.webp?w=3840&q=75)
Golden State Designs in 5 Useful Answers
I did not plan at all, uh, getting into this, uh, industry. My father was a general contractor, uh, in the 80s, um, in Los Angeles. Uh, I am one of four brothers. None of us actually, uh, uh, wanted to, uh, go into construction. Uh, but as a student, uh, in order to put myself through college, I took some, uh, handicap projects, and one thing led, uh, to another, um, and I landed a big job upon my graduation, which I decided to, uh, complete, and the satisfaction I got from it was, uh, was immense. And I decided it was my calling, and I was fortunate enough that I was still able to study for the exams, uh, when my father was alive, and, uh, we passed, uh, we passed the exams. I got licensed and bonded in the state of California. And, uh, we grew. We grew from one, one, one crew, just myself and, and two, uh, uh, helpers into, uh, journeymen and foremen and, uh, and masters. Uh, and today we're a full company, about 34 employees, uh, doing design build in the Northern California region. That's, uh, that's an easy one. Uh, uh, having the ability to envision what the customers want, uh, understanding, being capable of, of listening and understanding their needs of the project, and translating that into the finished product. In other words, uh, sometimes, uh, homeowners want a certain things, but they don't know what the options are or how to achieve it. So we come in as a design build company and actually, uh, help them, uh, see the options and choose together. Um, and then we see the project completed at the end. And I think that's the greatest joy, um, alongside with, uh, actually driving by and seeing stuff that you built, uh, um, a house or, or a structure that you've erected from nothing. That always, uh, gives us, uh, great pleasure. I think over the years, uh, the system that we have developed is pretty unique. So on each group, on each team that we have on a job site, we'll have at least one master. A master is a person that went through the ropes of being a helper, a worker, a journeyman, um, and became a master in the craft. So a master would lead the team and would answer to the foreman and to myself, and, uh, that keeps our quality. Another thing that we do pretty well is that since we are design build, we like to use the same details over and over. So our team becomes, uh, expert, uh, in how to read and how to implement, uh, uh, those details. Um, we like to work with WhatsApp and text messages, uh, if, if we have any questions, and we keep the homeowners, uh, involved, and that also helps a lot. Uh, that's an, that's an easy one. Last year, actually, we had a client that decided to, uh, change interior designers in the middle of the project. Uh, that led us to stop the job, re-evaluate what we were doing, um, conduct, uh, meetings with the new designer and communicate all the changes to our, uh, uh, labor and also to some of the subcontractors. Uh, it took a while, but we were able to, uh, reopen the walls, make the changes, uh, and continue the job and the city inspections schedule. Actually, we delivered the project on time. And I think that was the madness of it all. I mean, trying to do all of that while we still had a schedule to get the, uh, the homeowner and her kids back into the house before the new, uh, school year started. It was, uh, definitely a great laugh and a relief at the end, uh, when we, when we were able, uh, to do that and, and, and got rave reviews. Communication, communication is key with the, if you choose to work with us. Um, communication will be key. We ask questions because we care about the project. We want to know that we're not making any mistakes. We want to know that we're not going to have to come back, uh, and repeat doing stuff or changes on our dime. Um, we want to deliver the project on time and on, on project. So we're very verbal, we're very communicative. We use, uh, whatever is most comfortable for the client, which can be WhatsApp or text or emails. Um, pictures, uh, definitely meetings, but all in all, if I had to put all of those, uh, procedures into one word, it is communication. I think that what set us apart, uh, from other companies, we're quick on the move communications. I'm the owner. I'm on site. You don't have to get through a, a secretary and three foremans in order to, uh, get an answer or in order to make a decision. I, I would say I think the fact that we design build probably gives us an advantage, uh, because we think, we think twice, we think three times and then we implement once. So we, we minimize the amount of mistakes or the, the amount of times we have to call for, for, uh, reinspections and stuff like that and make changes. Uh, that allows us to, uh, actually deliver the project on time and on budget. Uh, we're our processes include, uh, scope of work that is in layman's English, black and white and not some, uh, uh, 3D plans or, or 2D architectural plans and, and engineering details, and our payment schedule is very detailed and the payments always occur after a certain, uh, um, certain part of the job is done. Uh, those things, uh, allow us to keep the, the client engaged, uh, and in the driver's seat, and, uh, and I think very much contribute to our success, and that would probably, those would be the processes will probably differ us from other companies.