EP #241: Fighting for Fair Insurance Claims: How Jeff Bass Transforms Home Repairs

What makes Jeff Bass with Remodel Contracting a good neighbor?

Jeff Bass embodies the rare combination of political service, entrepreneurial spirit, and skilled craftsmanship as the owner of Remodel Contracting. From his Richardson office, he serves clients throughout North Texas, tackling everything from small residential patios to 4,000-square-foot commercial warehouses with the same dedication to quality and customer satisfaction.

What sets Jeff apart in the crowded contracting field is his specialized expertise in insurance claims, particularly for water damage remediation. "The biggest myth is that you have to accept what the insurance company offers," he explains, describing how his team transforms initial $10,000 settlements into $30,000+ claims through a meticulous supplement process. This ensures homeowners truly recover what they deserve rather than settling for inadequate compensation.

Unlike contractors who aggressively market their services, Jeff's business thrives almost entirely on word-of-mouth referrals – a testament to his reputation. As a city council member in Garland, board member for multiple nonprofits, and 13-year chamber of commerce member, he's woven himself into the community fabric. This visibility creates both accountability and accessibility. "I tell people I'm easy to find. Just Google me and you'll see that I can't hide," he shares, addressing the trust issues that plague the contracting industry. His customer-focused approach extends to the creative side of remodeling too, where he offers design input without pushing unnecessary renovations. From his innovative built-in freezer for a lakeside Airbnb to his willingness to tackle projects of any size, Jeff brings the same work ethic he developed starting at age nine to every job. Check out his five-star Google reviews to see why clients trust Remodel Contracting with their homes and businesses.

To learn more about Remodel Contracting go to:

https://www.remodelcontracting.net/

Remodel Contracting

469-831-5620

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a generalcontractor?
Well, one may be closer thanyou think.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
jeff Bass, with RemodelContracting.
Jeff, how are you doing today?
Wonderful, thank you.

(00:33):
Happy to be here, awesome.
Well, we're excited to learnall about you and your business
Can you tell us a bit about yourcompany.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yes, so Remodel Contracting is a general
contractor and my office is inRichardson, texas.
I work all over North Texas.
I've gone all the way up to theborder of Oklahoma, so we do
interior remodeling, exteriorwork.
I do commercial, residential.
I built a, just recently did a4,000 square foot warehouse on

(00:59):
the back of a grocery store andI also do, you know, I also at
the same time did a small patioon the back of a house.
So you know, as they say, nojob too big, no job too small.
A lot of what I do on theresidential side is I work with
insurance companies for water,water remediation claims.

(01:20):
So you have water damage atyour house.
Somebody comes out and dries itand pulls the carpet up and
cuts two feet of sheet rock out,and then what we do is I come
in and I negotiate with theinsurance company so that you
get everything that you deserve.
So the insurance company mightcome to you and say, hey, we'll
give you $10,000.
That's got to cover everything.
Well, I actually have anemployee who handles my

(01:44):
supplement.
Process is what it's called.
We work with the insurancecompanies to turn that $10,000
claim into whatever it'ssupposed to be, whether it be
$17,000, $30,000, whatever itmay be, so that you can get back
to where you were before, andthat's probably on the
residential side.
That's my greatest area ofexpertise.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
So, Jeff, how did you get into this business?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Well, you know, I've owned rental properties for
decades and so when I wasyounger I would do work on them
myself, and even in my own homeI've rebuilt a bathroom, rebuilt
the kitchen, painted.
So the remodeling process issomething I'm very familiar with
and I'm also I'm a serialentrepreneur, and so I used to

(02:31):
own eight restaurants and acatering company, and through
COVID that really kind of lostits luster quite a bit.
I kind of saw the writing onthe wall where my businesses
were going, so I started lookingfor something else to do, so I
decided that I was going to helpa friend of mine with his
remodeling business, and thenthat went well for a couple of
years and so I decided to go outon my own, and I've been on my

(02:53):
own with remodel contracting forabout two years now and it's
going great.
Really couldn't be happier, andI have sold all of my
restaurants now and so I don'thave those anymore and just
focusing 100% on my generalcontracting business.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
Amazing.
So, jeff, what is the mostcommon myth or misconception you
come across in your industryand your experience?

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, honestly, since we're talking about the
residential side that you haveto accept what the insurance
company offers you.
People think that you know likeI had a guy he's been through
two contractors and he had oneof them try the supplement
process.
This is someone I'm workingwith right now and you know he
needs two bathrooms and flooringin the entire house and two new
bathrooms and the insurancecompany is offering like $8,000,

(03:41):
which is crazy.
We're supplementing that up to,I think, $34,000.
And we're negotiating that withthe insurance company right now
.
So I think the biggest myth isthat you have to accept what the
insurance company offers.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
Wow, and getting into it a little bit more, since we
are talking about your typicalcustomers who are your target
customers and, in terms ofmarketing, how do you attract
them?

Speaker 2 (04:06):
um, great question.
Well, you know, for marketing,um, I I really don't do anything
.
I have a.
I just started a google ad acouple of months ago and, um,
honestly, I wasn't reallygetting great calls on that.
So, um, I you know they giveyou credit for calls that you
don't use.
So I've really whittled it downand only using the credit that

(04:28):
I still have with have withgoogle for those calls.
So I, really I don't do anymarketing, it's all word of
mouth.
Um, I do networking.
Um, you know, I uh, um actuallyhave 12, 13 year member of
garland chamber of commerce, soI don't do a lot of networking
through that, do networkingthrough richardson chamber of of
Commerce.
I work with differentnonprofits.

