Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Unscripted small business. Jeremy Rivera, here with Josie Davis of H and H Construction in Cookeville, Tennessee.
Have a lot of questions about what it is that you are doing.
Talk to your husband. Already got some ideas, but, you know, anytime that there's a duo or there's two influences within a company, you. You know, there's different forces, and you might have a different opinion. So from a.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Definitely have a different opinion from, like,
[00:00:34] Speaker A: a creative and design perspective.
What is it about the process of renovation that you guys seem to enjoy and embrace?
[00:00:46] Speaker B: I think renovations are really special because you're taking something that's already there and already has space, flavor. It already has its own embodiment, and you are tweaking it aesthetically, smoothing it out, maybe changing some of the rhythms there in the space, but you're ultimately still keeping the foundation and the bones the same. So one of the things I really like about renovations is that you can take something that maybe has been worn and been through life and then.
Then bring it up to speed with a new rhythm or a new flavor or a new perspective. So it's nice to see history woven with new age and new influence. So that's what I really like about renovations. I think that there's a lot of beauty in the bones.
There's also a lot of termites and mold, but there's a lot of beauty, too. And I think that that can be harnessed and made really beautiful again.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: That falls into kind of the question of, like, is what you're doing largely, like, fixes and finding things that are broken or need to be pulled out and repaired, whether that's, you know, walls or, you know, cupboards that are falling apart? Or is that still a part of what you're looking to do?
Or is it more focused now mostly on, you know, taking an upgrading space? It's not necessarily broken, but could be better.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Sure.
That's such a hard answer to give you because I think it's twofold.
So I think that in order to get to a place where customers are ready to build the relationship with you that it takes to. To upgrade a space successfully, they often start with smaller repairs. So I think that it's both, and I think there's beauty in both. So I never discount what someone may say is, like, oh, it's a really small job. To me and Alec, there's no small job. Every job has an impact to the customer and to the family that's living in the home. So whether it's, hey, I have a small hole of drywall that needs to be repaired or it's, hey, you know, our baseboards are coming off in this one room or need repair. Those small repairs, just like any relationship you have those small points of contact always create a smooth relationship into upgrading spaces, upgrading aesthetics.
The more you build a relationship with someone, the more they trust you with the bigger things. So I think that both assist.
If I, if I could speak straight from my heart and Alex heart. As far as what we see, what we would like to see in the future vision of the business is I think we really enjoy moving into home additions, into larger renovations, large kitchens, large bathroom remodels, sunrooms, decks, things of that nature.
Mostly because we do really enjoy the relational aspect of working with our customers. So from the first phone call all the way to seeing the finished product, I mean that could take months.
And a lot of our customers frequently say, we don't know what we're gonna do once we're not talking to you every day. Like we become friends, we become family. And I think that's really important. And that's the heart behind Alec and I and why we do what we do to begin with.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: Any different space is going to have its own challenges design wise.
Something that Alex spoke about was some of your vision and interpreting that into say a, the space of a kitchen.
What is it that you look at? Because it's not, it seems like it's not like, oh, check the cabinets. Oh check, check off the list of they need new counters, they need new appliances.
What is it about a kitchen space that you're looking to develop? How do you approach that process?
[00:05:00] Speaker B: Of course I look at everything like a relationship. So there's a harmonious rhythm to this.
And so there's often default questions that I'll ask a customer.
One thing that is different that I like to explain is that when you're working with a husband and wife team, you're working with an organization or a company that's kind of a mid size range, they have more time and we carve out more time to be very specific with the customer themselves. So when you're working with like a larger corporation, there's more of a streamlined process and that can be really helpful for like new builds that are cookie cutter new builds or suburban neighborhoods that are popping up. But when you're working with middle mid sized corporations, we like to keep the relational aspect there. So we do dedicate a lot of time to getting to know the customer, hearing what their goals are.
And I think because of that we can be more creative in how we attack things.
