10) Builtech Services

Website | 847.895.3700 | 1834 Walden Office Square #350, Schaumburg, IL 60173

Photo courtesy of Builtech

Builtech Services is a general contracting and construction management company, run by President and CEO Chris Noon. Founded in 2002, Builtech has rapidly become a national leader in the building field. The company works across a wide range of industries, including industrial, retail, hospitality, mixed-use projects, and residential. The company recently launched Builtech Interiors Group, a new division dedicated entirely to corporate interior construction.

Photo courtesy of Builtech

Featured Projects

Builtech has completed many projects for Chicago’s iconic Second City theater group. Among the multiple projects are several theaters, office and classroom spaces, and their bar. Most recently, the company completed a 30,000 square foot expansion of Second City’s training facility, theater, and new bar. Builtech is working on a two-story,  45,000 square foot interior build-out of Strata Decision Technology’s headquarters at 200 East Randolph. Featured in this renovation and expansion is an impressive interstitial stair.  And in the historic Papers Alley building in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood, the company built the new 10,000 square foot headquarters for Fleet Feet Sports. They were later hired by the same company to build their new home in Lincoln Square. This three-story location included retail, yoga studios, and office spaces. Builtech has worked on many projects for L3 Capital throughout Chicago. This includes two, two-story retail buildings that are now home to retail spaces for J. Crew, SoulCycle, and Bareburger. Builtech has also developed and built several Ethan Allen stores, including a full, open-store remodel of their 22,000 square foot flagship Chicago location on Halsted Street in Lincoln Park. Other projects completed in the Chicago area by Builtech include for TD Ameritrade, Massage Envy, and Jones Lang LaSalle.

9) Bulley & Andrews

Website | 773.235.2433 | 1755 West Armitage Avenue, Chicago, IL

Photos courtesy of Bulley & Andrews

Bulley & Andrews was founded in 1891 in Chicago, and over more than 100 years has become one of the most accomplished construction firms in the Midwest. The family owned firm offers a full-range of construction services including general contracting, construction management, design/build, and masonry and concrete restoration. Although they have built a reputation for excellence with their wide-ranging commercial properties, they also have expertise in residential new construction, renovation, and restoration.

Photo courtesy of Bulley & Andrews

Featured Projects

Bulley & Andrews was the general contractor for the renovation to the classic 1893 Chicago Athletic Association building. After sitting vacant for 7 years, the company helped turn this celebrated landmark into a new 241 room boutique hotel, with event space, a speakeasy game room, and retail shops. The project included building Cindy’s, a rooftop bar with views of Millennium Park, and a first-floor restaurant. This project was featured in Architectural Record and Avivre Magazine.  In the civic and cultural field, Bulley & Andrews built the new 65,000 square foot Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie. This three-part built project includes one part which is a dark anodized metal clad building and another that is made of white, anodized metal. And Bulley & Andrews built the new 16-story Ronald McDonald House at 211 E. Grand Avenue. This 101,600 square foot project,  meant as a home away from home for families in need of medical care, contains many kitchens, dining areas, family lounges, and guest rooms, and achieved LEED Gold certification. The company also completely renovated the spectacular Ritz Carlton Chicago Roof Terrace and was the general contractor for the authentic historic restoration of the Palmer House Hilton’s renowned Empire Room.

8) Synergy Construction Group

Website | 312.243.3700 | 2039 W Carroll Ave, Chicago, IL 60612

Photo courtesy of Synergy Construction Group

Chicago-based Synergy Construction Group specializes in general contracting and construction management. The one-stop-shop works on everything from new mixed-use construction to medical renovations. In addition to their commercial work, Synergy Construction Group also works on residential projects, including remodels. The company also offers design-build services to its clients and has experience in green/sustainable building solutions.

