That Time We Talked About a Renovation Partnership (Part 2)

This is episode number 110 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We're glad that you could join us for this special edition of The Homeowner Show. We got a part 2 for you today. We're so glad that you came back.

to finish the interview with Christy and Mel.

I hope you guys enjoy the rest of our conversation with them and hope you come back for many, many more. All right.

Do y'all want to know how we met?

Yes.

I mean, a lot.

I want to know.

I'm thinking about it.

I'm wondering what the story actually is.

No. So we were at a What is it called, Christy?

Business coaching.

We were in a business step.

We were in a business coaching meeting together.

I was with this, with Buddy.

Yeah.

Okay.

Buddy.

I know Buddy.

Buddy and Bob.

Yep.

Shout out to Buddy. He listens to the show.

Hey, I love Buddy.

The one guy.

Oh, wow.

Is he the one?

Oh, he does listen to this show. Yeah. So interesting about Buddy is he used to be a plumber, and he used to do, um, like award-winning design-build remodels in Washington, DC.

Yeah.

So for him to be one of my business coaches is amazing because he like gets me. He like understands the industry.

Yeah.

So I'm super, super blessed to have, have him as one of my coaches. But yeah, we were in a— we went to a like a free coaching event that Buddy was putting on, and she sat 2 people down from me and How was that?

She was snooty. And I'm a hugger, and I wanted to hug her. Hey, I see you. How are you? I was like, women power.

Sure.

And she was busy taking notes, honey. She had no time for me. Oh.

That is not so true. That is not true at all. At all. Not true.

And I begged and pleaded. You're so cool. You're one of the cool girls. Can I please be your friend?

I mean, you know.

She wanted to sit at the cool table.

Yeah, I want to sit at the cool table. But yeah, no, no, no. It's been a year and a half.

We had our anniversary on the 18th, which we didn't realize it until—

Is that a friendiversary or an officing-together-versary?

No, we didn't start our office together until February. February is when we started officing together.

Oh, Valentine's.

I'm trying to get her to move.

Oh, you wanna move out of the space you're in now?

Yeah, I need a bigger space 'cause now I have 3 employees that work with me in the office.

Oh, okay. So wait, did she say I as in singular?

Uh-huh.

But she's trying to get me to move, but she said I. Yeah, it's her decision. Did you understand?

Well, I have to move regardless if you want to move or not. I have to move.

But it's primarily her decision.

Well, listen, I mean, there's 4 of us in my section and it's literally like desk, desk, desk, desk.

And it's— I heard, I heard her say my.

My.

And my. No, just in my section.

This is all day.

We split it in half.

She doesn't even realize what's wrong with it.

There's a wall in between.

She thinks it's totally legit.

We split storage units.

She's still talking about her stuff.

Yeah.

So, and all my stuff is all organized and neat.

Oh.

Organized and neat. Is that another one towards me?

On my side with my employees.

A lot.

I have to do it. I need to be.

Can y'all please comment? Because at this point, somebody say Mel is cooler than Christy because I can't. Even at the office, she abuses me. And then here on stage, the same type of— anybody, please, just one comment. Mel is cooler. How do you spell that?

C-O-O-L-E-R. Bossy.

Bossy.

I love to do spelling bees.

Here's something I noticed recently about school. Do you know they're not doing spelling tests anymore?

Yeah.

Because of COVID No, just— What is—

Wow, I have never heard Kevin laugh that— That was a legitimate bust out laughing. This is epic.

I'm so glad this is on video because that—

He had to step off of camera.

How cool is Mel right now? She is definitely the coolest.

I just made it.

Okay, sorry. Oh man, that was fantastic.

Because of COVID no spelling.

Nobody needs to spell anymore.

Nobody needs to spell anymore. You don't need to know how to spell.

You just have to live.

You gotta survive this. Spelling's out the window.

You sit, we can talk. No more spelling. Children, we will not spell.

Can't have a spelling bee. We're all in Facebook.

B-O-O-L. Somebody spell irrelevant. Spelling is important.

They don't do spelling tests in school.

Like, I remember, like, when I was a kid, I took like a spelling test like every week.

Every Friday.

Yeah, every Friday you had spelling tests. You would get your spelling words on Monday.

Thank you.

You would do a quiz on Wednesday, and then you would do your test on Friday.

