Master the art of homebuilding and remodeling with host Chris Kerby in this episode of the Homebuilding and Remodeling Show. Join us as we uncover crucial tips for both homeowners and contractors, from navigating cost overruns to building strong client-contractor relationships. Discover the importance of knowing your subcontractors and the impact of timely decision-making to control costs and schedules in your construction projects. Plus, we'll challenge the narrative surrounding careers in construction, highlighting the fulfillment and prosperity they can offer. Chris shares his personal journey back to the family business and the transformative power of education in industries like interior design. Get ready to be inspired and gain invaluable insights into the world of construction and remodeling.
Are you ready to take your homebuilding and remodeling skills to the next level? Join us in this episode of the Homebuilding and Remodeling Show, where Chris Kerby breaks down the essentials, from vetting subcontractors to managing cost overruns. Discover how to maintain control over your projects while delivering quality workmanship. We'll also explore the fascinating world of construction careers, challenging the stereotypes and highlighting the potential for creativity, innovation, and personal growth. Chris shares his own journey and the impact of education in industries like interior design. Don't miss out on this episode packed with practical advice and inspiring stories. Let's build something great together!
Master the art of homebuilding and remodeling with host Chris Kerby in this episode of the Homebuilding and Remodeling Show. Join us as we uncover crucial tips for both homeowners and contractors, from navigating cost overruns to building strong client-contractor relationships. Discover the importance of knowing your subcontractors and the impact of timely decision-making to control costs and schedules in your construction projects. Plus, we'll challenge the narrative surrounding careers in construction, highlighting the fulfillment and prosperity they can offer. Chris shares his personal journey back to the family business and the transformative power of education in industries like interior design. Get ready to be inspired and gain invaluable insights into the world of construction and remodeling.
Are you ready to take your homebuilding and remodeling skills to the next level? Join us in this episode of the Homebuilding and Remodeling Show, where Chris Kerby breaks down the essentials, from vetting subcontractors to managing cost overruns. Discover how to maintain control over your projects while delivering quality workmanship. We'll also explore the fascinating world of construction careers, challenging the stereotypes and highlighting the potential for creativity, innovation, and personal growth. Chris shares his own journey and the impact of education in industries like interior design. Don't miss out on this episode packed with practical advice and inspiring stories. Let's build something great together!
The Homebuilding and Remodeling Show. Let's go. Welcome everybody to the Homebuilding and Remodeling Show. My name is Chris Kirby and I'll be your host. I am the owner of three construction companies on the Alabama Gulf Post. The show is about residential construction. We're going to cover topics of homebuilding and remodeling. Are you thinking of doing a remodel or building a home? Are you a contractor looking to improve your knowledge base or grow your business? Have you ever done a remodel project or built a home? There were so many things you wish you knew or that you could have done differently during the process. Then this show is for you. We break down the process of building and remodeling and how to have the best results during your project. Whether you are a DIY-er looking for tips, someone looking to hire a contractor to do a project, or a contractor looking to expand your knowledge base or your business, welcome aboard. Glad to have you. Stay tuned. We kick off the show with my thoughts on homebuilding and remodeling. I'll share best practices and talk about some of our experiences in business and out in the field. These shared thoughts and lessons learned are meant to help you on your very own journey. Let's go.
Speaker 1:
Number 17 is can you provide a list of subcontractors that you work with. So that's a it's a good question. It protects both sides. Again, it goes kind of back to like, if you're sending people out the day to start the job, they need to know who's coming into their home. But also it gives the client a chance to vet those subcontractors. They can look them up themselves, but it's also two-fold. So unless you've got a contract in place, you have to be careful with this one as a contractor. If you provide them a list of your subs, there are people who will take advantage of that situation, call those subs and ask them to negotiate a price without you involved as the general contractor. So you have to be sensitive to that. Most of the time I do recommend that the client get that list and understand again who's coming into their home so they can do their own due diligence. And you know it, sometimes they may not want one of your subs in their home and that's perfectly okay. They are hiring you to manage the job.
