In 1988, Chris Ettel and his father-in-law, Chancey Walker, founded VB Contractors that would eventually become VB Homes, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Their specialty is residential renovations and the construction of custom homes in the Beach area in 2007. Chancey and Chris added one partner, Todd Savage, to their company. Todd is a licensed architect, and the company now has an architecture and interior design division to better serve their clients. In 2008, VB Homes celebrated their 20th anniversary, and moved to their new state-of-the art design center at 1209 Laskin Road in Virginia Beach. During their 20+ years in business, VB Homes has constructed over 150 homes, and renovated over 100 homes in the Beach area.
The scope of our work ranges from the architecture and construction of custom homes to kitchens, baths, additions and whole house renovations. We were selected in 1996 to construct a show home in Virginia Beach for Southern Living magazine.
Our typical workload would consist of constructing two to three custom homes per year, along with 15-20 renovation projects, ranging from an outdoor living space to a whole house renovation.
Chris Ettel, partner responsible for sales, marketing, and development opportunities; Chancey Walker, partner, is responsible for finance and training; Todd Savage, partner, is in sales and oversees the architecture division; Rick Stageberg, production manager; Jon Ettel, project manager; Steve McNaughton, Architect; Kelley Ross, Accounting; Cathy McCullough, Office Manager; Christie Hardin, Client Coordinator/Designer; Laura Lacerna, Project Coordinator; and three (3) field staff.
Our entire company is committed to giving back to our community. We do this in several ways through different civic and charitable organizations. One of our more significant projects is mentoring the teachers and high school students at our local trade school. We have been involved with this program for over 10 years, and are on the construction of our 7th House Project. The project provides onsite "real world" opportunities for students to learn the trades such as carpentry, plumbing, electric, and heating and air-conditioning. Our goal is to show the students the potential career opportunities in our industry.
Everyone in our company is committed to providing our clients with the most enjoyable experience possible. Part of that commitment is understanding that for most people a new home or remodeling project is a little scary and typically unsettling for the family. We work very hard from the beginning of the sales and architecture process through construction to paint a realistic picture that there will be difficult times, but it's our goal to minimize the inconveniences to our clients. We place a lot of emphasis on aligning expectations, and showing our clients that we put our heart and soul into every aspect of their project.
Our client is someone that is looking for a full service approach to their project. This would include people that place an importance on professional architecture, having selection assistance with our Interior Designer, and appreciating over 20 years experience in construction.
We set ourselves apart from many other contractors by showing our clients right up front our professionalism and commitment to their project. For example, simple but very important things like showing up for appointments on time, and getting back to clients in a timely manner. We also work very hard in the beginning by explaining our process and our full service approach to their project. In return, we expect a commitment from them starting with an Architecture Agreement all the way through a Construction Agreement.
We advocate continuous education throughout our company. We budget an education allowance for all of our employees. We are a member of Remodeler's Advantage, which provides us an opportunity to network with other builders and remodelers across the country. This organization also provides educational opportunities for sales, production, office and administrative training that we take advantage of for our employees.
Every January we have our State of the Union company address where we lay out our goals for the year, and if we meet those goals we provide profit sharing to our employees. We meet on a bi-monthly basis to review where we are with the goals for the year. It also provides us the opportunity to have lunch, and to get to know one another better. We also have a couple of company outings outside of work during the year for our employees and their families.
All of our partners enjoy the excitement and challenge to provide a service to our clients that involves, for the most part, one of their biggest investments (their home.) Whether it's a new home or renovation, it's very rewarding for us to meet with clients and to see their goals become a reality from architecture to the final product.
The first step for us is architecture and we encourage our clients to thoroughly think through their goals for the project. We provide them with ideas and inspiration from our website as well as magazines to get ideas for their new home or renovation. We emphasize the importance of them setting aside the time to make their selections with the help of our interior designer so that the construction process will be much more efficient and will take a lot less of their time if we prepare better up front. We emphasize the importance of good communication in that there may be some hurdles during the process but that we will resolve them as best we can to everyone's satisfaction.
By tracking our leads, we know that the majority of our leads come from referrals and repeat clients. We spend a good portion of our marketing budget staying in touch with our clients and past clients through newsletters, including an email newsletter, as well as gifts throughout the year. We also put a great deal of emphasis on our website, and directing people to our website. We have very professional looking signs, and are consistent with our logo to brand our company in the area.
One of the biggest challenges we face is the lack of skilled and qualified trades people. It has gotten a little better in the last year with the market slowing down. We are also challenged with potential clients being more price conscious, and we have to work harder to show the value that our company offers.
In 2008 we celebrated our 20th year anniversary. We have reached a milestone, not only in longevity, but also, in the structure of our company where we now provide a full service approach with our business model offering architecture, interior design, and construction under one roof. This business model puts us in a very unique position in our market. We are one of the only companies that offers all of those services. In 2009 we completed construction on our state-of-the art design center that we designed to be more like a home than an office. Our 4,000 sq. ft. structure gives our clients the unique opportunity to see many different ideas for their project, from plumbing and light fixtures, to flooring, custom built-ins, and a working kitchen. We also have many exciting outdoor living ideas to help inspire our clients for their special project. We plan to offer seminars for people interested in building custom homes or renovation projects, such as kitchen and bath design.
We are involved in our local builder's association, and have also been involved in the state level to try to make a difference in our industry. The partners in our company, Chris Ettel, Chancey Walker, and Todd Savage, are committed to not only improving the professionalism and value we provide to our clients, but also committed to improving the professionalism in our industry.