Generating Business From Contractors

In this episode we sit down with Laurel, a top kitchen and bath remodeling expert, to discuss how real estate agents and contractors can create true two-way referral partnerships. Discover how contractors can identify real estate opportunities, how agents can add value to their contractor partners, and why strong relationships—not just transactions—are the key to long-term success.

Creators and Guests

Host

Justin Stoddart

Host

Stephanie Peck

What is Think Bigger Real Estate?

The road to success for real estate agents is well-marked. The road to significance is not. Here, we help you to Think Bigger than just your business. We inspire you to seek success AND significance, income AND impact. We do that by interviewing the biggest thinkers and highest achievers in the real estate industry, extracting the secrets to having it all.

It is very common for real estate agents to feel like it's a one way street in sending referrals to contractors. And don't get me wrong, real estate agents very much appreciate having great contractors to whom they can refer. However, it's even better when you have a an eager contractor who not only wants to take great care of your clients, but they also want to return the favor by introducing you to your ideal clients. Today's episode, we have a very special guest, and we are going to interview and explore this possibility of how might you be in business with contractors who are just as eager to refer you as you are to them. Stay tuned. It's gonna be a great episode. You so the big question is this, how do those of us in the real estate industry who have crazy amounts of ambition, how do we think bigger than the building of our own empires? How do we create success and significance, income and impact? My name is Justin Stoddart. This is my co host, Stephanie Peck and together, we bring you the Think bigger real estate podcast. All right. Welcome back, everybody. Stephanie, my lovely co host, how are you today? Doing

great. Excited to be here and get to know Laurel more. I

hear you, Laurel. So glad to have you here. Thank you for being willing to join in today and really help us to understand what it might look like to partner with a contractor such as you who does such a fabulous job. I know that firsthand experience, because my wife and I enjoy every single day the most gorgeous kitchen as a result of you and your wonderful company. So I can attest that they are fantastic what they do, and also have become very dear friends. So with that being said, Laurel, I want to maybe just premise it this way, is that there are many real estate agents that feel like they're invited to a buffet. They bring the food, and everybody else brings a fork. I know that's not how you think, walking around with your fork, just looking to get referrals, and that's the reason why we wanted to highlight you today, is to really share your earnestness and explore ideas and possibilities with Stephanie's help on what really might be valuable from a contractor, not Justin taking care of clients, but also in returning them. So but before we do that, would you just give us a quick a quick background on how you got into Kitchen and Bath remodeling?

Sure. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to talk about this. So I grew up in a family of contractors, but they were all men. It was my grandpa, my dad, my uncle. They all worked in construction and worked in remodeling. And in the 80s, when I went to visit them on their job sites, I didn't ever see any women in construction, because there, there really weren't any. So it took me a long time to come around to the idea that women could be in construction and could actually make a good impact. So it wasn't until later in life that I decided to go ahead and pursue that and went back to school to get some more education and construction, hands on construction and construction management, and started my business about eight years ago. I've always loved kitchens and the effect that they have on the family. They're kind of the heart of the home. I love, all of the organization that goes into a kitchen and the beauty that it can be. So I decided to focus on that for my business. How

fun Stephanie? Does that speak to you as you think about the wonderful homes that you're in, the families that

you serve absolutely and I personally do a lot of entertaining, and I know when I'm working with clients, they talk about doing a lot of entertaining. And the kitchen really is the heart of the home. It's where families are coming together as part of their routine, and it's also where everyone gathers. And I know that for me, I'm not a crafty person, but I do love to bake. That's where my creativity comes out, in the kitchen. And I will say I've been in Justin's home, and it is a beautiful kitchen, and it's so much more than just picking out the right tile. What I saw you do there is great space planning, and that's what you're talking about. Is something that I think makes you different?