Speaker 1:
However, if they raise a red flag about one of your subcontractors, then you need to be understanding and be able to pivot and hopefully you have a backup subcontractor or somebody that you if they don't want to use yours, then you need to tell them they should hire their own, because it puts you at a liability and then it delays the project. If you have a certain subcontractor that you use quite frequently, that understands your schedule and timing and that you know can get the job done when you need it done, then you need to verbalize those things to the client and make them understand why you use who you use. And then if they choose not to use or want to use the subcontractors that you typically do and feel comfortable with it, then you need to allow them to hire their own. However, I would not start a project and this protects both sides I would not start a project until I had all the subcontractors in place. So if they're not going to use your subcontractor, then you need to have their subcontractor and walk them through the job and make sure that it's not going to interrupt your flow because you're using a new subcontractor that you're not necessarily familiar with but they are comfortable with. It's not a showstopper, but the planning portion is going to be. You need to be a little bit more diligent in the planning portion to ensure that you and that sub are on the same page and from the client side, you have to be accommodating and you may have to find your own subcontractor if you have questions about the subcontractors that the general contractor is bringing to the table Number 18,.
Speaker 1:
Are there any potential cost overruns or changes? Well, changes are inevitable, especially if you change your mind during the project, which does happen. You might see something going in that's getting installed tile, camera, tops, whatever it is. And I will say, depending on cost and scope of work and where you are in the project as far as timeframe, some changes are going to be more costly, and so it is a good question to ask as far as, do you see any cost overruns? Because for us we're scheduled out of pretty good ways. So when we give an estimate, it may be a couple of months before we actually start the work and absolutely the timing of the project and the cost that was given. Two months ago. Materials may have went up, but these are things that you need to put into the estimate. This is only good for 30 days or whatever it may be.
Speaker 1:
But also just do from the contractor's perspective. You should be reaching out to the client if there is material change costs and allowing them to make a decision on how much that impacts their budget and how much that impacts them wanting to move forward with the project. I've seen it before where there are costs that change so much, especially during the COVID era where everything was kind of just up and down and prices were going up and it could be day by day changes. So during that time there were a lot of people that were canceling projects or moving the timeline for the project in hopes that a price that you quoted just skyrocketed due to material costs and they would say well, I still want your company, I still want you to do it. However, the price has become unaffordable. So we want to push the timeline, which is fine, but you as a contractor have to figure out what to do in that gap and make sure that for the cost overruns that you're just communicating constantly and if they change their mind once you're beyond the point.
Speaker 1:
So for the client, you have to understand that there are certain points in a project that it is okay and more cost effective to do change orders. And then there are certain points that if you change your mind too late or if something is already installed and you want to change it, you need to understand that it's going to cost you money. A because you have to demo, you have to refix the area before reinstalling the new product that you want, or, especially when you're wanting to do moves that are behind the wall and you've already had an inspection and you know those things you've got to, especially like electrical and plumbing. It's not just always easy to make those moves, especially post insulation, post drywall, post paint. These are things that you're reversing and all have to be redone. So you have to account for the time and the money that it takes and ensure you be accommodating and understanding that if that's something that you really want, it typically can be done, but it's going to cost you time, it's going to cost you money. So you need to be understanding and that contractor may already have a job that was scheduled to start and they may say no, they they have every right to do so and you've got to be a little bit under, a little bit More understanding, because you want to. You know you look at your situation when you're, when your project started, your, you know changing throughout the project, it extends the project and they may have, you know, contracts just kind of lined up and it's going to delay their start on another project. So it you know, sometimes they cannot the contractor cannot accommodate all of your changes, and so those are things that kind of. If there are a lot of changes it starts to make the relationship tough. So for both sides you know the client especially yes, I understand cost overruns, understand changes, how the process works, but also Understand that sometimes it's okay if it's a no and they have to come back later to accommodate that change.
Speaker 1:
This is our contractor shout-out segment. We are going to pick 40 contractors a month that tagged their business page in our post on the home building and remodeling show Facebook page. And this month we have with us oh Flynn, the handyman, out of Sudbury, ontario, canada. Design concrete professionals out of Baldwin County, alabama. Buck construction out of Glenside, pennsylvania, and J Lee construction and home remodeling out of Lubbock, texas. Thank you all for commenting on the monthly post. We will do another post next month. Like, subscribe and share our Facebook page and Hopefully you get a shout-out next time. And now we move into shop talk. It's the portion of the show where I bring in a co-host and we cover trending topics in home building and remodeling. Hope you enjoy. Let's go, actually got your builder's license. That was one of the things that I knew when I was starting out to build houses. To do larger remodel projects, you have to have a home builder's license.
Speaker 2:
You gotta be open up, man.
