Mastering the Art of Real Estate with Laura Klein and Maya Alyassini, Freemodel Home Renovation for Realtors and Home Flippers

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:36):
Welcome to Mastering the Art of real Estate. I'm your host,
Debbie Demagio. We are here today with two guests, Laura
Klein and Maya Alassini. Is that how you spell it?
Maya Art say it, Alison? Yeah, Well, let's bring them on.
Two guests from Free Model. Free Model is a design.

(00:59):
Is that what would be called a design studio? A design?
I don't want to say A well service.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, we're a full service concierge.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
We design, manage, and pay for pre sale home renovations.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Awesome. I'm so excited to have you guys here, even
more exciting because I am doing my very first project
with you guys. We're about we're in the middle of
it and it's going so well, and we'll talk a
little bit about that. But I'm such a control freak.
I never like to let anything out of my hands.
This is the very first time and it's actually going

(01:31):
really well. We'll break that down more, but let's introduce
you guys properly. We have Laura Klein, the director of
Partnerships at Free Model. Laura works closely with real estate
agents and brokerages to build lasting relationships and help them
see the value of pre sale renovations. She's passionate about
making the selling process smoother, more profitable, and honestly just

(01:52):
less stressful for both agents and homeowners. And I am
in one hundred percent agreement. And again, this is my
first time using you guys. Oh it's very exciting and
now let's bring on Maya. Maya is okay.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
This is so cute.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
From Lego sets as a kid, to asking for an
Architectural Digest subscription as a teenager rather than seventeen magazine,
to my exposure to construction projects via my contractor uncle
and love of all things design, I've grown organically. I've
organically grown into this industry. I have twenty five plus
years professional experience including design, renovation, material sourcing, and project

(02:29):
management for ultra high net work clients homes across the US,
consulting on boutique hotel, hospitality and restaurant projects worldwide, managing
ground up design build projects, and spending significant time on
the commercial side of tenant improvements and bespoke space selection
and delivery. Through my extent of experience working on diverse projects,

(02:51):
I have developed a secret sauce where I am able
to seamlessly incorporate design styles and employ and deploy effective
and unique solutions, bring my client's vision to life and
deliver great value and experience. Well, that is incredible. Before
I read your bio, I had all kinds of questions.
In the first one was the first one. You kind

(03:12):
of broke it down. But I'll let you break it
down a little bit more. MAYA sure where you grew
up and what it was like growing up in that
design family. Clearly it started early on and it didn't
start later in life, So break down. No, that's so cool.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, I grew up abroad. I grew up in Kuwait,
but my parents met here at Berkeley. My dad's from Syria,
so we traveled every summer to the States. And my uncle,
who is a carpenter and contractor. Guess how I got
to spend my summers go with your uncles to the job.
So I go do this, you know, and do that
kind of stuff. So organically build it up that way.
But I come from a background. My mom's an urban planner,

(03:49):
my dad's an engineer, so it was kind of genetically
embedded in me. So yeah, I was always playing from
day one lego sets, even my building blocks as a
little kid. My mom said she'd come in and had
built little castles and stuff like that. So I've always
loved that aspect. And because we traveled a lot to come,
you know, you don't stay there the summer, it's too hot.
We'd come visit family in the US and we'd stop

(04:11):
in Europe. So I was lucky enough. And my dad
traveled for work, but I was lucky enough to get
to see and experience that firsthand from a very young
age on through adulthood. And you know, my dad would
bring back Vogue magazine and decorps, you know, decorps for
me and architectural from Italy or Paris or wherever he traveled.
He'd bring those local stuff. So we got we got

(04:31):
exposed to a lot of that stuff. So yeah, so
it was you know, it was a great childhood. I've
always loved it and it's just kind of in my blood.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, I get it. I well, you liked it from
the beginning. It sounds like I. I grew up in
a real estate family, and the only thing I said
I didn't want to do when I grew up is
real estate. Because he was always on the phone. We
always had to go to the shopping center or whatever
he was working on at the time, and I said,
I'll never get into real li state. And then fast forward,

(05:01):
here I am today. So I love your story, you
know right? Pardon me?

Speaker 4 (05:07):
Your son too. Now it's a family of.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yes and our son, yep, our son. And then my
brother is now working with my dad. So it's definitely
my dad's dream is coming true. He wanted a family business,
and my husband and I've been working together for thirty
five years. So now I just need to get pull
my daughter back in. She's in New York, but who knows,
maybe she'll come back. Okay, So Laura, tell me do

(05:30):
I know you are? You're the leader of the bunch,
but do you have a design background? Tell us a
little bit about who you are and how you got
into the business.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
So my mom has been in real estate for around
thirty years, so I've been around it. And it's kind
of fun to be in real estate now because my
mom was here in the Bay Area and now I'm
talking to brokerages and meeting agents and they know my
mom and she has.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Such a great reputation.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
So it's been really fun to kind of be in
the industry but not you know in a different way.
I've always really liked liked HGTV series, you know, the
before and afters I just find to be amazing. What
you know designers like project director is like Maya can do.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
But my friend John.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Garner started the business five years ago, and I've been
in sales for many, many years, and I just think
the concept of allowing homeowners to basically flip their own
house and not have to have any money out of
their own pocket. We covered for the capital we designed.
We're a full service concierge, and you know, getting reimburseed

(06:40):
at escrow is such a such an offering to the client.
And so when John Garner started the company, I was
kind of telling all of my friends who are real
estate agents already just how great this service is. And
I was ready to change careers a couple of years ago,
and he offered me the position to be the North
Than California Director of Partnerships, and I haven't looked back.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
It's been a really great.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Experience getting to work with agents and project directors and
just seeing homeowners be able to get the best price
for their house with you know, and make it easy
for them, make it easy for you so I've just
really enjoyed the whole process. But I didn't have a
design background. I wish I did, but I don't.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
You've got the way, You've got the real estate and
networking ability, so I think it just it goes perfect,
it goes together. So I'm working with one of your
other designers right now, project managers, Megan. She's awesome. It's
going great. Maya. I haven't had the chance to work
with you at yet, but job two will be with
you maybe, So tell us about how you work. Walk
the real estate agent and the client through the process

(07:48):
so they can understand what I now see, how easy
it is. And also I think I just want to
point out too, some agents aren't as much of a
control freak. So you guys do it all. But if
there's someone like me. I noticed she like Megan, is
really working with me. We collaborated on what we wanted
to do, and then a lot of times I trust
her and I see what she's doing, and I said, yes,

(08:09):
keep going, that's the right way. So walk us through
how you work with agents and clients. Maya.

