BUILDER OF THE MONTH – SEPTEMBER 2010
Shuart and Associates, LLC
Question: Mark, how does the economy, in the condition that it’s in at this time, influence the amount of building vs remodeling that you find your company engaging in?
Mark: In the 27 years that we have been in business, we have experienced a few new housing booms as well as slow periods. Although this most recent slump is worse than most, our customer base as a whole is reacting similarly to past market slowdowns with fewer new homes and more renovation projects being started. Fortunately, our company has always had a strong presence in the remodeling market and we have not really had to adjust our business model much at all.
Q: How many projects on average do you complete in a year? Also, do you do more new construction or remodeling?
M: We can often be engaged in 7-12 projects at the same time, depending on whether we’re remodeling or building new, but I would say we would average about 25 projects in a year’s time. It depends on the year…new vs remodel. Some years we’ll do more remodeling than building and it reverses the next year. Remodeling is actually the more challenging of the two. Trying to match and fit new parts to existing homes is an art. Our goal is that when we’re finished, the addition looks like it was all part the original home.
Q: Are most of your projects here in the Grand Rapids area?
M: We find that we often build homes for people living in town for the winter and second homes on the Lakeshore for these folks. It’s very gratifying that our clients are often repeat customers. Many recommend us to their grown children to build or remodel their homes. We also have people from out of state who want homes built on our beautiful lakeshore areas. Many times, we don’t even meet these clients face-to-face. We will often contract to build a home for someone who contacts us based on word-of-mouth recommendations from our past clients.
Q: How do you keep in touch with these clients from out-of-state while building their homes?
M: We email progress reports and pictures to the client every week and of course keep an open line of communication with them and their designer, if one is involved. I feel that our clients have a lot of faith in us and we work hard to earn that faith and keep it.
Q: It sounds like loyalty from your customers is very important to you. What do you do to inspire that loyalty? In other words, what sets you apart from other builders?
M: I believe every builder will talk about the quality of their work and most builders do provide quality or they wouldn’t be in business right now. But what we pride ourselves on is the attention to detail that I believe is missing in many building practices. We adamantly stick to the time frames we set for the client; for instance, on the Lakeshore, no one wants to “lose a summer”, so when we say we will be done by spring, we’re done! We don’t leave a job site without having everything completed down to the smallest detail. Our customers have to be 100% satisfied before the job is done. Also, because of how we schedule our employees and sub-contractors…everyone working together, provides a speed and efficiency to our projects that customers value.
Q: What is the most challenging project you’ve ever tackled?
M: We built a squash court for one of our customers 35 feet under his garage. He did not want to change the footprint of his home so we devised a way to build a staircase going down from inside the garage, increasing the thickness of the walls as we built deeper to provide strength against the increasing pressure of the outside elements. We needed to take into account moisture levels occurring at this depth also, as this was done near Reed’s Lake. It was a challenging but thoroughly rewarding project. It took a great deal of engineering logistics.
Another challenge occurs, when building on the Lakeshore, to comply with the environmental concerns such as wetlands and dune grass, etc. We have a great relationship with the DEQ and plan to follow their guidelines in our building projects.
Q: What type of home do you prefer to build?
M: Shuart Associates builds homes from traditional to contemporary but my favorite type is a Georgian-style home. I love the detail that this type of architectural style affords, both on the interior and exterior of the home.
Q: What room in the home do you like to design/build?
M: Because of my ingrained love of woodworking, I enjoy designing and building cabinetry for the kitchen and any family-gathering spot in the home.
Q: As a remodeler, how do you change the “look” of a home, if they don’t want to change the footprint of the house?
M: There are many ways to change the look through paint color or siding choices, such as cement board, shingle siding or even painting the brick. We could also do things like put a roof over an existing porch to change the over all appearance.
Q: What advice would you give a person who would like to do most of the remodel themselves?
M: Well, first I would ask them why? No seriously, if they really wanted to do some or all of the work I would tell them to take some time to look over plans, pictures and articles that show or talk about the ideas they want to incorporate in their project. But the downfall to the do-it-your-self plan is this: There is no recourse if you make a mistake. If Shuart Associates makes a mistake or if something we do doesn’t make you perfectly happy, we will change it. With the DIY plan, you will have to absorb the cost of your mistakes.
Q: What do you do to comply with the “green” building practices being advanced more and more?
M: We try to include as many energy efficient systems as possible, including heating, cooling, energy and lighting. We’ve used the wood from a maple tree that was cut down and built a maple countertop for the kitchen island in that home. We will also, if the client agrees to it, donate all the sinks, toilets, faucets, cabinets, etc. from our remodels to Home Repair Services of Kent County or Habitat for Humanity.