The Pinnacle of Design
Jeremy Van Wagoner wears many hats when remodeling homes
Jeremy Van Wagoner has a knack for walking into a room and seeing a finished remodel in his mind before he even draws up a physical design or swings a hammer. Now the owner of Pinnacle Remodeling, he grew up in the trade. Working alongside his father, Roger Van Wagoner, he was doing trim work and cutting counters by the time he was 12.
“I swore I was never going to do this work,” Jeremy says with a laugh, adding that he didn’t want the stress of owning a construction company. But when he went out on his own, he says, starting with decorative concrete work and then moving into handyman and remodeling jobs, “I started getting more complicated work and I started to enjoy it more when I had to think through the process.” He says it awakened a creativity within him.
By 2003, Pinnacle Remodeling was born. Jeremy always loved the word Pinnacle, defined as being the most successful point, the culmination.
“It’s something to shoot for,” Jeremy says today.
Back then, you could find him working out of his truck, visiting clients and hauling cabinet samples in the back of his rig. He’d often meet at coffee shops. He chuckles as he shares stories of helping clients choose elements of their remodel over the hiss of an espresso machine. He was beginning the slow process of building a reputation and a portfolio to show off his style.
What set him apart was his ability to switch gears at any point during a project.
“I have experience as a cabinet designer, contractor, general contractor, carpenter, designer, structural modification specialist,” Jeremy says. “Because I have experience in all those fields, it’s made it unique. It makes the project feel more seamless.”
While he can facilitate all aspects of a project, those who work with him say it’s his creative eye that sets him apart from the rest. Matt Jansen, also known as Matt the Painter, has been in business for 18 years. He’s worked with contractors from all over the area and has been working with Jeremy going on five years.
“I’m not easily impressed,” Matt says, “but every one of his projects when it’s done has that ‘wow’ factor. He can come up with something that is so unique and cutting edge that it really makes a statement. It’s on another level.”
You witness that as soon as you walk through the door in the Pinnacle Remodeling showroom and design center. Front and center is a waterfall countertop with a mixture of wood and granite right in the middle of a functioning kitchen display. A precision water jet cut both elements to seam them together perfectly, forming a jagged edge that resembles a mountain top.
“After we did this, one of our reps came from Washington and said, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve never seen anything like this,’” Jeremy says. “I had no idea. I didn’t study what’s trendy. I just loved the idea and thought it looked cool.”
Putting the idea in play was a structural feat.
“Normally a granite countertop counterweights itself when it hangs over the bar,” Jeremy says. With half of the counter being wood, he says, “We had to do a steel plate underneath the entire thing to support it.” He then used a metallic epoxy to cement the two pieces together.
Jeremy credits Troy Kale from Magic City Granite for his help on the water jet.
“Troy is pretty creative. He loves doing these kinds of things,” Jeremy says.
If you glean anything about Jeremy, it’s that he’s not dissuaded by complicated design. Take, for instance, a project he led five years ago when Jeff Dyk with Yellowstone Valley Parts and Equipment asked for his help designing a space for his employees that showcased the company’s mission of being a salvage yard parts supplier for all things Caterpillar.
“Jeff wanted it to be an extension of the business, and he wanted it to feel industrial,” Jeremy says.
Opening up the space and removing a bearing wall proved to be Jeremy’s first challenge.
“They actually had a suspended concrete ceiling with a wall support,” Jeremy says. “The ceiling was supporting 70,000 pounds.” He knew a steel beam across the room was needed, along with some heavy-duty steel posts.
Yellowstone Parts and Equipment sits on 20 acres crammed with more than 31,000 Caterpillar parts. Walking the land was all Jeremy needed to nab a vision for the project.
“I went out back and I saw these hydraulic arms,” Jeremy says. “How cool would it be if we could take and make them the beam supports for the room?” In short order, Jeff was having his welder take out the pistons and weld a stopper so that the arms would no longer compress.
“Jeff had his guys in the shop welding and repainting the arms, polishing them to make them look brand new again,” Jeremy says. “Then we had to get a forklift in with lifts in place to lift and hold the beam up while we were adding these hydraulic arms that were then bolted into the concrete.”
In the end, Jeff got a man cave outfitted with Big Chill appliances coated with a custom yellow to match the iconic Caterpillar color. Jeremy used an old intake hood to create unique sconces on the walls. Corrugated metal on the base of the kitchen island added to the industrial flair as did the stainless steel and frosted glass upper cabinets and the vintage laminate style counters with a metal edging.
“I’m probably the only guy in this city that has a man cave that looks like that,” Jeff says with a chuckle. The roughly1,000 square feet of space is the perfect hangout for his employees and is decked out with a pool table, foosball table, shuffleboard, big-screen TVs and a bar area.
“It turned out absolutely amazing,” Jeremy says. “It kind of blows people's minds because they are like, gosh, I never thought that was even possible.”
Regina Griemsman witnessed Jeremy’s design prowess when she took a poorly designed bathroom with quirky flow and created something clean and light with a modern edge.
“He’s so willing to throw ideas out,” Regina says. “He will say, I think this will look cool, what do you think?” Regina remembers walking the lot at Magic City Granite when a slab of royal-blue granite caught her eye. She remembers asking Jeremy, “I really love this piece of granite. What can you do with it?”
It was too small to use as a counter.
“We used it as an art piece to tie all the colors together,” Jeremy says. “We put a plate on the back, wrapped it with lighting and then mounted it to the ground.”
In the end, Regina has a stunning blue accent on her wall with lighting that can be dimmed.
“That’s something I never would have thought of,” she says.
The blue draws the color from the colorful pebble ceramic tiles that adorn one of the bathroom’s walls and accents the shower. Brushed silver light fixtures with LED light strips add the “jewelry” to the room. And, in true Jeremy style, he added impact by cutting the mirrors into partial circles to create visual interest.
“It’s clean and modern,” Jeremy says. “I love the marbling of the granite. You have the stark contrast in color. From that standpoint, it’s one of my favorites.”
On the front of Jeremy’s design center it says, “Concierge Contracting.” It’s a model he’s built his entire business on.
“Have you ever gone into a really nice hotel and there’s a concierge that just takes care of any problem?” Jeremy asks. “I’ve always loved that. That’s always been a part of my motivation when taking care of clients. I found a passion in the serving part of the business. I’m taking care of people.”
And, he’s fueling a creativity that he never knew existed when he stepped onto his first job more than 30 years ago as a teen, working alongside his dad.
“What I love doing with clients is asking, ‘If you could do anything and there were no limitations to what we could do with this space, what would you do?’”
From there, he puts his mind to work trying to bring that vision to life.
“I love having to figure it out,” he says. “That’s something that I can attribute to my dad. One of the most important things he instilled in me was the gift of faith that nothing is too hard. You keep trying until you figure out a way to make it work.”
As Jeremy flips through the photos on his now well-rounded portfolio, he has a story behind every project and a way he took his design and overcame a challenge to make it work.
“When you have a passion for what you do,” Jeremy says, “It makes you better.