I will spend hours researching different formats for kitchens. If there's something the customer is really wanting to see or they're really wanting a feel or rhythm in their kitchen they don't currently have, I'll spend hours researching that just for them.
And so I think that intentionality and that specific nature of how I design rooms with them can only come from getting to know them, can only come from hearing what their priorities are, what's working, what's not working.
The other thing that I like to say, too, is because we're remodeling and renovating, it really does matter whether the customer's planning for this to be their forever home or if they're planning to flip it or if they're planning to just, you know, make it better than it is. But they're not planning to be here forever.
Because if you're looking at resale value, then there's really standard rules of thumb you're going to use for resale flips. Yeah. And renovating spaces. But if it's somebody's personal home that they're planning to live in and they'll potentially live there forever, then for me, my perspective on that is make it what you want. Make it what you want it to be. If you're going to spend money and invest that in your space and you're planning to be there forever, then.
Then we really want to customize it to what you're. What you're wanting to feel. And so a lot of times my main question is, what do you want the space to feel like?
[00:07:25] Speaker A: I really like that viewpoint because, you know, one of the questions that comes up, you know, doing, you know, research for home renovation, they're like, oh, what'll. What's the value? Input, output? You know, how much am I putting into this versus how I'm. How much I'm getting out of it? And I like that viewpoint of thinking of it from. Well, what you're investing in is changing a space that you're living in.
Yeah. You know, that's going to change your property taxes because you add square footage. Maybe that impacts resale value. But if you're never going to sell it, then the value is in its usage. Yes.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: Yeah. It's only as usable as it is valuable to you. So I think it depends. And I will give customers feedback on how they want their space accordingly. So if you're wanting to resell a space, I still go by the feel that's actually a big question that I use for people. I think that we can get too stuck into limitations of a space or like a input output formula that we know. In a kitchen, you have the triangle, you know, formula that you would use things of that. And same with the bathrooms. And that's all really valuable as a landing place.
However, how you're wanting a space to feel should often also dictate how you develop this space. So that's it. That's a question I always ask is how do you want it to feel? What do you want it to feel like when you walk in?
And how can we make the space match that feel for you?
[00:09:00] Speaker A: What's the most fun space that you've renovated? Either a bathroom or a kitchen that at the end you're like, I wasn't expecting that.
Sh.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: Man.
I think wet rooms are really fun. We've done a several wet rooms. If you're not familiar with a wet room, it is a bathroom where the shower is literally the whole space.
So the floors are tiled, the walls are tiled. The shower has no start, no finish.
And so the shower, I guess, inevitably would be the section with the shower head, but the whole bathroom becomes the shower, basically.
It's really cool.
We've done a couple of wet rooms where they're, like, isolated slightly inside of a bathroom.
And so those are really cool to see finished because the space is so aesthetically clean and smooth. It's.
It's. It's almost like artwork where one thing stops, the next thing starts with very seamless. And I think that is just really cool to marry those two concepts together.
I also think that we've done several renovations where the houses are incredibly old. When we're talking old, I mean, like 30s, 40s, where probably the bones are no longer there, and we are reinforcing the bones to help keep it up.
I always think those turn out really cool, especially if you have customers, which we've had, that take some of those older foundational points of view, like, say, the floors, and they refinish them, but then everything else is upgraded.
I think it adds so much character to a space.
We've also seen customers do that with, like, a fireplace, where they'll keep a fireplace even if it doesn't work because the bones are just unfortunately no longer workable. But they want to keep the brickwork, they want to keep the mantle old, and then they basically just clean it. We clean it up, shine it up and polish it, but we keep it with that character.
And honestly, I think that those are my favorite. And I don't know if that's a personal preference or if customers would say that. But I think that those are the most beautiful spaces. When you marry the older charm with the newer aesthetics, I think it's, it's really pretty.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: What is the, the limitation or what should people be thinking about? I, I don't have enough space.
Maybe I want a renovation, but maybe I should be thinking about an addition.
