iDesign Lab
Welcome to the iDesign Lab a Podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design hosted by Tiffany Woolley an Interior Designer, a style enthusiast along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott. A place where they explore the rich and vibrant world of interior design and it’s constant evolution in style. iDesign Lab is your ultimate Interior design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and it’s constant evolution in style and trends. iDesign lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles and everything in between to better help you style your life through advice from trend setters, designers, influences, fabricators and manufacturers as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite. Join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things Design. For more information about iDesign Lab and Tiffany & Scott Woolley visit the website at www.twinteriors.com/podcast.
iDesign Lab
Kris Schlembach's Journey in Construction and Design, From Wall Street to Renovations
Join us for an enlightening conversation with Kris Schlembach, a remarkable individual who has navigated a unique career journey from Wall Street finance to residential renovations in sunny Delray Beach, Florida. In this episode, Kris shares personal anecdotes and professional insights that shed light on his passion for construction, honed through early experiences working alongside his father. We delve into his transition from large-scale commercial projects to the world of residential renovations, exploring the importance of integrity and quality work in a market plagued by unreliable contractors. Discover how Kris's expertise in design and effective communication has helped him navigate client expectations and manage multiple projects with ease.
In this captivating episode, we sit down with Kris Schlembach, a seasoned professional who has transitioned from a successful career in finance on Wall Street to become a respected figure in the world of residential renovations. Kris's fascinating journey is filled with personal stories and professional insights that offer a unique perspective on the construction industry. We explore his early experiences in construction, his passion for finance, and the life-changing events that prompted him to make a significant career shift. Join us as we delve into the challenges of managing client expectations, the importance of design in construction, and the strategic use of technology to streamline project management. Kris's story is a testament to the power of adaptability and the rewards of pursuing one's true passion.
Step into the world of construction and design with Kris Schlembach as he takes us on a journey through his career in this captivating episode. From his early days assisting his father with construction projects to his role as a trader on Wall Street, Kris's experiences have shaped his unique perspective on the industry. We explore the challenges and rewards of residential renovations, the importance of assembling a reliable team, and the significance of well-defined design plans. This episode offers valuable insights into managing client expectations, navigating budgets, and leveraging technology for efficient project management. Join us as we uncover the secrets to success in the world of construction and design.
Learn more at:
https://twinteriors.com/podcast/
https://scottwoolley.com
The following podcast iDesign Lab is an SW Group production in association with Five Star and TW Interiors. This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings and lifestyles. Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott, idesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends. Idesign Lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles and everything in between to better help you style your life, through advice from trendsetters, designers, influencers, innovators, fabricators and manufacturers, as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite. And join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things design. Today, we're thrilled to have Chris Schlembach, a construction and design expert, joining us. With a background that blends construction, finance and high-profile commercial projects, chris found his true passion in residential renovations. He'll share insights on home design, scaling a business and the rewarding connections he builds with his clients. Let's dive in.
Tiffany Woolley:Today we want to welcome Chris Schlembach to the iDesign podcast. Chris is a seasoned professional from Wall Street, where he started, and now in Delray Beach, Florida, in the construction business.
Scott Woolley:I think he actually started in New Jersey in construction. Am I correct?
Tiffany Woolley:Yes, correct, okay so tell us about that journey.
Kris Schlembach:Just growing up, always helped out my dad around the house with simple things projects, building bathrooms, you name it Really. Anything he was about to do.
Voice Over:Really as a little kid it started out just here I'll hand.
Kris Schlembach:You know, go get this, get that, handing him tools. So your dad was in construction, yes, and always did all the things around the house, like added a bathroom to the house.
Tiffany Woolley:Really he did the kitchen and that kind of stuff.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, on his own, and he was always also very entrepreneurial. So I learned a lot about business as well, you know just. But it started out just as simple thing as hand a tool. Then, as I got a little older and when I say older I mean maybe like 10. It's like hey, do you want to come out on a weekend on a job site or something? I have a little bit of stuff to do, and maybe he would pay me $20 and buy me lunch or something. Back then it was probably the early 80s, and it was like watching, I would start to learn and pick up things along the way and just sort of you know, kind of liked it. I always liked the idea of taking something and seeing it progress. You know, like power washing If you put pressure washing it's such a there's so much instant gratification in it, you know, to see something open.
Tiffany Woolley:That's why there's so many TikTok videos. It's just so rewarding to watch.
Scott Woolley:So I just did a lot of that To watch power washing yeah, oh, my God, like power washing.
Kris Schlembach:I love it because you take this instant gratification. You say wow, look how beautiful that looks it's the same thing we're doing that's funny Remodels. To take this I agree.
Tiffany Woolley:I always say that too about projects, that the new construction with a blank slate granted. That's awesome and exciting, but there's so much gratification in taking something that looks absolutely horrible or in a time warp and really bringing it to the next stage.
Scott Woolley:But you started your career really in Wall Street. But what made you change to go to get into construction?
Kris Schlembach:So I always, you know, I went to school for finance. I always wanted to work in finance, even through high school, I would. You know the other kids in study hall are flicking the football around the little you know paper football and playing around and I was reading books about T Boone, pickens and you know these corporate raiders and trying to educate myself. And I actually even went and took college classes at the local community college when I was in high school.
Tiffany Woolley:Really yeah. So you were that passionate when I was in high school Really yeah regarding the stock market and everything and trading.
