2002
After nearly ten years of experience selling and designing kitchen hood ventilation products and the air balancing of restaurants in Ohio, our founder, Olaf, began his journey to start Air Solutions & Balancing, LLC in New Hampshire back in early 2002. With no extra money and a young family at home, there was tremendous pressure to succeed to pay the bills. Starting the business as a one-man show selling kitchen ventilation products for Captive-Aire Systems for only sales commissions and air balancing Buffalo Wild Wings Restaurants across the country seemed like a risky venture, as income was not guaranteed. Determined to make it work as an entrepreneur, Olaf began to grow his team and eventually hired his first employee to help with kitchen hood sales.
2010
As the company grew, there was an obvious need for proper air balancing not only in restaurants but also in all other building types. Coupled with kitchen ventilation products, our focus turned to the Testing, Adjusting, and Balancing (TAB) industry. It took an additional three years during the late 2000s to move forward with this venture, which started in the local New Hampshire market. Air balancing is a highly skilled trade, and training new employees in this skill is a time-consuming process, but it has proven to be highly successful. By 2010, Air Solutions had approximately eight employees and was experiencing steady growth. The company transitioned away from selling kitchen hoods. It moved toward energy-saving Demand Control Kitchen Ventilation products for commercial kitchens of all sizes, while also maintaining its local air balancing business.
2011
In 2011, Air Solutions purchased its office building, eventually becoming the head office of Air Solutions & Balancing. At the time, we were criticized for buying such a big office for only four people — the space could easily hold over 10 office employees. Additionally, there was an unused shop floor. We were determined to fill that space. Now we enjoy a state-of-the-art facility to train all our new hires.
2015
Around 2015, Air Solutions & Balancing expanded into a national company with a vision of offering air balancing services to HVAC contractors and building owners nationwide. We made a concerted effort to increase sales by hiring full-time salespeople and estimators for our air balancing services. During this time, we tripled our air balancing sales within three years as the company was growing rapidly in the New England territory.
2018
Over time, the company naturally evolved into three distinct business units, which are still in place today. The first is our regional air balancing department, the second is our national air balancing business, and the third is the sales of demand ventilation products. Over time, our national air balancing clients consistently had us traveling to Texas for restaurant work. In 2018, Air Solutions decided to address this issue and expanded into the Texas region, enabling us to serve our Texas customers better. We continued to grow and opened our second office in Denver soon after.
It soon became apparent that, as a company, we had a branding problem. We needed to be very clear about what we do for each of our different industry sectors and be able to market a new brand nationwide. From this problem, we created two new brands to focus on what we are offering — Airadigm Solutions and Kitchen Energy Solutions. Airadigm Solutions originated from the word “paradigm,” reflecting a paradigm shift or a “new way of doing business” in the air balancing world. Kitchen Energy Solutions became the division to help focus our customer base in the Energy Sector.
Present Day
Today, we are hard at work opening and operating new regional offices across the nation. We continue to pursue our vision of having all buildings across America be perfectly air-balanced, coupled with energy-saving kitchen controls. With over 80 team members who can service our customers nationwide, coupled with our expanding list of new regional offices, we continue to grow and capitalize on new opportunities. In 2019 and 2020, Air Solutions & Balancing was honored with the prestigious Inc. 5000 award as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. In 2021, we were certified as a Great Place to Work. The company’s goal remains to optimize the nation’s indoor airflow, one building at a time.