Well, I guess you need to go to my kid's school because she has— my daughter has a spelling test every Friday. She gets her words on Monday. So apparently It's just your school district.

Yeah, because I was going to say, how do you know that they're not doing it?

Because nobody's going, hey, Dad, will you help me study my spelling words?

After a certain age, they don't do spelling.

No, they don't, because they assume you already know how to spell everything. Yeah.

Well, yeah.

So what grade are you talking about?

So like my daughter's in 6th grade.

Okay, they're done with spelling.

Has never taken a spelling test.

What?

What?

How does she know how to spell anything?

She's just a genius. And my 2nd grader—

Does she know how to spell anything?

Some things she doesn't know how to spell. But my second grader, his spelling's atrocious. We're like, OK, well, maybe they'll figure it out and start giving him spelling tests. And nope, no spelling tests.

You know why? Because when they text now, they don't have to spell the whole thing.

That's exactly what I thought it was.

Yeah. That's silly that they're doing that. Do you really think that's true?

Well, I've watched him send responses to his teachers on his iPad. He knows exactly where the microphone button is. He just talks to the thing and it spells it for him.

I'm telling you, this, this whole entire internet thing is killing our children. They're no longer— they don't think. Because do you know how many times I didn't even know to Google?

Google!

Yeah.

The other day I was asking somebody—

That's a verb now, y'all. Yeah. It is a verb.

Google.

Just Google it.

Yeah, because I was like, how do you such and such? And somebody said, well, just Google. And I'm thinking, what? So what happened to the—

Well, we— I Google everything. I mean, we were just talking about something earlier.

Did you Google it?

And I said, let me Google that.

Yeah, well, and I found the answer immediately. Kind of plays into it, like debates don't happen anymore. Yeah, do you remember sitting around debating things? It's like, no, my idea is better than yours, or like every day.

But it's like in an office with Christy, this happens a lot.

But I mean, I mean, seriously, like, have you ever been like, hey, do you know that thing? Because I can't remember what it is. And the other person's like, yeah, I remember. But then I think it was this. No, it was that. Actually that. No, I think you're wrong. And it's like—

And then you didn't know who was right for like, I don't know, 2 weeks. And then you're like, oh, wait a minute, he's right. Yeah. No, now I mean, but we will do that like as a family. We'll be like, what was that actor's name? I can't remember. And we start talking about it and then my daughter will be like, don't look it up. Like she just wants to see how far we can go. And I'm like, well, I'll look it up. I just won't tell you the answer because I don't need the curiosity. I'm done. I'm done with curiosity. I have, I have other things in life.

I'm too busy for rabbit trails.

A little bit.

Yeah, but it's fine.

We're at the rabbit— what?

We found a rabbit trail and we went down it.

What does that mean?

We went off topic, but it's fine.

It's what?

Have you ever seen, have you ever seen a rabbit's hole? Like where they live? Oh my God. You eat rabbit?

I eat rabbit.

On purpose?

Yeah.

Rabbit's delicious. It is delicious.

I'm just asking if it was on purpose, you know. It's fine.

Okay, don't judge.

But like, what a rabbit hole is— have you ever watched Bugs Bunny?

Okay, now you're going too far.

Oh.

I lived with Bugs Bunny.

What?

I had a rabbit called Bugs Bunny.

He clearly didn't live in a hole.

I know.

Because you don't know what a rabbit hole is. It just keeps going and going and going and—

Oh, yeah.

And all of a sudden you're like, how'd I get here?

So is that a debate? When you say, how'd I get here? Are we starting a debate or no?

No, no, no. He's just saying we're off topic and we need to start talking about home stuff. Oh, so we don't need to talk about rabbits or spelling bees or texting.

You see, dismisses me like this and just get back on topic. Yep. That's, that's the way it works. Well, getting back on topic, Kevin, did you see that I send you a sample board of what I want to use in this house? Did you see those pictures?

Let's see here.

Why are you?

Let's see.

No, I'm not giving it away. I'm just saying I had a sample board and I'd like for them to know what you said when I showed you the sample board.

She called you Kevin.

That's why I went, why are you? And then I was like, never mind, I'm not gonna do this.

Is that it?

Yes.

Okay, are there more?

Yep, that was one.

So there's one.

And that was the other one.

Ooh.

I know. So being a gentleman, which I like that one.

Yeah.