Kris Schlembach:I had subscriptions to every single magazine you could Fortune, forbes, you name it Wall Street Journal and I would even run home at lunchtime. We only had maybe 35 or 40 minutes. I was a few blocks from the school. I would run home watch Dan Dorfman on.
Kris Schlembach:FNN back then Financial News Network, which is now CNBC, and just look and learn and I just loved it. I was kind of passionate about it, I guess, and eventually, after college, I worked for a mortgage company initially and then I was fortunate enough to get a job in a Wall Street firm as a trader, which is really really, really hard to get into Right, really hard. But I was extremely persistent and I found out later, one of the people that worked in HR took my resume and put it right on top of the pile and they were getting like 10,000 resumes a week.
Kris Schlembach:That's insane to think about, and they only hired like 12 people when I got hired, so it was really I was. When I got on that trading floor to interview my heart was pounding and I just kind of knew I was meant to be there and it was incredible.
Tiffany Woolley:How long did you spend doing that?
Kris Schlembach:I was there like 99 through 2001. So after 9-11, that was like a crazy situation and the whole thing got turned upside down. And then we got bought out by a large wall street firm and they changed everything when I worked there.
Kris Schlembach:one of the things that attracted me to that particular firm is it was a meritocracy so if I made that firm money I would get paid yeah and it didn't matter about my tenure right so I'm like this as an entrepreneurial person, I want to be paid on my merit, not on my tenure and things like that, right, so just went along those lines of how I've always liked to do things, even a lot of my employees. I'll pay them a little get, I'll incentivize them, you know, because I feel that it makes people do better. And then so what?
Scott Woolley:point. Did you wake up going? I want to change to go into construction well I always threw. Throughout high school and college, I started learning a lot more. So what point did you wake up going? I want to change, to go into construction.
Kris Schlembach:Well, I, always throughout high school and college. I started learning a lot more about construction as I got older and was more capable and I did kind of enjoy the thing about, you know, making something look a lot better and just like giving it a makeover. It's like, you know, reminds me of one of the old sitcoms or something where, oh, this girl and they give her a makeover and all of a sudden everybody's like wow, you know, it's very rewarding. And then so and Wall Street after 9-11, and then we got taken over by another firm. They changed it. I got out of there around 2001 or so and then I was considering I was offered a job out in San Francisco, but I didn't want to move out there, I wanted to stay in New Jersey area. So I figured, hey, I'll get back into the construction and I started. My family had a business. I went back to work with my family, but it was very specialized and we did large commercial projects, nasa, hospitals airports, local areas.
Kris Schlembach:From DC up to Rhode Island, all over like northeast, like big commercial projects with unions and prevailing wage. We were all in the union and everything and eventually I started spreading out and getting more into the general contracting arena up there in New Jersey and then I just loved coming down here in Florida. I just loved the weather and the atmosphere and everything.
Tiffany Woolley:So it was a goal to get this way.
Kris Schlembach:So as I spent more and more time here, I started to kind of make some inroads and I thought, well, I could probably work from Florida and because a lot of our work was all over the Northeast, I wasn't physically on these projects. Most of the time I was working from New Jersey and I could be working a project that was four or five hours away. So then when I would come down to Florida, there were times I would stay here for months at a time and I would just DC for the day and fly back or fly up to Rhode Island or whatever, and I could manage them with the technology we have nowadays, with cloud-based things and it sort of eventually evolved that way, so was this your company Originally.
Kris Schlembach:I worked for my dad and then we had three companies. We started my brothers and I started another company which was a manufacturing company, because we figured that we saw our cost of goods was one of our major right, you know expenses, expenses.
Kris Schlembach:so we thought we can reduce our cost of goods, we'll increase our profitability or even increase our competitive edge because we can bid lower than other people and get still get the job and make just as much money. So we started. We initially rented some machinery, we learned how to manufacture different things and then we eventually bought machinery. We became a licensee of this one company from Texas and then we met with architects and just got into their specifications. So if a project was coming out the ground, the architect specified a certain product. Even if we weren't getting the entire contract, we could at least sell the material.
Kris Schlembach:So it's like half a loaf is better than none, and we were always privy to a lot more information as to what projects are coming out the ground, so that business today my brother runs is extremely successful.
Tiffany Woolley:Wow, so he still does that.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, and I was in his facility this summer and it was blew me away. I mean, it's like 60,000 square feet. He does 10s of millions a year in projects, you know, and it was something that we all started together. That is so awesome, I wanted to move down here and I have my, you know, the general contracting and it was, you know, coming from a commercial really difficult, challenging projects. I mean, we had projects, we had helicopters bringing material onto roofs, we had to shut down traffic in Washington DC.
Tiffany Woolley:Imagine traffic there.
Kris Schlembach:So we had police on either end of the street shutting down traffic to escort the material in and a big crane so we had to have the streets shut down. So I've been involved in things that are a very high level of difficulty. You know a lot of coordination General contracting.
Tiffany Woolley:Of course, there's a lot more facets to it, but I feel like it's a much easier process than what I was dealing with before. What did the learning curve look?
Kris Schlembach:like changing from commercial moving towards residential. That's a good question. So I had a project A good friend of mine, his office is right up the street. Um, a project my a good friend of mine, his, his office is right up the street. He's a huge company and they both basically deal with like mold fire water damage that kind of thing. He was always having trouble here in south florida. Of course there's not a lot of credible people and you know you get a lot of shady people yeah, so he asked me he said, hey, um, I have all these projects coming in.
Kris Schlembach:We tear the houses apart because of the mold and we don't have anybody. They're always asking us to have somebody put it back together, but we've been through dozens of contracts. We can't find anybody quality, reliable.
