An-nyeong-ha-se-yo! My name is Travis Kinley, and I have been the owner of Pillar Heating and Air-Conditioning since 2006. I also am a part time teacher at Waubonsee Community college in their Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning department. Before I started Pillar, I was a service technician for 10 years and worked my way up to service manager.  I was the “go to” guy for our mid-sized company. When something out of the ordinary came up that one of the other technicians couldn’t figure out, it was my job to get the customer the satisfaction they required.
I love to teach my customers the best I can about their equipment without getting too technical. The more the customer knows about their system and what I’m doing to it, the more comfortable the customer will feel with the work I perform. That also carries over to my selling. I am not a high pressure sales person. I try not to scare anyone into buying a unit, or tell them that is their only option. When I come out on a service call I will diagnose the problem, let the customer know about their equipment (age, efficiency, and history), cost of repairs and if necessary let the customer know the cost of replacing the equipment and savings on their utilities.
When the opportunity came up in 2006 for me to open my own business, I took it and prayed that God would bless our family and our business. I give God all the credit.  I came up with Pillar Heating and Air from 1 Timothy 3:15 “…the church is the pillar and foundation of truth.” This verse is more than just a neat quote from the Bible. It’s how I choose to live my life and run my business. Honesty is of utmost importance in all aspects of my business.
Pillar Heating and Air is a service driven company. Most of the work I do is residential heating and air conditioning with some light commercial, such as strip malls. I can handle anything that has to do with your furnace and air conditioner except duct cleaning.  I can replace parts and warranty (if applicable) most brands of furnaces and air conditioners, but I only install American Standard furnaces, air conditioners, and humidifiers. When I started my business I could have chosen any brand to sell. However, the only one I wanted to sell was American Standard because of their reliability and accessibility. I believe that the equipment I install is a reflection of my business.
I started this biography with an-nyeong-ha-se-yo which means “hello” in Korean.  The Korean language is very important to me because my son was adopted from Korea in 2009. We are in the process of adopting another son, and we love learning more about the culture and language of our son’s birth country. Thank you for reading more about me and my business, or as they say in Korea, kam-sa-hamnida!