And you like that?

Yeah, the second one, the second one's definitely my favorite.

Really?

Mm-hmm.

What's wrong with the first one?

It's too busy.

Oh, because you know what, the way that your big screen is spreading out my design makes it look like it's busy but it's really beautiful.

The colors are different on that screen than they are on my iPad.

Okay.

Just so everybody knows.

Okay.

And now, yeah, it's— and so it's a little bit dark, the colors are a little bit richer on my smaller screen here than they are on that thing which By the way, that thing's ancient. Um, but that explains a lot. Um, but yeah, I do, I do still like the second one. Um, honestly, the, the, the first one to me, it, it looks sort of like what I might expect in like, like ancient Greece or something like that. Like, which I don't mind. Um, I was thinking that, but it just kind of depends on the room I'm going into. But like, if you're talking about like a kitchen or something, I think I'd, I'd like that. It's a little bit cleaner.

Thank the Lord I'm the designer. And just for that, I'm not even gonna let him pick one. I'm gonna pick the one you don't like and I'm gonna put it in the house and you're gonna see it and you're gonna laugh it by jingo.

I'm cool with spite. Spite turns out pretty well.

It's gotten me this far.

It's gotten past— yeah, that's right. It's served me well in the rest of my life. So, why stray now?

What I heard is that she wants to do whatever we don't like. She obviously knows how bad our taste is.

Oh, I like this, Matt. Is that Kevin? What's his name?

It doesn't matter.

No one's listening.

No one knows because no one's listening.

Go back one more. Go back. Okay. That shelf, my friends, was his eating area.

Okay, those of you who can't see— this is gonna take me forever to edit. Those of you that can't see what this looks like, that— what, it's like 8 inches wide?

It's not even up to code.

Like off the wall, like 8 inches maybe.

Yes. I mean, it was a poor design. They didn't hire a designer, I can tell you that. Um, it was a poor, poor design, whoever did this. Not only that, that's the tile that his countertops were.

Oh, that's an Eden kitchen.

Yeah, yeah, and exactly, that's exactly what they called it.

Oh my God, Eden kitchen.

It's an Eden kitchen.

Put bar stools there and the toilet. You can't have your plate on there. I mean, you still have to hold your plate.

So really good realtors are like, beautiful Eden kitchen. Yes, that's right.

Yeah, use the fisheye here.

Yes.

Yeah, so yeah, no, this is gonna be epic.

This is it right there.

A little bit better.

Okay. Yeah.

Yeah, there it is.

It's probably about 12 inches.

Hey, that's—

I used to have that. That's a Frigidaire stove oven combo. I used to have that one in my house. It's Frigidaire, isn't it?

Oh my gosh, that's funny.

Am I wrong?

No, you're not. I know I'm not. But how on earth did you figure that out?

Am I wrong?

No, I'm definitely not. He needs affirmation.

Because I'm— I used to own one just like it. I purchased it at a really great rate.

You're kidding. How long ago was this?

Um, well, it was in the previous house.

Do you have a receipt? Um, I mean, the questions you're asking— what date specifically? I need to know month, day, year, because that's going to tell me where you purchased the stove.

Well, I know exactly when I bought it. I know that it was a dual fuel, which is awesome. So it was a gas top and it was electric oven, and I bought it at Lowe's the year after it was— so I got a really great rate on it because it was a year old. And yeah, it was awesome. I actually loved that appliance.

No, but I'll tell you what, if I was at your house and I was your designer, I just got a lot of insight on how to work your space because you're very detailed and when you see it, you like it. So when I come to present to you, I have to bring something that speaks to you because right away you'll sign a contract because of what you just said a few minutes ago. You understand? You're also one that I would not bring tile that has patterns Because pattern is going to confuse you because of what you just said.

Because I'm an imbecile.

He just stands there and he's like, so much pattern.

No, but I mean, when I'm listening to you and you're talking, to you it was nothing.

But you heard something.

I heard it and I honed in on it.

Yeah.

So when I come—

What was that little— Did y'all see that? She did this to me.

She was pointing.

Yeah, why?

She helps me out a lot.

That's good.

That—

I like that.

No, seriously, because when you start to listen, like when we were talking earlier and we were saying you don't know what you don't know. Okay, well, you don't know what you don't know. You just told me a lot about you and how to design the space for you. Not only did you know where you bought it, you said you knew the receipt. You could tell what it was just from looking at it. So you're— is it A-side, B-side? You're one of those sides.