Tiffany Woolley:What a great segue for you.
Kris Schlembach:And I said, well, I'll give it a shot. He goes. I know you like big commercial stuff. I said I don't necessarily like it. That's what.
Tiffany Woolley:I do.
Kris Schlembach:But I'll try some residential. So the first job I did waterfront house had mold. We put everything back together and I thought this is actually quite relaxing compared to the commercial environment I'm used to. It's so fast paced and a lot of stress and meetings every day and OSHA and I mean it's just so much prevailing wage reports to fill out.
Tiffany Woolley:A lot of bureaucratic.
Kris Schlembach:It's just so much bureaucracy especially dealing with the large military projects we did in the airports and the hospitals and all that stuff. So it went over real well. I thought, oh, this is not nearly as stressful. I like it. And the other thing that really I liked about it was that it seemed I learned right away how grateful people they had, so much gratitude that we came in, did a good job, did what we said we were going to do. And I thought this is so easy. All I have to do is show up on time, do what I say I'm going to do. I mean, this is natural to me.
Kris Schlembach:Just to do the right thing, but people aren't used to that which blew me away.
Tiffany Woolley:Especially in Florida.
Kris Schlembach:So how long ago was that. That was probably about 10 years ago.
Scott Woolley:I'm going to say 10 years ago, yeah, started doing the residential. Did you have a general contracting license at that?
Tiffany Woolley:point yes, yes. And what about putting together a team?
Scott Woolley:Because you have a team now that's originally your company.
Kris Schlembach:Yes, I, yeah, actually it was more than 10 years ago. Yeah, it had to be like 15 years ago, yeah, at least because the so I have to look when I got. I don't really I don't look back a lot, I'm look, always looking forward in the present.
Voice Over:I'm in the present and I'm looking forward.
Kris Schlembach:I'm not like, oh what, my wife would know exactly the year and the day and everything, but it was probably 10 or 15 years ago roughly. So the team, originally I was out doing all the work. I was doing everything the tile, the demolition. I was out there getting my hands dirty and I eventually got, you know, I would weed through people. You get somebody and they're okay for a little while. Then they start going downhill and then eventually, as I would weed through people, you get somebody and they're okay for a little while.
Tiffany Woolley:Then they start going downhill. I know, I say that a lot too.
Kris Schlembach:Eventually, as I would get bigger projects, I'd have a bigger pool to choose from and I would always just keep the best guys in the bottom, like, say, 20%.
Kris Schlembach:They're always on the chopping block and I'm always looking to upgrade my team, but obviously some of the guys have been with me a long time, more than 12 years really yeah yeah, um, so one time, you know, I I would, sometimes guys would come and find me and then I'm really fortunate the guys I have, who are just great guys and they do an excellent job. They tend to come to me with hey, my nephew or my uncle came here from Cuba or something. Would you mind hiring him?
Kris Schlembach:And I say, yeah, let's talk, we'll try it and even with any new people that come to me, when I first hire them, I make sure I put them with my best guys for a few weeks so they can evaluate the new employee and tell me how are they doing. And not only are they doing a good job, are they getting along with everyone. That's really important to have cohesion.
Scott Woolley:So your company, KMR, is a pretty busy construction or remodeling company for mostly, let's say, high-end residential yeah, mostly I prefer that and I know that last year you probably did, I don't know. 18 to maybe more than 20 houses, which?
Voice Over:is pretty aggressive and pretty busy, probably more than that.
Scott Woolley:How important because it's one of the things we love to talk about on this podcast is design in what you're doing Design, how important is it? Well, maybe the first thing I should ask is that, of all those houses, how much of them has the design already been done?
Kris Schlembach:Probably on the projects I do. Probably about 40% of the design is done. Some of them the homeowner does the design themselves and you get into some issues where there's not a cohesion of like the the everything's tying together. I love, you know, with the designer. I like working with you guys, for instance, because everything's already picked out. I'm not holding the hand of the customer, you're doing that, you're, you're looking at their tastes and getting something that will work for that home and putting it all together. So for me, I'm not trying to pick out every single piece of material and when I know ahead of time, that's really important If we know ahead of time what material is going where, because there's a lot of considerations that people don't think of so having everything selected beforehand, before you start the project.
Kris Schlembach:First of all, it helps me to price the project. That's one thing. It's really difficult to put a true price on something when you don't know what type of material. For instance, if you do tile in a shower it could be, you know, say it's, it's a thousand dollars, but if you do a certain pattern, right, it could be four thousand dollars.
Tiffany Woolley:That's heavier. Yes, I mean you could quadruple the price yes, so there's.
Tiffany Woolley:We have to know about the materials ahead of time I mean, I would think, even working with a designer, you know, in the construction side, I always try to tell clients let's come up with this design, let's come up with this palette, let's come up with this whole schematic, the vibe, everything. And when you do send it to price with contractors, you're getting pricing that's apples to apples too. I would imagine that it's not the easiest to go bid a job based on you know something in thin air and then somebody else is coming basing it on another thin air.
Kris Schlembach:That's such a great point. And it's like if you've heard in the real estate business, oh, that realtor bought the listing, the house is worth a million dollars. And they say, oh, I'll get you 1.1 million. It's unrealistic and the realtor knows the market, knows they're only going to get 950 or so, but they buy the listing. And I think a lot of times I've seen it a million times actually with contractors if there's a job, I'm $20,000. I'm being very realistic, based on what they're doing and to do it properly it's going to cost that. And I'm not getting rich on that because another guy's at $12,000. I'm not making an extra $8,000. He's doing an entirely different job. So they'll come in low and then they'll hit the customer with a bunch of crazy change orders or they're coming in low because they're just slapping it together and not really doing. It's not apples and apples, it really isn't, do you think?