Speaker 4 (08:17):
Yeah. So normally either I have a referral or comes
through free model on their website. We have people like
Laura who do the lunch and learns and educate agents.
Right from that, we'll usually get some follow through on
our website and connections, and then we have a team
that doles out the projects based on location or scope

(08:37):
or all that kind of stuff. And the way I
like to work is I will we set up an appointment,
a first talk to the agent, because the agent already
has that relationship with the client, they know the condition,
They give us a sense, and our intake team will
take that information from you guys. So as is value
is what is key for us as a starting baseline.
So if you did nothing to the house, no repairs,

(08:59):
no thing, and just put it on the market, put
a for sale site out front, what would do to
go for in the current condition? And then you guys,
you the agents, tell us if we did a full
rento or if we updated vanities and countertops and new
light fixtures and faucets and stuff like that and painting,
it'll go for x more. And then if we did

(09:21):
a full rental, it'll go for even more. We depend
on new agents. You guys know your markets. You're as
successful as you are because of what you've been doing,
so we use the pre sale value and the post
sale value. Those are kind of our benchmarks. And then
I will have a discussion with you before we meet
with the client on site. If the client's there. Sometimes
it's family because it's an estate thing. You know, it varies, right,

(09:43):
But we'll meet on site. You and I will have
discussed Okay, I really think we want to keep the
budget tighter. Let's just focus on some key things and
then we'll go through and I have an idea we
need this, but when I walk through, I might point
out other things. A lot of times. We also like
to ask you guys to get a an inspection done
because this day and age, in this market, with the

(10:03):
rates being as high as they are, with insurance being
really difficult to get, you need to get some key
things handled. That would be you know, if you have
old panels, nob and tube wiring that are visible, certain
things like that, those are the best value add and
spend of the up to five hundred thousand week and supply.
We do have a formula. It's not just a blank check.

(10:24):
So it's going to be what your value of your
home is, what remaining loans you might have, plus our
renovation cost. It has to meet eighty percent of the
post rentals of value. So say you've told me, hey,
I'm going to put this house on the market as
is at a million, We're going to do about two
hundred thousand dollars worth of work. I think I can
easily list it for one five. So we take there

(10:48):
was a mortgage maybe of one hundred k, So our
three hundred k is divided into the one to five value.
You're within that threshold. So and part of that is
also just so we make sure it's safe. And you know,
markets are softer sometimes we have to account for that.
So I'll meet with you, we'll talk about things. You'll
give me a high level you can tell me specifically
for those who really like I really want to do

(11:10):
new kitchen countertops, and I want this quality, this product,
this color scheme, whatever, we'll get that. I'll have that
all my notes. Then we'll walk the site with we'll
meet the clients, we'll walk the site. We'll point out, hey,
these are the things we should work on. And then
I might point out, you know, we can spend a
little bit more and maybe update this light fixture you
didn't think you wanted to update, but it's like in

(11:31):
the entry way and it's going to really pop and
we can modernize it that way or fit it to
the aesthetic of the home and the neighborhood. Right. So
we'll do all that. We'll sit down and then we
have a presentation so the homeowners get to learn how
free Model works and I'll explain everything. Then I'll take
all those notes, and I like to coordinate personally, I
do it a little differently. I'll have my first initial

(11:53):
meeting with you guys for the first like say half
hour forty five minutes, and then I'll have my team
that I work with on site ready to show up
after that forty five minutes. So it's a one time
thing because gaining access again to make sure we're covering
everything and I'm getting the proper quotes from my vendors
to build out the quote to you guys is key.
And then you know, I can we then meet will

(12:15):
you and I we can do zoom meetings whatever with
the client, but initially I meet with the agent first
and we'll go through the list and it could be
a huge wish list and we really need to narrow
it down. We have the timing issue. We want to
get to market within a certain period. We want to
keep the budget under X, so we will whittle it down.
Then we'll present it to the client and we'll discuss
how it works. And generally the way it works is

(12:36):
once the client agrees to the pricing and you guys
agree to the scope of work, our contract team will
send out a contract. They will sign the contract and
it's fixed price. That's the key. We don't come back
unless there's an issue, so we do put caveats. Okay,
we're just going to update the vanity and a shower
valve in new fixtures. But if we have to open
up a wall we find mold, that will be a

(12:58):
change order, obviously. But we always tell you, Okay, this
is what we found. These are our solutions, this is
the pricing. You know, this is which one would you
like to go with, or we have to do this,
or we found mold or we found asbestos. I always
test now any project, I test popcorn ceilings for asbestos
because if we want to knock down popcorn ceilings and
make it smoother or retexturize, I have to take that

(13:21):
into account. Right, So again, we'll cover everything. You guys
will get the clients will get the contract, they'll sign it.
We have to register the data Trust for that assigned
value of the contract, and then the clients have to
vacate the house. It's the easiest and quickest for us
and most cost effective for us to have the house empty.
So sometimes we work with your schedule, like Okay, I

(13:43):
can't move into my rental until X or okay, I
can start the legwork, I can start getting permitting, I
can start getting architectural plans, engineering if we need it,
get everything together, even vince on such a tight deadline,
like okay, can we paint the outside while you guys
are inside fishing, packing up and the moving trucks are
coming on this day. We work with you guys to

(14:05):
make it as painless as possible and as smooth as possible.
We give updates every week or so based on the schedule,
and then we'll share pictures and stuff like that. But
the key for us is we have a general idea
of what, based on the scope, what the timeline will be.
We recognize agents, you know, you guys know the market.
We really need to be on before June June at

(14:25):
the latest, because summer kind of a might be dead
markets or even now there's like this weird spring before
April fifteenth and after April fifteenth up to early June
kind of thing. Right, But that's how it works. And
the good thing is when you get the contract, it's signed.
Like I said, it's fixed price. After we are done
with the work. After I'm done with them work, I

(14:45):
do a walk through either with you the agent or
the homeowner or both, and we confirm everything has been done,
and we get a signature. I close out my end
and then you have fourteen days to list the property.
So it gives you time to get pictures, staging in
place and all that, and then the client has a year.
If the house doesn't well within a year, then we

(15:07):
then you get the bill to pay it back, right,
but it has to go on sale within fourteen days
of me the project. We're saying we're done, all my
accounting stuff is finished, and then it gives you guys
time and we know, just so you know, we do
include staging. So that is usually a value add you
can add into that because some people are reticent that
don't want to get into they don't think it's worth it.

(15:28):
And we all know staging is worth every penny. So
you know, we did all this work to make their
house look beautiful, but you don't want to put furniture
in there. I mean, let's not stop short of the
finish line, right, No?

Speaker 1 (15:40):
Absolutely? Wow? Well okay, and now I know exactly what
you're talking about, because I'm in process right now. I
only have two questions, and I like what you said
about the two things that it didn't occur to me.
But one of them is so the asbestos. So do
you have someone that comes in and does that? Do
you do the testing?

