We recently connected with Dave Richardson and have shared our conversation below.

Dave, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Life is too short to be unhappy. So what’s the move when you’re unhappy at your job? Time to make a change. In my case, a complete left turn out of (seemingly) nowhere.
My 26 year-career in public education had run it’s course. I’d taught middle school, then high school. I’d been a high school Vice Principal and Athletic Director, and then come full circle to teach middle school again. Each of my moves had been precipitated by a need for something different. But now that I’d done all of that, what’s the next move?
One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I don’t necessarily make quick decisions, but when I’ve decided something, then I’m ready for it NOW. Around Spring Break of 2023, I had made the decision to leave education and buy a business. What kind of business? What industry? These are questions I had to figure out on the fly.
I looked and looked and found many interesting businesses in numerous industries, but none of them seemed to be the right fit. Some needed industry-specific knowledge, some were out of my price range, some didn’t appear to bring in enough money to be profitable, and so on. A few of them looked good on the surface, but as I dug a little deeper I was able to find the skeletons they were hiding, which made them companies for me to avoid. Then I stumbled upon Oak Grove Custom Cabinets. It seemed to check all of the boxes.
I’ve been at Oak Grove Cabinets almost a year and it’s been great. I knew nothing about the cabinet industry when I purchased the business, so I’ve leaned heavily on the experience of the crew, many who have been with the company for 10+ years, and a few who have stuck around for more than 30 years. There have been bumps along the way, and opportunities for growth (mistakes, mostly the rookie kind). Every day I learn something new about cabinets, running the business, my employees – there’s never a boring day.

Dave, 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?

Oak Grove provides high-end cabinets with excellent service all at a reasonable price. Most of our work comes directly from contractors, who have already developed a relationship with their homeowner clients. Many of the contractors we work with have been working with Oak Grove for 10, 20, or even 30+ years. Once contractors start working with us, they often find it hard to leave. They tell me that it is difficult to find another custom cabinet shop with our same combination of excellence – high quality cabinets, made to order on a relatively short timeline, with a reasonable price.

Although I’ve only been at Oak Grove for about a year now, I’m most proud of how the employees are treated. The majority of them have been here for 10+ years, and several have been around for 30+ years. That only happens by being a place that they want to stay for a long time.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

My goal when I bought this business was to grow it. The business I bought is not the business that the previous owner sold. I took on lots of debt, financing almost the entire purchase price plus working capital, and the previous owner carried no debt at all. This means that I need to grow the business in order to get back to the same level of profitability that the previous owner had.
I had heard, and I confirmed through experience, that growing a business sucks up a lot of cash. In the last 6 months, I have nearly missed payroll several times. I’ve called customers to request they pay before the due date, I’ve offered to pick up checks in person from their office, and had one customer’s check hit the bank just in time for payroll, and then bounce two days later. Luckily I had received additional money in the meantime, so the bounced check didn’t affect the employees’ paychecks at all. Throughout everything, including stressful days and sleepless nights, we haven’t missed payroll once.

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

When I took over the company, all of the vehicles were plain white with no company name, logo, or info of any kind. I asked the owner why this was the case, and he replied that he didn’t want any phone calls complaining about company employees driving poorly. Within a few months, we had wrapped the giant delivery truck as well as our smaller delivery van. Both vehicles now sport the new company logo, as well as our website and phone number. This exposure, combined with a new, updated website has helped expand the number of customers asking for quotes on new cabinets. The demand has been high enough that we just hired another designer/salesperson to handle the increased traffic. Throughout the eight months that our wrapped vehicles have been on the road, I have answered one phone complaint, and it was about how a van was parked in a lot (nothing negative about poor driving).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.oakgrovecabinets.com

Image Credits

All images by company employees while on the job