Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When you need wisdom and advice. Seek out a guru.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
When you need wisdom and advice about remodeling and design.
Lock on and listen right now to Nick the construction Guru.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Here is award winning remodeling expert Nick Kerzner.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Now we talk eleven thirty wisn Nick the Construction Group
here today, Happy Sunday, Wisconsin. I have my beautiful wife
with me today to talk a little bit about, or
continue to talk a little bit about. Those of you
have listened have heard us already talk about some of
the pitfalls of dealing with companies that don't have selection
experts and what's going on in the market. And we've
(00:45):
had well, we've had a pretty tough couple of weeks,
so I wanted to let's have a discussion about some
of the some of the challenges that we're facing now
Linn that are I guess, kind of newer to the business.
I think one of the challenges that we face is
that the public has been indoctrinated with the thought that
(01:09):
whatever you order you can get overnight thanks to Amazon.
And I love Amazon, and I know not going to
bad mouth them as far as a company. They're a
great company. But you know, one of the things we
talked about I think a couple of weeks ago is
even if you order something like for me, if I
if I need a motorcycle battery for the weekend and
I order it on Monday and they tell me it's
going to come on Wednesday and it's not there, I'm
(01:31):
pissed and there's no reason to be mad because I
don't need it till the weekend. But that's kind of
how they're conditioning us to think. I mean, are you
finding that true.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Too, Yes, yes, for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So customers have this expectation sometimes that once they sign
a contract that you know, in a couple of days
someone's going to be their hammering, and that's not the case.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
No, Well, I think you know, we have a process
now that I'm on board, that selections need to be
done before we start any project at all, I mean
before we demo do anything. And the reason being is
because and I've seen this real time since I've started.
I've ordered something from Amazon, it went to the customer's house,
and I always have them look at certain things, like
(02:15):
if it's a mirror, something that could be break broken,
I have them actually open the box, look at it,
inspect it, and then you know, just set it aside
because obviously they're not going to be handling the product.
But I've had a few times where and again it's
not Amazon, it's the vendor. I mean, there's vendors from
all over that they you know, they use the product
(02:35):
wasn't the right color. So luckily we did look at it,
because if we would have waited and maybe it's sat
there for a couple months because the project, you know,
we're doing other things before that actual piece gets installed,
we wouldn't have been able to return it because there's
a timeframe, you know, and then that would have been
another battle. So there has been some challenges with getting
the wrong product and again I think or maybe delays
(03:00):
in product or back orders. I have back order situations
where I find that out after the fact. So this
is why we do the selections the way we do
so we have everything in hand, because if we're in
midstream of a project and then we can't get the
product or it's you know, it was damaged or something
like that, then you know, everything comes to screeching halt
(03:21):
and it's a ripple effect. You know, then the other
people that are doing plumbing and electric. You know that
everything stops. So yeah, in a long story of that,
I have seen challenges with this on demand kind of ordering.
And I think part of the problem too is that
with the Amazons of the world and even some of
(03:43):
the big box stores, because people are expecting things so quickly,
maybe you know, the urgency from the warehouse that can
cause issues too because people are just scrambling to get
their orders fulfilled, and that can create maybe some you
know fault you know, and again by no fault of
anybody specifically, but you know, you know, when you're rushed,
(04:06):
mistakes can happen. So I think, you know, everybody in
the in the in the world needs to take a
step back and just take a breath, because you know, yes,
everyone wants things today or yesterday. But I think we're
seeing some mistakes happening and.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
You know issues.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Not only that, but you know what used to be inventory?
Do you know when you had I always go back
to countertops. I think it's one of the best examples.
It used to be you had corey on, you had
for mica, You did have some stone, but that was
mostly for the really wealthy people's stone wasn't now the
way it's fabricated in that you can you know, by volume,
you can you can get better deals on granite and
(04:45):
marble and soap stone and all those kinds of things.
Cabinet tree is another one. You know, you have your
stock cabinets, which I think there's a place for them,
but you know, we use ninety percent custom cabinets and
we go to smaller shop that take more time. I
want to talk to the owner. I don't want to
talk to the HR department when I'm wondering where where
my cabinets are. So all of this when you're looking
(05:09):
at putting together a solid remodeling project that isn't a
cookie cutter project. I mean, I think, like you know,
the bathfitters and those, there's a place for those, But
at the end of the day, that all kind of
looks the same. If you want to do truly custom
stuff that represents, you know, the way you want to
esthetically build your home, what's important to you and function
(05:30):
in that, and you're having all these custom things done,
there's a whole bunch of background work that goes on.
I always equate it to a play, you know, when
that when that curtain comes down everybody's waiting in fifteen
minutes seems like two hours. But there's a ton of
stuff going on behind the curtain. When we're doing a
custom project, there's a ton of stuff going on behind
(05:51):
the curtain, and people grow wary. And if you don't
have all your selections in place. You know, a lady
says to me that, you mean you're not going to
start my job until I pick out the cabinet handles. No,
we're not, because I don't know if those cabinet handles
that you're picking out are going to fit on that
five piece straw that we're building for your spice cabinets,
and I want to make sure it's going to fit.
