Chicagoland’s Roofing Pioneers

All American Exterior Solutions
Written by fmgadmin

For more than 30 years now All American Exterior Solutions has served as the leading roofing company to the Chicagoland area. Built on a bedrock of community-centric business practices, the firm’s growth trajectory has remained pinned to an ethos of customer care and in-house expertise.
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The company was established in 1975 and purchased by Jack Taitler in 1985, becoming All American Exterior Solutions. Starting off as a small family-owned endeavor in a notoriously competitive construction market, All American faced an uphill battle in the quest for construction success. But through hard work and a relentless commitment to a mission of providing “the construction industry with superior quality, consistent services and professional management,” the firm was able to not only succeed, but to flourish.

Over the years All American has evolved significantly, taking on new professional endeavors and business growth but all the while remaining committed to the humble values including “our word is good” and “surpassing expectation” in which it was built.

Experts on the roof
Leading some of the biggest projects the Chicagoland area has ever seen, All American has become a staple of the region’s development. The in-house team that is made up of over 100 highly experienced staff has served as the company’s ultimate asset. All American may have started out as a traditional roofing provider, but today it boasts a broad portfolio of services and experience. Home to expert talent in every trade related to roofing, the company provides not only highly skilled, but extremely diversified service.

This breadth of capabilities has been a unique selling point for All American, and has served as a key element of its success. With decades of practice performing projects across the spectrum of major commercial construction, from sustainable roofing and all the way through to regular residential roofing installations and siding repairs, the team is able to take on any challenge which comes their way.

With the team possessing an average of 20 years experience across the management team, customers come to All American with the peace of mind that their project will be met with local know-how and nationally recognized results. Sergey Taitler, General Manager of All American Exterior Solutions affirmed, “I am really proud of the people we have here. We have an average of over 15 to 20 years management experience. Really, that’s what has made us so successful – our people.”

This focus on expertise is directly related to All American’s view of quality. At All American a focus on customer service is embedded in the entire construction process, an experience that starts before boots hit the ground. As such, the company employs stringent quality control checks at every phase of a project, taking a streamlined approach that centers on meeting strict timelines. Before building starts even starts, All American Exterior Solutions provides a fast and highly competitive bidding process, which ultimately results in customized maintenance programs and comprehensive service plans to meet the unique needs of each project. The value of this approach is best illustrated by All American Exterior Solutions’ past contracts with some of the biggest clients in the country, including the likes of the world-famous Wrigley Field, the FedEx Cargo Facility, Trump Tower, and the Fashion Outlets of Chicago.

With a commitment to quality work that is built on customer satisfaction, a vast network of local and national suppliers, and some of the most experienced roofing professionals in the country, the firm has gained recognition for industry leadership on a national level. In the past five years alone, All American has won awards for not only its elite projects and sustainability, but also for the success and safety of its in-house staff. Among others, All American was presented the Certainteed Silver Star Commercial Contractor Award which is granted for elite workmanship and financial stability, also receiving the Firestone Platinum and President Awards, Carlisle ESP and simultaneously holding the GAF Master Elite Shingle Contractor recognition, one which is only granted to the top two percent of all roofing contractors.

A community partner
Over the last three decades the country as a whole has faced economic ebbs and flows, and the Chicagoland area is no different; but throughout the turbulence All American Exterior has remained a strong business leader and also a dedicated community player. As a local family-owned and operated business, All American Exterior Solutions has an obvious business stake in the area’s success, but also a personal connection to the community that has harbored its success through generations. Each year the employees come together to decide on which causes they feel strongly about, working together to decide which worthy causes the business will support. As such, the list of community initiatives funded by the firm is extensive, including everything from little league teams, to autism organizations, to cancer charities and scholarship funds.

Mr. Taitler explained that community participation and support remains one of the most important elements of All American’s ethos and will for years to come. As the company states, “The All American Exterior Solutions staff feels it is important to be involved with the community that we work in.”

Committed to sustainability
All American Exterior Solutions has been a pioneer at the forefront of the sustainable construction movement for years. Construction’s impact on the increasingly fragile planet has recently become a point of consideration for the roofing industry as a whole, but the challenge of innovating for a cleaner tomorrow is an occasion to which far too few firms have risen. While much attention has been given to innovative construction approaches, design, and even insulation in the last decade, many hold a misconception that roofing is merely an add-on or after-thought within the wider sustainable building process. Today, however, sustainable roofing has gone beyond the installation of solar panels or wind turbines.

Now, the right roofing can save or produce energy, lowering the operating costs of facilities while simultaneously having a gentler impact on the environment overall. Moreover, roofing systems can provide the added benefit of longevity. With a 30-year life expectancy, sustainable roofing’s benefits in terms of energy costs are matched by the overall life cycle cost and environmental impact of replacing the materials necessary to build a new roof.

Another promising sustainable development is vegetated “green” roofing solutions that improve air quality, increase biodiversity, assist with storm water management, and which can even reduce the urban heat island effect on a surrounding area. In the mid-2000’s All American constructed the largest green roof in Chicago at the time, on the Fed-Ex Cargo Relocation Facility. The challenging project gained the firm a reputation for environmentally minded innovation, and even attracted several sought-after recognitions including the Green Building America Award and recognition from The Center for Environmental Innovation.

The future of the sustainable roofing industry is bright and All American Exterior Solutions is paving the way for further innovation. Quite possibly one of the most groundbreaking sustainable roofing solutions that can be provided is “blue” roofing, which sits below a “green” roof, and encompasses a natural holding capability for storm water. Ultimately, “blue” roofing has the potential to eliminate the need for underground cisterns, storage tanks, or detention ponds.

So often when we speak about bettering communities, the focus is on charity and volunteerism, two efforts that All American Exterior Solutions have embraced with open arms – but in many ways, sustainability remains one of the most innovative, and high-impact forms of business-led community mindedness that exists.

All American Exterior Solutions is a case-study example of quality and community done right, an accomplishment reiterated by the company general manager’s simple, but meaningful plan for the future. As he stated, “We just want to continue doing good work for customers; continue to improve our quality, service and technologies; and we want to continue to improve the lives of management and employees that work for the organization.”

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