Yeah.

I mean, clearly.

Yeah.

Because there's only 2.

You're either left-brained or right-brained.

I mean— So which one are you?

Obviously.

I'm definitely right-brained.

Oh, then I had you all wrong. I thought you were in the middle.

There is no middle. There is no middle. Confused me with someone that actually has—

Never mind.

A middle.

Yeah, no, but again, that is something that when you're looking for a designer or general contractor, you've got to figure out if you guys vibe, if you guys understand each other. Because once you build that trust, or once I hone into what you like, I'm going to do the best for you. Because it's that love language nonsense. I mean, not nonsense, but you know.

It's that really ridiculous stuff that people call love language.

It's that, yes, yes.

It's that love language stuff. That gobbledygook.

But you get it. And I can— so now when I come to her and I'm telling her about my client and I tell her all these things, then she can even say to me, oh, yeah, Yeah, no, he's not gonna like that. Because we discussed it.

Yeah.

I love that.

Details matter. Yeah. We're very into—

And this, what just happened, is exactly the reason you need to hire someone who is a designer. Because I probably didn't even know some of what you just told me about myself.

But was it true?

Well, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, the only thing that would make that better, I liked that so much, the only thing that would make it better is if it was a double oven. And you can't do that with that design. Um, and I just told you something else about me, so—

Nobody can help you with that. Now you're just being difficult. Even I can't interpret that.

Step off. Thank you.

Done.

Finally, 2 years of this.

There's gonna be space in the studio soon.

See, she's kicking me out. That's the real reason why I'm leaving is because she's kicking me out.

A lot.

Oh.

All right, what, what else have we— have we— okay, here's something I wanted to ask you guys about, just, just for the, the people that— because we actually do have some, um, some designer folks that listen to the show. I know, um, all 2 of them. Um, and I'm here.

Yeah, that's right.

So what, what are some trends you guys are seeing out there that, that people are really digging right now that are, are happening, or are trends that you guys like too?

Oh, I'm really into brushed gold right now. Oh, for plumbing fixtures. Yes, it's— I'm— it's amazing. I'm doing— I'm doing some bathrooms.

I think you mentioned that last time you were here too. Have you done some more installs of those? Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, like, are people like really loving it or are they like hesitant at first and then they're like, well, you know, it goes back to what you said about really enjoying your space.

So if I can get a client that knows, this is my house and I want to love it whether I sell it next year or I sell it 25 years from now. Those are the best because they're willing to do those things that are a little different that may be a trend because they're like, I own it, I should enjoy it. When you get someone who is only thinking about resale value, that— I mean, that's nice. We do think about resale value, but they tend to be a little bit more on the cautious side with what they choose because they want to make sure everybody loves it.

Yeah.

So, and I really, for me in the design aspect, I want to do something that just really pops. So we might just, I mean, plumbing fixtures, you can easily change those out.

Sure.

You know, so why not do something fun? Like matte black is something I've got a client that is interested in, the matte black plumbing fixtures. I'm really excited about doing that one.

Is that sort of like what you're seeing with the appliances now, the stainless?

Yeah, they do the black stainless.

Black stainless, yeah.

Yeah, my parents have those. It's very, very pretty. Very nice. Because it gives you enough of that stainless look without just being like fighting with everything else.

It doesn't look industrial.

Right, yeah.

I need to see some pictures of these faucets that are the matte black.

Well, you posted a faucet that was very, very interesting.

Which one was that?

The one that had the wheel.

Oh yeah.

And it was gold and black actually. So see, it was kind of 2 of my favorites. That was Eric G.

He was putting that one in.

Yeah, that. And it's so funny because I had literally just seen that faucet, I don't know, like three or four weeks before. My daughter's putting together some marketing stuff for our office. She works for me, and she was like, "Hey, look at this faucet! Should we put this in there?" And I was like, "Absolutely.

That thing is gorgeous." Yeah, it was really, really cool.

How much is that one, by the way? Come on, just hit me.

I don't remember. I think it's.

$1,000?

It's in the thousands.

It's gotta be up there.

Yeah, it's in the thousands.

Yeah.

Did you post it on Twitter?

I didn't see it. Uh, well, uh, so a guy we had on the show—

And you're on Twitter, so you should have seen it.

