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The slow economy is negatively affecting many businesses, but Galaxie Home Remodeling continues to thrive.

The foundation was laid in 1984, when the Pinsler family founded Galaxie Home Remodeling in a two-room office located on Armitage Avenue in Chicago. Their goal was to create the largest full service home remodeling company in the Chicagoland area.

Three years later the company’s operations had doubled and the increase in business required a move to a larger facility. The Pinsler’s moved into their new headquarters in Chicago and annual sales climbed to $12 million dollars. Galaxie continued to ride the crest of the red-hot residential remodeling market and in 1994 relocated to the corners of Touhy and Cicero avenues in the village of Lincolnwood, just north of Chicago.

Galaxie president Bruce Pinsler said he felt it was essential to have a central location that was convenient to the city and the suburbs and could also house their sales and administrative offices.

With the expansion of their remodeling services into northwest Indiana, Galaxie has earned industry notoriety as Chicago’s fastest-growing residential remodeling company.

“Many people are not buying new homes. Instead, they are choosing to remodel their existing homes to meet their changing needs,” said Bruce Pinsler “An empty unused basement can be converted into a fully functional family room that provides living space for a growing family, and a second story addition adds extra bedrooms and bathrooms for grown children or grandparents now living with the family because of job loss or other financial issues.”

“It is typically less costly to add new living space to an existing home rather than buying a new home,” he said. “Homeowners have been investing their dollars into needs instead of wants, such as new roofs, masonry repairs, remodeled bathrooms and kitchens, and energy-efficient windows and doors. Home offices have become popular remodeling projects because more people are now working from home.”

Erin Pinsler, Bruce’s wife, added that “the real estate slump has actually affected our business in a positive manner. It has become very difficult to buy or sell a home or to obtain a mortgage. Homeowners have decided to make the best of a bad situation by staying put and fixing up their homes. And it doesn’t have to be a huge project … a small remodeling project can make a big difference.”

Sales are the key to success of any business, and Pinsler makes certain that his sales people are well informed and well trained.

“I put a lot of effort into preparing my sales people because they represent the ‘face’ of Galaxie. When my salesmen call on homeowners they are equipped with an extensive amount of home remodeling knowledge. They also provide the homeowner with a variety of financing options. We take a low-key approach to sales because we want our customers to feel secure and comfortable with their choices.”

“My sales department thrives on referrals so satisfied customers are essential for new and return business,” said Pinsler.

In fact, Pinsler reports a 100 percent increase in sales for the first five months of 2011 over the same time period in 2010.

As the economy slowly improves Pinsler expects the upward trend of his business to follow suit.

“Being aggressive with advertising and marketing efforts now is essential to capturing the Chicago residential market in the future. When the economy finally turns around, we will have hit the ground running,” he said.

Galaxie Home Remodeling is located at 4761 W. Touhy Ave. in Lincolnwood. Call (847) 677-8300 or view the company’s web site at www.galaxieconst.com.