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HPS Palo Alto, Inc. in 5 Useful Answers
Well, the first thing I think is that we've been around a long time. were a group of of fairly well experienced uh seen it all kind of construction people. Um we uh we're very team oriented. Um this the reason for the emphasis on the the team so much in our particular business is because we need uh we have long-term relationships with our customers and we need the redundancy. So uh acting as a team uh removes a lot of the oh only Joe knew about this or only Tim knew about that. It's um we have some coverage overlapping coverage. So if u one of our uh technicians or employees is out for vacation or or for not available for some reason there, there's always someone who knows about these homes and what needs to be done with them. So that's just a broader level of service. Well, I think the first thing was early on finding a lot of poorly designed installations like decks and outdoor sighting and roofing uh that was um uh one not designed for durability and longevity but also wasn't maintained properly afterwards. So uh instead of getting a full life of these particular uh materials, they were sometimes rotted and had to be thrown out and and replaced way ahead of their time. So it got me thinking about, you know, design actually construction design for durability, longevity, and easy maintenance. So that was the the beginning of the the thinking and uh eventually I had a a project where one of my customers came to me and was very very happy with the work that we did and asked me if we could please come back on a regular basis and keep it nice all the time because as wonderful as her husband was, he was a busy technical guy and uh did not have the skills and or interest in actually taking care of the home. She wanted the the home to stay nice all the time. And uh I actually um am grateful to her for actually inspiring us because I thought, "Wow, if one of my customers feels this way, uh I bet you there's others around here that would too." So that actually inspired me to go out and create the home preservation systems and checklists and task uh that are necessary to do that that we use today actually. Well, first of all, the industry is a wreck right now, I think. Um, but the what sets us apart is our our philosophy of proactive care instead of reactive care. Essentially, the home service industry reacts to problems. When it when they break, we'll fix it. Home preservation, our philosophy is let's keep it from breaking to begin with. um eliminates the stress, the inconvenience and the disasters that happen. Um and also reduces the costs and improves the enjoyment of living in the home. Um living waiting for the next disaster to happen is kind of a I I mean I personally don't like to live that way and our customers don't either. And so that's the the most appealing thing and I think that's what we h have to offer that is so different than the rest of the industry. I'm I'm I'm actually hoping we can revolutionize some thinking about how you take care of things in the in the in the future. The first thing they should ask themselves is do you love your home? Do you love your home enough to take care of it properly? The home is a huge asset. It's worth taking care of and it's worth keeping at its maximum value all the time. If you answer that question to as yes, perfect customer because we will do everything we can to keep that home and give you the tools you need to keep that home in its excellent excellent ready to sell condition. Well, the first thing we do is we find good people. We need good people. We need people that are stay we that stay with us, low turnover. Um and so we take our time and hiring uh the best people and we take care of them. Second, we have to function as a team. Uh the people that we have uh have to have redundancy and knowledge about the homes that we care for. So working as a team is real important. In order to do that, um I hired an ex-general manager of the San Francisco Giants to be our CEO. And um he's done a wonderful job creating a a a team, a professional team out of a bunch of um construction individuals. So uh our commitment is is in action there. Um the rest of it comes down to organizational structure um sophisticated scheduling and tracking systems and ongoing training and education which is all a part of our everyday life at home preservation.