Uh, nobody's right. Nobody saw it. Nobody saw it. Nobody saw it.

Not on our Twitter.

Nobody actually saw it.

No, uh, Eric G hosts a radio show up— is it Portland?

Yeah.

Yeah, and he hosts a radio show up in Portland. He came on the show And he was posting it because he's about to install it, I think, in his house.

Yeah.

Yes. And I was like, man, that thing is cool. And so Christy jumped on. I was like, I've seen those. So we kind of had like a little discussion about it, but I haven't gotten a number on it because I'm pretty sure the company just gave it to him.

Yeah.

Yeah. That's how that works with him.

Yeah.

So no, I've seen those mosaic tiles. I'm all over that. That look like wallpaper, but I think people are overdoing them. Like, calm down. You just need one wall or you need one floor. Like, just don't plaster the whole room.

That's So when you, when you do that, are you, are you actually having like someone like put together a mosaic, or they come in like pre, pre-put together and then you just kind of put the— what is it?

So it really depends because some of those do come in sheets, um, and then you can just kind of work it together. But there are some that are actually custom made. Um, so I mean, that's one of the things that we used to do is we would actually draw out a pattern and then we would send it off to a tile company and they would actually hand-make it. It still came in a sheet, but—

So is it like something you pick up and it's all connected already? Okay.

So it has like a mesh or, you know, like a fabric backing too, so it sticks together. So you can do it custom where it's, it's your actual, you know, I mean, you can put your initials in it if you wanted to.

Okay.

But yeah, it still comes on a sheet because otherwise you have somebody that's, you know, piece by piece by piece. I mean, it could take years to do a house that way.

So are you talking about like a, like a pattern wall? Are you talking about like, you know, here's the hand of God Wow, we just got real.

I don't know how to answer because I want to, you know, say something wonderful. We used to talk about the Lord. How do I say, no, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the tile.

I see what you mean.

It's hard. Yeah.

You got to be careful.

What do I do? Do I answer or say—

I would just defer.

I defer.

Okay.

No, no, I'm just kidding. Answer the question.

Rabbit hole.

You trained her very easily. Like, I mean, you've only known her for what, an hour? And you're already telling her what to do and she does it.

He likes God. He's just not big on the grace aspect. Yes.

Yeah. Wallpaper prints. I love those. I think those are stunning. I think they make a statement. I just don't like when you do the most, like just one wall.

Right.

One wall.

Okay. So I put this one.

Don't you dare, because I saw that and that was no.

Yeah.

What do you mean it's no?

Mm-mm. I did not do it.

No, because you were going after it. And I was like, well, that's— we need to talk about that one.

There.

Yeah. Because that's like one— I can't see the rest of the room, but like, that's one wall.

Note to everybody, I didn't do that room. That's not one of mine.

But I mean, that's wallpaper though, right?

Yeah, it is. And I do like it, to be honest with you. I think it is— it's pretty, it's dramatic, it's bold. I just don't know the circles. I'm thinking oranges. Like, that's just— it's not speaking to me.

It's very busy.

Do you see what I told you?

It's very busy.

Yeah, this, this confuses you. It's not for you.

No, it— I'm not even a little bit. I would paint over that quick if I had to. I mean, obviously take it down, but like, I— it's, it's bad enough that I might paint over it and then take it down. That's how bad it is.

Yeah.

So the thing that bothers me the most about this is on each edge of the wall So if you look at the left edge, you have more of the circle than if you look at the right edge. It's like—

It's not symmetrical.

Yes. And that is—

That's bothering you.

That's making me nuts. And I don't like that little sliver of a circle up at the top. Like, it needs to be repositioned so that— and that's, that's somebody not really thinking it through. They just found the wallpaper, they loved it, and they put it up there. And I mean, I'm sure that they, you know, you have to line the patterns up really well. I mean, the fact that all those circles are, you know, in straight lines is amazing, but But they didn't think, okay, is this repeat pattern going to end on this wall in the proper way? And it could have, I think, if they would have—

Started in the middle.

Yeah.

And they would have, yeah, they would've been able to find a balance on it. Kristi, that's really good. That's what I like about you. You're very detail-oriented. That's great.

Well, and again, I don't know how many people think about that. These people, they did it.

Yeah.