Speaker 1:
That's right. You got to be qualified. That's a different level and you want to do somebody's remodel project, you can do it, you can license it, you can permanent. All of that stuff matters and that's what we've been going through on the home building show is educating people on a licensed contractor right and a licensed home builder. That means you went through and took your test. You took took two exams. Here we take a business exam. It's more of a business law exam and that's the accountability factor that that Ryan has and his team at 22 builds have is.
Speaker 1:
He's not just an investor. Given his background, you would think somebody like you would just be a turnkey investor. But you actually took the time to study and get your state license so you can Legitimately remodel and build homes and and to me that says something about what you're gonna do moving forward, you know what I mean. You took it seriously enough because you can be an investor in our industry and just find somebody who has a license and let them do all the legwork and You're always gonna own 22 builds because it's your license. So that's a different level of of Contractor and a different level of accountability and when we're out doing remodeling, that's one of the first things people ask around here is are you licensed and insured?
Speaker 1:
and You're licensed and insured, so that's a big deal. Who is it that you're connected with, that you feel it's gonna move the mission of 22 builds forward?
Speaker 2:
Oh, I feel, everybody I'm working with right now, everybody that's currently doing it on Stacy, let's see a major, and those are three people I have right now, I feel like, but though, I got a solid crew. You got a good group of professionals, a good group of people that all have the same vision and the end goal. We're working towards the same thing Everybody on the same page.
Speaker 1:
I would like to talk to you about building home. Are they reaching out to you? Are they calling? Do you have contact? Who do they actually need?
Speaker 2:
I don't got a call. I company a directory. We don't have a little directory after that?
Speaker 1:
They need to call the number. You got a website right. I do 22Buildscom yeah, that's good, that's good clarification and we'll put the link in the bio and everything. This show is to share those connections and put out people who are doing good work. And you're going to see and hear a lot from Ryan Anderson and 22Builds, because he is community rooted and this was his background. This is what he came from and he's come back to it. It's pretty cool to see somebody like you come full circle in our industry and people. They downplay our industry. Instruction is a dirty word or a dirty job, and here we've tried to change that narrative.
Speaker 2:
I feel like you're doing y'all are custom doing a great job of getting awareness out and also lending a hand and bridge with me. Like the stuff you open up, a full set up for somebody that's in the same area. You don't get that off Because more people like you, raising awareness and doing more towards the workforce here, feel like that's big. We need more workforce development.
Speaker 1:
I would love to get you involved with the end. The mission of this show is to do exactly what you were talking about on a grander scale, and we appreciate all the people that watch and tune in, listen to the podcast. But I'm glad you said that because again we got to get back to changing the narrative on the other side of me Exactly, and from here that's the office you have.
Speaker 2:
You either go on to college or you go into the military. It's a whole lot of other jobs out there that's like people living well, farming, electrical, well then carpentries and we want to encourage people to do what we do.
Speaker 1:
when you look at and you are a prime example and I really appreciate you could have done anything and this is what you do and now you can help us lead through this change. The narrative of construction being negative. My family grew up in it and my dad was a contractor, remodeler his whole life and it was tough. I was at the point where I didn't want that because I saw you know it was in things and me going off and getting my business degree and things like that gave me the footing, the capability to come back home to Baldwin County and say I have this and he's still a contractor and he has that knowledge. How can we package that Right? And talking to you, I think that was kind of the same, the same setup.
Speaker 2:
He was like I thought it was. I don't want to do it this way, Like once you get off and you become a little more knowledge, but you can come back and say it don't have to be that way, that's what you did. You did. You're doing it the right way.
Speaker 1:
All you got is a couple of people trying to do the right thing. We're changing the narrative together and I'm excited for what 22 builds has, what he's going to put out there, and I can tell you I can attest from the little bit of time that we've gotten to know each other he's cut from a different cloth and I'm very appreciative that you give me your time and that you let these kids that are going to watch this and listen to this know that the construction industry is where it's at.
Speaker 2:
I don't want to do nothing else.
Speaker 1:
Now we're going to move into the portion of the show where we talk interior design. We're going to bring in an interior designer and we're going to talk trending design and products. Hope you enjoy. Let's go. We're going to talk about here at Kirby Interior Design. We've been just discussing business lead generation and for me, given my construction background, I don't necessarily always know the vision, and that's why we started Kirby Interior Design. They are very creative, right, and one of the things that you all do for our clients is a mood board, right.