I got to know your selection because if you order
(06:13):
them and they get there and now they're sitting in
a box and we're at the end of the job
and we can't put those on because there's not enough room,
that's a problem. You're not going to your job's not
going to be finished. We're not going to be able
to do a substantial completion and give you permission to
start using that kitchen right away. There's all kinds of
things that fall into play, so you know, and people
they'll they'll read with us and they'll understand that at
(06:35):
the time of signing, but then when there's a problem
because they haven't done what they're supposed to do, it
becomes our fault. So we're being we're becoming very hardcore
on that right, I mean, and some people get aggravated
with us. But I think at the end of the job,
you know, they look at it and they go, I'm
glad I had somebody to keep me on track. And
the thing that we were talking about before we started
(06:56):
this show, Lynn was, you know, a lot of companies,
I would say most companies, they'll say, oh, the designer
takes care of that, or all the salesperson takes care
of that. We found it, and we're not a very
large company. I mean we are not. We're a smaller
boutique style company. I say that all the time. We
found the need for you because we need somebody totally
dedicated to just helping people pick their selections. Because they
(07:19):
walk into all lows, they walk into a min ours,
they walk into a floor and de core, they walk
into a Ferguson, they're lost. They need guidance to go
through that. So we've actually dedicated to somebody do that.
And I think you're getting good feedback right from people
on this.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, again, I only know what I know.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
But again, I mean I know that I can tend
to be a little bit hard on people, reminding them
of their budget, reminding them of time, you know, critical time,
the urgency.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
So I know it may be belaboring.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
But again, We've had conversation with the people that I've
worked with where their expectation are all of a sudden,
They're like, well, you know, my neighborhood, there's done, you know,
And it's like, okay, let's let's talk.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
To professional on track. Yeah, let's just face it, you
really do, because you will get lost in the minutia
of and and and you know. The other thing I
say is, make no mistake when you walk into some
of these beautiful showrooms, and they are beautiful. You walk
into a floor in decre, you walk into Ferguson, you
walk into uh, you know, any any of these Gearhart
(08:28):
There's all kinds of them able, all kinds of different
showrooms designs. In Marble, they put the the high margin
stuff under the right lights in the right place because
it's kind of like a jewelry store.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
It's like a grocery store that too. Yeah, all the
expensive cereals in the middle shelf. And you know why
because the kids in the car are going to pick
you know, looking on the floor. They're not looking up pie,
They're looking right in that that zone.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So it's marketing, it's psychological marketing. And and the thing
is that if you don't have somebody guiding you through that,
the up charges. And I've heard it thousands of times
in my business. They had, you know, we had somebody
out building our house. We had somebody out remodeling our house,
and you know, it was change order after change they
(09:17):
gave us a price and then after the change order
ended up being you know, ten, fifteen, twenty percent over
what we had planned on. And that's really your job
is to really isolate where you should spend more money
and where you should spend less money. And I know
that people appreciate that. Most of the time that works
out to stay within bid because you're dropping the prices
(09:39):
on some things and maybe you have to have that
light fixture or or maybe you have to have that
particular appliance. And I get that it happens to us too.
We do it all the time. But where can you
save the money? And that's where I think having a
professional with you when you're doing this, you have the
plans in your hand, you can figure out, you know,
like tiles a great one for me, a tile some
(10:01):
of the builders, tiles that are in the back of
the store that you don't ever see. You can do
some beautiful things with that more with an artistic labor,
you know, projection do it. Do it from the standpoint
that maybe you look at this tile and that tile
mixed together, and they don't put it together in the store.
It's not in one of their vignettes, so you don't
(10:22):
think about it. But you can save you know, four
or five dollars a square foot on tile, which makes
a difference.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yeah, as long as it's not heavy labor, because then
it offsets it with the labor.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, look at the whole picture.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah. Well, and that's important too, because I think a
lot of times people will pick a tile. They're thinking, Okay,
a square foot of tile is a square foot of tile,
But if it's if it's a you know, if it's
a different shape, if it's in the shape of an urn,
or if it's in the shape of a hour flower
or whatever that's going to take the tile set or
a good tile setter is going to spend more time
(10:54):
doing that, and a bad tile setter is going to
take away whatever esthetically.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Pleasing when you picked out a way.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So it's important to have somebody with you when you're
going through these stores. Right. Another thing that I think
is the timing, because people tend to put they think
that they're projects in the queue and they think, Okay,
I can get to that when I get to that,
when I get to this. You're you're pretty tough on
keeping people on task too, and that sometimes gets aggravating
(11:22):
for them too.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Right, Yeah, because part of my thought process on what
my role was was all the fun part of it,
you know, the design part, you know, picking out beautiful
color combinations and you know, seeing their vision and going
and you know, I kind of live vicariously through them
because I love doing that kind of stuff, arranging different
colors and you know, metals and wood and but the
(11:48):
part of my job that I'm realizing is, you know,
I do have to be a task master, and sometimes
I have to give bad news and talk them off
the ledge on price or you know all these things,
which it is important, but I want it to still
be an enjoyable process for them because I feel like
my part of the job should be the fun part,
you know, especially you know, people get excited when they
start seeing their design come together and picking out beautiful,
(12:11):
you know, fixtures, and so you know, part of me
is a love hate because I want them to, you know,
enjoy this too.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, hey, you know what, let's talk about because I
think I think it's important. We're going to take a
short break, but when we come back, let's talk a
little bit about, you know, what went wrong in the
past and why we felt the need to do this,
because I think it's going to open up some eyes.
So we'll talk about that when we return from these breaks.