Yeah, that's a really fun part of what we do is figuring out how to make a kitchen functional and beautiful at the same time. That's my favorite part. I'll

tell you, ladies, a funny story is actually quite sad. My now seven year old. This was in our previous kitchen prior to Laurel's magic wand coming through. But we had just pulled a pizza out of the oven, and it was sitting on our countertop, hot pan, and my little seven year old, who was then about 18 months, crawled up to see what was going on on the on the island, and slipped and fell, and her face and arm hit that hot pizza, pizza pan. And it was a terrible experience. I won't go to too much detail, other than the ski then the skin was coming off her body, and it was traumatic for all of us. And my wife said, this stupid kitchen, this island is so small, there's no room for it. She wanted to take us. I thought she was gonna take a sledgehammer to the island at that point. Thankfully, she didn't, because we weren't quite ready. But back to space planning sometimes. Especially when you buy a home, right? Or you you move into a home, it's not to Stephanie's point really plan for what's the actual need of a family. Sometimes it's just put together, because what's cost savings for a builder, right? But you don't really think through is this actually functional, and that that experience reminded me of just how important it can be to have to have space for a family, to be able to really exist and thought through. And I experienced that with you, Laurel. In fact, you probably might. You might, we might not have been your favorite clients, because I know Teresa for probably a year or two prior prior to and I'm not, I'm not condoning that this behavior that what all your clients should do. But she'd say, Hey, Laura, come over and you would space plan for for some time, right? Really going through what is it that the Stoddart family needs to where they can really function? And we did. We bumped out the kitchen into an entirely new level from where it was so that we could fit the island and everything else we wanted. So I hear what you're saying there. Stephanie, we experienced that that very much firsthand. Would love to explore a little bit. Laura, let's get into this concept of how we make it a two way street, right? Of course, contractors love this concept of getting referrals and taking good care of clients. I think many of them think that that's all they need to do, and oftentimes that's the standard. Would you agree with that? Stephanie, that's like, Hey, if you send me a referral, I'll take good care of them. And there's no really thought process about, boy, could I ever send the referral back? The other way? Would you agree with it? That's that's pretty common thinking,

yeah. And I think that a lot of contractors just don't know that they have an opportunity, which is what we're going to talk about, is how to look for those opportunities. I think what I hear from a lot of referral partners of mine, they say, you know, if I ever hear of anybody, of course I would recommend you. I just don't get that opportunity very often. And then when we teach them to look for the opportunity, then the referrals are abundant, and a lot of that is exactly like we're talking about, where Laurel's process is different than most, because she's really getting to know the family, getting to know the needs of the family, what is important to them, and through that process may uncover life changes that are happening. Or, you know, are you making this remodel because you want to increase the value of the home? Should we get a real estate agent involved in this conversation? And we'll go deeper on some of these, but I'm just kind of throwing out things that I have in conversation all the time that that open up opportunities that a lot of my partners don't even realize that they have. Does

that resonate with you at all, Laurel, as far as building that relationship and the opportunity to learn more about what they need, even outside of what you do for a living,

it does, because when we are remodeling a kitchen, we definitely have to establish a relationship of trust with our clients, and we are in their house for sometimes several months, and so we definitely, and you know, we see them at their worst, right? Because they're in the middle of a kitchen remodel, which is very stressful. So we do get to know them really, really well, and that's a really important part of what we do. So we sort of have the opportunity to use that relationship to become a trusted partner for that client when they need help with other things in the future, potentially. So

I think that's maybe the first thing that, if you're a real estate agent listening to this and you think that maybe this outbound flow of referrals to contractors might come back to you, it's at some point. I think the first key that you should look for is somebody who actually builds a relationship with their clients, right? If they're just transactional, and they keep them at arm's length, and it's like we're here to do a job and stay out of the way and not really get involved in anything or build any sort of relationship. Because, let's be honest, how many, how often you're going to remodel the kitchen? Why would it make sense for us to actually build a relationship, even beyond that, right? And I think professionals who think differently, like Laura of like, Hey, I'm going to I want to be a trusted resource, right for this family. I want to get to know them. If you'd have contractors that don't think that way, then they're probably not going to have influence to actually be of help to you. So I think maybe a simple question would be, tell me about the, you know, the relationship that you build with your clients, and do you stay in contact with them after the fact? Are there other questions that you might add to that Stephanie that might help you to really identify people that, hey, I'd love to refer this person because they're situating themselves and maybe be of help in return.