Speaker 3:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
We talk about a mood board and how that helps the client and how it helps with kitchen bath remodels and things like that.
Speaker 3:
What is a mood board. It's a collage of products, colors. It's basically a collage of the design, overall design view or plan.
Speaker 1:
And it helps with the concept.
Speaker 3:
Yes or the concept Concept board.
Speaker 1:
It has a couple of different got it concept board. We use mood board for mood board Monday and nobody better stood out from us Hashtag mood board Monday. So it's already out there. I'm not up.
Speaker 3:
We're not the OGs on that one.
Speaker 1:
Sorry, Sorry. We put together these mood boards and it helps with the concept of the project. But let's talk about we deal a lot with kitchen and bath remodeling. Let's talk about some of the things. How do you get the concept together for the client? Do you do a consultation? Well, yeah, what that looks like.
Speaker 3:
Yes, so there's always a consultation. Those are necessary, you have to.
Speaker 1:
If they call the office, the first step is to set up the consultation.
Speaker 3:
That's correct. And so now, and because we are in a tourist area, some of our clients obviously don't live here we offer that virtually or in person. In person is great because you can actually see, you can go to the home, you can take measurements if you need to Tanya. Our new designer actually has a virtual coming up later on today. Maybe she can come out on the podcast later and explain how that would look.
Speaker 1:
Well, so, because a lot of people would say a virtual consult. If you're not there, how can you come up with?
Speaker 3:
Right? Well, usually, if they're already calling, they have something in mind. Whether it be a kitchen remod, whatever it is, they usually have an idea for at least something. So like a brighter cabinets, brighter colors or new flooring, they usually at least have a start point. It's just our job. We always take it farther.
Speaker 1:
Are you kind of coaching them along, and sometimes they may have a suggestion that works. And so, and then if I come to you and I do this a lot if I come to you and I say I really want to have navy blue cabinets, navy blue, everything I did, hail navy, hail navy is a great use.
Speaker 3:
That was the color name, by the way, I wasn't just pulling out on them. But yes, great, great blue Good as a very good navy.
Speaker 1:
But if I come to you and I say, hey, listen, I want navy blue cabinets, and I say I want, let's just say, brushed nickel hardware, all right, and I want green countertops. See that face. That's exactly right, I'm sorry, right? So maybe we don't wear it on our favorite Beautiful Chris.
Speaker 3:
Let me see if I can make that work.
Speaker 1:
But so what do you do then? You will have clients that may be eccentric or maybe you have an idea, sometimes better than they do, of what it should look like. How do you curve that? How do you say, no, don't do that.
Speaker 3:
I hadn't had too hard of a time having to convince people. I tried to work more than anything with their vision and because if it's something that they're really dead set on having, the challenge comes in on my end, particularly to try to make that work and pull it all together. So that is why you would hire a designer too. There is a yes every now, and unless it's something that is just absolutely far out, I'm sorry we use so Navy blue countertops with a green.
Speaker 3:
Buy a green and I love Navy, but there's way too.
Speaker 1:
They don't really play well together.
Speaker 3:
You can pull that together in a wet Navy through the countertop. Maybe I don't know how to think on that one Right and maybe that's a little far. I'll get a pair together for that, but some people may come to you with something similar, maybe not as bad as the other five, but they're usually very open to what the designer says, I will say that they usually don't dig their hills in too much, especially, I think, when it comes down to budget and costs. That's where they draw them.
Speaker 1:
Then, when you're putting together, let's get back to the consultation. You call. You're called, whether it's virtual, or you go out there and you're walking through the home. Are you fact-finding? Or how are you getting the information that you need to even start the project? They have something right.
Speaker 3:
Listening. I would say you have to listen, as they're gonna constantly be right. They're thinking as they're talking out loud, so it sounds I'm sure contain you can relate to. I mean it's like wait a second, we just went from within five minutes. Something could change drastically. You're like that's not what you just said. You kind of have to take all the notes.
Speaker 1:
So you're listening, you're literally taking notes, writing stuff down.
Speaker 3:
You have to just, and then at the end of that console, you can really start visualizing how to, like I said, pull it all together or eliminate some things if needed.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for joining us today. As always, we are grateful for our listeners and your continued support. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Follow us on social media via Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Get more info at our website, wwwthethombuildingshowcom. And, as always, remember who we are the Homebuilding and Remodeling Show. We'll see you next time. Apply for the Sold Next Day.
