We were lucky to catch up with Alan Pierce recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Alan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I started my own residential remodeling company in early 2014. I had just moved back to the US from living overseas and was working in Portland for a local remodeling company that focused primarily on Aging in Place. My most recent construction experience at the time had been managing heavy civil construction projects on a remote island in Indonesia. To acquaint me with U.S. residential construction codes and residential best practices, the company owner recommended enlisting me in a short craftsman apprenticeship. This time was also designed for me to get to know the field team prior to being integrated into their management team. During my six-month apprenticeship, I learned a tremendous amount, took daily notes, videos and photographs and studied seven days a week. I was lucky enough to do my apprenticeship under two excellent lead carpenters and two skilled lead maintenance technicians. Each professional had his own strengths and areas of expertise and expanded my knowledge base enormously.

Midway through my apprenticeship, I started to see the possibility of starting my own company! After discussing it with my partner at the time and with her blessing, we decided to start Revive Works Remodeling.

During my apprenticeship working for the above-mentioned remodeling company, I was lucky to be able to soak up their excellent customer service, punctuality, professionalism and job site cleanliness, while getting the necessary online education, insurance and licenses to be a contractor (General Contractors license, Lead Renovator license, Metro License). During the apprenticeship, my former partner and I also started to slowly build up our store of tools, starting with only one Makita impact and a driver drill set. That’s where it all started.

Once we had a few tools, I started asking friends and family if they had projects that they would like us to take on. We charged them no labor, but in exchange they would buy us the tools and materials to do the project. This accomplished three things for us. It gave us:

1. Projects that could be used as portfolio pieces for our website.
2. Technical experience with many different types of projects which helped build our versatility and overall product knowledge, our tool use and skills, and a stronger understanding of labor needed for different types of projects.
3. A tool inventory so we could do some paid projects. Once the business started to generate revenue, the apprenticeship took up too much time. I needed a part time position with flexible hours. After I explained my situation to my old boss, Kent Belser, he graciously gave me a job, the hours I wanted, and the flexibility I needed to pursue and grow my own company. He also accepted that I would leave whenever the company was ready to stand on its own. Big shout out to Kent; I am forever indebted to him for that. I stayed at the restaurant for about five months, until the revenue from our company was considerably more than my day job. At that point, I left to focus on Revive Works Remodeling full time. Because of my previous experience of managing large scale infrastructure projects, order to shift into the residential field and start my own company, I would spend the next 5-10 years bridging knowledge gaps in a new segment of the construction industry. Outside of the 10-12 hours of actual work in the field, I would commit to a daily regimen of 4-6 hours a night, deepening my knowledge and experience base each and every day.

There are three major job positions a remodeler holds on a day-to-day basis: Business Owner, Project Manager and Craftperson. According to longtime Remodeler, Dave Gerstel, author of “Running a Successful Construction Company”, every remodeler has to become proficient in at least two of the three positions in order to stay in business and thrive. Changing careers at age 30, I knew I had to catch up. I worked and studied for the next five years, sixteen hours a day, seven days a week to bridge the knowledge gap. Although this wasn’t ideal for work life balance, it was necessary to catch up to my contemporaries.

When I wasn’t in the field building projects, I would take every chance I could to spend 20-45 minutes each day talking and learning from ex-contractors with 15-50 years’ experience within the remodeling industry. I talked with folks who worked at Home Depot, read Fine Home Building magazines as well as watching thousands of professional YouTube tutorials from master carpenters and subcontractors from all over the world. I also studied the residential codebook and became a certified Master Builder at the state level as well as a certified Aging in Place Specialist. There is a saying by the great Henry Hartman that I live by: “Success always comes when opportunity meets preparation”.

Alan , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I first got into the industry initially in 2011 by doing a three-month real estate development internship under the COO of a national infrastructure contractor. The internship segued into an opportunity to become a Regional Project Manager. It started with handling one smaller project and then ballooned into managing five projects, one hundred employees and coordinating with four national offices. I left that position overseas in 2012 for family reasons and moved back to the States.

