C.R. Schmidt

To achieve this project for a high-end apartment building in Chicago, C.R. Schmidt of Warrenville, IL needed to find an effective installation approach. Olivia Lockett is known colloquially as “the brick chick,” but she and her company are also developing quite a reputation for installing porcelain pavers. For the second year in a row, Warrenville, IL-based C.R. Schmidt, Inc., took home the top prize from Hardscape North America (HNA) for its installation of a commercial porcelain project. At least part of the company’s success is due to its growing expertise in installing the pavers in an environment where some hardscape companies fear to tread: high in the Windy City sky. For its 2018 award, C.R. Schmidt was cited for its installation of 24” X 24” X ¾” pavers on four different exterior levels of Optima Chicago Center (now rebranded Optima Signature), a high-end apartment building erected by Glencoe, IL-based Optima. The job totaled approximately 22,000 square feet. Lockett, the company’s president, explains that C.R. Schmidt was referred to Optima for the job by the manufacturer of the porcelain tiles, Tile Tech Pavers® of Vernon, Calif. Lockett and Tile Tech paired up for work on another premier apartment building in downtown Chicago that won the 2017 award. “For this job, we were at the seventh level, the eighth level, the 20th, and then the roof,” Lockett explains. “Any time we’re getting into those high deck levels — and we typically mean anything above about the third floor of a building — ...