Photos courtesy of Synergy Construction Group

Featured Projects

For Commonwealth Grill, Synergy Construction Group is in the process of a 3,000 square foot gut renovation of an old pub in Chicago’s Roscoe Village. The transformation of the space into an upscale bar and restaurant includes hardwood floors, a long wood paneled bar and a striking light wood paneled exterior facade. The company also completed a renovation of Randolph’s Tavern in the heart of the Loop in downtown Chicago. The renovation of this high-end luxury restaurant with 8,000 square feet cost $800,000. In a different area, Synergy Construction Group also renovated the retail space for Carhartt Clothing in Chicago Landmark, The Sullivan Center. Work on this project included new dressing rooms, office space, bathrooms and the public retail area, all outfitted with retro finishes. And Synergy Construction Group was chosen to update Mon Ami Gabi, a Lettuce Entertain You Restaurant in Lincoln Park. Finally, Synergy Construction Group completed a $2.5 million renovation of a former industrial building into iO Theater, an improv theater and training center. This project included the creation of 4 theaters, event space, classrooms, offices, and an outdoor beer garden. The space features original exposed brick, timber posts, and concrete floors, and one theater is highlighted by vaulted skylights and timber bowstring trusses.  

7) Redmond Construction Corp

Website | 847.542.5447 | 320 W Ohio, Chicago, IL 60025

Photos courtesy of Redmond Construction Corp

Redmond Construction Corp is a relative newcomer to the Chicago building scene, having only been founded in 2013 by John Redmond. Nonetheless, the have quickly earned themselves a name for excellent project execution and customer service. In the past three years, Redmond Construction has doubled their revenue and tripled the size of their operating facilities, offices, and warehouses. Redmond Construction has a specialty of working with growing, entrepreneurial businesses, and has collaborated on projects with many of Chicago’s rapidly growing startup companies.

Photos courtesy of Redmond Construction Corp

Featured Projects

Redmond Construction Corp recently built out over 8,000 square feet of space for the Pinterest Chicago offices. This project required a focus on long-term construction implications and involved the installation of additional mechanical infrastructure. Redmond Construction Corp is also responsible for building the 4,000 square foot Chicago office space for The Onion, Inc, a ‘spoof’ news source. This space has an industrial feel, with its tall ceiling and exposed ductwork, exposed brick walls and timber beams, and large open collaborative working spaces. And in Highland Park, the company completed a 4,800 square foot space for SteelBrick’s Chicago area corporate office. There was no margin for error on this project, as the company’s operation was solely dependent on the offices being constructed on time. Redmond Construction Corp also worked on Industrious Inc.’s 10,000 square foot co-working space in the heart of Chicago’s River North neighborhood. The visually stunning space has a relaxation room, phone booths, ample lounge areas, and a cafe. It features wood floors and ceilings, and large interior glass walls.

6) Summit Design & Build

Website | 312.229.4630  | 1032 W. Fulton Market, Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60607

Photos courtesy of Design and Build

Summit Design and Build is is a full-service construction contracting and project management firm. Founded in 2005, it quickly grew to be one of Chicago’s leading building teams. Summit offers a range of services, including full-service general contracting, construction management, and design/build construction services. The company specializes in office, retail, restaurant, healthcare, manufacturing, and residential projects, and has completed more than 150 buildings with a total volume over 2.5 million square feet.

Photos courtesy of Summit Design and Build

Featured Projects

Summit completed the new construction of WhirlyBall, a 50,000 square foot, two-story entertainment complex with three WhirlyBall courts, 12 bowling lanes, a multi-level laser tag arena, banquet hall, kitchen, and multiple bars. And the company completed the interior build-out for the high-end retail boutique Carolina Herrera. This included imported millwork and finishes from Spain, wood, travertine and marble slab flooring, high gloss lacquered paneling, and LED video walls. For WeWork, the company conducted an 112,000 square foot build-out of shared loft-style office space over four floors in the former Commercial National Bank of Chicago. Summit was also chosen to build the Starbuck’s Flagship in the Gold Coast neighborhood. The new construction consisted of a two-story, 5,500 square foot building, with fireplaces, a front exterior of glass and brick with channel detailing and a second-floor balcony. This store was recognized with an Association for Retail Environments Design Award – Grand Prize, Specialty Food Retailer. Other bars and restaurants by Summit include the Big Hurt Brewhouse, which was a complete gut and renovation of a historical bank building into a new microbrewery and sports bar and grill, Cochon Volant, an upscale French bakery in an art deco office building in on W. Monroe, and City Winery Chicago, which required the extensive conversion of an existing 33,000 square foot refrigerated food distribution warehouse into a fully operational winery and tasting room.

