Since 1987

Founder-led.
Built with a real crew.

Len Breuder founded the company in 1987. Six core employees, thirty-five-plus years together, more than $120M completed. The work still answers to founder judgment, long-tenured craft, and houses that have to hold up under real use.

Len Breuder, founder of Breuder Design
The Founder

The first proof was a table.

At nineteen, Len saw a table priced at $2,200 and built his own for $200 instead.

A friend's parents saw it and bought it for $1,200 on the spot. That was 1987, and it became the first clear sign that his eye, hands, and judgment could carry a project from idea to finished object.

The background was already there. By age twelve he was working remodels with his father — framing, electrical, plumbing, finishes, and eventually the metalwork and ground-up residential work that led to stairs, railings, furniture, and whole custom homes.

Len didn't come into this work from theory. Decades in the field, a founder who still reads the details himself, and a body of work substantial enough to prove the judgment is repeatable.

39
Years
$120M+
In Projects
12
Started on jobsites
Visual Proof

Credibility shows up in the details.

The point is not decoration for its own sake. It is the difference between work that merely fills the opening and work that feels fully considered, built for the architecture, and worth attaching a name to.

A straightforward steel stair railing with standard geometry
Standard solution

Meets the need.

It does the job, keeps the geometry simple, and stays visually quiet. For many projects, that is the right answer.

Breuder's sculptural vine stairwork with forged grapes and leaves
Breuder solution

Built into the architecture.

The metalwork carries weight visually as well as structurally. It is drawn, forged, and finished so it feels specific to the house rather than interchangeable with a catalog part.

The Crew

A crew clients come back to.

The core team has worked together for decades. Returning specialists come back because the standard is familiar and the respect is mutual.

Six core employees. 35+ years together. Mario is Len's foreman and long-time counterpart in the field. The continuity keeps decisions fast, details protected, and accountability obvious.

Clients never have to guess who's responsible. They know who's making decisions, who's protecting the details, and who will still be on site when the work moves from one phase to the next.

Based in Chicago, with a shop at 401 N Leavitt Street. The reputation is local, long-earned, and tied to built work clients can walk through.

The crew installing custom built-ins — Robinwood residence
Glass-and-steel table from the Breuder archive
Workshop

A Table Takes Shape

Workshop light falling across a steel-and-glass table in progress
Shop Floor

Quiet light in the shop

Credibility

The case for Breuder is already on the record.

Long tenure matters because it leaves a trail. Founder-led work since 1987. A crew that stayed together. Projects substantial enough to show this is not a studio built on pitch language alone.

Founder-Led

Len Breuder founded the company in 1987 after years learning the trades in the field and has remained the central decision-maker ever since.

Long-Tenured Crew

Six core employees with 35+ years together means clients are working with a real team, not a brand fronting a rotating set of subcontractors.

Proven Work

More than $120 million in completed projects across Chicago and the North Shore gives the company a record clients can verify in built form.

Next Chapter

See how that trust turns into a method.

Keep reading — next chapter below

Dining room and kitchen composition opening into one another

The next page is about how Breuder reads a house, chooses the right first move, and keeps the work from getting diluted once it leaves the drawing.

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