This last weekend we hosted an Open House for a major remodel we had completed at the end of last year. It is something we do for our clients so they can show off their new homes to family and friends. Providing the wine, beer and catering for them allows them to enjoy the moment and entertain their friends. These particular clients were dear to us as they are truly joyful people and working with them for as long as we did was a pleasure. The homeowner pulled everyone into the upper dining room and gave a heartfelt speech thanking the caterer, their realtors and us. After her speech the realtor turned to me and voiced his surprise, “I am just so surprised that you are all friendly after such a large project.”
It struck me that the service we provide our clients is not standard. I have never been personally involved in a project that didn’t get my full attention, Mikhail’s meticulous attention to detail not only during the construction but also while building a tight nit schedule. My response to him was not as detailed as I will give you but hit on these very points.
Our Commitment
Mikhail and I are both passionate about changing peoples lives. Remodeling houses just happens to be our medium. Mikhail loves helping our subcontractors be successful in their own businesses and is continually helping them implement their own processes and sharing best practices with them and our in-house crew. Our goal and motivation is twofold. First, to improve the lives of our crew and subcontractors by improving their workflow so they can be more efficient and thus more profitable. Small business contractors often struggle to properly run a business because they are truly craftsman, and Quickbooks is not their forte. And that is ok, because I want them to be masters of their trade. But running a profitable business insures they will be around in 5, 10 and 20 years. Secondly, we wish to impact our clients lives by transforming their home into a peaceful, warm and positive place to reside. The research is conclusive, your environment directly impacts your state of mind. We hope to transform our community one remodel at a time.
Our Process
Mikhail and I have hired business coaches, attended seminars and continually refine our internal processes. Why does this matter? In any remodel, large or small, there are hundreds of moving pieces, if one gets missed, the whole cog malfunctions. We do not claim perfection, we are all still human, but we strive to minimize human errors by the implemented checklists and processes we have in place.
Co-Construct
Our project management software acts like a digital sticky note. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night thinking you forgot to tell your contractor you changed your mind about a paint color…panic, right? Well, with Co-Construct you can simply open the app and under the Paint Color Selection item you can make a comment about changing the paint color OR you can see that you did in fact tell him that morning because Mikhail made a note in Co-Construct regarding the new color. Phew!
In addition, Co-Construct has a real time job schedule, financials including payments and the ability to digitally approve change orders. We like to joke that you could be in Mexico for the duration of your project and not miss a thing. But in reality, you could because job photos get uploaded every day, schedule updates notify you (or not, your preference) and you can make light fixture, appliance, paint color, and any other decisions remotely.
Not every client becomes our BFF but we would like to make that our goal. Our ambition is to provide you with a construction process that you would want to go through again. And while any construction project is inherently stressful, we strive to alleviate that stress by guiding you through every decision.
Our process is not for everyone, if you want to be swinging a hammer (beyond that ceremonious first blow on Demo Day) for example, then we are likely not the right fit for you and your job. And that is ok. There is a contractor out there for everyone. We hope to be the one that takes your vision from a restaurant napkin to a beautiful home, if you want to know more, please reach out to us via email or phone and we will talk more!
Horrible contractor relationships may be the norm but all that is normal for me is providing excellent communication and delivering a suburb project. I know now that I can be proud of all the work that we have put into our processes and know that our company is special in the way we treat our clients. I feel very blessed to be apart of Gannage Design & Construction and look forward to another year of transformation.
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