5) Executive Construction Inc

Website | 708.236.3300 | 440 S. LaSalle, Suite 770, Chicago, IL 60605

Photo courtesy of Executive Construction

Executive Construction, run by President and CEO John F. Blacketor, has built a reputation for excellence in the Chicago area. This construction firm took in an impressive $295 million in revenue for 2016 and employs 65+ office staff and an additional 75+ field employees. It is an expert in green building, having built at least 2 LEED Platinum, 14 LEED Gold and 10 LEED Silver projects. The company has built a number of projects recognized with awards from the AIA Chicago and Interior Architecture, among others. 90% of Executive Construction’s business comes from repeat clients.

Photos courtesy of Executive Construction

Featured Projects

Executive Construction completed a two-phase interior buildout for LinkedIn’s Chicago offices. This project included the construction of a large game room with wood bleachers and banquette seating, a new reception area, guest restroom, and a large café area. Other features include a raw pine slat ceiling, wood portals throughout the space, graphic wallcoverings, and an Arktura ceiling. The company also completed 70,000 square feet of interior construction of Cisco. This LEED Gold project, designed by top architects HOK, required the installation of large amounts of technology, including an extensive custom audio visual system. Executive Construction also built the 230,000 square foot headquarters for Gogo and the 680,000 square-foot, 11-story interior buildout of The Zurich North America’s corporate headquarters. In another industry area, Executive Construction built the 8,000 square foot Peace Corner Youth Center.  This project, in Chicago’s west side, earned a Distinguished Building Award from the AIA Chicago. The building was constructed with durable and economical materials, and contains a range of facilities, including computer labs and a gym, and has a green roof.

4)  Skender Construction

Website | 312.781.0265 |  200 W Madison St, Chicago, IL 60606

Photo courtesy of Skender Construction

Skender Construction has become one of the nation’s largest general contractors. With offices in San Francisco and Chicago, this construction company has extensive experience building in some of the US’s top cities for architecture. Responsible for many award-winning construction projects, this company specializes in commercial projects. For 10 years in a row, Midwest Construction has named Skender Construction a top Illinois contractor, and in 2015 and 2016, the company was named Interior Contractor of the Year by the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Photos courtesy of Skender Construction

Featured Projects

Skender Construction was hired by digital advertising firm centro to build their new office space, designed by Partners by Design. The firm’s headquarters on the 6th floor in the historic Sullivan Center includes an open lunch room, teaming areas, themed conference rooms, a meditation room, yoga studio, game room, and karaoke area. It includes millwork-enclosed lounge areas, a planter feature wall, and sliding glass office fronts. The company also collaborated with Partners by Design on offices for Braintree. This $4.2 million interior buildout of 80,000 square feet features a beautiful office bar overlooking the Chicago River. Skender also built 600,000-square-foot, four-floor global headquarters of Motorola Mobility. Designed by Gensler, this massive project included open office space, laboratories, server/LAN rooms, and a 50,000-square-foot rooftop terrace. The company also built Cicchetti | Sopraffina, designed by top US-architecture firm HOK. This 9,200 square foot dual restaurant buildout and hospital retrofit was part of the Shop & Dine Northwestern program. Other noteworthy projects built by Skender includes the Soho House Chicago, a high-end private club house, Swift and Sons, a 15,750 square foot high-end restaurant in Fulton Market, 17 luxury suites at U.S. Cellular Field, and the new office space for Sandbox Industries in the newly refurbished 1K Fulton building in Fulton Market.

3) Bramco Construction Company

Website | 312.324.3947 | 1919 S. Highland Avenue, Building D, Suite 135, Lombard, IL 60148

Photos courtesy of Bramco Construction Company

Bramco Construction Company has worked in the Chicago area for over 40 years. In this time, they proved to be successful builders across wide spectrum of projects, including both residential and commercial. The company completed new construction, renovation, and tenant build-out and improvements projects. The company builds project teams for their projects and emphasizes a collaborative approach with their employees, subcontractors, and project owners.

