Big50: Business Savvy

Design/build remodeling
12 years in business
2006 volume: $1.1 million
Staff: 1 office, 3 field

A Marine, paramedic, and neonatal nurse before he became a remodeler full-time, Rob Mathews chalks up much of his company's success to his previous careers' exacting standards. “Systems are huge” at Curb Appeal Renovations, he says. “In the medical field, we called them algorithms,” and in medicine and the military, “there's often one way to do things. If you deviate left or right, someone is going to die.”

Mathews acknowledges that the stakes aren't as high in remodeling, yet he still obsesses with “the smallest details.” For instance, he and co-owner Robin Burrill, who is also his wife, created Premier Custom Cabinetry in response to problems with the quality and delivery times of subcontracted cabinetry. Designed using 3-D software, cabinets are customized to the inch and handmade using only solid wood and quality hardware.

“We educate our clients,” Mathews says. “We tell them right off the bat, ‘If you want something done inexpensively, using shortcuts, we're not the ones.'” A deliberate effort to increase job size has transformed Curb Appeal Renovations' revenue stream, from 265 smaller jobs in 2002 to 24 much bigger projects in 2006. This is helped by highly systematized marketing, including an 8,000-name database, drawn in part from public records, that fosters targeted marketing and careful screening using factors such as home values and location. L.T.

Full-service remodeling
17 years in business
2006 volume: $2.9 million
Staff: 3 office, 7 field

A licensed building inspector and member of several industry organizations, Michael Spreckelmeier's (front row, center) affiliations require that he get a dozen or so continuing education credits every two years. How many does the president of Progressive Builders actually get? “About 100 hours a year,” he says. “It's not required, but I really enjoy it.”

It's no surprise, then, that education for the rest of his staff is also a priority. In 2006, more than three-quarters of Progressive Builders' employees traveled out-of-state for educational events. Often, expenses such as airfare, hotel, and event registration can cost more than $1,000 per attendee.

What makes it worthwhile? “Employees have to come back and teach the rest of us about what they learned,” Spreckelmeier says. “That helps attendees absorb the education they receive while they're on the road. They pay closer attention and really look for the ways different business solutions or production techniques apply to our company.”

In addition to off-site education, Progressive Builders has invested in computer training to get the staff up to speed on the laptop computers recently purchased for superintendents. “There's a spread of computer knowledge here,” Spreckelmeier says. “The youngest employee had a computer in his kindergarten classroom, while some of the older employees just started using computers 10 years ago. Now all our timesheets and change orders are filed electronically and we keep daily jobsite logs. This lets our company run much more efficiently.” —L.H.

Full-service remodeling
17 years in business
2006 volume: $6.8 million
Staff: 4 office, 9 field

Steven Albert and his staff aren't lacking for work in the San Francisco Bay Area. “This region has a tremendous number of homes in need of attention,” says the owner of SEA Construction. In addition to the volume of older homes, ranging from turn-of-the-century Victorians to 1970s and 1980s homes beginning to show their age, the company's business approach is what keeps new jobs coming its way.

By age 20, Albert had already been building and remodeling homes on his own and in 1988 found that the “traditional” approach to organizing those jobs just wasn't working. “The architect, the contractor, the homeowner, the engineer — we were all on separate pages and not coordinated,” he says. “I set out to start a design/build firm where everyone would be at the same table to help the homeowner come up with the best project at the best price.”

Now SEA Construction has all its design services in-house, from architecture to interior design. Albert says that the first few years were “pretty lean” because the management style was foreign to prospective customers. But things have turned around. “Clients can see us in action and understand how comprehensive and precise we are with the plans for their project.” —L.H.

Design/build remodeling
11 years in business
2006 volume: $2 million
Staff: 2 office, 9 field

The Hammerschmidts spent many years giving architect-referred clients a dose of reality on budgets. “We were continually placed in the position of being the bearer of bad news on budget and expectations,” John says.

So, two years ago, the company switched to a design/build process. The firm specializes in taking projects from conception to completion with an average job size of $100,000. The company does work within a 20-mile radius of Los Altos, an area that includes Stanford University. About 95% of the work is with repeat clients and referrals. “It's imperative to form partnerships with customers from project inception and beyond,” Lynn says. One feature of that partnership is helping customers select products before the project begins. They also encourage customers to work with an interior designer and to bring that person into the process early.

Other improvements at the company include creating an operating procedures manual, sending its estimator to a CAD course at a nearby college, and becoming a certified green builder through a local program. —N.P.

Full-service remodeling
20 years in business
2006 volume: $1.7 million
Staff: 1 office, 2 field

Duane Stiemert (far left) expects to have his clients take care of all their selections in Marymoor Construction's new idea center. “We don't send them out shopping — once you do that you've lost them,” he explains.

Marymoor Construction's sweet spot is a $250,000 addition that includes a kitchen and a bathroom remodel. Stiemert prefers to have his clients work with experts on design and selection, leaving him to focus on what his company does best — construction management. “Some clients have a hard time understanding the drawings. I'd rather the architect explains to them,” he says. When necessary, Stiemert also brings in interior designers to work with clients on product and paint selection. “I bring in people to make my life easier,” he says.

Stiemert also uses subcontractors for all the contracting, and has a full-time project manager who handles scheduling.

He is better able to control costs with subs. “We have experts working on each part of the job. There are ways to stay number one on their list. We pay them well, pay them immediately, and we do not haggle,” he says. —N.P.

Design/build remodeling
19 years in business
2006 volume: $2.6 million
Staff: 1 office, 10 field

Gregory Smith made “the big leap” from lead carpenter to business owner in 1988, necessitated by moonlighting work that peaked with “an $80,000 job that I couldn't do on the side,” he says. It was another decade or so before he took the step that transformed his comfortable practice into a systematized business. “I stopped being in the field,” Smith says.

Since then, Smith (center) has handed off increasing responsibility to his lead carpenters; computerized estimating, job tracking, and accounting; created a company manual; embraced job “autopsies”; joined a peer review group; and begun work on a strategic action plan. “I'm trying to kick everyone up to the next notch,” he says. Jobs have gotten bigger, and he's been able to dabble in new endeavors, such as limited speculative building in coveted urban neighborhoods.

Smith was a savvy marketer even before he hung up his toolbelt. He's had a Web site for seven years, and constant refinement keeps it a strong lead source. He is proudest, however, of his volunteer service, especially a program that helps high school students remodel the homes of their less-privileged neighbors. —L.T.