And what are some of the rules or rubrics around that? Like, is there feasibility as far as, like foundation extension, or is it like what the ground is like outside? And then also, you know, the structure of the house? What are the things that you are throwing into that consultation when people have the idea add on to their house?
[00:11:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I think I go back to the original idea of you want more space. Are we talking like three years of more space? Are we talking 10 years, are we talking 20 years? Or what is the livable space that you're wanting to add? I am of the opinion, which is slightly different than most people, when you think of business owners. A lot of times we get lumped in this category of like, contractors just want to make money. And that can be true. I'm not going to deny that. I am also going to say that I fall outside of that category in the sense of some houses, the way that they're structured, they're just perfect the way they are. Like, if you have a single family home that's about 1100 square feet, a beautiful roof line, sometimes it's meant to be that way.
So adding on to that changes the feel of that home. And I would say, nah, friend, go ahead and find a new place that you can grow into. Right.
However, I think truthfully, you get the right contractor and the right budget, you can do just about anything. Jeremy. And I don't say that lightly. I mean, if you're wanting to add a thousand square feet on the end of your home, as long as you're within the parameters of the space, the city limits, the county, whatever, you have your, your permits. Yes, yes. And, and the, the lines of your acreage and where your home line falls. As long as you're within those legal limits, you can pretty much do anything. And there's always a hoop through anything. You can jump through anything. I think the biggest thing is having the right contractor that can meet your style, understand what you're wanting, and will go the extra mile. Because like I said, some contractors, if they're just wanting to do neighborhoods, and that's what they special in, specialize in, and then there's other contractors that are okay with being more creative and meeting different goals, even though it might be harder to meet.
And of course your monetary budget has to be able to meet that. So I think those are the two things I look at as well as your timeline. How long do you plan to be in the space?
What kind of add on are you looking for? Is it really a problem that the add on is going to solve for you?
The other thing I think that customers don't think about is roof line.
That's a big one that we often get questions about. And I am not a, a specialist in roofs, but we have some great subcontractors we work with that can give really great opinions on roof lines. But I've seen customers walk away altogether just because the roof line, their current roof line, won't match the new roof line. And there's no way to make the new roofline match the current. And so that kind of that streamlined process of what you want the house to feel like with the addition, in my opinion, a good addition never feels like an addition. It feels like you've successfully continued to walk through the house from start to finish, even once it's done. So what other specifics? I'm sorry, what were your other specific prompts you had?
[00:14:59] Speaker A: The other was about sun rooms.
And you know, we kind of struggled on defining exactly what that might mean. As if it's not like it's just an addition that has lots of windows.
How do you define, you know, what's the difference? Is a sun room specifically just a not bedroom addition or is it just like a play space, a sitting space, a living area space that isn't a bedroom isn't a bathroom. Is that the limits of it or are there specific xy? This is a sunroom if it X has an Y or Z.
[00:15:45] Speaker B: Okay, so if you were asking me, a sunroom is being outside and enjoying outside without being outside.
So a sunroom is by nature an addition to a home or a closing in of a space that maybe is already there. We've seen, we've created sunrooms out of decks to give you an instance. So that would be, I want to feel nature without being outside.
And so therefore we would make a sun room out of maybe an existing outdoor space that was often like a deck or an awning sun situation, a front porch, a back porch.
I've, we've also made sun rooms out of like last minute add on sheds. And then they're like, okay, we love this and we want the sweet bigger. We want this to encompass more of the beauty of nature. And so typically Sunrooms, yes. Would bring the elements of nature inside. So you're looking at lots of windows. You want it to be really open.
You typically would see like sunroofs in those skylights in those.
Most people like for the room to feel very open, very inviting to the outside eye.
And so of course in that, with that perspective, then you don't want solid walls because you're not engaging the elements of nature if your walls are solid.
And so, yeah, I think that a sunroom would encompass the elements of nature without physically being outside.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: So when you do want to not necessarily have a sun room, but instead a covered porch or a patio or just a deck, what's been, you know, Alex said that you guys had a lot of decks that you built, you know, and played around with those space of like different elevations.