I would ask that partner, what questions do you ask at the initial strategy appointment or consultation to get to know Are they are they just coming in to hand someone a bid, or are they coming in to really understand the needs? And I would also ask if they see opportunity to involve me in that conversation, because most of the time and Laurel Tell me about your experience, because I'm not doing what you do. But I get calls all the time from my clients saying we want to do. Kitchen remodel, it's going to cost this much. How will that affect the value of my home? So if you're really taking the time to have those conversations with them in kind of a holistic way, not just this is how much the kitchen remodel is going to cost, do you want to spend this or not, but understand what's important to them as a whole, there's opportunity to just involve me in the conversation to see how that's going to affect their home, you know, or ask them, How long do you plan on being in this home? Because if it's the next 20 or 30 years, do the purple tile do whatever you want? If they're saying probably another three years, let's engage a real estate agent in this conversation and make sure that you're selecting things that you like and also things that are going to be attractive to your next buyer.

Yeah, tell me your thoughts on that

Laurel. I agree. I think that's excellent. There's lots of opportunities during that process to kind of figure out what that family's ultimate goal is, how long they're going to be in their home, and opportunities to bring an agent in to give a perspective about, you know, what is going to be the most worthwhile if they're going to remodel their kitchen? So I think that's that's great. I see a lot of value in the relationship between a realtor and a contractor, specifically a design build contractor that can do both things in not only the direct referrals, but also in the ability to help create a faster sale or a faster purchase for clients by using some of our skills that way too. Yeah, talk

through that. I know you and I had a conversation about that previously. Now you got me intrigued on that. Let's share with the audience what your thoughts are around that Laurel.

Yeah, so if you're working with a design, build contractor, and you have a home that you're trying to sell, maybe it's a little outdated. The kitchen is old, builder grade, something along those lines. If you can bring in a design build contractor who has the processes in place to give you a ballpark estimate for what it would cost to fix that kitchen and make it beautiful, and possibly some concept drawings or some renderings that you can display. Then when your buyers come through the home and they see, oh, this kitchen has a lot of potential. Here's an idea for that, and here's a rough cost of what that would be. It takes that guesswork out so that when you're walking around that home with the buyer, they're not going, Oh, well, it's a little outdated. I have no idea how much it would cost to fix. Well, we're answering that question right up front, so that can help the house sell faster.

Interesting, that would be incredibly valuable to me. When I'm touring people through homes, they're asking me all the time, what do you think it would cost to remodel this kitchen? I don't want to answer that question, right? That's

a very loaded question for a realtor to have to answer for sure, right? So if you have a contractor that has a really good process in place for doing an estimate by just visiting the home, maybe taking a few measurements, plugging in some numbers and giving a ballpark. It doesn't need to be super specific. You know, you don't need to have a plumber come out, an electrician come out, and all of those details that can all come later. But if you can just have a ballpark to give your clients so that they have an idea what they would be spending if they decided to invest in that home. I just feel like that would be really valuable.

