We were lucky to catch up with Beth Pointer recently and have shared our conversation below.
Beth, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?
We take vacations, I think it is crucial to productivity and staff retention. We, as a company, take the entire month of June off each year from working for clients. We will do a week of company reorganization, 2 weeks of actual vacation time, and then a week for a company retreat. We return refreshed right after the fourth of July.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
We started in 2018. After a 20 year career in union organizing, I was feeling burnt out. I had been remodeling homes on the side and volunteering at my local tool library (stationnorthtoollibrary.com) and decided to take the leap to running my own general contracting firm. It has definitely come with its bumps and scrapes, but overall it has been great. We focus on kitchen and bath renovations We are a bit different from most general contracting firms in this area at least. We focus on communication and partnership with clients. We book about a year out for most projects, and that gives us a lot of time to build deep relationships and really understand what a client is looking for in their remodel. That allows for the best design and final finished product. With that kind of planning, we are able to stick to timelines. We have never gone more than a week over schedule for one of our projects. I think that says a lot about the success of our process.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
The most effective strategy for us has been word of mouth. Client satisfaction leads to more customers. The best part of that is that the clients we love working with share a lot of our company values, and do do their friends/referrals. The best customers for us have come that way, not through any outside marketing.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Pay well. Respect them as people. That means honoring their time by: scheduling work with as much advance notice as possible, giving them paid sick time- and encouraging them to use it, planning regular meetings to communicate the needs of the business and allowing them the opportunity to give feedback. Incorporating team feedback isn’t always easy, but when it is possible, it should be done.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.doneconstructionllc.com
- Instagram: doneconstuction
- Other: https://www.houzz.com/pro/beth6791/done-construction-llc