On News Talk eleven thirty WISN News Talk eleven thirty
(12:43):
WISN Nike The Construction Go returning from break, listen. If
you're thinking about a remodeling project, I say it on
every show, and I would be remissified and say it
on this one. You should get two or three opinions.
Always talk to a few remodelers before you make a decision.
And the reason I say that is everybody has to
differ and styles and different communication needs. So you want
(13:04):
to interview several people, make one of those us. We'd
love to come out and talk with you. I personally
come out on every single job interview, So if you're
enjoying the show, you can talk to me. We can
talk about a new recroom, a kitchen, a bathroom. Make
no mistake, we do small jobs too, So if you're
looking for like a small patio or you have a
half bath, a cadio. Lynd just brought up cadio. If
(13:25):
you're following our Facebook page, there's there's a picture of
what we call the cadio, which is kind of cool
for pets, and I guess there's dogg eos too, and
there farideos. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
You can make whatever.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
You can make whatever. But if you have a custom
project that people are shying away from, we're happy to
do that. I have some very artistic people on my
staff and we enjoy doing challenging projects. In any case,
before we get too long winded, you can reach us
at two six two five six seven twenty five hundred
or on the web at kurznerink dot com at Kursoner.
(13:59):
We will treat your home as if it were our
own and one more thing only company in Wisconsin, our industry,
and when the Better Business Bier Torture Award for Ethics
and Integrity three times. If you're just tuning in, I
have my lovely wife and our new selection consultant with
us project consultant. Right, that's what officially says on your card.
Project consultant. Let's talk about job description. What is it
(14:21):
that you do? Because you come in right from the
beginning and you explain the process to the customer. Let's
let's just tell the listeners what exactly you do at Kurzner.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
My first appointment, I go and look at the house.
We usually have a bid set, which is like a plan,
a rendering of what it's going to look like if
there's walls being moved. So I like to get a visual,
you know, kind of feel for the home, depending on.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
The scope of work.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
If it's just a bathroom, and I don't mean it's
just like that, but if it's just a bathroom, I
kind of look and say, do you want this to
kind of flow with the remainder of the house. I
kind of get their sense of style. Our three renderings
are sometimes exactly what the customer wants, or it could
be loosely what they want, you know, from the floor plan.
So I kind of get the feel and then you
know they're like, what's their style? Are they looking for,
(15:09):
you know, coastal vibe? Are they looking for a traditional
what color palette? Yeah, and it's pretty cool. I'm excited
because I like that there's different people want different things
because it challenges me too. And I and again, like
I said, I like living very curiously through people and
their designs because it might be something I'd want to
do but I couldn't do in our home because it
(15:29):
just wouldn't fit. So it's kind of exciting to be
able to, you know, reach into different aesthetics because it
just gives me something different and exciting to research and
talk about. So I get the discussion discussion with the client,
and then I explained the process of selections.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
That's the first thing we do.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
I make a very elaborate spreadsheet where we itemize everything.
And this also helps our production people because it'll be
on the schematics. Everything is got up numbers, so they
know exactly which light goes where because in the past,
this is.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Some of the things that we've had issues with.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Not by anyon it's fault, but if there's three lights
and there are different lights, and you know, our guys
are pretty smart, but they may not know this light
is particularly to go here, and then they have to
call and ask. So this is all going to be
something that they know. It just makes production more streamlined,
which we learned from you know.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Well, And I think one of the challenges was all
of our stuff is digital. So when we talk about renderings,
their virtual renderings, their photograph quality pictures of what the
project's going to look like before even one nails driven.
So you see this and you think you know what
it is, but then you go out with selections. Litake
goes out with the selections and maybe the two pendant
lights over the island are slightly different than what's on
(16:44):
the rendering because the rendering comes from a library and
a computer and you've actually picked something right. So then
you painstakingly go from your spreadsheet and label each thing
on the blueprint and say, okay, at this indication on
this light, number four is going to be model number six, three,
seven in the red blue. So that when our guys
(17:05):
and we just had it happened with the handles yea
and one yes, where they didn't get the blueprint and
they drilled a handle into a cabinet door because there
were different sizes, right, two.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Sizes of handles. And again we knew better. And this
is you know, this is a learning curve for us
to processes. So yes, it's just gonna it makes it
a lot easier when they're actually doing installations and and
you know that.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
But so that's kind of what I do with that portion.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
And then on the back end, we have custom cabinet
place we go through. We have a place that we
do with the granite or the you know, solid surfaces.
I make all those appointments, coordinate that with the client
and with the supplier, yeah, the vendor. So you know,
the back end stuff is a lot of you know, kind.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Of uh, what's the word.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
No, I was just saying, I just do a lot
of the back end production part, bring them out and
again then I just kind of help guide them. Luckily,
the people we work with they do have their own
artistic help. So you know, we collaborate.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
With the vision.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
You know, we explain and the customer explains what they
want with the cabinet builder with all the people and
then we all kind of just discuss it. So it's
nice that we can have all these different experience levels
and ideas and then you know, we I think one
of the.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Things that at least the lion's share of the clientele
out there that's going into a remodeling project, especially for
the first time they get into a store. I've literally,
and I'm not exaggerating, this is the Gods on this truth.
I've seen people literally paralyzed standing in these gigantic stores
looking at things like Florin Decor. I love floren Decor.
