Budman

I fancy myself as a character much like Budman of circa 1970 Anheuser Busch “The Dauntless Defender of Quality” In thinking about what that meant, I realized that rather than being an overseer of the industry as if I am the best, I decided that I was more interested in being an astute observer and shrewd reporter.

I come across all sorts of things in my life and generally figure them out. Often it is just to my benefit of landing on the right side of a moral or ethical dilemma, and many times it is just related to doing the right thing, a practice which I have crowed about for years.

Occasionally it is going to bat for someone or for a particular issue that just doesn’t seem fair and doing what I can to explain, understand, and correct it if I can. Am I a superhero, or caped crusader? No… but I play one on my blog. When I dawn the writer’s mindset, the creative juices start to flow. Like the incredible hulk, I take on the persona as “The Remodeling Watchdog”. Call me “Joejoe,” Like my folks do, or Levcoman, I like to think of myself as Mike Holmes with a budget.

I saw a piece on NBC this morning about unscrupulous guys being filmed visiting a home where a set up GAS water heater was purposely disabled to see if any of the repairmen had integrity. To no one’s surprise, they all failed to diagnose the problem correctly and recommended replacement. In this case, several unlicensed plumbers with no experience failed to diagnose the problem and jumped to the conclusion that the unit needed replacement. (In the defense of one of the contractors, he did not have malicious intent and would have most likely figured out the problem. I’ll bet he would have not charged her to fix it once he understood what was up.)

I’ve seen exposés on air conditioner folks too. Enough already! Let’s get over it. The service industry has a huge credibility issue. How on earth is anyone going to trust anyone? Are we all screwing our clients? How do you find anyone you can trust?

Levcoman

Where have all the decent contractors gone?

In a recent case, my client called a HVAC company to check out a furnace that was acting up. “You have a cracked heat exchanger,” he said “This thing is spewing CO into your home it needs to be replaced.” I asked my client if the HVAC guy used any testing instruments to verify his suspicions “No,” he said “Well it isn’t spewing CO until we can prove it.”I said. I sent my HVAC guy go out and check, and sure enough, no CO issue. Relieved that he had time to save up for a new unit, my client scratched his old HVAC company off of the call list.

I can test anything and everything that can be tested, because I have the tools to do it. Duh!

How can this sort of thing happen so frequently? How does a company set a culture of doing the right thing? I believe it starts with a company owner that can create a sharing and caring culture. One that has a warranty that holds water, and that has a history of taking care of problems.

I have modeled my company this way. I have heard my employees say, “That’s just the Levco way” How many of you can say your client hugs you when you show up to work? We are fixing their home for crying out loud, that is a very personal thing. Anyone with a personal space issue should find some other line of work.

Have we ever screwed up? Yes, we have. But did we ultimately take care of business? Yes, we did. Do we apologize?  Yes, we do. We take it personally too. Ok, so I abuse my cell phone privileges. And perhaps I am too available for my clients. The fact of the matter is that there is little argument that the results we have put up consistently for years are stunning. At Levco, we look out for our clients, period, end of statement.

If this is the type of relationship you want to have with your remodeling contractor then waste no time in contacting us today at 208-947-7261

Disclaimer: Some of these images came from the WEB. If they are yours, and you object to them being used, please claim them and I will gladly remove and replace them at once.