Speaker 4 (15:59):
I send the testing in. I have a local lab
in memory Bille that I like to utilize so I
can get it expedited. If it a really tight timeline,
I can get it the next day pay a slightly
higher fee, or within two to three days, I can
get it for slightly lower fee. I just did a
project and I'm finishing off right now. In Centrafel, we
had you know, mid century it's original the tiles, the

(16:20):
vinyl tiles are asbestos. So we had the remediation team come.
They give us a quote. We build it into our quote.
We also have our fees built into the quote. Price right,
my portion is like any contractor. We have a percentage
and then the carrying costs for the money is built
in and all the back end support, so our projects,
you know, would be the same as a contractor, and

(16:42):
just the slightly slightly higher sometimes because of the other
carrying costs that we have that's embedded into our pricing.
But as Laura said, it is basically free money. It
is free money until we get the projects sold. And
the idea being is you recognize either the agent can
help convince the homeown like this is worth a value.
Add if we do this work, we can sell your

(17:04):
house faster and generally for more money that it is
worthwhile so and then the other thing is we don't
take a cut of that extra money you guys make.
It is our You're just paying us back what we
charge for the work, and the property owner gets to
keep the one to three hundred thousand or more. And
you have some ideas on our website you can see

(17:25):
some pretty significant gains on work done. But that's another value.
There's other programs where they'll front the cost and then
they'll take a split off the backside of it, or
they'll charge interest, tie it in and get that gets
added to the value for the money being utilized, and
then still take a split of that, so they're getting
paid on two fronts of things. We just like to

(17:47):
keep it clean. We do everything by the book that
everybody we work with, every vendor we work with. I
bring in vendors. I'll work with your vendors, WILL onboard them.
Because you know your crew. You probably have painters you love,
you have flooring people you love. We onboard them. Everybody
has to be licensed, insured, carry a million dollar policy,
and we are constantly making sure everything is up to date.

(18:07):
We check their licensing online constantly to make sure there's
no issues. So we owe and we do everything with
permitting as we need to do permanting where it's required.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
We got my second question, Yes we we go.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
Yeah, we And that's part of the This is the
value add Not only do you have somebody so not
all project does manager does project directors are design oriented
to We have an in house design team that we
work with. I do both. I do project management and
the design aspect, and I'll work with the agent or
the homeowner even to coordinate like okay, like this mid

(18:42):
century modern house. The daughter who grew up in the
house very sentimental, took most of the light fixtures. I
was able to convince her to keep the original dining
room light fixture. It's original nineteen sixty seven, you know,
mid century light fixture. So they're working on that kind
of stuff. But we will even do everything that on
the What is part of the fee is I'm the

(19:03):
one going back and forth to the city. I'm the
one meeting with the inspectors. I'm the one doing all
that legwork. As you probably know having done projects, how
much time does that take? How many times do you
have to like then respond, you know, And we charge
a fee for that. But it's for the time we're
spending going back and forth, making sure, answering questions. Once

(19:24):
there's a design review, depending on the scope, we then
have to submit resubmit stuff based on what they wanted,
address stuff on the inspections. So it is not just
that I'm managing the project for you guys. I'm also
managing the permitting process. I'm managing the timing of deliverables, materials,
all that is included in it. So the idea is
we want to make it as seamless. It's a hard

(19:44):
transitional point. There's a lot of sentimentality sometimes for people
like Okay, I need to sell my mom's house now
that she's passed, but we want to make sure we
can get the best, you know, it's part of the estate.
We want to make sure everybody can get value out
of it. That's why my parents work so hard to
keep this house, to do all this stuff right. So
we care for each house as if it were our own.

(20:05):
I literally only put products that I would put in
my own renovations in my house, and they're still economical,
but they look good. Right. Sometimes you spend a little
more because we need to spend a little more, Like
I'm going to spend a little more on a light
fixture because it's really going to make a pop and
it sits, but it's worth it and you're going to
get that money back, you know.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, I was just looking at our Megan sent me
over a design sheet and I saw some fixtures, and
I'm usually the ones spending hours and hours and hours
listening all. I mean, you don't think in a small house,
there's still twenty fixtures and I'm going through and trying
to pick them. And so when she sent over the
snapshot of what she was using. They were different. It

(20:45):
was they were so nice and they really pop. Okay,
we have to got a commercial break. Will be right
back with Laura and Maya. Welcome back to mastering the

(21:37):
Art of real Estate. I'm your host, Debbie Demagia. We
are here with Maya and Laura with Free Model. I'm
with Corcoran, so we call it Spruce Home Advantage. It's
the same as the parent company, Free Model. So I
want to let's we learned all about how that works
and I love it and I'm really happy with Free Model.
Let's go in. I want to hear some of your experience,

(21:59):
your design experience, Maya. You have some incredible experiences, so
let's highlight that. Tell me about your the boutique hotel
that take us through. I'm very visual to take us
through a visual journey. That boutique hotel you worked on.

Speaker 4 (22:14):
Yeah, so I was actually working this was in the
golf in Dubai and Doha. I was working with friends
of mine who were also doing that project, doing all
the other rooms and lot you know, and stuff like that.
But I helped them focus between the restaurant and the
lobby to kind of update everything and make it more cohesive,
so it's a little different. The style there right in

(22:35):
the gulf, so it could be lots of gold, lots
of this, lots of that. We toned it down to
make it modern and sophisticated. So you know, all the
bench seating was tofted with a nice velvet style material,
and then all the buttons were a nice little brass right,
and it had the branding that embedded into the brass

(22:55):
within the buttons. We had a special feature at their
bar are as they would call it, that was backlits,
and so it was this beautiful onyx stone that was
about twenty feet tap and then from that we had
nice brass suspended shelving for all the glass and the

(23:15):
alcohol and the drinks and whatnot like that, and then
embedding it into the flooring. So it gets so hot
in there and it's really hard to manage the temperature
fluctuation and there's a lot of effort going into HVAC.
So it's when you come in from into the lobby.
There's like a double section lobby, so you come in
with a quick cooler hits and then it's more centralized.

(23:38):
And because this location was where they were developing and
building out more of that area. It was going to
be a hub with a lot of conventions and meetings
and tourists alike, and so we needed to incorporate handling
this fluctuation. People don't think about this, the fluctuation within
an office space or a space between a huge gathering

(24:02):
that raises the temperature up really quickly, and so how
does your system not over work itself to catch up
when you have an event somewhere? How And so it
was very I mean, we had a lot of specialists
that the hotel company itself brought in to manage that,
but we had to coordinate because we don't want some
ugly sensor. We spent all this lovely money updating everything

(24:25):
and then you put this ugly piece of plastic. So
we had custom matching material, wallpaper features done on it
so it would be hidden but it would still see it.
Same for the security sensors and everything else, and the
sprinkler heads and all that. So that was definitely a
fun and you know, a little challenging because I was
more remote, but I was able to source materials that
they couldn't necessarily get where they were. So then we

(24:47):
were sending it over usually in large chunks by freight,
otherwise actually paying quite exorbitant amounts via DHL to get
over there. So yeah, that was fun. That was a fun.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
That sounds really exciting. Wow, what a life you've had,
It's so incredible. What can you share one of your
most memorable experiences and how it impacted your career?