Scott Woolley:most people clients realize how important design is prior, or do you think most people think, well, I'll kind of wing it as I go along?
Kris Schlembach:So I would say the customers that do realize how important it is are A customers that are doing higher-end projects and B customers who have been through the construction process previously. They realize hey, you know what we need to get the planning done properly. Proper planning prevents poor performance.
Tiffany Woolley:I love that. That's a good slogan. I don't know why I don't use that one more often.
Kris Schlembach:I get all these from my dad. He has a million of them.
Tiffany Woolley:That's a great one actually we should talk about that in one of our tidbits. It's funny because I was actually at a job site the other day a magnificent home, a magnificent property and you would walk in and be like this is amazing. But the more you do dive into it had you had a furniture layout that you were actually building around and lighting, I mean there's huge. Yeah, you know, and I hate to say that, that a beautiful project could have been better, but that's why you could have been better the model home yeah and the new development is always designed.
Kris Schlembach:The designer comes in and plans everything out, and that's why it looks so amazing. But then a lot of times you buy that model that's not designed and it doesn't look anything like the model home.
Tiffany Woolley:It's so true.
Scott Woolley:Well, it's all the finishes.
Tiffany Woolley:It is, it's all those layers that we talk about a lot.
Kris Schlembach:A friend of mine who I built their house and they used a designer and it's so amazing how the kitchen sconces they have sea glass around them and then the chandelier over in the dining room has the same sea glass on it. So it all ties in together. It's so just tight it looks and a lot of times you know we're talking about real obvious things. But if you go into a house and this ties into the construction as well If you walk into one house, let's say you have identical homes. One was done by the company that cuts corners and does it sloppily and just maybe you know it's just not done right, and the other one was done where every little detail was considered, and you walk into those houses. At first glance or if someone took photos, you might think that's the same house, but when you look you'll have a feeling of this. One just feels so much nicer.
Kris Schlembach:It does this one. I don't know what it is, I don't feel like it's that great. And then it's your subconscious registering that paint drip over there and the little imperfections and all, and you're not seeing it Like maybe, without further looking at it you won't identify the specific things, but you will feel a difference when you walk into the house. That's done properly versus the one that's just slapped together.
Tiffany Woolley:Without a doubt.
Scott Woolley:Do you think that? Is there one big like mistake you think people make from a design standpoint? That seems to happen over and over.
Kris Schlembach:It's hard to think about. I'm not really sure Nothing really stands out particularly. It's just overall having that where everything ties together and not just colors. But having a nice thing is to have Flow, yeah, but also like where you have different textures and materials, soft and hard. You know tile, but you don't want all tile Now the room's echoey and too hard or masculine. You want some softness and those kind of things make a huge difference.
Tiffany Woolley:Lighting, yeah, lighting, yeah Lighting is so important. It really is. I know I even like the temperature of lighting to me is so important. Even just driving through our neighborhood coming home at night I'm I'm like, oh, the light in that one house is so bright, you know, like it's just so off, it's not like.
Scott Woolley:Well, most people are not thinking about the, the calvin temperature right, right and these are now that changes the whole aesthetic of a house.
Kris Schlembach:That there's so many things that look, I mean, this is what we do right, so we know all these little nuances and you can't be good at everything.
Kris Schlembach:Do I hire a contractor to be my doctor or to take a tooth out? No, I mean, I go to a dentist or a doctor. It's like there's so many subtle things. I had a um someone call me as a favor the other day and say, chris, could you come take a look at this for us? I said sure, no problem, and they had done the signs in the front of the development.
Tiffany Woolley:At your development. Yeah, okay.
Kris Schlembach:So I'm looking at it and I'm like you know, it looked great. But, I said, did you do this, did you do that? And no, they kind of GC'd it themselves.
Tiffany Woolley:The neighborhood did. Yeah, oh wow.
Kris Schlembach:And I'm like, okay, so that beautiful black tile you have on this wall with the sign where the water runs down, it that's all going to turn white.
Tiffany Woolley:I was going to say, was it waterproofed?
Kris Schlembach:I said you need to put a filtration system on the water. You need a carbon filter, something to filter out the calcium and everything. And when they put the tile on the wall they should have used a certain thinset that does not have the calcification come through. I know and I already see it and it was only done two weeks ago.
Tiffany Woolley:I know that's when you know you're with a good builder or a bad builder. I've had clients who you know relied on contractors. I didn't bring the contractor to the table or anything. I actually had a great working relationship with them. But that became a huge problem on the end result of the project that showed up right away.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, was the calcification there's a million things like that, and it's just. You know, it's not like you, you just know this stuff or like you went to construction school.
Tiffany Woolley:But it's years and years of experience and if you're not doing it every day, you're not in the loop of it. That's why you need to and look, we've made a lot of mistakes, but that's how we learned.
Kris Schlembach:It's been years and years and decades of of there's always still a new one.
Scott Woolley:Yeah, there's always something new will pop up, but so you and your company, kmr, do a lot of projects high-end homes, condos, townhouses. Is there a design style that you kind of you like personally better, like right now or the last few years? Really modern has been, yeah, like the mid-century modern type stuff I like.
