Continuing with our 20th-anniversary celebrations, we wanted to share a bit about how Airadigm Solutions came to be.
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. Having no extra money and a very young family at home, there was a tremendous amount of pressure to succeed just 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.
As the company grew there was an obvious need for proper air balancing of not only restaurants but also 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 for this skill is extremely time-consuming, but it proved to be very successful. By 2010, Air Solutions had about eight employees and was growing every day. The company transitioned away from selling kitchen hoods and moved towards energy saving Demand Control Kitchen Ventilation products for commercial kitchens of all sizes, while also keeping the local air balancing business going.
In 2011, Air Solutions purchased their 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. Plus there was an additional shop floor not being utilized. We were determined to fill that space. Now we enjoy a state-of-the-art facility to train all our new hires.
Around 2015, Air Solutions & Balancing grew into a national company with a vision of selling air balancing services to HVAC contractors and building owners across all of the United States. We pushed hard for sales by hiring full-time sales 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.
Over time, the company had naturally grown into three distinct business units that are currently in place today. The first we called the regional air balancing department, the second is our national air balancing business, and the third is the demand ventilation product sales. Over time, our national air balancing clients consistently had us traveling into Texas for restaurant work. So, in 2018, Air Solutions decided to fix this and expanded into the Texas region, allowing us to reach our Texas customers. 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 of what we do for each of our different industry sectors and be able to market a new brand across the country. 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, to reflect 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.
Today, we are fast at work in opening and operating new regional offices across the country. We continue onwith our vision to have 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 growing list of new regional offices we continue to expand and grow with new opportunities. In 2019 and 2020, Air Solutions & Balancing was honored with the prestigious award as one of INC-5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America. In 2021, we were certified as a Great Place to Work. The company goal continues to be to optimize the nation’s indoor airflow, one building at a time.
We are so pleased to be celebrating this 20 year anniversary and look forward to what the future brings!