(18:46):
It's it's got such a great selection, everything's in stock,
on demand, you can pick it up. There's so many
reasons why I like working with Florindocor, And God's honest truth,
they don't pay me to tell you this, but I've
had a client literally stand at the front of the
store paralyzed because they couldn't make a decision because they
(19:06):
went out thinking, Okay, I got to pick the tile
for my shower. Well, when you get in there and
you start looking at it and you start realizing that
is this blue going to go with that gray? Is
this burgundy going to go with that brown? Should I
do a marble? Is this going to be too busy?
Having somebody there that can guide you through this is
so important, It really is. And I think so many
(19:29):
companies now because there are so many selections, There are
so many. I talked about countertops early. It used to
be about five different countertops. I would argue that there's
probably five thousand variations of countertops today, and you go
in and it's just it's overwhelming. And if you don't
have somebody keeping you. I equate it all the time
to bowling. If you don't put the bumpers up in
(19:50):
the gutters, you're going to end up in the gutter,
and when you make a bad decision, you have to
pay to replace it. In most cases, with us, we're
going to have all the selections done and ready for
you you and if need be, we can actually transfer
those into your renderings. In some cases, if it becomes
you know, a big deal.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Where you're hard to visualize it, yeah, some people have
a hard time seeing it without seeing it in real time,
and that is I think a big thing too, because
some people are visual, some people can see it in
visual visual I.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Think I'm you know, what I say this all the timeline.
I've been in this business my whole life. I can't
take a flat set of the old blueprints and tell
you if it's going to be a nice project or not.
Everything that we do is three D in the computer,
laid out virtual renderings. You know, a picture's worth a
thousand words, not it's worth a million words, because what
you see with us is what you get. And I
(20:45):
think that's so important. And you know, I had I
had a customer asked me the other day, she said,
how come everybody doesn't do this? And and you know
the reality of it is is that many companies, and
not just our business, but in many they are more
concerned with closing the deal than they are with really
satisfying the customer. And I think there's a place for those,
(21:05):
those types of comans, like I said, bathfitter and those
that just come in, you got three choices, do it,
get it done, it's over with. There's a place for that.
Some people just want to get it done and be
done with it. But if you're trying to design something
custom in other words, if you want to if you're
dealing with a smaller boutique company and you really want
to have that the wedding dress that isn't off the
jcpenny shelf, or you know, the custom suit that for
(21:29):
the special time. It's the same thing with the remodeling project,
except that you're going to be living with that remodeling
project a lot longer than the dress or the suit.
So are we for everybody? No, But I do think
that if you're looking for a very custom project and
somebody who's not in a rush and doesn't need your
down payment to make next week's payroll, we're probably the
(21:50):
company to deal with because we've been around since sixty six.
We're slow, we're methodical in what we do. If it's
what do, we always say you have three choices. It's price, yeah, quality,
quality or timing. You can only pick two. So you know,
the reason we're having this show today is because we
(22:11):
are experiencing some frustration in the field with customers who
really want to take I always say, you know, Burger King,
you can have it your way. Kurzner is more like
Sarah Lee. This is what you get and if you
don't like it, go to Entemens. Because we've learned over
the past fifty over fifty years, what works and what
doesn't and what's keeps. I don't think anybody's happy going
(22:32):
through a remodeling project. It is a nightmare, right, it's dusty, messy.
I don't care if they get it done in two days.
It took too long. It's always a challenge because you
think that, oh, I get to go ahead and pick
my countertops, or I get to go and pick my handles. Well,
guess what. You've got to still cut the grass, take
the kids to school, do everything you have to do
at home, and then you've got to take when you
go out there. It's two or three hours for each
(22:53):
product that you're looking at. It is a nightmare, and
you need somebody to be able to talk you off
the ledge and take you to the right place. Is up front.
I know that you're going to take certain people to
certain showrooms based on what you've determined that their aesthetic
style is.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Right in their price point.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I mean not everyone wants to go to a showroom
where they you know, the minimum faucet it's one thousand dollars.
Now they're beautiful, but you can find very beautiful faucets
for much less. And again, you know there's some things
that I wouldn't bargain with the dollar amount. There's certain
things that you just have to spend some maybe more
(23:33):
money than you think because in the long run, right, well,
and you get what you pay for is kind of
a true statement in a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
And again it's you.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Don't always get what you pay for, but you never
get what you don't pay for.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Well true, okay, yeah, yeah, and you know again some
things it's not as important. And again maybe you know,
maybe this house is just a temporary fix.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
You know, you're just doing it. Again.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
There's so many things that determine what you're going to
spend on things. But that's where then we.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Work with different budgets. So I know that when people call,
I got to hurry up here we're running upgainst the clock.
But I know when people call sometimes you know the
person on the other side of the phone. So we
don't do bathrooms f under sixty grand, or we don't
do this. We don't look at we'll come and look
at anything. If you just need to repair, we'll come
and look at it and we'll guide you through it.
We're happy to do that. So we never forget where
we came from or who we serve so again. If
(24:24):
you're thinking about a modeling project, give us a call.
Check us out at Kurznerinc dot com and you can
see what's going on there. If you need to, you
can call and talk with me or my father about
your potential project and we'd love to have you take
a look at us. Lynn, thanks for coming on the
show today. It's always a pleasure to have you here.
The other nice thing is we can take one car,
(24:44):
so it always works well. So thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
All Right, News Talk eleven thirty Wisen. We will return
again next week
Speaker 3 (25:00):
As
When you need wisdom and advice. Seek out a guru.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
When you need wisdom and advice about remodeling and design.
