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3 Generations Improvements in 5 Useful Answers
[music] Yes, thank you for asking. I got in the industry. I'm third generation. So, my grandpa Bob, um, started in the construction industry in the 1950s, my dad in the 1970s, and then myself out of college, um, in the early 2000s is when I joined the family business. So, uh, a long family history, but that's how I got started. Yeah. The main thing that we do is our secret sauce is communication. I think a lot of contractors may be good at their trade, and a lot of them are great at it. They're good at their carpentry. They're good at what they do, but what they lack is communication. And for us, we invite communication. We're very responsive via email, via text, via call. If someone has a question, we don't let it linger. And I think that's what a lot of people struggle with is that there may be a small problem on a job site, but if you let it go 24 or 48 hours, that small thing becomes a big thing. So, I think communication for us is key. The second thing is job site presence. I think a lot of times when you get bigger companies that have like a sales organization and an install team and all this stuff, a sales guy will sell the job and then they'll send it to their install team and they may not show up on that job when it's going on until they want to pick up the check. And that's that's another big no no for us because those questions, what you said was going to happen may not happen. And so for us, it's communication and job site presence. Those are our two keys to kind of deliver that high quality. This is a good question. It's an interesting one because the one that we get and the one I don't understand that homeowners do is they ask for a reference from your company. You know, they want to call or they want to email somebody, which is great. You know, they have the right to do that, but you know, a company's not going to give you their worst, their worst project or worst customer. They're going to give you their best. So to us, that's not really a good judge of who you are as a company. I think the question to ask would be, hey, can you give me an example of a project that didn't go well and then what happened because I think that's really what kind of gives you integrity, the sign of what the company's all about. And maybe you look at a review that's not so good and you say, "Hey, can you tell me about this project? What happened? And how did you respond? How did your company respond to that complaint?" And I think that's where you're going to get really the true metal of that company. Another one is, you know, obviously the obvious one is how are you different? A lot of times people are looking at the same product and you're just kind of saying, okay, all these companies have the same product, so you know, they're all the same. And obviously that's not true and not the case. So ask how are you different? Um, the other thing is is how how is your team improving? How are you staying on top of industry trends? How are you staying on top of your brands that you carry? Are you being trained continually? All those things are important for a homeowner because it's really going to, it's really going to change the way the project, you know, completes. Yeah. For us, I mean, it's longevity. I mean, with me being the third generation with our roots starting in the 50s, that gives us a unique advantage of experience. And I think experience when you come, when it comes to building materials like siding and windows, we've installed it all. We've installed, you know, first generation steel and vinyl and, you know, all the composite woods and now the fiber cements. There's been all of these different materials that have come along over generations that, you know, we have experience with. We know how long they've lasted on a home. We know how many warranty claims they've had. So, longevity to us is huge. And then obviously that true family approach where you are getting a company that is family centered. And we have a slogan. It's not just your home, it's our legacy. And that's really how we treat our projects. We treat it like it's our own home. And what if my son wants to take over the business? We're treating it like that. What if we have a fourth generation come on? Um, we want to make sure it's built on a strong foundation. Yeah, good question. For us, you know, it starts with a professional measure. It starts with, um, people who know how to install the materials. So you're able to kind of see the project being installed as you're measuring it. So with that, we're able to kind of see potential pitfalls. We draft a very professional proposal. Um, this isn't a number on the back of a business card. This is a very well thought out multiple page proposal with options and that really helps because it shows the homeowners this is exactly what we're doing and there's no gray area on what's included and what's not included. So it starts with that. You know, back to that communication. We communicate all the way through from answering questions about the proposal to starting the job. Um, you know, job site presence again, we want to make sure we show up. We're there. We the questions are answered as we're going. And again, we're inviting those questions. If you have a question, ask it because we'd rather you ask it than stew about it for multiple days and it be, you know, a big problem. And then, you know, obviously, finally, it's just that white glove family experience. You know, my dad and myself are the owners of the business. We are front and center, so they know who we are. We're communicating with them. And I think it gives homeowners peace of mind that they're getting the full approach of a family that's going to take care of their house. And there's a lot of peace of mind. There's a lot of like understanding that they're going to get the top of the line in the industry. Yeah. For us, I mean, it starts with materials that we carry. Um, first off, we make sure that we are trained by the manufacturers. Whatever training programs they have, we get involved. We're at the top of all of those. Whether that's Anderson Windows or LP Smart Side Siding or James Hardy Fiber Cement Siding, we're their top designation because we do the training and they know that we're going to take care of the manufacturer in terms of good installations. So, that's step one. Step two, we go to industry events. We typically like to go to one or two a year, um, just to make sure that we are staying on top of what's new, what's coming, and, um, you know, if there's a new product or service that's out there that can improve what we do, we want to make sure we're a part of that. Um, also, you know, listening to podcasts, reading books, for me, I have my own podcast, so I'm constantly talking to other people in the industry, so networking is giant for us. Um, we're basically talking to people around the nation all year round. And yes, they do the same thing that we do, but it's great because they may do something different in Texas than we do here. And we're able to chat with each other and figure out the best approach for your home. So, for us, it's all year round. It's constant, but we enjoy it. And because we enjoy it, we want to keep learning.