And I think there's so many people, and I remember this from when I was a general contractor who don't they look at a set of floor plans or a vacant lot, and it's really hard to envision it. And I think some people have that more naturally. Others, it becomes. For me, it was more of a trained skill, because I had seen a home go from blueprints up, I had this library of experience to pull from to where it got easier and easier for me to step in and see what something could become, whether from the ground up or just inside, even just framed out walls, or even an outdated home that we were remodeling. And I think most people don't have that skill set, right? They don't have the opportunity to go in and see what a transformation can happen. Maybe they've seen some of these experiences through what they see on TV, right, of these kind of home remodel shows, and they're better at it than some. But I do believe what you just described there, Lord, was a really interesting way, number one for you to build reciprocity with a real estate agent. You know, I think about what you had said, and I'm gonna grab a prop here. But for those that know my book, and I'm not trying to promote my book, but maybe I am, who knows. But you know, most times you'll see a contractor downstream from a real estate agent up here, and they just believe that this is the way it always flows. The business always flows this way. And what I see Laurel do is, instead of hanging out down here and just kind of waiting for the business or using more kind of solicitation type ways, what she's doing is she's actually walking upstream next to Stephanie to say, Stephanie, how can I help you? Like, what? What challenges do you face that might make you be of more value to your clients? And when contractors are willing to do that, and then have the great. Ideas like Laurel's sharing here, all of a sudden you really start to stand out, right? I mean, Stephanie, you can speak to that, right? I would imagine that you have fewer, more contractors that are just kind of waiting for you to send them business, versus those coming up and saying, Tell me what what challenges are your clients having? What challenges are you having? How can I contribute? What can I do to help with

that? Yeah, that would stand out immensely, because my I'll be really honest here, my vendor list with contractors is a revolving door. Unfortunately, people get on that list and off that list so fast, because if I get negative feedback from a client, of course, you know, we're going to investigate that, but if you're not answering your phone, I mean it really there is just simple things for a contractor to do to stay on the list, but those elevated things are going to make sure that you are top of the list or you are the only one that I'm recommending. And it's very different when I'm recommending a contractor to one of my clients, where I would say, you know, here's a phone number, here's someone that'll do a good job for you versus this is a partner of mine, and we have a relationship that goes beyond just passing numbers back and forth,

but what a different experience for the client, also, when introduced in that way, right? Instead of here's here's five contractors, you know, that are in the area, kind of like trying to cover, cover their backside, right? Versus like, No, I know Laurel. I've worked with her many times. She's super high integrity. They're great at what they do, see if it's the right fit for you, but I essentially endorse this person, right? That's that's tremendous advantage for Laurel and like Laura, let's talk about kind of back the other way, right? You've identified that you build relationships with people. And again, I don't know if this is standard practice for you, but to almost have a database of clients who you've served in the past. Because the reality is, especially with the beautiful kitchens that you create. Oftentimes, people this isn't their only property that they're going to own, right? There will be additional opportunities for you to serve them. But do you see value in having a database of clients where you continue to stay in contact with them after the fact? I know we stay in contact because we're friends, but But beyond that, are you seeing things that both for you and for others in your industry that could be really well fed from a real estate agent, right? If you were to maintain that database of clientele in an effort to continue to see what they might need next, whether it's a real estate agent or a roofer or whoever, right? Talk us through that a little bit. I think that might be insightful for contractors who are listening to this to think differently about how they maintain a database, right?

I mean, people's lives are continuously evolving, right? We we move unexpectedly. We move because it's planned. We our families grow. Our families shrink. All of these things happen. And so many changes happen in our lives. So staying in touch with your former clients gives you the opportunity to be of value to them in the future when those changes take place, when you have you know that baby boomer couple that you did a kitchen for that wants to now downsize to a new home, and they may need to remodel their bathroom and make it more friendly for aging in place or something along those lines. Families grow. They have more kids. They need bigger homes. We have quite a few clients that we have done multiple kitchens for because they've moved to a new home. They don't love their kitchen in their new home because they just came from a kitchen that was brand new. And, you know, they bring us in to do another one, or to do their bathroom or whatever. So staying in touch definitely keeps that client coming back. But also just because they're going to have people in their home to see their beautiful kitchen, and inevitably, they're going to have people ask them, hey, who did your kitchen? So you want them to be able to say who it was and hey, give them a call. So

Stephanie, when you hear somebody talking like that that's normally downstream from you. What does that do for you? As far as wanting to partner with somebody who just thinks that way?