Speaker 4 (25:08):
So I would definitely have to say, and I know
I kind of answered that a little bit in your questionnaire.
I would say it was a culmination, it was not
any one piece, right. But one thing that really sticks
out to me was, as I said my uncle, I
would go help him. So over the years, you know,
free child labor, but no, not really. But over the
years he gave me more things to do physically do

(25:31):
not just clean the job site up, not just make
sure we bring him this or that. When I was
about twelve thirteen, he was working on this beautiful place
in Malibu. We're on the beach, and this guy had
everything customized, and so he's like, Okay, you know how
to do kitchens, so go do all the joiner I
need for the cabinets and make sure we finish it
and stand it down properly. And then all right, let's

(25:53):
look at this would feature. The Master Suite had a
three level full roof awnings system like it rolled back,
so you could just do remove the heat shield portion
of it. Then you can open up and it had
a screen on it, and then you can open it
up completely to just have the Scott Night sky. And
it had a sensor built in so if it was raining,

(26:13):
it would go and close itself and stuff. So just
making sure that was working well, but also the fine
detailing we had to do and would work around it
to surround it, so things like that. That was definitely
one of those things like Okay, I can get into
this more. My career took me elsewhere. I've done lots
of other things, but I've always had on the backside
people coming to me like, hey, can you help me
with this project? Sure, I can help you, and so

(26:35):
I've always consulted on the side when I was working
in other fields. I worked in mortgages, I worked in biotech.
I was even on the brokerage side for a minute
for a company in San Francisco, and I was in
charge of all the agents coming on board, finding their
office spaces, doing the least negotiations, designing and managing those

(26:55):
buildouts for their office spaces. So that was fun and
we grew nationally. So I don't have any one thing,
but I would definitely say, you know, as a child,
my experience is traveling and getting to engage with the
things that I was seeing and absorbing that and seeing
the functionality. It's not just the form. I think that's
where I'm a little more unique. Like I could say, Okay, yeah,
we can put this element here, but did you consider

(27:17):
it's going to somewhat impede the pathway or if you
wanted to have this as a kid's play zone next
to your area where your kitchen is, we can improve
it by changing this, removing these cabinets so you have
better visual. You don't need these upper suspended cabinets. So
little things. So I like to always see because my
dad's an engineer, how it works, and then my mom's
a planner overall the micro macro of everything. How does

(27:40):
the small little things affect things like where are you
putting your light switches? Oh, I can pass through from
one from the hallway through the kitchen to the dining room,
but I don't want to have to walk all the
way back. So we need to update three way lighting
you have to change that or even four way because
you can have different entryways and stuff like that. So
I wouldn't say one one specific thing. I think a

(28:02):
culmination of all lived experiences has really further developed. And
even now with every project I do, I constantly am
learning something.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Absolutely after thirty five years, I'm always learning something new.
We're learning from how someone does it, maybe a little differently.
So oh that's my question. So oh, well, you both
can answer this question. What are some typical misconceptions And
let's start with you, Laura, some misconceptions in this business

(28:35):
and and you know, how do you overcome those misconceptions
to those you know, I'm sure you're you hear it
from people and clients all day long. They're asking you, well,
what do you think?

Speaker 3 (28:46):
Yeah, I think one of the major misconceptions is that
we're too expensive and that we take too long to
get projects done.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
And I would say that, you know.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
We might be more expensive than you having your hand
email and come out and do you know a little
bit of work.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
But we are competitive. We are just like a general contractor.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
We do offer, like Maya had said, you know, we
offer the design, manage and we're the GC, and we
give you a year to sell the house. There's no
interest on the money, so I think, you know we
are competitive, and then what else would you say? The
misconception is oh timing. You know, people think, oh, how

(29:31):
fast can you get projects done? Because obviously, being a
real estate agent, you want things to get done as
quickly as possible. And what's nice is our project directors
because we are basically flipping houses all the time. Our
project directors have their teams and sometimes multiple teams to
be able to do multiple projects, and they they orchestrate

(29:54):
everything in such an easy way for the projects to
go as smoothly as possible. So I feel like every
time I get an objection, we always are able to
explain how we'd get things done. And usually my project
directors say they're waiting on the homeowner to sign the paperwork.
That's usually what takes the longest time.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
Right, So I did have the question Maya wanted to answer,
and that was helpful. Laura, are you a contractor? And
are all your project manager's contractors?

Speaker 4 (30:27):
So Free Model itself is a contractor, So all of
us project managers are under the Free Model umbrella as contractors.
Some of us project directors are contractors, licensed contractors. I'm
actually getting ready to take my test, so I'm never
gonna do no.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
But the thing is again tying to like knowing those
nitty grits, like when they ask why is it taking
so long? Part of it is we do have to
do and that is one of our things. We're not
gonna sneak around and do something that normally would require
a permit and cover, like get a permit for why,
but we're really doing X under the guise of why.

(31:05):
You know, Inspectors are not stupid. They're going to see things,
They're going to notice right, and we don't want to
take that liability. One of the reasons we do everything
by permits, and one of the reasons we work with
people who are licensed and insured and bonded is because
then if there's a problem we can we can address
it properly. If you have a client who wants to
kind of shortchange some of this stuff, sometimes we will

(31:27):
say I'm sorry, we can't work with you. We do
have to do this by permit, and each city and
or county permitting times can be quick or like Tiberon,
it's a three to four month a three to four
week process to do a design review. So I have
this project where the previous owner did this all this
unpermitted work. There was a pre sale inspection as required

(31:48):
by the city, and of course it was called out.
And now, unfortunately, this lovely couple has to spend most
of our budget addressing all this unpermitted work and fixing it.
Because a city of Tibaran has a role, you can
eat pass that on to the homeowner and the new
homeowner has thirty days or you as a seller need
to get everything addressed and then have the inspection done
again when you're done, but that requires a design review

(32:10):
that's three to four weeks. But good, good, this is
what we have. That's just for the unpermanent work. I
don't need a permit for painting. I don't need a
permit for flooring. We're replacing the roof. While that three
to four weeks is happening, all this other stuff is
happening inside the house. My electrician gets his permit, that's
a quick over the counter permit to update electrical where
he needs to.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
You know.

