Every design studio says it cares about your home. Purpose Design + Build built its whole practice around proving it, because the founder, Steve Larosiliere, lived through the version of renovation that doesn't care. That lived experience is the reason "purpose by design" isn't a tagline here. It's the actual operating system behind every closet, kitchen, and back porch we build on Chicago's North Side.
This post walks through where that philosophy came from, what it looks like in practice, and why it matters more than the finish carpentry.
- Summary
- The philosophy traces back to a real bad renovation experience, not a branding exercise.
- Safety and trust, not style, are the core design problem PDB solves for.
- The plus symbol in the name stands for connection and building on what already exists.
- Every project follows the same sequence: estimate, design consult, then build, so nothing feels rushed or hidden.
- PDB is neighborhood rooted in Chicago on purpose and has no interest in being a citywide volume shop.
Table of Contents
- What "Purpose by Design" Means at Purpose Design + Build
- The Origin Story: How a Bad Renovation Built a Better One
- The Belief Statement That Runs Every Project
- Design + Build. On Purpose: Breaking Down the Tagline and the Plus
- How the Philosophy Shows Up in the Process
- Neighborhood Rooted, Not National
- Community as Purpose: Giveback Without the Marketing Beat
- Proof in the Client's Own Words
- Frequently Asked Questions
What "Purpose by Design" Means at Purpose Design + Build
People search "purpose by design" for a lot of reasons. Some are looking for a gospel album, some for an architecture firm out east. What we mean by it is narrower and, honestly, more personal. Every closet, cabinet, and kitchen we build starts with a stated purpose: how you actually live in the room, not how a showroom photo says you should live in it.
That sounds simple until you've sat across from a homeowner who's been quoted three different prices for the same kitchen island and told three different timelines. Design by purpose means the design decisions trace back to a reason we can say out loud, not to what's trending or what's easiest for us to build. A pantry gets deeper shelving because you buy in bulk. A built-in gets a hidden outlet because you told us where the router actually lives. Small things, but they're the whole job.
The Origin Story: How a Bad Renovation Built a Better One
During the pandemic, Steve was living in Michigan while his Chicago home was mid-renovation. His wife ran everything from a distance: project management, mood boards, budgeting, chasing down answers. The contractors did solid work. The communication around that work was rough. Nobody was carrying the mental load of the project, so she carried it alone. It wasn't just their household, either. National data shows remodeling activity spiked during the pandemic, and a lot of homeowners went through that same disconnect at the exact same time.
At the same time, Steve was making charcuterie boards at his in-laws' sawmill in Michigan, donating half the proceeds, and wanting a brand that had his own name behind it. That became Purpose Wood Co., the origin brand inside the larger Purpose family.
Put those two things together and you get the gap he saw: a design and build firm that starts homeowners with something manageable, closets, cabinets, custom furniture, and earns the bigger jobs by actually showing up. Purpose Design + Build launched in spring 2024. The throughline is simple and it's the whole brand: a homeowner who lived the bad version of this experience went and built the good one.
The Belief Statement That Runs Every Project
Steve puts it this way: "Your space should feel like you. And everyone deserves to feel heard, trusted, and creatively alive in the process of making it happen. That's Purpose."
Read that again slowly, because the operative words aren't "space" or "feel." They're heard, trusted, and creatively alive. Those are process words, not finish words. A homeowner can end up with a gorgeous kitchen and still feel none of those three things if the process ran over them instead of with them.
Safety and Trust as the Core Design Problem
The construction industry has a trust problem, and it's not subtle. Homeowners get overcharged, ghosted mid-project, and talked down to about their own homes. Renovation is one of the biggest financial decisions most people make, and it's also one of the most vulnerable, because it happens inside the place where they live.
There's a sharp way to name the category's biggest lie: every contractor claims to care about your home. Almost none prove it. That's the core design problem PDB is actually solving. Not "how do we make a nice built-in" but "how do we make someone feel safe handing over their home and their budget to us." Every clear timeline, every fast reply, every walkthrough where we explain the why behind a material choice, that's trust-building disguised as project management. Research from consumer protection groups consistently shows home improvement complaints rank among the most common issues homeowners report, which tells you the bar in this industry is lower than it should be.
Design + Build. On Purpose: Breaking Down the Tagline and the Plus
The tagline is Design + Build. On Purpose. The one-liner is your neighborhood design studio. Both are locked and both are doing real work, not just filling space on a business card.
The plus in the middle of the name isn't decoration. It's the core symbol of the brand. It means connection, and it means building on what already exists rather than tearing it out and starting from a blank slate. That's true of the wordmark and it's true of how we actually approach a house. We rarely gut a room to make it feel new. We look for what's already original to the space and design around it, whether that's a transom window, existing sightlines, or a wall that just wants a wood slat treatment instead of demo.
You'll notice project and service names get set off in quotation marks on our site and on job site signage, like "KITCHEN" or "BUILT-IN" or "BACK PORCH." That's a deliberate reference, not styling for its own sake. It's a small signal that every project has a name and an identity before it has a price tag.
How the Philosophy Shows Up in the Process
Philosophy is easy to write on a website and hard to keep alive on a job site. Here's how it actually plays out, step by step.
Week One: What a Design Consult Actually Produces
The offer sequence is intentionally simple: you start with an estimate, move to a paid design consult, and for bigger jobs like kitchens, baths, and additions, we do an in-person visit before anything gets scoped. Nobody signs a contract in week one. Instead, week one produces a real picture of the project: rough dimensions, material direction, a sense of budget range, and a timeline you can actually plan your life around.
