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| Working with a pool contractor |
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Craig Reincke gets a good stream of additional projects by working to be a good subcontractor.
By Tom Hatlen
Photos courtesy of Mike Egizzi and Photos by Darci
Shaun Lambert has been sending work Craig Reincke's way since 2002. Last year Craig's company, Image Design & Landscape, did $60,000 to $70,000 worth of work for each of 4 Lambert Custom Pools projects.
A manager with Shaun's previous employer had been impressed by the walls and landscape work he saw at a party and learned that Craig had done it. He passed the word to Shaun who called Craig for a small job, then for larger jobs and he's continued to call him since starting Lambert Custom Pools 3 years ago.
Shaun says, "He's a great subcontractor for walls, sprinkler systems, any landscaping that needs to be done. He's a 1-stop shop and he can pretty much handle anything. We've done radius staircases, square staircases, external, internal staircases. They all turn out really well. He doesn't cut corners."
Profile
Image Design & Landscape
Nokomis, IL
Craig Reincke
Years in business
8
Customer base
5% commercial
95% high-end residential
Largest job size
$95,000
2008 sales
$500,000
Service mix
55% segmental retaining walls
5% sand-set pavers
40% landscape design/build
Number of employees
9
This project
Springfield, IL residence
1485 sq. ft. retaining wall
590 sq. ft. courtyard wall
215 sq. ft. pavers
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"Craig has a good eye for the unique locations we're becoming known for in our area, where there's a dramatic elevation change. On our last 2 bigger jobs there's been a 15' to 20' difference from point A to point B. We're putting a pool on the side of a hill. He's got a knack for walking into a backyard and seeing how it should be done. If we've got a 15' drop back there, he can visualize how he will break it up into 3 or 4 different walls so we don't get 1 big commercial wall."
Constant communication
Craig says working as a sub for Lambert Custom Pools is a nice source of additional business, so he gives them a discount for the volume of ongoing work. They understand one another and get along well. But this doesn't just "happen." Continual communication is key to keeping the relationship going.
Shaun says, "Throughout the construction process, we talk literally 2 or 3 times a day, by cell phone or at the job site. We're just making sure we're all on the same page on what needs to be done. If they see something that I missed, or if they have a recommendation for doing something a different way to engineer it better or to make it aesthetically better, he'll tell me. We look out for each other."
As the general contractor Shaun is the main customer contact, but he appreciates Craig's efforts to keep clients informed. "He'll jump right in there and talk to the homeowner. He'll stay late so when they get home from work he can let them know what the guys did today and what they're doing tomorrow."
Developing a design
Craig's involvement with Shaun's pool projects starts when the 2 of them make a jointsite visit, usually without the homeowner present. Craig says they layout their ideas for the project during the visit. "I'll sketch out where I see the walls going. We get all the measurements. We figure out the pool height and retaining wall height. Then we can figure out square footage of retaining walls, paved areas, steps, how you're going to access everything."
Craig puts together his piece of the proposal for Shaun to present the total plan. Shaun draws up a plan in Pool Studio software which translates his 2-dimensional site plan into a 3-dimensional presentation. "So the homeowner can walk thru it like a video game. We put the lights in there and can actually show them what it will look like in the day, at dusk and at night."
Over the winter Craig developed his own line of retaining wall lights, mostly for this particular job. As an Allan Block Certified Wall Builder he wanted lights designed for the front-lip Allan Block walls he installs. He came up with designs that work for other brands of retaining wall as well. Craig sells the lights through his new company, IC Lights LLC. |
Construction steps
With the presentation made and the job sold, construction began on this project in fall 2008. They completed most of the walls and steps before returning in the spring to finish out.
Shaun's excavators initiated construction, digging out the pool and most of the patio/retaining wall work area. But Craig doesn't have them dig out retaining wall footings so that he can control that. He says, "I'm always there on the day the excavators are there to make sure they're digging out what I need for my part and not piling dirt in the way, and I make sure I've got enough room to get my equipment in."
After excavation, Shaun and Craig worked together to coordinate the pool height to work with the large staircase above the pool. Because each stair step is a fixed height based on block/cap size, and because the house entry elevations are fixed too, the pool height is the most flexible to adjust.
Craig started with the 8' wall above the pool first to steer drainage away from the pool. There was about 10' between the pool and the wall, so Craig had room to work at the same time they built the pool.
Craig's crew constructed most of that wall and stopped at the corner of the house. They would finish the last 10' later because that side of the house needed to be left open for equipment to access the backyard.
When the pool was mostly built, they started on the 4' wall between the pool and the lake. While that wall went up, Shaun and his crew worked on a trench to hold their plumbing, etc. and they installed the hot tub. The trench ran by the hot tub toward the fire pit area and turned back around the side of the house to where the pool equipment is hidden.
With the trench and tub work done, Craig could install the wall and pavers around that area.
Next they built the retaining wall around the fire pit patio.
Then they installed all of the courtyard walls. The courtyard walls above the upper retaining wall are built right behind the cap of the retaining wall. The courtyard pillars protrude 6" out so they cut 6" of the retaining wall's cap off.
From there, they worked on the outdoor kitchen installing cabinets, grill and countertop. The gas lines and plumbing had been installed and capped off by subcontractors before the first walls were built.
The concrete contractor poured the patios. Craig's crew finished out the landscape grading and, finally, with all the other work completed, they finished building that last 10' of wall they had left open to allow access around the side of the house.
This image is a "still" taken from Shaun's design presentation. Structure Studios' Pool Studio software translates his 2-dimensional site plan into a 3-dimensional presentation. It allows you to "walk through" the project like a video game. Structure Studios offers comparable software for landscape/hardscape contractors.
The outdoor kitchen, Craig's first built-in, was the toughest part of the project. He had to wait on the special-ordered cabinets and countertop. Then, the cabinets weren't designed with the solid frames he expected, so he built metal frames. To install the countertop he used a diamond blade on a grinder wheel to cut a 1" x 1" slot into the wall for the granite slab to slide into. Then he caulked it so it wouldn't need a backsplash.
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The customer chose pavers around the hot tub because they could be more easily removed if access to the plumbing was needed.
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