Speaker 4 (32:31):
My roofers get their permit to do their roofing. My
painters are doing what they need to do, and we
can keep working. That's what I said, Like even with
the delay of the client moving out, we can do stuff.
I order materials, I go, get my permits all lined
up ready to go. So sometimes those delays it's not
because we're slow. In fact, that's the opposite. It is

(32:51):
truly based on because I literally have my baskets when
I've gone through with you guys on that all the
sites I'm ordering things from are to go as soon
as I get noticed that the deed of trust has
been rectored, not just signed. This is the key thing
that people need to understand. We as project directors cannot
start spending any money until the deed of trust that

(33:12):
we file has been registered at the county or city
level or wherever we're at. So then I literally have
my baskets full. And then as soon as I get
the ping from my team, I like purchase, purchase, purchase, purchase, purchase,
so that because that helps get us ahead right, we
don't have any issues. And then especially now unfortunately with
tariffs and people pulling back and my cabinet people that

(33:36):
I go to, they are giving us a heads up,
like we have about a month or two max of
runway of existing material, and the owner said, yes, the
next shipment coming into the port will have the new
tariff prices, and the tariff prices constantly changed, so we
don't know what's going to at what rate we're going
to be paying for. But it's even trickier now for
us in this climate to figure out. Okay, I'm sourcing it,

(34:00):
says it's available, I ordered it, and then there's a lag.
Even Amazon these days, I'll order something that they say
it can be two days and then suddenly, oh, sorry,
it's delayed. It's delayed. It's delayed, so then I have
to go spend more money to get something else. I
don't come back to you and say, hey, I have
to spend more money to get this finished, like a
heated mat for the flooring right under floor to heating, Matt,

(34:20):
we have to eat that cost because we gave you
a quote. So wow, that's the thing. Like, I'm not
going to come back if it's a change order, because
it's a valid change order in terms of hey, like
your kitchen cabinets, I have that ready to go as
soon as I get that DTA trust ping, I am
telling my cabinet people, Okay, place to order because I
want to lock in my pricing, and so there is

(34:42):
going to be a little bit more sense of an
urgency I feel like, and all of us project directors
were just talking about this actually last night at dinner,
a few of us, how we are going to be ready,
and I think homeowners have to be prepared. There's going
to be sticker shock. We're going to have sticker shock,
and unfortunately we can't absorb that. We just have to
pass that along. But we will do what we can

(35:04):
in the introm besides getting everything ready, doing work while
we're waiting on permit reviews or permit you know responses.
Even in Santa Fell, it's two to three weeks for
a countertop permit for a simple like for like.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
Update, just just to counter talk.

Speaker 4 (35:19):
Just a simple countertop because they have to outsource their
plan checkers. Now a lot of cities don't have in
in this in department plan checkers. They outsource because the
budget cuts over the years. So that's one of the
reasons it takes a little longer for us to get
a response like Hey, these are my this is my permit,
this is my scope of work, These are the drawings.

(35:41):
It took three weeks for the plan cheker to give
me and then by the way, that's giving me comments,
so then I have to respond and then they have
ten days to get back to me from that response.
So we always try to make it as clean as
we can and when we submit, that's why I spend
time on the front end. I'll go in. I was like, Hey,
this is what I have, this is my go What
else do you need me to highlight on my drawings?

(36:03):
What else do you think will come up? Let me
know now, So I'll put it in so that I
don't have to have two three rounds back and forth
in response, because I can't start working until they give
me that permit unless I do a demo permit. I
can demo, but I can't start working on anything else.
And so something to answer. Yeah. Sorry.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
So when you or any of the project designers walk
into a house, whether it's Piedmont, Oakland, tiber On, San Leander,
wherever it is, do your project managers know without the
agent or the homeowner telling you, you know what needs
a permit and what does not.

Speaker 4 (36:37):
Yes, And usually even after our meeting, I will go
double check because code keeps getting updated all the time.
So one inspector might, even though they're being trained at
the city, might go by the previous code, but there
was a board meeting and then there'll be updated codes
that the inspector might not be aware of that I
can say, hey, no, this code is saying it's actually

(37:00):
this much square footage I'm allowed versus that previous year's code.
But yes, we do do that, and so part of that, again,
that's the value add of because you would have if
you were a homeowner and you got your handyman and
they were cheaper. That's just the handyman. You have to
do the ordering and the sourcing and figuring it out.
They'll get some materials, but the other stuff you have

(37:22):
to do then you have to go deal with the
city and or you can pay a project manager separately
to handle that for you. So you're paying two fees
that they build up into their pricing on top of
what you're buying. We're doing all the one yeah, and
we're you're basically getting three different heads, three different workers,
for the price of one project director. And that's in

(37:44):
part why we're a little more expensive, because we are
including just like a contractor, they're pricing, but like I said,
we're doing more than one piece of it. Your GC, well,
he embeds even when he buys materials, he adds an
up charge to what he's doing because he's capturing some
money time and to go pick it up from the store,
you know, all that stuff. So that is those little

(38:05):
nuanced things. But in reality, if you think about what
you're getting in terms of services and the relief, the
not having to think about it, not having to worry
about it, just being updated as things progress. Where we're
at and then to the point you were asking earlier,
I work with you the agent, as close as I
can because we do give a timeline. If the change

(38:26):
order pushes our timeline out significantly, we'll add that to
the time frame. But I then get, okay, we're gonna
be ready debian like two weeks will be close to
finish when and we gotta but we'll tell you maybe
a month before because we know the good stages they're
really busy. You get on you gotta get on book
and secure them right, So we'll say, okay, a month

(38:48):
or so before, and I ask you how long do
your stages need as a lead time? We're about too
two half weeks out from being done, and then you
can have your stages and if it's a super timeline
type timeline, I can do everything and then call for
final afterwards. We're allowed to have staging material. In most cities,
you're allowed to have staging material. Nobody's living there, it's

(39:09):
just staging for the sales of purposing. So again one
of those things we're doing, that balancing act of Okay,
I just need to come in and touch up a
few things. My painters are done. But even when you
move staging in, something might get necked. We'll touch that
up or like oh, this light fixture suddenly the bull
went out. I'll come back and replace that. But we
can get your staging in, you can get your pictures done,
your marketing, and then you're on the market ready to go.

(39:32):
So we work on tandem with you guys a lot.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
Definitely, when you say you're more expensive, who are you
saying you're more expensive than than who?

Speaker 4 (39:41):
Than a handyman or you know, not then a GC,
but more like you know, you can get your handyman
who can come in and do some stuff and yeah,
he can do counter stuff like that. And by the way,
when that's the pushback, we're more costly. It's costly because
we're incorporating our fee right our percentage, and then the
care car costs. It's free money in a sense, but

(40:02):
we still have caring costs on that. We have support
on a Free Model on the back end to help us.
So if it's not me doing designs, I have the
design team. They're helping us. They're helping us manage that stuff,
they're helping us troubleshoot things.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
So right, there's a lot of people, a lot a
lot of hands.

