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Today's Builder Magazine Feature
In May of 2008 we were the feature story in the local San Antonio magazine Today's Builder! Below you can click the thumbnails to see enlarged scans of our feature. You can also skip down and read the story right here!
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Read the Story
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By Joseph Lilli
Photos © Ad Imagery
Keeping the customer satisfied is a tall order for anyone in home remodeling. After all, unlike building a new for a customer who's waiting to move in, remodeling an existing home typically means the costumer is already living in the home.
Yet, for more than 20 years of remodeling homes throughout the San Antonio area, Ken Bobo, owner of Bobo Custom Builders in San Antonio, has clearly shown that he's mastered the art of satisfying clients. He's done it by understanding the psychology of the remodeling process, treating each client with the utmost professionalism and respect, and delivering a finished product of the highest quality and workmanship.
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"Certainly we have the experience, the expertise and the people to build a quality product," stated Ken, "but we also have a great degree of sensitivity and empathy for our clients and fully understand what they are experiencing while we remodel their home. So, we make certain that everyone on the project respects their home, their kids, their pets and their living in the house while we are constructing. That's one of the most critical things we do. For instance, before our people leave for the day, they clean up the jobsite. It's a small thing but one of the many things we do for our clients."
It's this concern and diligence for taking care of their clients that have forged strong client relationships and helped them build a reputation as a service-oriented company and one of the finest remodeling firms in San Anontio area. Their goal is to do each job so well that if a customer needs more work done on his house he will call Bobo Custom Builders again. Not surprisingly, roughly 70 percent of their business comes from repeat customers or referrals - the result of satisfied customers.
"When our clients decide to remodel their home, they're doing more than making a major investment, they're making a statement about how they want to live their live," declared Gary Anderson, one of the firm's design consultants, "For a long time it was about...
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...the financial return on their investment, but people are now more concerned about how a dramatic home makeover will improve their lives."
For that reason, Bobo Custom Builders will invest considerable time before construction begins, listening attentively to the client's needs and wants because know why the client wants to remodel and the new lifestyle they hope to attain by remodeling is critical in coming up with the right design. Often, the right design can help the client save money. For instance, if the customer wants a bigger kitchen, Bobo Custom Builders may recommend redesigning the existing kitchen rather than adding more space.
"Proper design can create a less expensive project by being more efficient with the existing space. As professionals with integrity, that's what we try to do," said Ken. "However, since we strive to completely satisfy the client, they always have the final say."
Besides careful, attentive listening, Bobo Custom Builders are exceptionally talented at putting a client's remodeling dream or vision into reality - one of the reasons why they lead the industry in design and remodeling excellence. "To aid in this process." Ken...
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...explained, "We bring clients into our office and show them an actual three-dimensional rendering of the design. This helps them visualize the design aspect and lets us know if this is what they are looking for."
"Another thing we do prior to construction educate clients," added Gary. "We want them to have a complete understanding of all aspects of the process - from getting their home from where it is to where they want it to be. This way there are no surprises and helps reduce the stress of the project."
As part of the education process, Bobo Custom Builders has the construction manager and one of the project superintendents estimate construction schedules for the project and give to the client. "Construction schedules are obviously an important management tool for us, but they also help clients see what progress they can expect throughout the construction process," remarked Gary.
Sharing construction schedules with their clients is just one of many ways that Bobo Custom Builders communicates with the customer. They also provide daily reports, updates on job scheduling, e-mails and quality control visits. Project superintendents, meanwhile, carry cell phones, making them available to the client at any time during the construction process.
Project superintendents also keep a photographic history of the project on their computers, which they regularly view in-house with all team players. This keeps everyone involved and updated throughout the project. When the project is finished, this photographic history is then put on a CD and given to the client as a keepsake.
To ensure each project is professionally supervised and flows smoothly with the least amount of disruption to the client's household, Ken meets with the construction staff three times a week to review progress. He also meets at least once a week with the team assigned to the project, including the design consultant, construction maanger, project superintendent and front office assistant to make certain the project is in budget and on schedule. He shares the results of these meetings with the client. He also personally visits the jobsites to see that the client is being well cared for and that all work meets his standards.
And for certain, Ken's standards are high - for himself and for everyone who works on a project - especially, he remarked, since his name is on the business. It is by living up to these standards daily that they instill confidence and a marked degree of comfort in the client.
"We want every one of our clients to feel completely confident that their project will be treated with only the highest level of professionalism - from concept to completion," he declared. "Therefore, we take great pride in doing the job right and to the highest standards, or we don't do it. By doing things right, I can to bed at night and sleep well."
Ken acquired this commitment to professionalism and quality craftsmanship as a youth working for his father, a commercial builder in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. He started out as a laborer and laborer's foreman and eventually moved up to estimator/project manager.
After attending Texas State University in San Marcos, Ken returned to work for his dad before eventually moving to San Antonio where he worked as a commercial contractor for the military and as a salesman for a home improvement company. Always yearning to be an entrepreneur, however, he started his full-service remodeling company in the mid-'80's.
He attributes his company's growth and success to the team of professionals he works with, all of whom share his passion for excellence and integrity. Many of these professionals, including a highly select group of craftsmen and artisans, have worked with Ken for nearly 20 years. Similarly he has cultivated long-standing relationships with a number of highly reputable and knowledgeable suppliers who provide quality materials for each project.
The company develops projects in San Antonio and the surrounding Hill Country. While kitchen and bath projects average $20,000 to $50,000, more extensive projects can run in excess of $100,000, and more recently they have developed projects in excess of $300,000. In each case Bobo Custom Builders devotes the same attention to detail, quality and client satisfaction.
Ken sums up the way his company does business by pointing to the sentence on the flip side of his business card: What sets a good project apart is the quality of the design, the craftmanship of the finished product and the expertise of the team doing the work.
"That's the model we work by," said Ken, "And, as our many clients will attest, it's really a true statement."