Lock on and listen right now to Nick the construction Guru.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Here is award winning remodeling expert Nick Kerzner.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Now we talk eleven thirty wisn Nick the Construction Group
here today, Happy Sunday, Wisconsin. I have my beautiful wife
with me today to talk a little bit about, or
continue to talk a little bit about. Those of you
have listened have heard us already talk about some of
the pitfalls of dealing with companies that don't have selection
experts and what's going on in the market. And we've
(00:45):
had well, we've had a pretty tough couple of weeks,
so I wanted to let's have a discussion about some
of the some of the challenges that we're facing now
Linn that are I guess, kind of newer to the business.
I think one of the challenges that we face is
that the public has been indoctrinated with the thought that
(01:09):
whatever you order you can get overnight thanks to Amazon.
And I love Amazon, and I know not going to
bad mouth them as far as a company. They're a
great company. But you know, one of the things we
talked about I think a couple of weeks ago is
even if you order something like for me, if I
if I need a motorcycle battery for the weekend and
I order it on Monday and they tell me it's
going to come on Wednesday and it's not there, I'm
(01:31):
pissed and there's no reason to be mad because I
don't need it till the weekend. But that's kind of
how they're conditioning us to think. I mean, are you
finding that true.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Too, Yes, yes, for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So customers have this expectation sometimes that once they sign
a contract that you know, in a couple of days
someone's going to be their hammering, and that's not the case.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
No, Well, I think you know, we have a process
now that I'm on board, that selections need to be
done before we start any project at all, I mean
before we demo do anything. And the reason being is
because and I've seen this real time since I've started.
I've ordered something from Amazon, it went to the customer's house,
and I always have them look at certain things, like
(02:15):
if it's a mirror, something that could be break broken,
I have them actually open the box, look at it,
inspect it, and then you know, just set it aside
because obviously they're not going to be handling the product.
But I've had a few times where and again it's
not Amazon, it's the vendor. I mean, there's vendors from
all over that they you know, they use the product
(02:35):
wasn't the right color. So luckily we did look at it,
because if we would have waited and maybe it's sat
there for a couple months because the project, you know,
we're doing other things before that actual piece gets installed,
we wouldn't have been able to return it because there's
a timeframe, you know, and then that would have been
another battle. So there has been some challenges with getting
the wrong product and again I think or maybe delays
(03:00):
in product or back orders. I have back order situations
where I find that out after the fact. So this
is why we do the selections the way we do
so we have everything in hand, because if we're in
midstream of a project and then we can't get the
product or it's you know, it was damaged or something
like that, then you know, everything comes to screeching halt
(03:21):
and it's a ripple effect. You know, then the other
people that are doing plumbing and electric. You know that
everything stops. So yeah, in a long story of that,
I have seen challenges with this on demand kind of ordering.
And I think part of the problem too is that
with the Amazons of the world and even some of
(03:43):
the big box stores, because people are expecting things so quickly,
maybe you know, the urgency from the warehouse that can
cause issues too because people are just scrambling to get
their orders fulfilled, and that can create maybe some you
know fault you know, and again by no fault of
anybody specifically, but you know, you know, when you're rushed,
(04:06):
mistakes can happen. So I think, you know, everybody in
the in the in the world needs to take a
step back and just take a breath, because you know, yes,
everyone wants things today or yesterday. But I think we're
seeing some mistakes happening and.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
You know issues.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Not only that, but you know what used to be inventory?
Do you know when you had I always go back
to countertops. I think it's one of the best examples.
It used to be you had corey on, you had
for mica, You did have some stone, but that was
mostly for the really wealthy people's stone wasn't now the
way it's fabricated in that you can you know, by volume,
you can you can get better deals on granite and
(04:45):
marble and soap stone and all those kinds of things.
Cabinet tree is another one. You know, you have your
stock cabinets, which I think there's a place for them,
but you know, we use ninety percent custom cabinets and
we go to smaller shop that take more time. I
want to talk to the owner. I don't want to
talk to the HR department when I'm wondering where where
my cabinets are. So all of this when you're looking
(05:09):
at putting together a solid remodeling project that isn't a
cookie cutter project. I mean, I think, like you know,
the bathfitters and those, there's a place for those, But
at the end of the day, that all kind of
looks the same. If you want to do truly custom
stuff that represents, you know, the way you want to
esthetically build your home, what's important to you and function
(05:30):
in that, and you're having all these custom things done,
there's a whole bunch of background work that goes on.
I always equate it to a play, you know, when
that when that curtain comes down everybody's waiting in fifteen
minutes seems like two hours. But there's a ton of
stuff going on behind the curtain. When we're doing a
custom project, there's a ton of stuff going on behind
(05:51):
the curtain, and people grow wary. And if you don't
have all your selections in place. You know, a lady
says to me that, you mean you're not going to
start my job until I pick out the cabinet handles. No,
we're not, because I don't know if those cabinet handles
that you're picking out are going to fit on that
five piece straw that we're building for your spice cabinets,
and I want to make sure it's going to fit.
