Classic Remodeling Featured in Remodeling Magazine

Classic’s Bob Fleming will be a featured panelist in an upcoming Owner Series Webinar sponsored by GuildQuality, which will focus on how company owners preserve their core values and company culture while growing their business.  In advance of the webinar, the panelists shared some of their thoughts with Remodeling Magazine. Below is an excerpt of the article.


Focus Your Culture on Service Excellence
Is your company's culture helping you exceed client expectations?

Managing expectations is important, but exceeding client expectations is essential to growing your business. There's a definite correlation between a company's success and how its culture focuses on service excellence.

Fitting In
Creating defined processes and an encouraging environment where teamwork and accountability are valued is critical to developing a strong culture of excellence. As your business grows, preserving that culture can become a challenge. Bob Fleming, president of Classic Remodeling & Construction in Charleston, S.C., considers whether new hires will be a cultural fit during the interview process.

“First and most important, I hire for attitude," he says. "All the technical skills in the world will not compensate for a lack of people skills. I find that when you find someone with good people skills who is motivated to learn, you can teach the technical skills quickly and easily.”

Fleming also emphasizes the importance of his company’s core values with new team members and trains them to deliver excellence to clients. He monitors his team’s performance using GuildQuality.

“There is nothing more satisfying than getting the feedback from our clients that everyone involved with the project was great to work with and knowing that those results occurred without any daily involvement from me as the company owner.”

To read the full article, check out Remodeling.com. 

8 Tips For Keeping Your Home Safe While You Are Away

Planning your summer vacation? Don’t forget to make plans to keep your home and belongings safe while you are away. Here are a few practical tips to ensure your house stays safe, whether you are gone for a week or a month.

1.     Install interior lights with timers. Use the “random” setting to make your home look occupied while you are away.

2.     Keep your home’s exterior looking tidy. Stop newspaper and mail delivery or have a neighbor pick it up for you. And, if you’ll be away longer than a week, make arrangements for your lawn to be mowed.

3.     Unplug your garage door openers to prevent tech savvy burglars from gaining easy access to your home.

4.     Don’t hide a spare key. Instead, leave a key with a trusted neighbor.

5.     Unplug your electronics to prevent damage from lightning strikes.

6.     Lock up or hide your valuables. Burglars are usually most interested in what they can get their hands on easily.

7.     Make sure you have deadbolts installed on all outside doors and lock them. Pushbutton locks are easy for burglars to open.

8.     Don’t advertise your vacation on social media. This is an easy way for people to find out when you won’t be home. Share photos and details of your trip after you return.

Classic Remodeling Wins 2013 Guildmaster Award for Residential Remodeling

We are pleased to announce that Classic Remodeling has been awarded a 2013 Guildmaster Award for exceptional customer service. GuildQuality, an independent customer satisfaction surveying company, has powered the Guildmaster Award since 2005 to celebrate service excellence in the building, remodeling, contracting, and home services professions.

Over the past few months, GuildQuality reviewed numerous survey responses submitted by customers of all Guildmaster candidates. In order to receive the award, Guildmaster candidates must meet established standards of performance in two key areas:  the percentage of customers who would recommend and the percentage of customers who responded. We achieved a recommendation rate of greater than 90% from our customers, who were surveyed through GuildQuality.

This marks the eighth consecutive year we have received the award, and we are proud to be one of only six companies nationwide to be honored with the Guildmaster title every year since its inception.

Providing exceptional customer service is one of our core values at Classic Remodeling. GuildQuality provides an invaluable opportunity for us to garner important feedback from our clients about what we are doing well in addition to areas where we can improve. We are thrilled that our customers have been so consistently happy with our work and we appreciate their willingness to participate in the GuildQuality survey process.

For more on the 2013 Guildmaster Award and qualifications, visit www.guildquality.com/guildmaster/.

The Classic Difference – Superior Quality, Value and Service

What makes Classic different? We believe it is our commitment to providing quality craftsmanship, exceptional value and superior customer service that sets us apart from other design-build remodeling firms.

It’s these principles that guide us every day and we strive to put them into practice on each project – no matter how large or small. The true measure of our success, however, is how the client feels at the end of the project. Did we live up to all that we had promised? Did they have a good experience? Would they recommend us to their friends and family?