Speaker 4 (40:18):
In the Unfortunately, there's a lot of people that you know,
I try to shout to the skies about the back
end support team at Free Model who are amazing, between
the designers, our accounting team, our intake team, our marketing team,
everybody and then are like like people like Laura who
go out there and help spread the word for us,
because you know, we we our income comes from doing

(40:42):
these jobs. For some of us it's part time because
we also do things on the other we have other jobs.
For some of us it's full time, and so people
can make a living on this. But you know, we
have one one project director who does an average of
about twenty to twenty five a year. You know, that's
pretty active. And she's and she's been with free Model
early on, in the early early days, so she's seen

(41:03):
all the iterations of how our modeling has changed a
little bit and stuff like that. But she's she's great.
She does great work. And the funny thing is other
agents will come to her and say, hey, Laura, what
houses are going to be ready that you're working on soon?
And then they'll go too or those because they know
the bark, product and quality behind it.

Speaker 1 (41:21):
Nice. Yeah, that's awesome. So with that, with that, let's
dive into that. Laura'd give us a couple of samples
of it costs and you can, in your mind think
of a house you just did, what did how much
money went into the house, and how well did it do?
I mean, you're not going to be expected to remember
what it should have gone and what it went, but

(41:41):
you know, just show, you know, we spent three hundred
thousand on this, and you know, give us some samples
of what.

Speaker 4 (41:47):
So I just finished a townhouse in Alameda, actually on
Harbor Bay Island. It had been listed. There were no staging,
they didn't do anything. They had it on the market
for about two months with price reducts coming in and
this was still you know, and the good time of
the year towards the end of the year into the
end of the new year, and then the agent brought

(42:08):
me in to free model and there was like the
clients were like, oh, this is way too costly because
part of it was there was a caveat line item
of testing for asbestos. We've just got the test that
was negative. So I actually refund that in we're not
going to charge you for a service like, hey, asbestos
removal is going to be sixty five hundred dollars, but
there's no asbestos. At the end when I close out

(42:30):
my project, that gets refunded back to the total project costs.
But that project I came in it was a like
for like update all new bathrooms, all new kitchens, all
new flooring, interior painting, recess lighting that wasn't there before
we added recess lighting. It was an old school a
plug and a switch and that's where your light was
for the room, right, and then updated everything. Updated the

(42:52):
plumbing in the kitchen, updated the plumbing in the bathrooms.
All that. It took me about just shy of about
a month and a half and that was with permits,
and we spent around one hundred and nine thousand dollars
and it's already pending right now. It's an escrow. It
was on the mark two weeks, two weeks and then

(43:13):
two and a half weeks and it was an escrow.
So I don't know the final price, but from what
it was when she dropped it down the last reduction,
we were closer to the seven fifty mark, and then
i'd put, like I said, about one hundred and ten total,
maybe one hundred and nine. I think it's going to
go close to list price, if not list price, which
is eight nine nine, I believe.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
So, oh my gosh.

Speaker 4 (43:37):
That's so for the clients it was a bigger spend.
But the other thing is they're stressed because they're paying
two mortgages because they're in their other house, and then
they have to pay hoas on top of it. And
they sat on the market for two and a half
months and couldn't get it moved, and within two and
a half weeks it's pending already, and you know, and
it's as we know, townhouses and condos are a little

(43:59):
more challenging to sell, but this one, I think that
the relief is more of what they appreciate. The extra
money is a bonus. Right now, they just want to
be done, They want to be out, they want to
be away from that whole setup, you know, and moving
on with their life. So so that's something incredible, you.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
Know, that's that's a great story, Laurie. You're gonna have
to send me that house because that's a good story
for me to share with my clients who are on
the fence because in this market right now, we are
having we're having the tariffs, and we're also having slow
pockets like that. Not everything selling. We had a couple
of houses take you know, quite some time. So that's
a really really great story, not even how much it

(44:39):
sold for over but that it was on the market
and at the same market we were. It's so powerful
because you were in the same market, took it off,
went back on and sold it. So that is a
huge testimonial to you guys. Is incredible. And so this
was Alameda, and so you knew right away with the
remodeling of the kitchen and baths that you knew that

(45:01):
you needed to get permits.

Speaker 4 (45:02):
And yeah, and always and look and and I actually
challenged the city a little bit. They have a countertop permit.
And again when they say countertop, these days, by the way,
everything's online. And so one of the tidbits I gave
to you in your questionnaire, I was like, if I'm
to coach anybody, go do your due diligence and go
in and meet with them. Apply online, but go in,

(45:25):
or even before you apply on line.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
I go in.

Speaker 4 (45:26):
I'm like, okay, this is what I have. Is this
good to go? I'm going to go apply online. And
then some minute but they I found code in their
own thing that said they were trying to say, oh,
you need to get a permit for this for the
kitchen update. I was like, no, it says like for
like kitchen is excluded. Even if I'm you know, I'm
just updating the plumbing, so I didn't need to do that.

(45:49):
It was only for the shower valve. Honestly, it was
only the shower valve because we had to open up
the wall, we redid the plumbing in there and updated
the piping, and because we added a new shower valve,
so we had to have them come in check the waterproofing,
check the plumbing, connections and then close it up and
have them confirm that. But that was the only permit
I needed. Everything else was like for like kitchen up

(46:11):
because we're literally taking the cabinet out and replacing it
with something new and then maybe updating the connections the valve,
the's water shut off valves because they were rusted at old.
But we're not changing anything. We're not opening up walls,
we're not going into any of that stuff. So that
kind of thing that's why it was quicker and so
in that instance. But yes, when we work as project directors,
and again even newer directors, if they're in a new territory,

(46:33):
maybe then where they're used to working because you know,
SOAPAL it's a little further spread out. We have project
directors in all of California, Florida, and Texas, so those
Florida and Texas and SOCO, they're a little more spread
out their territories. They have to know more so they
might be starting something. But we learned we know how
to go find the answers so that we're the experts

(46:55):
when we're talking to you the agent and you the
client and explaining it's going to take us this much
longer because this is unincorporated, which means I have to
go to the county. The county is different than the city.
Like another example, I have a project in Lafayette. It's
an unincorporated Lafayette. Thank god unincorporated falls into Contra Costa

(47:16):
because they are way faster because the city of Lafayette itself,
it's a month to just get answers for your permit.

Speaker 5 (47:23):
Wow, and everything is that like for like too, or
even with a simple like for like in the city
of Lafayette, it takes them a month because it's outsourced
for the plan checkers and the reviewers and stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (47:37):
It's a smaller department. So thankfully he's still counted within
the Lafayette the best school district all that kind of stuff.
But his house is Contra Costa, so I get to
deal with Contra Costa, which is more efficient, faster and
stuff like that. So I mean, even within Alameda County itself,
Alameda County is huge, and there are cities within Alameda

(47:58):
County that we know to be big cities, but it
technically falls into unincorporated Alameda County. That's different than the
city of Alameda is permitting you know it's a different beast,
but yes, that is again one of those value ads
for the slightly higher price of why you guys want
to work with us because we manage it. We take
the stress out of it, we figured it out, We
get all the answers we need to present to you

(48:20):
the solutions. We don't come to you with problems. We
come to you with solutions. We had this hiccup, but
by this inspector, I've escalated to ask his manager to
review it if they still come back to it. I
found the code, like I'm online reading code, international code
and California code and then the city's code, and I'm
pulling that to counter Like this inspector called I need this.