I got to know your selection because if you order
(06:13):
them and they get there and now they're sitting in
a box and we're at the end of the job
and we can't put those on because there's not enough room,
that's a problem. You're not going to your job's not
going to be finished. We're not going to be able
to do a substantial completion and give you permission to
start using that kitchen right away. There's all kinds of
things that fall into play, so you know, and people
they'll they'll read with us and they'll understand that at
(06:35):
the time of signing, but then when there's a problem
because they haven't done what they're supposed to do, it
becomes our fault. So we're being we're becoming very hardcore
on that right, I mean, and some people get aggravated
with us. But I think at the end of the job,
you know, they look at it and they go, I'm
glad I had somebody to keep me on track. And
the thing that we were talking about before we started
(06:56):
this show, Lynn was, you know, a lot of companies,
I would say most companies, they'll say, oh, the designer
takes care of that, or all the salesperson takes care
of that. We found it, and we're not a very
large company. I mean we are not. We're a smaller
boutique style company. I say that all the time. We
found the need for you because we need somebody totally
dedicated to just helping people pick their selections. Because they
(07:19):
walk into all lows, they walk into a min ours,
they walk into a floor and de core, they walk
into a Ferguson, they're lost. They need guidance to go
through that. So we've actually dedicated to somebody do that.
And I think you're getting good feedback right from people
on this.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, again, I only know what I know.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
But again, I mean I know that I can tend
to be a little bit hard on people, reminding them
of their budget, reminding them of time, you know, critical time,
the urgency.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
So I know it may be belaboring.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
But again, We've had conversation with the people that I've
worked with where their expectation are all of a sudden,
They're like, well, you know, my neighborhood, there's done, you know,
And it's like, okay, let's let's talk.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
To professional on track. Yeah, let's just face it, you
really do, because you will get lost in the minutia
of and and and you know. The other thing I
say is, make no mistake when you walk into some
of these beautiful showrooms, and they are beautiful. You walk
into a floor in decre, you walk into Ferguson, you
walk into uh, you know, any any of these Gearhart
(08:28):
There's all kinds of them able, all kinds of different
showrooms designs. In Marble, they put the the high margin
stuff under the right lights in the right place because
it's kind of like a jewelry store.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
It's like a grocery store that too. Yeah, all the
expensive cereals in the middle shelf. And you know why
because the kids in the car are going to pick
you know, looking on the floor. They're not looking up pie,
They're looking right in that that zone.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
So it's marketing, it's psychological marketing. And and the thing
is that if you don't have somebody guiding you through that,
the up charges. And I've heard it thousands of times
in my business. They had, you know, we had somebody
out building our house. We had somebody out remodeling our house,
and you know, it was change order after change they
(09:17):
gave us a price and then after the change order
ended up being you know, ten, fifteen, twenty percent over
what we had planned on. And that's really your job
is to really isolate where you should spend more money
and where you should spend less money. And I know
that people appreciate that. Most of the time that works
out to stay within bid because you're dropping the prices
(09:39):
on some things and maybe you have to have that
light fixture or or maybe you have to have that
particular appliance. And I get that it happens to us too.
We do it all the time. But where can you
save the money? And that's where I think having a
professional with you when you're doing this, you have the
plans in your hand, you can figure out, you know,
like tiles a great one for me, a tile some
(10:01):
of the builders, tiles that are in the back of
the store that you don't ever see. You can do
some beautiful things with that more with an artistic labor,
you know, projection do it. Do it from the standpoint
that maybe you look at this tile and that tile
mixed together, and they don't put it together in the store.
It's not in one of their vignettes, so you don't
(10:22):
think about it. But you can save you know, four
or five dollars a square foot on tile, which makes
a difference.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yeah, as long as it's not heavy labor, because then
it offsets it with the labor.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, look at the whole picture.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah. Well, and that's important too, because I think a
lot of times people will pick a tile. They're thinking, Okay,
a square foot of tile is a square foot of tile,
But if it's if it's a you know, if it's
a different shape, if it's in the shape of an urn,
or if it's in the shape of a hour flower
or whatever that's going to take the tile set or
a good tile setter is going to spend more time
(10:54):
doing that, and a bad tile setter is going to
take away whatever esthetically.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Pleasing when you picked out a way.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
So it's important to have somebody with you when you're
going through these stores. Right. Another thing that I think
is the timing, because people tend to put they think
that they're projects in the queue and they think, Okay,
I can get to that when I get to that,
when I get to this. You're you're pretty tough on
keeping people on task too, and that sometimes gets aggravating
(11:22):
for them too.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Right, Yeah, because part of my thought process on what
my role was was all the fun part of it,
you know, the design part, you know, picking out beautiful
color combinations and you know, seeing their vision and going
and you know, I kind of live vicariously through them
because I love doing that kind of stuff, arranging different
colors and you know, metals and wood and but the
(11:48):
part of my job that I'm realizing is, you know,
I do have to be a task master, and sometimes
I have to give bad news and talk them off
the ledge on price or you know all these things,
which it is important, but I want it to still
be an enjoyable process for them because I feel like
my part of the job should be the fun part,
you know, especially you know, people get excited when they
start seeing their design come together and picking out beautiful,
(12:11):
you know, fixtures, and so you know, part of me
is a love hate because I want them to, you know,
enjoy this too.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, hey, you know what, let's talk about because I
think I think it's important. We're going to take a
short break, but when we come back, let's talk a
little bit about, you know, what went wrong in the
past and why we felt the need to do this,
because I think it's going to open up some eyes.
So we'll talk about that when we return from these breaks.
