined Houseworks in 2019 and is responsible for a very large territory extending from Elgin to Des Plaines and all the way to the Wisconsin border. He is a very personable guy who really enjoys meeting and helping people with their skylight needs. Don grew up in the northwest suburbs before moving to Tucson for 15 years. He attended Marmion Military Academy and the University of Illinois. His dogs are his family and he enjoys exercising and training them. His passion is muscle cars, not just driving them but rebuilding them from the ground up. Don is a very talented mechanic as well as one of our lead salesmen/estimators.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="6932" img_size="full"][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]
Tom Hill – Installer
Tom comes to Houseworks with over 26 years as an exterior specialist with experience on residential, commercial and industrial installations. His “can do” attitude is refreshing and his knowledge and work skills are impressive. In addition to his responsibilities with Houseworks, he also owns his own aluminum gutter business and makes custom-gutters for his customers. Tom is a family first guy with a college-age son and a middle-school daughter. During his downtime he enjoys watching his kids play sports, fishing, fixing stuff and helping his special-needs brother. He’s married 20 years to his high school sweetheart and lives West of Chicago in Dekalb County. Tom is the kind of person who strives to get the most out of every day. We’re delighted he has joined our team.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="6923" img_size="full"][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]
NICK SMITH – INSTALLER
Nick joined Houseworks in 2020 coming to us from a local remodeling company. He has been able to translate that experience to become one of our lead installers. We get lots of very positive calls from customers who like his bright smile and winning way in additoin to his very competent workmanship. Outside of work Nick appreciates the outdoors and spending quality time with his fiancee and two children. Together they enjoy watching any and all motorsports. The family lives far South in Kankakee County. Nick says he enjoys “brightening our customer’s day”.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/4"][vc_single_image image="6101" img_size="full"][/vc_column][vc_column width="3/4"][vc_column_text]
Ryan Zimmerman — Weather By Request
Ryan Zimmerman -- and his company "Weather By Request" is employed by Houseworks to help us schedule jobs relative to predicted weather conditions. Many times Ryan has advised us to proceed with a job on days bad weather is forecast by accurately predicting when and where the rain may arrive. Ryan and his meteorological skills are an important component affecting the services we provide.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]