CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. — September 21, 2026 — Innovative Home Concepts has been named one of the best roofers and one of the best home remodelers in McHenry County in the Northwest Herald’s 2026 Best of the Fox awards, announced September 19, 2026.
The recognition covers two separate categories. The company has been recognized in the program since 2011. In every previous year it asked for the votes. This year it did not.
“I remember in 2011, winning our first Best of the Fox award. It was a thrill. We really pushed — asking our customers to vote for us, asking people we knew, associates and business relations. Over the years we kind of did that every year, where we pushed to win the award. But this year we’ve just been so extremely busy, we just didn’t even have time to do that.”
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Rhett Wilborn, president and founder, Innovative Home Concepts
The result came in anyway, in both categories.
“To win it, voted one of the best roofers and one of the best home remodelers, is a great honor. And it’s an organic honor. Customers and people that know us in the community voted for us. We’re very proud of it.”
How the Best of the Fox awards work
Best of the Fox is the Northwest Herald’s Readers’ Choice Awards program, decided by reader vote rather than by a panel. The Northwest Herald reported that the 2026 program spanned 165 categories and 495 total awards, with more than 82,000 votes cast.
Each category recognizes three honorees: one “Best Of” winner and two “One of the Best” honorees. Innovative Home Concepts was named a “One of the Best” honoree in both the roofing and the home remodeling categories. The 2026 awards celebration was held in Crystal Lake.
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“Every year when the announcement comes, we get a call from the Northwest Herald and they tell us if we won and what we won. And every year, it’s a thrill.”
Fifteen years in the program
“I think it means a lot to our customers too, because having been in contention or winning the award since 2011, that’s 15 years, it just shows the longevity of our company. And that we’re here to stay.”
Wilborn is the second generation of his family in the exterior trades. His father, Terry Wilborn, founded Rainyday Seamless Aluminum Gutter Company in 1974 after returning from Vietnam. His son, Skyler Wilborn, is a sales consultant and designer at Innovative Home Concepts.
“My son has really taken the baton, and he’s impressed me more than anything.”
About Innovative Home Concepts
Innovative Home Concepts is a women-led, family-owned exterior remodeling contractor at 4410 IL-176, Ste 1 in Crystal Lake, Illinois, serving McHenry County and northern Illinois since 2005. The company installs siding, roofing, windows and doors, and gutter systems, and supports homeowners through storm damage insurance claims.
Innovative Home Concepts is a James Hardie Select Contractor and the only Hardie-certified installer in McHenry County, McHenry County’s only Andersen Elite Certified Contractor, an LP SmartSide Certified Contractor, a CertainTeed ShingleMaster, and the exclusive GutterShutter dealer for McHenry and Lake Counties. The company holds Illinois roofing license #104.015093, is BBB accredited with an A+ rating, and has completed more than 7,000 projects with 400+ Google reviews at 4.6 stars.
Other recognition includes the Daily Herald’s 2025 Readers Choice award in the window and door category, Remodeling Magazine’s Big 50, and Qualified Remodeler’s Top 500.
Media contact: Innovative Home Concepts, (815) 356-9020, info@innovativehomeconcepts.com, innovativehomeconcepts.com
Source: “Best of the Fox 2026 winners ‘make McHenry County special’”, Northwest Herald / Shaw Local, September 19, 2026.