Photos courtesy of Bramco Construction Company

Featured Projects

Bramco Construction Company has built many of Chicago’s best and most beautiful restaurants. Among these is Howell and Hood, the upscale restaurant on the first floor of the Tribune Tower. This space has been widely applauded for its fine architecture. The interior is meant to recall the rest of the building’s design, with accents of copper, steel, and dark wood. Impressively, Bramco Construction also had to build the systems for 360 draught faucets. And Bramco built the Michigan Avenue restaurant and bar Sweetwater Tavern & Grille. This funky space, with a kind of industrial feel, has warehouse like ceilings with metal fixtures, exposed stone walls and columns, and a first-class kitchen. Other standout restaurants built by Bramco are Maui Wowi, the South Branch Tavern and Grille, and the Old Town Pour House. In addition to their successful restaurant projects, Bramco also has extensive office experience. The company built the WHITTMANHART Chicago offices, creating a sleek, modern working space for the growing company.

2) Leopardo

Website | 312.332.7570 | 333 West Wacker Drive, Suite 250, Chicago, Illinois 60606

Photos courtesy of Leopardo

Leopardo Construction was founded in 1977 by James A. Leopardo as a two-person Chicago construction firm. Since then, the company has grown into one of the most trusted builders in the Midwest. It is one of the largest 100 contractors in the US, in 2017 was named one of the top 200 contracting companies in the country by ENR, and in 2016 named one of the top 100 green contractors by ENR. The company has completed over 70 projects for the University of Chicago, and has completed commercial projects in many markets, including aviation, civil, worship, high education, healthcare, retail, hospitality, and offices. The construction firm also offers design-build services to its clients.

Photos courtesy of Leopardo

Featured Projects

Leopardo completed a 128,000-square-foot, five-floor, phased renovation and expansion of Grubhub’s Chicago headquarters in the Burnham Center. This included updating the main lobby and rooftop deck, building themed conference rooms, a large lounge with pool and foosball tables and shuffleboard, a new kitchen, and an in-house restaurant. In the Loop on North LaSalle St., Leopardo built the brand new global headquarters for STATS. This 35,000 square foot, two-floor space includes a large private balcony, a glass-ceiling atrium, and many new building systems to meet the technology company’s power demands. The company conducted the 30,000-SF interior build-out for Vivid Seats, a Chicago-based tech-industry giant. This space was completed on a quick 12-week timeline and included high impact super graphics, dynamic lighting, reclaimed stadium materials, and a café/sports bar with a built-up stage and regulation basketball court. Leopardo also completed build-outs for Twitter and Signal, Mattersight’s headquarters, the award-winning Context Media headquarters, and a 300,000-square-foot renovation for Zebra Technologies. Leopardo was also chosen to build six new Apple Stores in various Midwest locations.

Photos courtesy of Leopardo

1) Mod Construction

Website | 312.265.0613 | 446 North Wells Unit 313, Chicago, IL 60654

Photo courtesy of Mod Construction

Mod Construction has become a leading construction company in the Chicago area over the past decade. The company has worked on hundreds of projects, both residential and commercial. A testament to their work quality, Mod Construction gets 100% of their work from client referrals and repeat business.

Photos courtesy of Mod Construction

Featured Projects

Mod Construction has experience across commercial industries in Chicago, including office interiors, lounges, retail space, and eating/drinking establishments. They built the Chicago-based tech consultancy Devbridege Group’s office in a loft building in River North. This sunny space has an abundance of exposed brick and timber and features stunning 360-degree views of the city. Mod Construction built plenty of technology and functionality into the space, creating small quiet corners and larger collaborative spaces. And in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, the company built RPM Steak. This 8,500 square foot upscale chophouse was designed by Lettuce Entertain You and can seat 350 persons. The space has a classic steakhouse feel with a contemporary twist and features a marble-topped concierge stand, 100-seat mezzanine, and a sunken dining room, complete with mahogany wood paneling and theatrical hanging lighting. Other restaurants and bars built by, Mod Construction include, Freshii, Sub51, Curvee, and  Ramen-san, a rustic food, whiskey and cocktail joint on Hubbard Street with large stone covered walls, tall ceilings with exposed wood beams.  

Photos courtesy of Mod Construction