Kris Schlembach:I think it's like there's a good mix of materials, kind of a throwback, but like classy and modern update. It's like, it's cool. I like a mid-century modern. I've always been real privy also to like the um, like that, it's. Uh, it's like's like a beachy, but sort of like modern transitional.
Tiffany Woolley:Like the West Indies.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, I love that style.
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, I agree. That's such a nice Florida.
Kris Schlembach:Look A friend of mine just built a beautiful 5,000 square foot house on the water in Key West and I went down and looked at them. This is just that British West Indies style with the wood soffits outside and just you know, beautiful, but the details. The builder needs to really brush up on his details and my friend asked me. He said please write down a punch list for me. We walked around the house for about four or five hours.
Scott Woolley:Wow, please write down a punch list for me.
Kris Schlembach:We walked around the house for about four or five hours, wow, and I was telling him just put a Post-it note on every little thing and write a little note on it and just put it all over the house. He used about 400 Post-it notes. He said I wish you would have built my house, but I'm not doing work in Key Largo, you know.
Tiffany Woolley:Right.
Scott Woolley:So is that a frustrating aspect of construction is finishing a job and then having to deal with the client and what they think is finished.
Kris Schlembach:Sometimes there's unrealistic expectations, and that's part of the job is managing people's expectations is really important. It helps. Communication is my number one thing, and then two is part of that is just managing the expectations. I have had issues where people that's unacceptable, that's what they're saying, and I'm saying, no, it is acceptable, it's actually right, this is the right way to do it, and I've referred to what my go-to is. I'll call the manufacturer and say let's, let them come out and take a look at it.
Kris Schlembach:And, sure enough, they come out and they go. This is perfect. Not only is it well within our tolerances, this is exactly the way we want you to do it, Because we read the instructions before we do things. I mean, there's so many different things like flooring. If you're doing wood flooring, typically we'll let it rest inside the house for a minimum of 48 hours.
Voice Over:Before we install it.
Kris Schlembach:It has to acclimate to the temperature and humidity. Right, there's so many little things that Nuances.
Kris Schlembach:Some of them are glued down, some are floating. There's all these little things. Some of the materials require different installation methods or preparation, and we just as long as we. That's why, coming from the commercial, you know construction I always made sure we followed all of the details to perfectly, just to the T, because we've had these meetings. I mean big jobs, multi million dollar projects, commercial projects, and in the commercial arena there are more people that will, as they play the game. They won't pay you just as a matter of doing business. That's just what they do. So they will come up with an excuse not to pay you and say, well, this isn't done correctly. So then we would have to call in the manufacturer's rep. We'd bring an architect, that the architect would have to approve everything.
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, almost like plead your case.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah.
Scott Woolley:They don't want to pay. Yeah, and you have a contract with them.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, yeah, a lot of business, people and you had a contract with them?
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, a lot of. Let's say like I had a case. There's a car dealership I was doing in Rhode Island and they said, oh you know, they got down to like the last final $50,000 they owed us on the project and everything was great. The entire project, you know it lasted four months, this project. They loved us the whole time. They couldn't say enough good about us. You guys are doing such a great job. We had a great rapport with them until it came time for them to make the final payment. And then, all of a sudden, they point out all these issues which weren't issues. They made them up. They made them up.
Scott Woolley:Sounds like they had a cash flow problem. Either that or they actually do that on every job and they figure hey, if we save 10% on every project we do.
Kris Schlembach:that's millions of dollars. That pays for the guy's speedboat and gas. Yeah. So now we have the manufacturing. They say this is fine, everything's perfect. So then they say well, I owe you $50,000. I'll give you $35,000. Take it or leave it. And now I talk to my attorney. He says it's going to take you four or five years to get your money. By then the you know you're only saving. He's basically 15 000 you're losing. Plus it's going to cost you 25 000 legal fees.
Tiffany Woolley:Just take the 35 it's definitely and it's, it's happened, it's happened, definitely it happens in commercial it.
Kris Schlembach:It's knock on wood. It's only happened to me one time in residential and the couple was going through a divorce and I could have gone after them legally. But I did go after them like civilly or, I'm sorry, like a normal lawsuit and. I won and they had to pay all my legal fees, but the people were going through a divorce and they were.
Tiffany Woolley:It was more about them than paying me A tit for tat type of thing.
Kris Schlembach:Yes, Neither wanted to pay. It's like well, you pay it.
Tiffany Woolley:No, you pay it, yeah. Right, neither wanted to pay. It's like, well, you pay it. No, you pay it, yeah.
Kris Schlembach:And what they did really could have got them in trouble. It was an insurance project. The insurance company made out a joint check to them and me.
Tiffany Woolley:They forged my name and went and cashed the check. Yeah, that's an unscrupulous crew.
Kris Schlembach:I could have criminally went after them.
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, that's an unscrupulous crew, yeah.
Kris Schlembach:But anyway it all worked out. I got all my money.
Tiffany Woolley:What does the day-to-day look like when you're running multiple projects?
Kris Schlembach:So I rely heavily on my foremen that are out on the job to communicate with me. Sometimes the communication doesn't happen because they're busy, busy, busy. So I will call them If I can't make it out on a project to check on it. I'll FaceTime them. And that's great. We use WhatsApp all the time and they go like this you know we'll discuss everything and I'll say, okay, put this mark on the wall there.