On News Talk eleven thirty WISN News Talk eleven thirty
(12:43):
WISN Nike The Construction Go returning from break, listen. If
you're thinking about a remodeling project, I say it on
every show, and I would be remissified and say it
on this one. You should get two or three opinions.
Always talk to a few remodelers before you make a decision.
And the reason I say that is everybody has to
differ and styles and different communication needs. So you want
(13:04):
to interview several people, make one of those us. We'd
love to come out and talk with you. I personally
come out on every single job interview, So if you're
enjoying the show, you can talk to me. We can
talk about a new recroom, a kitchen, a bathroom. Make
no mistake, we do small jobs too, So if you're
looking for like a small patio or you have a
half bath, a cadio. Lynd just brought up cadio. If
(13:25):
you're following our Facebook page, there's there's a picture of
what we call the cadio, which is kind of cool
for pets, and I guess there's dogg eos too, and
there farideos. Who knows.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
You can make whatever.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
You can make whatever. But if you have a custom
project that people are shying away from, we're happy to
do that. I have some very artistic people on my
staff and we enjoy doing challenging projects. In any case,
before we get too long winded, you can reach us
at two six two five six seven twenty five hundred
or on the web at kurznerink dot com at Kursoner.
(13:59):
We will treat your home as if it were our
own and one more thing only company in Wisconsin, our industry,
and when the Better Business Bier Torture Award for Ethics
and Integrity three times. If you're just tuning in, I
have my lovely wife and our new selection consultant with
us project consultant. Right, that's what officially says on your card.
Project consultant. Let's talk about job description. What is it
(14:21):
that you do? Because you come in right from the
beginning and you explain the process to the customer. Let's
let's just tell the listeners what exactly you do at Kurzner.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
My first appointment, I go and look at the house.
We usually have a bid set, which is like a plan,
a rendering of what it's going to look like if
there's walls being moved. So I like to get a visual,
you know, kind of feel for the home, depending on.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
The scope of work.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
If it's just a bathroom, and I don't mean it's
just like that, but if it's just a bathroom, I
kind of look and say, do you want this to
kind of flow with the remainder of the house. I
kind of get their sense of style. Our three renderings
are sometimes exactly what the customer wants, or it could
be loosely what they want, you know, from the floor plan.
So I kind of get the feel and then you
know they're like, what's their style? Are they looking for,
(15:09):
you know, coastal vibe? Are they looking for a traditional
what color palette? Yeah, and it's pretty cool. I'm excited
because I like that there's different people want different things
because it challenges me too. And I and again, like
I said, I like living very curiously through people and
their designs because it might be something I'd want to
do but I couldn't do in our home because it
(15:29):
just wouldn't fit. So it's kind of exciting to be
able to, you know, reach into different aesthetics because it
just gives me something different and exciting to research and
talk about. So I get the discussion discussion with the client,
and then I explained the process of selections.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
That's the first thing we do.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
I make a very elaborate spreadsheet where we itemize everything.
And this also helps our production people because it'll be
on the schematics. Everything is got up numbers, so they
know exactly which light goes where because in the past,
this is.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Some of the things that we've had issues with.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Not by anyon it's fault, but if there's three lights
and there are different lights, and you know, our guys
are pretty smart, but they may not know this light
is particularly to go here, and then they have to
call and ask. So this is all going to be
something that they know. It just makes production more streamlined,
which we learned from you know.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Well, And I think one of the challenges was all
of our stuff is digital. So when we talk about renderings,
their virtual renderings, their photograph quality pictures of what the
project's going to look like before even one nails driven.
So you see this and you think you know what
it is, but then you go out with selections. Litake
goes out with the selections and maybe the two pendant
lights over the island are slightly different than what's on
(16:44):
the rendering because the rendering comes from a library and
a computer and you've actually picked something right. So then
you painstakingly go from your spreadsheet and label each thing
on the blueprint and say, okay, at this indication on
this light, number four is going to be model number six, three,
seven in the red blue. So that when our guys
(17:05):
and we just had it happened with the handles yea
and one yes, where they didn't get the blueprint and
they drilled a handle into a cabinet door because there
were different sizes, right, two.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Sizes of handles. And again we knew better. And this
is you know, this is a learning curve for us
to processes. So yes, it's just gonna it makes it
a lot easier when they're actually doing installations and and
you know that.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
But so that's kind of what I do with that portion.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
And then on the back end, we have custom cabinet
place we go through. We have a place that we
do with the granite or the you know, solid surfaces.
I make all those appointments, coordinate that with the client
and with the supplier, yeah, the vendor. So you know,
the back end stuff is a lot of you know, kind.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Of uh, what's the word.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
No, I was just saying, I just do a lot
of the back end production part, bring them out and
again then I just kind of help guide them. Luckily,
the people we work with they do have their own
artistic help. So you know, we collaborate.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
With the vision.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
You know, we explain and the customer explains what they
want with the cabinet builder with all the people and
then we all kind of just discuss it. So it's
nice that we can have all these different experience levels
and ideas and then you know, we I think one
of the.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Things that at least the lion's share of the clientele
out there that's going into a remodeling project, especially for
the first time they get into a store. I've literally,
and I'm not exaggerating, this is the Gods on this truth.
I've seen people literally paralyzed standing in these gigantic stores
looking at things like Florin Decor. I love floren Decor.