And now when they hear this, they're like, oh gosh.

And this is like so key.

I mean, this is something that someone's very proud of.

Yes.

I mean, they've obviously staged this and had professional photos taken of it. And to most people it probably is. I mean, I remember when Mel posted this and she got mixed reviews on it. Some people like it, some people don't. There's different aspects to it that maybe don't appeal to you. But if you're just looking at just the wallpaper, if you take all of the, all of the other stuff out—

Oh, the iPad died. That's okay.

Okay. Well, so if you remember what it looked like.

Well, and it was also very monotone colored. Everything's gray in that room. And, uh, you know, again, whenever you go to— you're trying to make something generic, gray's really good. Yeah, but gray's very gray, you know?

Yeah, it is, it is. And it's just easy because that's that person that's afraid of color. So what did they do? They put a little pop of color. Did you see that? That little blue they put in there? And they thought they did something. But yeah, no, I saw that picture.

If you did that room, if somebody— the person that did that room is listening to this podcast.

I didn't put the picture up. Only 3 people listen.

We have to apologize a lot on this podcast, I've noticed.

Huh.

I apologize for nothing.

Oh, that's true.

I said nothing.

You've, you've said too much.

No, not about anything. I said nothing. So what did you think of the, um, Astros room?

Well, okay, so I'm, I'm probably a bad person to ask because I just don't watch sports.

Oh.

So I got— I, I thought it was— I thought it was— if someone loved the Astros, they probably loved that room.

Um, I, I am not an Astros fan, but I am a baseball fan, and I am a fan of decorating something for the person that lives in that space. And in that case, it was a boy, and it was awesome. And that boy's gonna walk in there and go— not only is he gonna walk in and go, I love this so much, he's also gonna then go tell all of his friends how cool his parents are.

Yeah.

That they designed this space for him, and he doesn't realize that you actually did it, but his parents are the coolest parents ever because they did that for him. And all of a sudden, you've just created a rapport with your child that all you did was give them something that they loved. And they— I mean, it's just that, that whole thing. To me, I was like a mess when I saw it because I was just like, this hits on so many things that I care about, and I wouldn't ever live in that room.

Yeah. It was really cool because he was 10, and prior to coming, he wasn't keeping the room up. You know, he was just whatever. And that's all he wanted. And so after the room was done, the mom thanked me. She said, not only does he get up every morning and make his bed, you know, he had a birthday party, and that was a birthday gift for him. And before I left, he said, hey, Hey, can I have some of your cards? I'm gonna give them to my friends.

Nice.

At the birthday party.

That's awesome.

Man, that's so cool. Tell them to hand them to their parents.

Yeah. Don't give it to the kids. Give it to the parents. Give it to the ones who—

I will tell you the one that I did really like, and I think it was like a rock and roll kind of a room.

It was the same house.

It was the same house?

Okay. He was 8, and I struggled with that room because he likes skulls. I mean, that's just just his thing. And I was like, oh my gosh, the kid is only 8. But I needed to make a room that he could grow into. So how do you mix that? That way they're not spending too much money for him to change his mind in 3 or 4 years.

Yeah.

And now he was awesome because every time I would go to, you know, consult with them, he would say, so what are you doing today? What do you have? Okay, so when are you gonna put the pillows in? How many pillows are you actually gonna get? Like, he was so involved in it. Oh man, it was the best project I've ever done. And then the Legos was For their two-year-old.

Okay.

So they invested in all of the three. Wasn't it sweet?

I love Legos so much.

And he didn't even care.

He was too—he kept saying, "I will.

He will care." And I'm like, "What is an 'ight?' The mom's like, "Yeah, he's into turning the light on and off." I'm like, "Why didn't I fill it with like LED lights everywhere?" Yes. I would have made it. Yeah. So yeah, that was—that was very sweet because again, such—I mean, it was a big gift when you think about money. Sure.

It does more than that though.

Man, did it ever. For the whole entire family, it was a great bonding experience. And for the mom to now have help from the boys cleaning up the room and being proud of their home was just— yeah. Pretty amazing.

It makes a big difference when you can take pride in your space, like when you can sort of elevate it to a level where it's like, I want to maintain this. I want to keep it at the level with which it's always been.

Yeah. And let's not take for granted the fact that children that are young take pride in things.

They do.

They really do.

They do. It's us that does not invest enough in them because we think they're too young to understand.