Kris Schlembach:So it's almost like I'm there, which is great because that allowed, like technology has really allowed me to scale up and do a lot more work. But my, my, basically my day consists of like, scale up and do a lot more work. But basically my day consists of like two things. It's mostly project management and then bidding new projects. So I'm dealing with ordering material, scheduling plumbers, electricians, that kind of thing ordering some materials, countertops, and then on the other times I'm running around on estimates. And while I'm out running around doing estimates, hey, I'll stop in and check on these guys, I pop in on them and check on the jobs, and then the rest of the time probably about 20% of my time is just spent running a business, doing payroll and accounting and dealing with insurance and all that kind of stuff.
Scott Woolley:So I'm guessing most of your work is coming through word of mouth Predominantly word of mouth yeah, yeah, that's repeat customers for us yeah, I had one.
Kris Schlembach:I just ran out to wellington the other day. It was a woman who I did a job for about five. I did a kitchen five years ago and she was in green acres. Now she lives in wellington so I went out there and she's chris, can you come out and look at this, you know? So ran out there, look at it so repeat business when come to you.
Scott Woolley:Do you prefer or is there a preference that you'd rather a job coming to you from the client directly or like with us when we work with you coming through us as the decorator or the interior designer? Is there a preference that no?
Kris Schlembach:because if it's a client coming to me directly, it all just really depends on the project, because if it's a smaller project, they don't really need a decorator. A lot of times, a simple bathroom or closet, it's a really simple thing. But when it's more, when it's the kitchen and the dining room and maybe're doing like a whole house, especially, I need a designer. But as far as where it comes from, it doesn't really make much difference to me because we work really well together and coordinate everything. Either way, whether I bring the client to you or you bring them to me, I don't think it really makes a difference.
Scott Woolley:So jobs that are pretty decent-sized jobs. Do you prefer that an interior designer is involved?
Kris Schlembach:Oh, yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, because there are so many moving parts, so many little details, that it's challenging for me to convey all of the material options to the customer where you're set up for that. You're very well set up for it. You have all the samples here. I'm basically copy and pasting links and mailing them to them saying how about this shower enclosure, how about this tile? Or why don't you go to Floor Decor and pick out some tile?
Tiffany Woolley:and let me know.
Kris Schlembach:You're a one-stop shop, you guys have it covered. You have all the beautiful samples and showroom and you can put together a little design display for them. It's just much, much better and I think they get a better product that way.
Tiffany Woolley:I think so too, and I always say people who trust the process are technically much happier in the long run.
Scott Woolley:So technology you mentioned has helped your business in communicating with the client and your team. What about social media? Has social media and has that?
Kris Schlembach:changed. Yeah, so just recently we were like last year was a pretty slow year. Normally we were in an average year. I would get 10 to 12 calls a week, like on average. That's an average year. I've at 10 to 12 calls a week Like on average, that's an average year, I've at times sort of getting 25 calls a week. A week, yeah, a week, how do you?
Tiffany Woolley:weed them out. Google, yeah what.
Kris Schlembach:I do.
Scott Woolley:How do you meet?
Kris Schlembach:with them all. So I don't, I don't. When you're that busy, you have to basically.
Kris Schlembach:Have a strategy, yeah, so what I would do typically will. I'll speak with the customer on the phone, feel out what they're trying to do and I'll usually type in their address and look. Most of the time there's pictures on Redfin or Zillow or realtorcom and I can see. I'll say, hey, are you talking about the bathroom with the two sinks and the showers to the left? Yeah, that's the one and we start to discuss it and I can see multiple photos, usually just online without them. Sometimes they'll email me the photos and we'll discuss it and this is just a preliminary discussion and I'll say okay, you're roughly depending on your material selections. You're somewhere between 40 and 50 000 for that project so that's interesting.
Scott Woolley:So we did a podcast a few weeks back about budget and about budget about how important it is to really get the client to discuss this from the very beginning of the project because it really helps all of us guide that project to get done a quicker and get a better presentation done. So how important is it to you to get a budget out of the person on the first call or two?
Kris Schlembach:So for different aspects, you know you want to kind of gauge what level of construction they want. You know, you're not going to offer, like, if somebody has a $500,000 house, you're not going to offer them a $200,000 kitchen.
Voice Over:It just doesn't make sense.
Kris Schlembach:So that's part of like giving them a budget and trying to. I know some people ask people their budget. I don't do that First. I listen, I ask them questions and I listen to what they're saying and I'm processing the information, especially if I go out and look at the house. I look at the neighborhood, I look at how expensive the home is. Is it a home in a neighborhood that, if they put $100,000 into a master bath, are they going to get that out of it?
Tiffany Woolley:Well, if it's a waterfront house in Boca.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, no problem, and there's some places they wouldn't, so it's really part of the process.
Scott Woolley:So you're not really asking them for a budget. You're basically, in most cases, giving them a range. I'm giving them a range.
Kris Schlembach:And part of that, the range, is to give them a realistic budget as to what this is really going to cost, to do it properly, on the level that they're requesting and that is commensurate with their home and property value thing and that is commensurate with their home and property value.
Tiffany Woolley:So when you're getting so many of these leads every week, you know, for example, how and we're talking about how you weed through them, but is there one that's too big or too small that you?
Kris Schlembach:Most of the time, it has to do with geography. I don't want to go to Miami, or even Fort.
Kris Schlembach:Lauderdale and drive, it'll take you 45 minutes down 995 to go 50 miles and then to go three miles from 95 to the beach takes you another 40 minutes. I don't want to deal with that. I have to have something that's accessible so I can go check on it and not have excuses not to go. I mean, if I have to drive an hour and a half just to check on a job, I'm not going to that job very frequently.