My discipline (Art), craft, and how that translates to remodeling My background prior to entering the construction industry was as a professional fine artist. I had 12 years of formal education in fine arts (drawing, painting, and sculpting) at the middle school, high school and college level and then 14 years pursuing a full-time career in the arts. To my great surprise, shortly after entering the construction industry initially in 2011, I found that my art background and experience was a tremendous help within the field of construction. Art is all creative problem-solving and the seven elements of art (Line, Space, Volume, Tone, Shape, Texture, Color and Value) all translate directly into remodeling, both on the construction side as well as the design and engineering side.

I mostly create figurative art focused on the human form, landscapes, or abstract subject matter. One of my largest inspirations as a young boy was Michelangelo, as he had the ability to create across a wide variety of mediums across many different genres. I try to draw inspiration from anything and anyone around me. It could be anything from going on an international trip and studying the local building styles and materials, which differ from country to country and era to era, or reading a book, or having a conversation with someone. I find that Inspiration is everywhere if you take the time to look and listen.

Having a deep love of the arts in almost every facet, in 2018, I decided to publish a book called “AN ARTISTS’ ODYSSEY: CHASING GHOSTS, MASTERS AND THE BUSINESS OF ART” to help young artists in planning and building a career within the fine arts. It is an amalgamation of my experiences as an art student, art instructor, and exhibiting professional artist over the last 30 years as well as the business lessons I’ve learned running multiple businesses over the same period. It also includes sections by credible subject matter experts.

● Art Website: https://www.alanpierce-art.com
● Art Book link: an-artists-odyssey/an-artists-odyssey-chasing-ghosts-masters-and-the-business-of-art

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of new clients is definitely word of mouth referral business. We try to achieve this by focusing on leaving our clients with the different elements listed below:

● We always strive to treat our clients’ homes like our own and leave clients’ homes either as clean or cleaner than before we arrived.
● Enjoyment of their new space and a strong understanding of what exactly was done to their house and why.
● An open line of transparent communication, and a trust-based, collaborative relationship with us.
● An understanding that we are there to help, serve and educate our clients for future projects and overall construction knowledge.
● Best practices in dust containment and floor protection are something that really resonates with our clients. Personally, cleanliness after completing a project is especially important to me. In my own experience, I remember a contractor who came to my house, fixed a quarter sheet of drywall in our pantry and then left, having covered over 500 bottles and cans with dust. It took myself and one other person almost a full day of removing every single bottle and can, vacuuming, cleaning and wiping lead dust off, wearing an N95 mask, gloves and using a lead particulate HEPA Vacuum to clean it. Needless to say, all of that work could have been avoided with less than 30 minutes of dust containment assembly setup.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

At the heart of it, we have found that building trust through delivering a quality product that matches our clients needs and budget partnered with transparent and consistent communication are the keys to acquiring clientele and repeat clients. We bring a full Design-Build team that we have worked with on many projects over the last decade, including architects, spatial planners, interior designers, our trusted subcontractors and product vendors. Having a Design-Build team ensures that throughout the lifecycle of the project build, we are all in constant contact regarding the project and understand the client’s end goals, budget constraints and timeline.

A Design-Build format also ensures we are involved from the conceptual pre-planning of a project to the architectural design phase all the way through the build until the final permitting and project completion. With each passing year, our goal is always to try to design and build holistically better projects while infusing more artistic creativity into our projects.

Clients often mistakenly associate architectural design or interior design fees with a large overall project budget hike. In reality, thoughtful planning, clarity of vision, value engineering and estimated cost allocations for each product can often reduce the budget or retain the same budget and yield a much better finished project. Design also lowers the risk of rework down the line and ensures our clients get exactly what they have been dreaming about for a reasonable price. When we know our client’s desired level of finish (good, better, best) and maximum budget, we can advise on overall scope early in the project and best guide our clients to the right design team and vendors that are a fit with their budget. I believe that each member involved in the construction process has valuable insight and knowledge specific to their position and training. We look at projects through the different lenses of each subcontractor, architect, designer and vendor. From there we can problem-solve within the design phase and ultimately yield a better project.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.reviveworkspdx.com
• Instagram: reviveworksremodeling
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reviveworks
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/alan-pierce

Image Credits
Alan Pierce