(48:41):
I was like, we didn't touch this post on the deck.
We're just replacing the top side of the deck. I
don't need to get you structural engineering. We didn't change anything.
I'm allowed to do this. Here's the code.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
You know.

Speaker 4 (48:52):
I don't need to pull structural engineering. I don't need
to redo my footings. I'll shore them up just to
be safe, but I'm not I don't. You don't need
to force our hand into doing something. We do the
work that we know. We need to do to make
something right and proper. And like I said, those footings.
For instance, on the deck post, it's an old school,
simple four x four redwood post and it's on a

(49:14):
concrete base, which the dad did a good job doing
that on a concrete based versus in the ground. I
just went and got metal strappings and put them on there.
I didn't charge a client. I just need to make
sure it's done right, Like I don't want to leave,
like little things like I'm not going to come back
to you and Nickel and Dimie. Little things like oh,
we opened up a wall and there's we need to
update the insallation now the code changed. Okay, I'll update.

(49:37):
If it's a small section, I'll go buy a roll
of the higher our value and install it. If it's
a big section, then we do have to do a
change order, you know. But we're again our cost might
be slightly higher than a general contractor, but you're getting
all these other things. And you know, everybody on that
job site is licensed and insured. Like even my crew

(49:57):
can't just pick up an extra day laborer to come
work on site. I know who's on my crew. If
they need to hire somebody else, then they hire somebody else,
you know, And that's the benefit. As Laura mentioned that,
we have a couple teams that we work with because
we're working on multiple projects, usually at the same time.
If I'm at the close of like right now, I'm
finishing off this project in cent Rafel and we're turning

(50:19):
it over Monday, it doesn't look like it's all going
to be ready, but I'm pulling other guys to come
help my main guy because he's the tiling project in
the primary suite is much bigger. And so now I
was like, Okay, let me take something off of you.
I'll bring somebody else in and it still falls within
my budget and I'm just paying them, you know. And
so we have the resources at our ready. You know

(50:41):
how hard it could be to find a contractor these days,
everybody's booked out. You want to work with a contractor,
there are three four months out for a simple bathroom reno,
and you're like, can't you just squeeze me in? I'm like, yeah,
I have other projects, other commitments. What contractors we work with, Like,
I've honed my team down that I have my key
people and a couple pull backups and my key people.

(51:02):
They whenever I call, it's like, hey, I've got a project. Okay, yes,
let's go, let's check it out. Because they know it's
going to be a good project, it's going to run
more smoothly, and then they get paid. They're what they
want to get paid, and they're happy and it's consistent business.
So I'm I'm and one of my team members she's
getting her contracting license and they're now expanding from flooring.

(51:24):
They're going to do cabinetry and all that. So I'll
work with her as they expand her business to be like, great,
let's look at your cabinetry work. Let's see how I
can pull that into my projects instead of going to
this other vendor. Right right, what.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
Area do you work? I definitely have to work with you.

Speaker 4 (51:41):
I actually I'm technically in Marine County, but I work everywhere.
Like I've done projects in the Lohadows. I did a
project in Alameda, the Lafayette Project. There was a project
in Walnut Creek that I was going to work on
in the family because of timing, just decided to sell
us is It was a trust thing. But yeah, I
work all over the b area, and I even working

(52:02):
so cow So.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
Okay, I do a little work down there too, so
I tried to work with someone there. It didn't really
work out. You know, it takes a lot to sometimes
it depends on the homeowner to understand the cost and
stuff I did see. I think I did get bids
on the property I'm working with now, and it seemed
like it didn't seem like it was so high. It
felt really good. It felt like what we were getting

(52:30):
it didn't seem like this extra cost. So I do
want to point that out. If someone was on the fence,
they could get you know, their people to their handy
people or painters to do a bid. It's it wasn't
It wasn't a big difference to me. So I'm very
happy with that. So that's where you work. And then
Laura tell us anything you want to share about Free

(52:53):
Model and your experience, And I mean, it seems like
it's going really well and it's kind of running itself.
But what sort of issues have you come into, or
just share some highlights of your experience.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
Oh so for me, yeah, yeah, So I just think
that it's been really great working with all the different
agents and we've been able to really our average return
on investment is about two hundred and thirty percent increase
for the homeowner, which is a really you know, value

(53:32):
to the homeowner.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
Like I said, we allow homeowners.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
To flip their own house basically, which is really nice.
And our directors we have around twenty seven local project
directors in the Bay Area, which allows no matter where
you have a property, we can help you guys out
and for an agent, we increase your commissions by about

(53:58):
twenty percent. It's really a win win for everyone to
work with Free Model. We do all the project management,
so you guys can do what you do best, and
that it's talking to people and selling homes versus running
to home.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
Depot and picking out paint color. You know. So I
just really think that it's been such it's such.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
A great value add and I think that it's not
going to be right for every single client, but it
is an option to offer it to your clients in
your listing presentations because we do find that our agents
who work with us.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
Win listings because they.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
Let their client know that they have a service like
Free Model available to them them and it's just another
option to give to.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
Them, right exactly. No, it's great And was I going
to just ask you about so just in closing because
we have to wrap it up. What maya any last
words you want to share with us and how do
we get well, how do we get in touch with
you guys as three model? But any last words you
want to share with our agents and homeowners and clients. Oh,

(55:06):
the question came back to me. Do you work with
people who are going to flip homes? Like if an
investor wants to use you, do you work with those people?

Speaker 4 (55:15):
Yeah, our numbers and modeling is a little different for that.
And we also do post sale renods just so you
guys know, it's not all pre sale renos. The difference
on posts sale rennos. So say somebody buys a house
and they know they want to renovate before they go
in or they're in there, but we ask them to
leave if it's extensive, or just keep them to one side.
Pre sales, you get paid, we pay you pay us

(55:36):
back at escrow. Post sale renos we give you your
fixed pricing and then it's at every two week billing period.
We take it over that period of time and then
you have a slightly larger one towards the end usually
and so post sale renos. It's the same thing we do,
the exact same thing. We come in, we walk through,
we look at stuff. Sometimes with post sale renos, even
the homeowner wants to give selections, so we'll I'll offer, like,

(55:58):
here are two or three different life of fixtures with
this style. If you like this style, then I'll mimic
that for other things like within the light fixtures, within
the faucets, within the drawer pools, all that kind of stuff.
But we do post sale rehnods and we do work
with flippers. Each segment is a little different in our
in our qualifying modeling of how it works for us,

(56:19):
and then the payment terms are different. So pre sale
it's always going to be at escro and the other
two it's built basically every two weeks. Now that is
a benefit because, as you know, you work with a
contractor what do they want fifty percent up front and
then usually while you're three quarters of the way in
or half of the way and suddenly they're like, hey,
I need a little more, and then oh the price
went up. And then so you keep getting kind of

(56:41):
hit at different periods where it's consistent. You know, every
two weeks you're going to get this charge because it's
over admortized over that period of time. We say it's
going to take, they'll break it out and you know
what you have to come up with for every two
weeks to have of it. You don't have to pay
on the front.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
What I'm hearing too is if you hire a contractor
to do these posts jobs. If they hire a contractor
to do a job, they also have to maybe get
an architect and a designer and so many others. So
you are the contractor and the designer and the project.