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, we have the same mindset. Well, we do, but at least, at the same token, we are not having to be managing a site every day too, because we do have projects that are not exactly located in our level.
Kris Schlembach:And then the other thing about the budgeting. It's sometimes people have completely unrealistic expectations. I could say well, your bathroom, the way you want to do it. As you're explaining it to me, I'm thinking it's going to be between $18,000 and $20,000. And I can be fairly accurate like that. I mean, I've done hundreds so I know about what it's going to be. And the variation of price has to do with the materials they select and patterns, and maybe there are some things that we run into that we're not aware of when we open up a wall.
Kris Schlembach:There could be something screwed up in there. So at that point if they go, oh my God, $18,000.
Tiffany Woolley:I thought it was going to be $10,000.
Kris Schlembach:I'm not driving out there to meet them for an appointment because they're unrealistic expectations. So that weeds through a lot of it, a lot of it, yeah. So I like to give a range before I even go out and spend two or three hours of my time giving them a free estimate.
Tiffany Woolley:I know.
Scott Woolley:You know, so it's interesting because on our side we're trying to get the number out of the client on what their expectation, what they think they have, because if they're telling us, okay, I want to redo this bathroom, and they're throwing out a number, it then gives us a gauge of okay, we can, what's your word?
Scott Woolley:I say we'll use this vendor vendor value engineer this value engineer to make that work but at the same, but at the same time, if it's a number that just doesn't make sense, yeah, then we're letting the people know that yeah, I think it makes more sense for you to do that, because the material is variable.
Kris Schlembach:There's so many variables it could you don't have as many variables, no I mean, like a faucet, you can buy one faucet, you can buy one for $40. You can buy one for $2,000.
Scott Woolley:No problem.
Kris Schlembach:A tub. You can buy $50,000 tubs.
Tiffany Woolley:Agreed. That's where it's nice and clear cut with construction and it does give us a good understanding when people do say a little bit of a number where they'd like to be and I always try to say being comfortable with that number.
Kris Schlembach:I wonder how much those cabinets are that I sent you the other day. They're so beautiful, oh my gosh, they are so beautiful.
Tiffany Woolley:It's funny. I love that line. I forget how do you say it La Guafas.
Kris Schlembach:I don't even know La Gala, yeah, beautiful.
Tiffany Woolley:Beautiful. I'm like we need that client. Yeah, we do.
Kris Schlembach:Well, it's also knowing the client and it's like communication, you know all these things like managing expectations, knowing the client. I find that the you know, the most important thing to certain clients is different depending on the client. It's not always price. Price could be the fifth thing. The most important thing to certain clients is different depending on the client it's not always price.
Tiffany Woolley:Price could be the fifth thing, the most important thing and that's a whole new system to gauge really it really is and you don't want to shortchange people who are willing to have that special right range or that special fabric. You know it's because there there is just so much out there that you really can curate a special end result.
Kris Schlembach:My friend gave me she had done a bathroom and, I think, her dining room in this wallpaper and it was so beautiful and I always liked it. And she was over at my house and she said that wall, you should use that wallpaper. I used I have some left over and she gave it to me. Well then I later found out it was $2,500 a roll.
Tiffany Woolley:A panel or a roll.
Kris Schlembach:Each roll was like $2,500. And it looks beautiful and she had rolls left over.
Scott Woolley:She had some left over.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, but it's so nice.
Tiffany Woolley:That's fun.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, but I mean it's the right thing for her house and it just so happened. I used it for a small area but I wouldn't have paid $2,500, but that's me, but some people they want the best and the most beautiful thing. It's the perfect thing for that wall. Let's get it.
Tiffany Woolley:Right. I love working with that type of client.
Scott Woolley:So for a person who wants to become a young person, who wants to become a contractor, a general contractor, what piece of advice would you give them?
Kris Schlembach:I would say like the best thing in any type of endeavor you want to get into is to try to find a good mentor.
Tiffany Woolley:That's got to be your best bet, so your mentor is your dad On the job training?
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, my mentor is my dad in many aspects of not only life but in business in general, and I find that so many things translate from business to business to business. If you have integrity, you treat people right, you have a good work ethic and I could say 10 or 15 different things it's going to translate well into any business you're in. So I think they're the most important things, but then, specifically, the technical aspects I would go work for somebody and try to learn.
Kris Schlembach:You have to work in the field too because it's really important to actually get that field experience. It helps you visualize things getting done in a step-by-step process. You know what's actually involved, rather than just using a software program to throw a price out there, which I've had to use the software programs for pricing because I've done a lot of insurance work and they essentially require it. It's almost mandatory in the insurance industry.
Tiffany Woolley:Like an estimating.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, it's, Xactimate is one of the programs and they want very detailed breakdowns of everything where I might say, hey, in this room, I'm going to charge you $500 to paint the room. It's implied that I'm going to cover and protect the floors, move the furniture out of the way and put masking tape.
Kris Schlembach:You need to break that down individually by line item. On the insurance work Wow, which is kind of cool in a way, because I've done a lot of insurance work and it helped me think that detailed level of this is everything we're going to need, you know.
Tiffany Woolley:I like that. There's constant learning every day yeah, oh, always learning do you think any of your kids will jump in with?
Kris Schlembach:you, I don't think, well, it's possible. But I mean my, my oldest, my one son is going to school for engineering, the other one, he, wants to do something in business or sales.
Scott Woolley:So it's possible yeah, but it's tough, would you?