I mean, it's it's very exciting, because I can recognize a true partnership with someone like Laurel as again, like I said, as opposed to someone that we just passed phone numbers back and forth, that we actually have even a database of shared clients, people that we've both worked with, that we're both continuing to have a relationship with. And I was curious to learn more. You know, we talked about how a contractor can stand out to a real estate agent in your position. I mean, you probably know lots of real estate agents, and deciding how you're going to partner with a real estate agent beyond just you know, well, if I ever know of anybody, I'll sure be sure to pass on your number. What would a real estate agent be able to do? To stand out to you and be seen as a true partner, as opposed to someone that's just passing a phone number back and forth.

I would love it if a real estate agent would actually reach out to me and call me and say, Could you come and look at this kitchen for me and give me that estimate, like we were talking about before. Because that, you know, when that client sees that conceptual kitchen in a photo or, you know, a rendering of some kind, their first call is probably going to be to me, if they decide that they want to move forward with the kitchen remodel. They may have other estimates as well, but that puts me on the list. So that is definitely something that I would love to do with real estate agents. I just feel like that's a very back and forth relationship that could work really well.

So that's a great opportunity on our listings. So when I am listing a property that has an outdated kitchen or an outdated bath, and I know that any potential buyer is going to be looking through that, and they're, they're going to take the price of the home, minus the cost of the renovation, and that's what they're going to be willing to offer. So for one, it's, it's an attraction tool. You know, if I can put that online, or I can put that in a frame on the kitchen counter, this is what your kitchen could look like, and it is a remodel in a box for you. I've already done the work. Call this person. This is your estimate. I mean, that's a starting point, of course, but then also so valuable, when I have buyers that are trying to decide between, should I buy this new construction home that has all the bells and whistles that I want, or this other home that needs an update, but it's in the neighborhood that I prefer. It's a single level. And you know, I know that I can stay in the home longer, but do I want to go through the process of a remodel? What a great way for us to add value to our clients and keep you at the center of that conversation,

right? I think it really will help clients, potential clients who are buying homes, just to take that guesswork out of it, because, you know, it's can be kind of embarrassing, almost, for a client to not know how much it's going to cost to do a remodel. I've come across a lot of people when I ask them what their budget is for their remodel, and they're almost embarrassed to tell me, because they just don't know what things cost. So to be able to have to come into a conversation with a little bit of ammo, so to speak, on some you know, some education on how much of kitchen remodel costs, then they just don't feel in the dark. They feel more educated. They feel like they've got some, some backup, so to speak. Yeah,

what are I love the question Stephanie, because really, what I hear you saying is that I also want to be somebody who's referral worthy, right? It's not like, Hey, I set you one, so you owe it to me now, right? And that's very much not how you operate, right? Having kind of had, you know, great exposure to your business over the years that you're very much you want to earn it, and you want to want to have a reciprocal, you know, relationship with these contractors to where, of course, they they want to. It's not an, it's not a entitlement, right? It's very much like, I want to earn that business. I want to be the one that you think of. Is there anything else? Let's just continue. Maybe just think either, is there any other Are there any other ways that you two could be valuable to each other? Before we wrap up here, that would make that would solve, and maybe it's a this is a challenge that I'm solving in my business, or a challenge that I regularly run into, or my clients run into that we might just kind of mastermind here for a minute or so. What else do you see out there in today's market, today's situation, that might where we might be able to find solutions for one another? Anything come to mind?