This matters because the category hides pricing by default, and hiding it is exactly what makes homeowners nervous. If you want a sense of what real numbers look like for a gateway project, our breakdown of custom woodwork costs in Chicago walks through closets, built-ins, and cabinetry pricing with actual ranges instead of vague promises.
From Closet to Kitchen: The Gateway Philosophy
Most clients don't come to PDB asking for a full kitchen remodel on day one. They come in through a gateway project: a closet system, a set of cabinets, a piece of custom furniture. That's on purpose, not a limitation. It's a low-risk way for a homeowner to see how we communicate, how we handle a change order, and whether the finished work matches what we said it would look like.
Once that trust is built, the bigger jobs follow naturally: kitchens, bathrooms, basements, accent walls, back porches, even concrete and flooring work. If you're early in that process, our guide on design essentials for Chicago homeowners covers what to think through before you commit to anything bigger than a closet.
Neighborhood Rooted, Not National
Purpose Design + Build is a Chicago company, full stop. Not a citywide volume operation, not a franchise model, not a lead-gen funnel with a local mailing address bolted on. Competitors in this category, from established full-service firms to volume-driven remodelers, tend to miss the same thing: a relationship-based experience that's actually rooted in a specific place.
That rootedness isn't a marketing angle. Steve lives here, walks his dog here, and shows up on his own job sites in the neighborhoods he serves. Chicago's neighborhoods function as source material for the brand, not as a list of service areas to swap city names into.
The Chicago Neighborhoods We Build In
PDB works across Andersonville, Edgewater, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Lincoln Square, Logan Square, Wicker Park, Bucktown, Ravenswood, Old Town, North Center, Roscoe Village, Rogers Park, and the North Side more broadly. Each of these neighborhoods has different housing stock, from vintage greystones to newer construction, and that shapes what a built-in or an accent wall actually needs to look like to feel original to the house rather than dropped in from a catalog. The Chicago Architecture Center has documented how much Chicago's greystone housing stock varies block to block, which is a big part of why a one-size-fits-all built-in never quite looks right.
Community as Purpose: Giveback Without the Marketing Beat
School sponsorships, food pantry donations, Coffee + Design meetups, these things happen because they fit naturally into how PDB operates, not because they make a good post. The Peirce school sponsorship and the giveback work tied to Purpose Wood Co. are woven into the business the same way a job site is: quietly, and because it's the right thing to do in the neighborhood you actually live in.
This is sponsor energy rather than advertising energy. You don't announce that you care about a community. You buy the coffee, you show up at the restaurant, you bump into a past client at the farmers market and catch up about how the closet's holding up. That's the whole strategy, and it works because it's true.
Proof in the Client's Own Words
Claims are cheap in this industry. Reviews from actual clients carry more weight, which is why PDB leans on them instead of adjectives. At a 5.0 rating across 21 Google reviews, a few stand out:
- "How refreshing to have a great, pain free experience with home renovations!" Lisa
- "The entire process was so thoughtful and, pun intended, purposeful." Jessica Angelica
- "It looks like it was meant for, or original to, the space." Amy Dusto
- "He's part of the community and goes above and beyond to ensure you're happy." Kell Fahey
- "You can genuinely tell he cares about the quality of his work and about his clients." Evi Guinto
Notice what these reviews are actually praising. Not just finished square footage, but feeling heard, feeling like the work belonged in the house, and feeling like someone local actually cared. That's the belief statement showing up in someone else's words instead of ours.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does "design build on purpose" mean for my project?
It means every design decision on your project has a stated reason tied to how you actually live, not to trends or convenience for the builder. It also means the process itself, communication, timelines, and follow-through, is treated as part of the product, not an afterthought to the finished space.
Who is Steve Larosiliere and why does he show up on job sites?
Steve is the founder, owner, and creative director of Purpose Design + Build. He's the face of the brand and shows up on his own projects because the company was built specifically to fix the communication gaps he experienced during his own home renovation. Clients regularly name him directly in reviews.
How much does a renovation cost with Purpose Design + Build?
It depends heavily on the project. Gateway jobs like closets and cabinetry start at a lower range and scale with materials and complexity, while kitchens, bathrooms, and additions require an in-person visit to scope accurately. We publish real cost ranges rather than hiding pricing, starting with our breakdown of custom woodwork costs.
What's the difference between the estimate and the design consult?
The estimate is a first look based on what you tell us about the project. The design consult is a paid step that goes deeper into materials, dimensions, and design direction, and for larger projects it's followed by an in-person visit before any contract is signed.
Does Purpose Design + Build only work on small projects like closets?
No. Closets, cabinets, and custom furniture are the gateway, but the full scope includes kitchens, bathrooms, basements, built-ins, accent walls, back porches, concrete, flooring, and paint. Many clients start small and move into bigger projects once trust is established.
What neighborhoods does Purpose Design + Build serve?
We work throughout Chicago's North Side, including Andersonville, Edgewater, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Lincoln Square, Logan Square, Wicker Park, Bucktown, Ravenswood, Old Town, North Center, Roscoe Village, and Rogers Park.
If any of this sounds like the renovation experience you wish you'd had the first time, that's kind of the point. Reach out through purposedesignbuild.com and get an estimate, or better yet, HMU if you've already got design ideas rattling around. We'd rather start the conversation there than with a pitch.