(04:50):
I'm on the board for multiplenonprofits actually in the city
of Garland, which is where Ilive.
I'm pretty well known here.
I'm on city council here inGarland, so I get out quite a
bit and people know who I am.
So word of mouth is honestlythe way I get most of my
business.
And I apologize, there wasanother part to that question.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yes, who are your target customers?

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Who are my target customers?
Honestly, really, I mean anyonewho has anything they need done
to their house, whether it beroof, fence.
You know, interior work,exterior work and then, like I
said, on the commercial side, Ido a lot of commercial.
Finish out, you move yourbusiness into a new strip center
and you need to make it yours.
We do a lot of work with that,do a lot of work with additions

(05:40):
additions on to existingbusinesses, additions on to
existing houses to existingbusinesses, additions onto
existing houses.
I'll tell you right now getting,with spring coming up, getting
a lot of doing a lot of patio,patio coverings, pergolas, make
patios larger, that kind ofstuff.
Really really like doing that.
You know I like to.
I like to help with the designside as well.

(06:01):
So if it's something that wecan, you know, with me and my
guys and you, your opinions,help you with the design, then
you know, really really reducessome of the costs, right?
If you don't have to hire adesigner, or if it's something
we don't have to hire anarchitect for we can still do,
then you know I like doing that.

(06:22):
I like saving people money, Ilike to find the most efficient
way to get things done, and sopeople get the most bang for
their buck.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Let's go ahead and switch gears for a second.
Can you describe a hardship orlife challenge you overcame and
how it made you a better andstronger man today?
What comes to mind for you?

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Well.
So I was raised single mom fourkids so hardship was it's all
perspective, right, I mean it'sjust perspective.
I mean if I look at somethingas a hardship then I'm letting
it limit what I do and how Iperceive things.
So I didn't really look at myupbringing as a hardship.
I looked at it as teaching mework ethic, teaching me empathy,

(07:06):
teaching me the skills that Ihave that allow me to be
successful today in my serviceto others in my city and in my
service to my business.
Yeah, I mean I'm a factor of myupbringing.
I've been working.
I started working when I wasnine years old, started working
full-time when I was 14 yearsold.
I started working when I wasnine years old, started working
full time when I was 14 yearsold and you know, quite often

(07:28):
when I was younger I'd have twoor three jobs at a time and just
never look back, just keepgoing forward.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
You sound like me.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Got to hustle, got to hustle every day.
It doesn't stop.
It's not a destination, it's ajourney.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
It most certainly is, and it's more about the journey
than the destination, becauseit's the journey.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
it most certainly is, and it's more about the journey
than the destination becauseit's the journey that ultimately
builds you yeah so, jeff,please tell our listeners one
thing they should remember aboutremodel contracting um, one
thing to remember honestly I amI tell my, I tell my clients,

(08:06):
because you hear horror storiesand I have it happen to me too I
had about people taking yourmoney and you never hear from
them again.
I had a framer for a commercialjob I gave a shot at and he
gave him a $5,000 check, neversaw him again.
And I hear stories like thatall the time.
And so I tell people I'm easyto find.
Just Google me and you'll seethat I can't hide.

(08:26):
That's what's one thing aboutbeing a public, public elected
official is that I'm easy tofind, right, so you know, I
guess one piece of advice Iwould be is find people that you
trust and keep those peopleclose to you.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Amazing.
And how can our listeners learnmore about remodel contracting?

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Amazing.
And how can our listeners learnmore about remodel contracting?
Look at my Google reviews.
I've got five stars on Googleand yeah, just look me up, give
me a call.
I've got a website.

(09:06):
My website's not that great.
I need to update it, butthere's a website and yeah, but
best thing to do is look.
Look on Google.
I have worked on my Google.
I've got pictures on there,reviews on there, so that's,
that's a great way to do it.
I've got a Facebook page too,and it's it's not even as good
as my website.
So if anybody wants to, wantsto tackle those jobs for me,
you're welcome to to do that.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Well, Jeff, one final question for you today.
When it comes to remodeling,how is your approach different
from other remodeling companies?

Speaker 2 (09:35):
I try to look at things from the customer's
perspective.
You know a lot of guys go intoa job and you know they're
called out for a bathroom andthey're going to go oh, you need
to do your kitchen too.
You need to do your floors, youneed to do this, you need to do
your kitchen too.
You need to do your floors,need to do this, need to do that
.
I'm going to do whatever it isyou need to do.
If you just want to do thebathroom, we'll do the bathroom

(09:56):
and, like I said, a lot of whatI do is I help with things that
I help with others, don't?
I help with the designdecisions.
I've got a great eye.
Like I said, I do my own workin my own house and have a
gorgeous house.
I do design decisions with you.
I listen to what it is that youwant.
I will give my input if I feelthat you want it and you take it
or you don't.
So, just as an example, I did anAirbnb on Lake Texoma, rebuilt

(10:20):
the whole house and it slept 12people.
So well, if you got 12 peoplein Lake Texoma, these people are
going to be coming in with alot of groceries.
So one thing I did is Idesigned a built-in chest
freezer along with the cabinets,so it looks like it's part of
the lower cabinets in thekitchen but it's actually a
chest freezer and the thecountertop opens up and you have
.
So that's an idea that I hadthat the client liked and we put

(10:42):
it in there.
So I helped come up those ideas.
I try to think of things fromthe client's perspective and if
I do that then things are goingto run smoothly and everyone's
going to be happy from A to Z.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
Well, Jeff, I really appreciate you being on the show
.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Sophia, it's been outstanding.
I love it, Appreciate youhaving me on here and I've had a
great time this morningoutstanding.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
I love it, appreciate you having me on here and I've
had a great time this morning.
Thank you for listening to theGood Neighbor Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpfriscocom.
That's gnpfriscocom.
Or call 469-221-9345.