Laurel, do you have anything or you want me to

jump in? Yeah,

I'd say my biggest challenges are home sellers that have an inflated idea of the value of their home, and when we compare it to new construction or other homes with updates, they they think, Oh, well, you could do that for $20,000 so you know, my price should only adjust for $20,000 but it'd be great to have more than just my personal experience to give them, to show them the difference in this is what it would take to get your home to look like the neighbors home that sold for $100,000 more. So that that would solve a challenge that I have, and also when buyers are looking at homes, and they're they're trying to assess the value, or they're saying no to homes, you know, we have a shortage of inventory, where there's not a lot of homes on the market right now, although there's not as much competition. In, but there's still not a lot for our buyers to choose from, especially when they want something specific and be able to work with them on, how can we make this what you want? How can we make this fit your needs, specific to kitchen and bathroom, whether it's, you know, physical challenges, we deal with that a lot with bathrooms. I, you know, I like it, but I can't climb into that tub. Or, you know, we need more space to maneuver around the bathroom, or larger families that are trying to fit into smaller homes, because there's an affordability issue. So being able to come into those conversations with solutions and help them see outside the box. Is going to be really valuable for me, to get people into homes where they may may be feeling stuck right now,

I can definitely see how that would be valuable. And on my end, it's, it's sort of similar. I give estimates to people for their kitchen and bathroom models, but with inflation being what it's been the last few years, and the economy being what it's been, the costs have gone up quite a bit. And so bringing a real estate agent into the conversation to say, Listen, I know that kitchen and bathroom modeling is expensive, but here's how it will improve the value of your home to to actually give a real voice to that, and not just they don't have to take my word for it. They can take an expert's word for it. You know that is can definitely be, I would think, a mutually beneficial conversation.

This is so fun for me to sit here and listen to two very bright, capable ladies in different industries realize how many of the challenges that we face as industries individually are so much easier solved when we when we partner, right, when we collaborate with other professionals, which, for any that know me, know that that's the theme of my career, is collaboration, and that's really fun to see this Life, and then hopefully for everybody here, this is what you should be looking for in a professional partner right both sides. Not what can I get, but what can I give? What problems do you have, and how can I solve for that? And that's it's been a thrill of my career to build a platform called Pro insight that has these types of conversations happening, allows professionals like this to connect and collaborate, and today, we get to highlight it for the whole world, not just for our private masterminds and pro insights. So this is really fun, so I want to thank you both any kind of final parting words before we wrap up Stephanie and or Laurel.

Go ahead, Laurel, this is your show.

Just thanks for the opportunity to help people understand how this relationship can be beneficial in ways outside of the the norm. Just, I'll refer you you were for me kind of thing. But actually, how can we really help each other's businesses be better? I think that's that's a fun conversation to have. So thanks for the opportunity for that.

Yeah, our pleasure. Stephanie,

I would ditto the same. I think that these are conversations that I'm having on a regular basis, and it elevates my game to do it when I know other people are watching. So I appreciate the opportunity to do that, and any friend of Justin's is now a friend of mine, so I'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other

right back at you two of my favorite ladies, thank you so much for helping us really see what professional collaboration can look like. And it doesn't have to be a one way street in either direction. It can be a two way street, not just sending referrals, but again, offering value to one another's clients, integrating into each other's client experience so as to make you such a clear choice for the consumer that people would not go anywhere else. So great for you both. Thank you for this and to all those who are listening here today, I would just encourage you to think that thinking bigger oftentimes does not entail just doing thing the same thing you've always done harder sometimes it's just get up and grind baby and do the same thing, do more of it. And I'm here to tell you that it's oftentimes a more intelligent approach. And these two very intelligent ladies have shown us exactly what that looks like. So with that as maybe a refined or added definition of what it looks like to think bigger, to think outside of your silo and collaborate partner with other people, my final invitation to all of us is to go think bigger. So thank you, ladies, and thanks everybody for tuning

in before you go. We've got one more invitation for you. We all know that listening to a podcast is not enough to help you to become a big thinker and high achiever, we must take action. So the very first step, think about one Aha, one lesson learned from this podcast that you'd like to apply and send it to us in the form of a direct message. At Think bigger real estate. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you to go think.