What are some of your thoughts around covered patios? Patios and decks?
[00:17:45] Speaker B: Shoot, that's a great question.
I think it depends mostly on what you're going to use it for and the nature of the home you currently have. You know, a lot of customers want a patio, want the feel of a patio, but they cannot have it because we're in Cookeville, Tennessee. There's a lot of mountain ranges. You can't have a patio without flat land.
And honestly, excavation is incredibly expensive. So it's, it's pretty costly to try to level some land to have a patio built.
So a lot of times in this area, people and families try to achieve a patio feel by adding a deck. Because with a deck, you have posts set in the ground.
Your, your actual level, your ground doesn't have to be level for a deck to be level. So, so they use that and they want to get a patio feel. That's why you'll often see like lean to style roofs. You might see a gazebo pop up. You might see like a grill area. We've done grill areas with a pergola, we've done pergola areas on decks, and that's to achieve the feel of a patio.
Where a patio by definition, in my opinion would be opening sliding glass doors, walking out, sitting down under something that's slightly covered and enjoying nature. Whereas decks are typically meant to be uncovered spaces. But here in Tennessee, to try to marry those two aesthetics and those two feelings, you'll see a lot of covered decks in this area, a lot of pergolas, a lot of lean to style roofs and awnings and things of that nature. So I really enjoy a nicely built deck with a pergola. I think it's incredibly Useful, but also really aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It looks really nice. It can be used in a lot of different ways for families and most really enjoy that, especially if they have a mountainous terrain in their backyard like we do.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: Any last thoughts on like your approach to like that value proposition? Like what is it that you're bringing to the table as a company, as a, as a team, as a concept to remodeling any of the spaces that we talked about?
[00:20:05] Speaker B: Truthfully, if you meet us and you don't want to go get coffee with us, then I think probably as much as we would love to help you in any way, shape or form, and we will, the truth is that find a contractor that you really enjoy speaking with. I think construction in general is a really hard transition. It's a very life altering situation. No matter what you're looking at, especially if it's a large add on or a deck or a sunroom.
I think wherever you're putting your value and your money is incredibly important.
And because of that, Alec and I are dedicated to making sure that we are building relationship with the people that we meet and we're building relationship with them and the fact that we truly want what's best for them. Aside from, you know, limitations of what construction brings, I think sometimes people feel like they have to go with one person and I would just encourage them that ultimately construction is a marriage of certain forms. You're gonna be spending a lot of time with those people and so enjoy the people that you're meeting, be willing to communicate with them and if you can't, keep looking and I don't take that offensively, if we're not a right fit for someone, that's okay with me. I'm okay with that as long as they're able to find the right fit for them.
As far as bringing things to the table, look, and I want to talk. We want to pray over your family, we want to meet your children. If you're willing.
We want to encourage you in steps of life. We also want to be there to support you.
And through construction you're going to find no matter where and no matter what contractor you have, there's a lot of dust, there's a lot of unexpected terrain, there's a lot of hoops to jump through.
And truthfully, the more relationship you have with who you're working with, the better you're going to be and the more stable you're going to feel and the more safe and the more excited you're going to feel about the end result and that's the primary goal for Alec and I. So we hope that everyone that interacts with us feels welcomed. They feel as though they were taken care of and they were heard and listened to and held.
And if that is done, then our job's been done.
And that doesn't always mean that everything turns out perfect. That doesn't always mean that there's not going to be hoops and conflict and unfortunate things that happen or materials that are, you know, lost in the shuffle. That doesn't mean all that. But it does mean that at the end of the day they know they can come to us, they can talk to us and we will do our best to make sure that they feel heard and they end up with a result that they're excited about. So if it's not us, that's cool. But I hope that hope that we're able to work with anybody that comes our way.
[00:22:59] Speaker A: Sounds delightful. Thank you so much.
[00:23:02] Speaker B: Thank you.
