Exploring Our Versatility: Capable & Willing To Handle Both Big & Small Projects
Hi everyone and welcome to another week in the “Why Do We Do Something” series. This week we’re going to address why The Lifestyle Group does both large projects and small projects for clients. Stated differently, why don’t we focus on a certain size of project or a certain type of project?
A lot of people may follow us on social media (please do) and assume that we only do big fancy projects, not realizing that we do a lot of smaller remodeling and almost handyman related projects as well. We do enough of the smaller ones that we often say we don’t really care about the price point of a project. And, it’s true.
When we started this business, our only option was to do a lot of small projects. Our reputation for doing things with high quality led to some relationships where we would get brought in on larger, fancier projects from time to time over the years. As you might imagine, we didn’t say no to those opportunities. The truth is we are only looking for three things to determine whether or not we want to do a project.
- Is the client nice?
- Is the client reasonable?
- Do our budgets relatively align?
We will change a doorknob for somebody as long as we can help that client understand what it might cost us to come and change that doorknob. At The Lifestyle Group, we have the luxury of having 6 very talented carpenters who aside from being great people have also been gifted to be able to do a lot of different things. Having those people on staff allows us to control quality and to control schedule. And then we can supplement our team from time to time with great tile partners, great drywall partners, great painters and some other talented folks that will help us accomplish the projects we take on. These great people allow us the ability to get a lot of things accomplished, but in the world of remodeling our schedule is never consistent. Given that, we must exercise incredible flexibility to service our clients. What we tend to do is use the smaller projects to be the fillers when one of our partners comes in on a larger project. So, if the drywallers have a week at a large project, we might take care of 1-2 smaller things we’ve been asked to help with during that 4-5 day period.
We actually like doing small projects for nice people. I wouldn’t say that we are of a mindset that we want to do 600 of these projects a year, but what I have come to know is that our willingness to do small things serves as a gateway that leads to doing bigger projects down the road because doing those small projects creates trust and solidifies relationships. People quickly learn we will take care of them.
The key to our success is that we don’t care what somebody spends and that’s really, important to understand. Our job as we see it is to help you understand what things cost and if we can add value by doing the project for you, then we’re going to add that value, but we will never tell you what you must do. We’re always going to trust that you’ll know how you want to spend your own money and you will ask for our help if you need it.
Each year, we fully expect to do some smaller handyman or small renovation projects. We’re also expecting to do some mid-size remodels, as well as some larger whole house remodels. That to me is the perfect balance. And it allows us to continue to develop and maintain relationships with many people. We have learned over the last 25 years that if somebody uses us for one project, then we’re very, very likely to do most of their projects over many years because we bend over backwards to take care of people. We are kind of a sure thing!
I hope that information is helpful. We know there are companies that only do custom built homes. There are also companies that only want to do large remodels. As you dig deeper, there are companies that only want to work in a certain neighborhood. We’re happy working anywhere in Marion and the surrounding counties in Central Indiana. And if you happen to ask us to do something to help you that falls out of our skill set, chances are I know somebody that probably can be of help and I’ll do my best to help connect you to the right people. If you’re not sure who to talk to… give us a call… we will make sure you get taken care of!