Our People
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
ROB BROOKS — COMMERCIAL SALES
VELUX Five-Star Certified Skylight Specialist
Rob took over the Commercial Desk in 2016 and thrust Houseworks into the spotlight by selling and installing more VMS jobs in his first year than any other dealer in the country. His responsibilities include marketing all commercial products including the VELUX Modular Skylight system (VMS) and the new Dynamic Domes. With the acquisition of WASCO Rob has become the go-to source for an even wider range of commercial products. Rob is a graduate of Northern Arizona University and has been with Houseworks since 2015. Rob was in residential skylight sales for several years and that experience makes a real difference helping our customers purchase the correct skylights.
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.
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.
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.
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.