Speaker 4 (57:11):
We work with to clear that up, we work with
licensed We have some architects within our design team, but
that's for simpler things. But we work with we have
partnerships with licensed architects, structural engineers, all those people. Even
we just onboarded an as built company where they scan
spaces and will give us exact dimensions and drawings. And

(57:32):
it's not an inexpensive thing, but it's more cost effective
than having an architect go out and remeasure everything and
make sure the drawings are right. It gives us updated plans.
We as project directors. We also use canvas, so I
will go into a space and scan it. It'll convert
that within a few days to what that dimensions are,
and then I'll take that to my cabinet people, or

(57:53):
I'll use the calculations for my flooring and then I
can design the layouts based on that that scans document.
But we do everything and then we add those fees
in there. Right, so the architect's going to charge X
that's in our bid, the engineer is gonna charge X
that's in our bid, and we give a window structural
might be a little more. We're going to put this

(58:14):
price point where we let you know it might be
a little more depending on what the city says we
want extra views or calculations or whatever. But yeah, we
have all of that embedded. And again you don't have
to go source these things we have. I think we
have at least eight or nine we keep. We just
added a few more architects, and we have about four
to five structural engineering firms. And then we have people

(58:38):
who are just draftsmen and then our design team. They
can work with sketch up and Design twenty twenty to
do stuff as we need to. And some of us
designers also one of our designers in LA she's an architect,
so she can do all that kind of stuff, and
I can I can work with the programs too, and
I'll retool my layouts, make notations and submit those as

(58:58):
my plans the scan and with the notations, this is
where the lighting is, this is where That's how I
can submit that and makes it faster and more cost effective,
so you don't have to go get an architect to
draw everything because my scan works for a life like
and I'm like, I'm making this a three way light
and this is the light locations and these are the
switch like pations. I'm calling out the updated and that's
one of the things. People are recognized by the way

(59:18):
in kitchen remodels, as you know the new code, it's
not that new. Every appliance has to be on its
own circuit. So that is extensive amount of work because
back in the day you would have your fridge, your microwave,
your dishwasher, and you're of even all on one circuit.
It's a bigger circuit, but still not enough. So that
is part of what we handle for you too. We

(59:39):
make sure everything's to code. You don't have gc it
like some places, older houses, they didn't have a GFCI
outlet in the bathroom anywhere it's close to water. We
update that to a GFCI. We update your smoke detectors
to be carbon and smoke. We update bathrooms have to
have a room occupancy sensor. Certain rooms have to have
a room occupancy sensor now so it's not just the

(01:00:01):
light switch so that you're not wasting energy. So we
bring things up to be energy efficient, you know, we
update stuff to the current code. And that's again, like
you said, you don't have to as a homeowner working
with your contractor. When you buy a house and you
want to do your work before you move in, you're
going to have to go find an architect. You're going
to have to pay for that you're going to have,
and then you're gonna have to follow up on them,
you know, because we all know they're all busy. They're

(01:00:23):
all like structural engineers, you know, they are a few
months out sometimes, so you you then have to look
and source somebody else who can do it. But how
do you know if they're good? Right, we are selling
A design team knows the people in the field, so
we bring on people who we can trust and have good,
good relationships with, so.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
We're at the top of the hour. This was incredible.
Of course, I think we only hit one commercial. But
how do we get ahold of you guys? How could?
And I do have some service provider referrals for you guys.
I have someone in Orange County who's wonderful, so I
will send that to you when we get off. But
how do we get a hold of you? Yep, I

(01:01:04):
can't hear you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
I had put myself on mute of course, sorry about that.

Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
The fastest way to get connected to a project director
is just go to our website at freemodel dot com.
It's just one word and on the page it says
get a free estimate. You fill that or let's talk
you or let's talk. But to get connected to our
project director, and you know you want a free estimate,
just click that free estimate button and then you'll get

(01:01:30):
connected to one of our project directors. If you just
have a question, you can also go to the let's
talk button, but that's the easiest way.

Speaker 4 (01:01:38):
Yeah, And then if you wanted to reach out to
a specific project director, when you do the let's talk
in the notes section, you can put notes in there
if you have somebody. It comes to a point too.
By the way, US project director is working with you agents.
We develop our own relationships so you don't have to
every time you have a new project go through the
site or go through our team to get that connection.

(01:01:58):
You're like, hey, may I have another project and you
come meet me with the clients on this day. And
that's almost how this is how much usually every agent
who starts working with free model, you know, you find
a project director you like working with you guys create
this symbiotic relationship. You just reach out like and you
just feed it to them so you can keep getting
more listings. So you spend your time that you were

(01:02:18):
working on a project going and getting more listings, right,
and then we handle everything for you. So we have
a lot of project directors, but we also all of
us like I'm constantly working with the same agent that's
going to come back to me and say, hey I
need this or hey I want this. And it can
be small projects. By the way, our projects don't have
to be these massive renos. It can be just as

(01:02:39):
simple as I just need new painting and steam cleaned
the carpets and you know, put a new light fixture
and some you know, new new faucets, and we'll call
it a day, and that's what it could be. And
or the project cost might be a little too high,
but your painter can do it for less. Your painter
does it, and we'll do the other things that are

(01:03:00):
just you don't want to pay for out of pocket.
That happens all the time. It could be like, oh,
do my roof, do my electrical panel, I'll get my
painter to do the painting.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
You know, so wonderful. Well, thank you guys so much.
It was so wonderful. We'll have to do it again
because there's more to explore. And what an interesting life
you've had. Maya very exciting. I look forward to meeting
you in person and Laura recinking up with you soon
and we'll have a little launched party at our the
new project we're doing with you guys, and we can
talk about how that went to. Thank you guys so

(01:03:30):
much for joining us.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
So much for having us.

Speaker 4 (01:03:33):
Yeah, thank you, this was great, Have a great day.

Speaker 3 (01:03:39):
Tune in each week for another episode of Mastering the
Art of Real Estate with host Debbie DiMaggio. Here Friday's
New n Easton on the Bold Brave TV Network. Tune
in to wear real Estate Matters Matter

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