(18:46):
It's it's got such a great selection, everything's in stock,
on demand, you can pick it up. There's so many
reasons why I like working with Florindocor, And God's honest truth,
they don't pay me to tell you this, but I've
had a client literally stand at the front of the
store paralyzed because they couldn't make a decision because they
(19:06):
went out thinking, Okay, I got to pick the tile
for my shower. Well, when you get in there and
you start looking at it and you start realizing that
is this blue going to go with that gray? Is
this burgundy going to go with that brown? Should I
do a marble? Is this going to be too busy?
Having somebody there that can guide you through this is
so important, It really is. And I think so many
(19:29):
companies now because there are so many selections, There are
so many. I talked about countertops early. It used to
be about five different countertops. I would argue that there's
probably five thousand variations of countertops today, and you go
in and it's just it's overwhelming. And if you don't
have somebody keeping you. I equate it all the time
to bowling. If you don't put the bumpers up in
(19:50):
the gutters, you're going to end up in the gutter,
and when you make a bad decision, you have to
pay to replace it. In most cases, with us, we're
going to have all the selections done and ready for
you you and if need be, we can actually transfer
those into your renderings. In some cases, if it becomes
you know, a big deal.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Where you're hard to visualize it, yeah, some people have
a hard time seeing it without seeing it in real time,
and that is I think a big thing too, because
some people are visual, some people can see it in
visual visual I.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Think I'm you know, what I say this all the timeline.
I've been in this business my whole life. I can't
take a flat set of the old blueprints and tell
you if it's going to be a nice project or not.
Everything that we do is three D in the computer,
laid out virtual renderings. You know, a picture's worth a
thousand words, not it's worth a million words, because what
you see with us is what you get. And I
(20:45):
think that's so important. And you know, I had I
had a customer asked me the other day, she said,
how come everybody doesn't do this? And and you know
the reality of it is is that many companies, and
not just our business, but in many they are more
concerned with closing the deal than they are with really
satisfying the customer. And I think there's a place for those,
(21:05):
those types of comans, like I said, bathfitter and those
that just come in, you got three choices, do it,
get it done, it's over with. There's a place for that.
Some people just want to get it done and be
done with it. But if you're trying to design something
custom in other words, if you want to if you're
dealing with a smaller boutique company and you really want
to have that the wedding dress that isn't off the
jcpenny shelf, or you know, the custom suit that for
(21:29):
the special time. It's the same thing with the remodeling project,
except that you're going to be living with that remodeling
project a lot longer than the dress or the suit.
So are we for everybody? No, But I do think
that if you're looking for a very custom project and
somebody who's not in a rush and doesn't need your
down payment to make next week's payroll, we're probably the
(21:50):
company to deal with because we've been around since sixty six.
We're slow, we're methodical in what we do. If it's
what do, we always say you have three choices. It's price, yeah, quality,
quality or timing. You can only pick two. So you know,
the reason we're having this show today is because we
(22:11):
are experiencing some frustration in the field with customers who
really want to take I always say, you know, Burger King,
you can have it your way. Kurzner is more like
Sarah Lee. This is what you get and if you
don't like it, go to Entemens. Because we've learned over
the past fifty over fifty years, what works and what
doesn't and what's keeps. I don't think anybody's happy going
(22:32):
through a remodeling project. It is a nightmare, right, it's dusty, messy.
I don't care if they get it done in two days.
It took too long. It's always a challenge because you
think that, oh, I get to go ahead and pick
my countertops, or I get to go and pick my handles. Well,
guess what. You've got to still cut the grass, take
the kids to school, do everything you have to do
at home, and then you've got to take when you
go out there. It's two or three hours for each
(22:53):
product that you're looking at. It is a nightmare, and
you need somebody to be able to talk you off
the ledge and take you to the right place. Is up front.
I know that you're going to take certain people to
certain showrooms based on what you've determined that their aesthetic
style is.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Right in their price point.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
I mean not everyone wants to go to a showroom
where they you know, the minimum faucet it's one thousand dollars.
Now they're beautiful, but you can find very beautiful faucets
for much less. And again, you know there's some things
that I wouldn't bargain with the dollar amount. There's certain
things that you just have to spend some maybe more
(23:33):
money than you think because in the long run, right, well,
and you get what you pay for is kind of
a true statement in a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
And again it's you.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Don't always get what you pay for, but you never
get what you don't pay for.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Well true, okay, yeah, yeah, and you know again some
things it's not as important. And again maybe you know,
maybe this house is just a temporary fix.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
You know, you're just doing it. Again.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
There's so many things that determine what you're going to
spend on things. But that's where then we.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Work with different budgets. So I know that when people call,
I got to hurry up here we're running upgainst the clock.
But I know when people call sometimes you know the
person on the other side of the phone. So we
don't do bathrooms f under sixty grand, or we don't
do this. We don't look at we'll come and look
at anything. If you just need to repair, we'll come
and look at it and we'll guide you through it.
We're happy to do that. So we never forget where
we came from or who we serve so again. If
(24:24):
you're thinking about a modeling project, give us a call.
Check us out at Kurznerinc dot com and you can
see what's going on there. If you need to, you
can call and talk with me or my father about
your potential project and we'd love to have you take
a look at us. Lynn, thanks for coming on the
show today. It's always a pleasure to have you here.
The other nice thing is we can take one car,
(24:44):
so it always works well. So thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
All Right, News Talk eleven thirty Wisen. We will return
again next week
Speaker 3 (25:00):
As
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.