Contractor Stories

Building a team that pushes for perfection

Quality website starts company on the right foot while uncompromising service and construction keep it growing.

By Tom Hatlen

After 8 years of working for other contractors, Craig Breneman left his foreman job and started his own hardscape-only company. He didn't have any jobs lined up, and he had spent a good chunk of his savings hiring an expensive website builder.

But his website strategy proved to be a winner, and his phone started ringing. Craig's work and attitude has kept new work coming in to the point where Bluegrass Pavers has shown healthy growth each of the 7 years they've been in business. Today, Craig has 3 crews (peak season) that pretty much run on "autopilot," and he's the go-to paver guy for many of the area's large landscape companies.

"Now we're to the point in our market where if someone says pavers, we're the company that comes up."

Quality website: If you build it they will call

Craig hired a nationwide website building company called Outrank (renamed Yodle) to build his site. One of their strategies was to name Bluegrass Pavers' website LouisvillePaver.com.

"They guaranteed us to be on the first page for searches done thru every search engine, be it Yahoo, Google or something else. People call off our website all the time. People in Louisville looking for pavers are going to search on 'Louisville Pavers.' People don’t go past the first page to see who's on page 2 or 3.

"Everyone goes to the web these days. I don't think people even use the phone book anymore."

Craig estimates he's probably paid about $10,000 to have his site built and maintained. "Now all I do is occasionally send them more pictures, and answer the phone calls."

As a hardscape-only contractor they count on other contractors like Paul Wellington, their carpenter. "It took years to find good contractors that do the quality of work we want. So we can focus on hardscape.

Developing quality leaders

A good website can only take you so far then it's up to you to produce. From the beginning Craig pushed his people to produce perfection. Today they push each other. Over time Craig developed 3 project managers – Cesar De Leon, Lalo Dominguez and Matilde Gaspar – who believe in doing quality work in the same way he does. He trained them all on the job. He doesn't like to hire people who've worked in hardscaping elsewhere because they bring bad habits.

"We had to weed thru a lot of guys to find these 3 that would help build the company. They really mean a lot to me. They care about everything the same way I do. I don't have to worry about what's going on in the field because I know that they're going to do things right. They give me the freedom to go look at new jobs or work on designs or proposals."

Craig says he's able to keep good people long enough to develop their skills simply by treating them well, respecting them and always paying them on time. "A lot of contractors don't. If anyone ever has a problem, they know they can come to me. My guys are like family to me. They come over to the house and have dinner. They all make a good living. They have houses for their families and nice trucks."

Winning referrals from landscape-only contractors

One of the advantages of being a hardscape-only company is that landscaping companies that don't do hardscape don't see you as competition. So they can become a referral source if you can convince them that the level of service and installation you provide will reflect well on them.

Craig actively works to develop relationships with landscaping companies. "I've made a lot of phone calls, talked to a lot of people, and I've gotten in with some companies that way. As they see our work around town, they recognize the level of quality, they talk to their customer about us, and eventually they call me."

But Craig says the source of a large chunk of referral work for some of the largest landscape companies in town came from a hardscape contractor who was retiring, Terry Chapman, who ran Koetter Pave. Terry is certified as an ICPI instructor and is passionate about installing hardscape work at the highest level. (Read about Terry in our Nov/Dec 2010 issue on HardscapeMagazine.com.)

Craig says creativity is another dimension that draws customers to Bluegrass Pavers. "We try to stay ahead by bringing new things to our market. There are a lot of things that can be done with pavers. We like to mix different pavers, styles, textures and colors. We're getting more into cutting different things into a patio. We can do pretty much anything. Take a picture, blow it up, make a template, cut the pavers to match it, and install it in their patio or driveway."

Passion wins big referrals

Over the years, Craig had been trying to learn as much as he could from Terry whenever he visited Terry's Hardscape Supply store. Terry saw in Craig a level of passion for the business that he was looking for in a contractor he could entrust with his customers when he retired. Yet, Craig still had to prove himself.

Craig says, "It took working together for 6 months or so. He took me under his wing. Terry really cares about the industry. He wants the people here in Louisville to have quality paver projects. There are contractors out there doing shoddy work and giving pavers a bad name. We try to educate people. If it's done correctly it will last forever."

Profile

Bluegrass Pavers

Louisville, KY
Founded 2007
Craig Breneman, President
Cesar De Leon, Project Manager
Lalo Dominguez, Project Manager
Matilde Gaspar, Project Manager

Customer base

95% residential
5% commercial

Services

100% hardscape

Largest project

$250,000 and still growing

Annual sales

2007 $25,000
2008 $50,000
2009 $100,000
2010 $200,000
2011 $300,000
2012 $500,000
2013 $800,000 estimated

Employees

6-10 (includes Craig & Project Managers)

By the fall of 2011 Terry was transitioning customers to Bluegrass Pavers. Craig says he still talks to him every day.

Conscientious service

Referrals from large landscape companies or anyone else aren't going to happen unless quality customer service accompanies quality installation.

"I like to make people feel at ease with a project and with hiring us. I try to answer their questions before they ask them. I email every customer every day. When I check on my jobs I'll knock on the door and ask the customer for their thoughts about everything. And if they have any changes I'll get the changes going right then and there."

Craig also makes people feel at ease by not requiring large deposits upfront and leaving people to wonder if they've just thrown their money away.

"If I had a contractor coming into my house I wouldn't want to give them a $10,000 deposit. Once the material is delivered in their yard and they can see what they're paying for, then we'll get a materials check from them. The rest is due upon completion. So the customer never really feels 'upside down' on their project."

Clients always pay

Yet, Craig says they've never had a customer not pay for their work. He believes this is because there's good communication on just what the client's getting, and they always give customers more than what they pay for.

"We run into a lot of picky customers. I see them walking through the project looking for something to complain about. Those are the ones that I like. When they walk thru, things are going to be right because no one's pickier about our projects than my guys and myself. We don't wait for the customer to point something out. We fix it before they ever see it. I would rather lose money on a project than lose our reputation."

When the project's over, Craig encourages clients to write reviews on websites like Angieslist.com. "People feel a lot more comfortable with hiring us when we've got all these reviews everywhere and no one's ever saying anything bad about us. We've had problems on projects, but we take care of everything. We stand behind our work."

The Bluegrass Pavers leadership team: Craig (shorts) and left to right, Project Managers Lalo Dominguez, Matilde Gaspar and Cesar De Leon.

Last winter visitors to the Louisville Home & Garden Show voted Bluegrass Pavers display number 1 in the Belgard Challenge contest. Also last winter, Craig decided to pre-build a few fireplaces in the shop to give his project managers something to do in addition to gearing up for the show. They built 3 fireplaces each in 2 big pieces they could reassemble on site. They easily sold all 3 so will be constructing more of them this winter.