Check out the video below to learn more about the Classic Difference.

Universal Design Unites Form and Function

Although the housing market continues to show signs of improvement, the overwhelming majority of older homeowners are still expressing a desire to remain in their current homes as they age. As a remodeler, we are seeing an increase in the number of requests to retrofit our clients’ homes to accommodate their changing needs.

This is where universal design (UD) comes into play. UD is an architectural practice that allows occupants of all ages and capabilities to live independently and comfortably for a long period of time in the same house.

While in the past, the idea of remodeling your home for “aging in place” may have conjured up images of industrial-looking grab bars and wheelchair ramps, today UD elements are designed to be subtle and almost undetectable.  

Cabinetry is a great place to add UD elements. Pull-out shelves which make cabinet contents more visible and accessible are one popular option. Soft-close drawers and doors also help to protect against pinched fingers. Other accessories like lazy susans, door shelves and flip-down fronts enhance storage capacity as well as accessibility.

Grab bars are also being integrated into the design of many bathroom fixtures. From faucets and towel bars to shelving and soap dishes, these elegant fixtures provide discreet support, making them both beautiful and functional. 

Single-lever handles for doors, sinks and showers are easier to manipulate, whether you have an armful of groceries or lack strength for gripping. “D”-shaped handles also make cabinets easier to open.

And let’s not forget appliances. Many of the current popular appliance options also deliver UD benefits of better accessibility and increased safety. Wall ovens and warming drawers, French-door style refrigerators and microwave ovens with flip-down doors are just a few examples.

Over the past few years, universal design has come a long way, in large part because the products available have become more attractive and flexible. Be sure to talk with your contractor about your needs as you begin the design and product selection process. You have many options for remodeling your space to suit your lifestyle needs both now and in the future while also enhancing the beauty, comfort, convenience and long-term value of your home.

Protecting Your Investment: The Importance of a Good Warranty

As you research home remodeling professionals, one of the items you should address with each contractor you interview is their warranty program. The warranty serves as a guarantee that the contractor is committed to delivering a quality product, and leaves the homeowner feeling confident that their project will be done right the first time. But, not all warranties are created equal…

Most states require remodeling companies to carry a limited warranty by law, usually for one year following completion of the work. It’s good to know your state’s requirements as you begin your search, but you want a contractor whose warranty goes above and beyond the minimum.

Companies that back their work are far less likely to have to return to the job to fix it. However, if a problem should arise, a good warranty will guarantee that it is resolved at no additional cost to you. By choosing a remodeling company with an extended warranty you are ensuring that your home and the work done in it will be taken care of. Though you may be tempted to choose a less expensive company with a shorter warranty, you likely won’t end up saving money in the long run. Often you’ll end up having to hire a second remodeling company to fix the work of the first.

At Classic, we are extremely proud of the quality of our work and stand behind everything we do. Our generous warranties are just one way we work to assure our clients that we are committed to providing superior service and craftsmanship. Our Worry-Free Warranty provides the following coverage:

• Finishes: 2 years (includes paint, drywall, floor coverings, trim and millwork, or cabinetry)

• Systems: 5 years (includes roofing, waterproofing, windows and doors, electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems)

• Structural: 8 years (applies to all structural components)

We review the terms of our warranty with each client when signing a construction agreement and again at the conclusion of the project. If you have any questions regarding your coverage, or aren’t sure if an issue is covered by your warranty, feel free to contact us. We’re happy to answer any questions you may have.

Good Ideas Never Die – They Just Go Viral

In 2004, we began incorporating a hair dryer drawer into many of our bathroom vanity designs. The drawer included an outlet at the back that would allow the homeowner to conveniently store a hair dryer, without the hassle of unplugging it after each use.  We did a sketch, took a photo and submitted it to Remodeling Magazine. They published an article about it in their October 2004 issue.

It’s 2013 – why are we talking about this article now? Well, at the end of 2012, Remodeling Magazine decided to take a look back over the year to see what their most popular stories had been. Our 2004 “Dryer Drawer” article was one of the most popular!  Thanks in part to the popularity of Pinterest, our hair dryer drawer story has gone viral!

You can check out the original article here.

Just goes to show, good ideas (and good stories) never die!