Kris Schlembach:like them to? I wouldn't like them to. It's really tough. It's a very stressful job. It's like there's a lot of people's expectations are completely unrealistic. That's why I say managing the expectations, keeping them their feet planted on the ground.
Scott Woolley:Good, clear communication. Very, very good, yeah, exactly, communication ongoing all the time really helps, huge, huge.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, it's a tough business but at the same time it's rewarding with seeing the transit Freeing and I have a lot of freedom. I travel a lot and I can. If my son had a basketball game at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, I would have no problem going to the game A few months ago. As opposed to. You know, when I did work on Wall Street, I was pinned to the computer screen. When the markets opened I could barely get up to take a leak.
Tiffany Woolley:I mean I'm pinned to that screen.
Kris Schlembach:Yeah, it's so crazy that you had such a passion for Wall Street and that in such a short period of time you realized there was another way. I did love it, but I didn't like the associated rat race because at that time you pretty much had to be in New York, so I like living in South Florida. Now there's hedge funds.
Tiffany Woolley:There's like 2,000 hedge funds in Palm Beach County or something like that. I know it's crazy.
Kris Schlembach:There's a lot of different aspects of it now, but it's different what I did. A lot of it's handled by automated systems, computer programs or doing what my job was.
Tiffany Woolley:Wow, yeah, that's so crazy to think about.
Kris Schlembach:Everything's programs. There's triggers that occur and boom. All of a sudden, millions of shares are traded instantaneously. It's a different world.
Tiffany Woolley:That is a different world.
Scott Woolley:So we wrap up each of our podcasts by asking some interesting design questions. So the first question I'm going to ask you and you are a world traveler, I mean you're traveling, like you just said, all the time Is there a hotel that comes to mind that you think has fantastic, unbelievable design?
Kris Schlembach:I mean the breakers is always just so impressive to me. I love the old like it's so ornate, reminds me of like being in europe. You know where you have. Everything is so grand and rich and just bold, and you know like a lot of places you go are very clean and modern, but it's antiseptic.
Scott Woolley:It has no, no passion, no yeah, you know, the boca hotel used to be like that yeah, years ago.
Kris Schlembach:I'm not too crazy about it anymore no, no, me too but I love the places in europe, just like I went to a place in london the saint ermine's and saint in in umchester. It was so cool A lot of marble, a lot of old, just stuff that you look at it and you're just blown away by how did they build?
Tiffany Woolley:this In the history, yeah Like some of these places the craftsmanship you have such appreciation for. Oh, I love it.
Kris Schlembach:I love the craft, Even the doors. When you're in Paris just looking at some of the front doors in these houses.
Tiffany Woolley:It's amazing it when you're in Paris just looking at some of the front doors in these houses. It's amazing, it blows me away. It blows me away too. You could create like a whole book of just the doors. Yes, right, you really could. I think somebody has.
Kris Schlembach:I love the detail and I have a very a major appreciation for it Everywhere I go, like Croatia and Italy and all these places it's like how did they do this? It's really cool I know with such passion what is your favorite event to attend I don't really attend any events for, like construction or anything, I probably should like any event in life like I mean a sport game, a sport game or like.
Tiffany Woolley:Cavalino or, like you know, like all these.
Kris Schlembach:I love Anything at.
Tiffany Woolley:Mar-a-Lago.
Kris Schlembach:I love concerts but I don't yeah, I love going to Mar-a-Lago. Usually, stuff that's associated with like outside, any like outdoors I love. We did a. We took our boat down to watch the what's the big concert.
Tiffany Woolley:The country concert. Oh yeah, like, can you do that this year? My girls want to go. Yeah, we'll take our boat down. Can we go? Yeah, yeah, jumping off the boat, we're swimming listening to music.
Kris Schlembach:It's great. I love stuff like that that's actually, yeah, that was. The kids had a blast. They're doing backflips off the top of the boat and having and there's a lot of boats out there, a lot of boats, yeah, my kids that that's like on their Christmas list was tickets to Tortuga. I like the air shows too. We've done that with the boat. Planes are flying right over your head.
Scott Woolley:It's really cool, that is really fun. So what's a restaurant design-wise? Not necessarily food, but design.
Kris Schlembach:That's a tough one.
Tiffany Woolley:You've been to a lot of different restaurants all over the world is there one?
Scott Woolley:that stands out, that you could say like the design was.
Kris Schlembach:Man, I like so many of them, I'm trying to think it's hard. There's a new place I kind of like the decor in it up in West Palm Pink State. Oh yeah, that's cute. It's a cool place.
Tiffany Woolley:It kind of like the decor in it Up in West Palm Pink.
Kris Schlembach:State.
Scott Woolley:Oh yeah, that's cute, it's a cool place, it's kind of neat.
Kris Schlembach:Is it a big place? A small? It's pretty big. Yeah, it's pretty big. It's in a shopping center. You wouldn't think much of it from the outside, but when you go in it's really. Well done, All right.
Tiffany Woolley:So lastly your favorite wardrobe accessory.
Kris Schlembach:I don't wear many, but probably my wedding ring. Oh, good answer. It reminds me of my beautiful wife.
Tiffany Woolley:Oh, good answer. That's a good way to end the show today.
Scott Woolley:We appreciate you coming in, Spencer.
Tiffany Woolley:Good to see you guys. Thank you, chris, all right, thanks.
Voice Over:Thank you. Idesign Labs Podcast is an SW Group production. Thanks, thank you.
