Big Ass Solutions has come a long way since its inception in 1999. Founded as the HVLS Fan Company, the company realized there was a need in the industrial market for spaces like barns and warehouses that are so large and open that air conditioning is not effective. Since creating that very first fan for such areas, Big Ass Solutions blossomed into a full service provider of not just fans for the industrial, commercial, and even residential markets, but lighting as well.
“We never imagined that the company would grow as large as it has, or [provide] the breadth of products and services it now offers,” said Carey Smith, Chief Big Ass. “Our success is based on our ability to solve our customers’ problems and the fact that we’ve never been afraid to try new things.”
Read on to see how the company evolved from just big fans to even bigger solutions.
1999
HVLS Fan Company hits the scene with its first “big ass fan,” measuring a whopping 20 feet in diameter (today they measure up to 24). Initially meant to cool cows in dairy barns and improve milk production, it helped HVLS realize that, similarly, when people are comfortable they will also be more productive in factories and warehouses.
2002
The company officially changes its name to Big Ass Fans, after years of customers calling to ask: “Hey, are you the guys who make those big-ass fans?” The name stuck. People also started to get creative with these behemoths, placing them into larger public and commercial spaces.
2006
Big Ass Fans begins to design a completely silent and energy-efficient motor technology to better accommodate these new uses, which leads to the first targeted commercial fans: Element, Isis, and Essence.
2012
The first versions of the renowned Haiku fan are introduced with a similar technology, developed for yet another new frontier for Big Ass Fans: the residential market. This brand would be its first foray into more standard-sized product (52 to 84 inches in diameter), but Haiku is widely used in commercial spaces as well.
2014
This was a big year for the company as it rolled out a new division: Big Ass Light, producing a series of heavy-duty industrial LED
fixtures. It also reorganized into Big Ass Solutions as an umbrella, with Big Ass Fans and Big Ass Light underneath. SenseME technology
was added to the Haiku products, a smart functionality that includes occupancy sensors, temperature and humidity regulation, as well as voice control with devices such as Amazon’s Alexa.
2016
A landmark year for the Haiku fan as it spawned its own brand: Haiku by Big Ass Solutions, which now includes the Haiku color-shifting smart light. The Haiku Artisan Collection was also launched, giving local artists the opportunity to use Haikus as their new canvases.
(Artists interested in adding to the line can visit haikuhome.com/artisancollection/call-to-artists.)
