March 7, 2018

Meet Michael Menn of Michael Menn Ltd. in Northbrook

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Menn.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Michael. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have wanted to be an architect since I was a child. The first time I can remember was being 6 or 7 years old. I lived in a near north suburb of Chicago that was growing in the early 1950’s. I was the kid that went to new home construction sites, gathered the discarded scraps of lumber and plywood and took them to an empty lot to build a fort or treehouse for my friends. My father was either working for or owning a lumber yard as I grew up, so blueprints were always around the dining room table. I would spend hours looking at the plans with my dad and asking questions. During junior high school, I gravitated to mechanical drafting and excelled. In high school, it was architectural drafting where I earned honors winning local and national competitions. I was hooked on architecture! Naturally, I decided to go to college and study architecture. I chose to attend the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana because it had a great architectural school reputation and tuition was affordable. An architectural degree in the early 1970’s consisted of a 4-year undergraduate and 2-year graduate study. I chose to do all 6 years at Illinois. Actually, I completed 6 ½ years because I was able to receive a double master’s degree in both Architectural Design and Engineering. After college, I was married for over a year, and we decided to move back to Chicago. Most of my graduating class had gotten jobs in large architectural firms downtown, but that didn’t interest me. For the first 10 years I bounced around until I met two guys who graduated 3 years before me at the University of Illinois, joined their firm and found my place. Our specialty was commercial work including restaurants, hotels and shopping centers. The firm’s principals allowed me to take home residential work on as my hobby. This hobby grew into a passion and ten years after graduating college, I started my own architectural firm specializing in custom residential and commercial specialties. To this day, this is the foundation of what we do. Four years after starting my own architectural firm, I had the opportunity to alter my business and we expanded into the realm of the architect-led design/build delivery method for both residential and commercial work. At that time, we were in the forefront of providing these services. Since starting my firm in the 1980’s, I have gone through 3 or 4 recessions. I had just myself as an employee, to having 14 employees and partners to worry about. As life and work evolve, so has my business life. Early on in my business life I took a page form my grandfather’s and father’s lives and learned that business was about loyalty and the more you gave, the more you received. I believe that in life, too. Originally the business was just me and a summer intern who eventually joined the firm and became a partner. The business grew and then a recession occurred. We stayed strong, didn’t take salaries and eventually grew the business. We tried other ventures like spec homes and lost our shirt, a lesson learned. Later, we merged with a smaller company, grew to 14 people and then the big recession hit. This recession was especially difficult because I had to let half our staff go, people that I had become friendly with and had become part of my extended family. Not easy, but I stay in touch with most of them. Eventually, my three younger partners decided to move forward without me. I took the highroad (at least in my mind) and left the company I founded. I reinvented myself and started another architect-led design/build company and have immensely enjoyed the rebirth of my career.

Michael Menn Ltd. – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
If you strive for excellence in your life, you have found the people who have turned residential and commercial architectural and construction dreams into reality for more than 40 years. Michael Menn Ltd. is your premier source for both design (architecture) excellence and build (construction) excellence. We strive to exceed the goals of our clients, be it for renovation, remodeling, additions or new construction. On the residential side, we design and build kitchens, bath suites, and complete home projects, including exteriors. We provide these services for single-family homes, townhouses, multi-family dwellings and high rise living units. On the commercial side, we design and build everything from restaurants and retail spaces to office buildings to healthcare facilities and more. Michael Menn Ltd. is a full service, architecture and construction company (design/build) specializing in custom residential new homes, additions, apartment renovations, remodeling and commercial specializations throughout the suburban and downtown areas of Chicago. We are a unique firm in that we try to marry design and cost (budget) with the final delivered product. Unlike most general contractors, we are also architects. Because we are architects, our approach to design/build is different. We are interested in the design concept and preserving that concept during the construction. In addition, we take the time and make the effort to guide our client through the difficult process of design and construction. In order to successfully guide a client through this process, it is imperative to assemble the right team. Our goal is to develop long-term relationships based upon our commitment to quality and service. As a result of this philosophy, we are proud to say that many of our clients continue to engage our services and constantly refer us to others. Examples of our work may be seen by logging onto our Website at http://michaelmenn.com or at http://www.houzz.com/photos/users/michael_menn.

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