They're not too young.

No, I don't think so.

No. And they go through stages, and sometimes those stages go rapidly. And I think that's one of the things that we wind up getting ourselves caught up in, is that, oh, these stages change so quickly that If I keep up with every stage. But what you did with some of these rooms, and you just said it, you wanted something he could grow into. Like, you're, you're helping them figure out how to get something more than just this current stage. Like, you're spending a lot of money here. I don't want to just get you a year or 2 or 6 months or whatever it is before they grow into another stage.

Mm-hmm.

Like, how can I even transition this even to something else in the future? You know?

And that's why the Legos room, I didn't spend too much in there. I only did a partial wall. And then I invested in the valance. And then also in the artwork that was on canvas. So we can repaint that canvas man and do something else for him. But the backdrop, that's the brick that we painted on there, if he decides he's going to do basketball, it's nothing for me to come in there and—

It's transitional.

Just transition. And it allows one— he's 2. He probably doesn't understand that he has this spectacular room. But as he grows, he will, and he will appreciate it. That's why I start my price at that $545, because I strongly believe everybody should have a home that they can take pride in. You know, I mean, if you need me to go to the dollar store and shop for stuff to put together your house, don't everybody call me at once. But you should still have something nice that you are proud of because we all work very hard for our money.

That's true.

There's ways that we can make it beautiful.

Sure, man. Well, I, I think we could go on and on and on talking, obviously. I mean, it's been over an hour and a half that we've been talking, but I think we've summed up some, some pretty cool things here the last 10 minutes or so. And that is that, in my mind, is that when you've got something that you want to be wonderful, don't just flippantly do something about it. Invest in it. Invest in the right people. And, and we realized that, you know, we— goodness, what a cool story we had just this last week about a, a listener from Florida. They got into contact with one of our list— with one of our guests from a while back. Those are super cool stories. We got, we got people that listen to this all over

the world, actually, not just Not just, you know, all over the country, all over the world. And, you know, we want to inspire these people to not just do what they can, but to do what they want. And figuring all that out isn't always super easy, but I promise that there are people like you that are doing this together in other places.

Mm-hmm.

You just have to maybe do a little bit of research, you know, ask really good questions.

Mm-hmm.

who do you work with? You know, what are— what types of things? You know, ask the end question in mind, right?

And like an FBI interrogator question, who do you work with?

Yeah.

I mean, you know, if you're talking about spending over $100,000 on a remodel, gosh, like, you need to be asking some questions, right? You need to sit down and ask some serious questions. And a lot— I mean, if they're a good contractor, a good designer, thing and rattle them right off. We get those questions all the time. It's not any, you know, it's not a big deal for you to ask us those questions.

Well, like, what are, I mean, like, not that we want to like encourage con artists or anything like that, but like, what might be some good questions that some of these homeowners can ask that like a good GC would be able to rattle off, like, to know?

Well, I mean, we, I think we kind of talked about this last time, but references. I mean, I include references. I give all of my prospect meetings, I hand them a folder before I leave and I It's got my professional resume in it. It talks about my subcontractors. It has a copy of my insurance. It has references with phone numbers. It's got some information about what we do that's different. It's got some articles written about me. I mean, if somebody can hand you something like that, yeah, I mean, they're legitimate.

And I heard something as you're saying all of those things. What I heard you say is, if you're not willing to provide me with those things, then there's something shady, right? Like, give me— if you're not willing to give me the answer to the question that I need, and maybe even more than the question that I actually asked you, then there's probably something that I'm going, mm.

Yeah. I mean, I give it to you upfront. I mean, there are no questions about it. I mean, you know exactly who I am. You know who my, what my business is. You know how I got started in this business, what my passion is. I mean, you know everything about my subcontractors. I mean, I actually name my subcontractors and not a lot of contractors are going to do that because they think, oh, well then they're just going to go around and find that subcontractor. If, if, if it, if I meet with somebody that's like that, then go for it. You know, I mean, yeah, knock yourself out. Yeah. I mean, if you want to go into that much trouble, then go for it. But, you know, I mean, these people

are trusting their most valuable investment with me. And so I want to show them upfront, like, I'm somebody that you can trust.

Not only that, Kevin— Lord have mercy. Kevin, can you stop?

I'm sorry.

Craig. Craig, this is your life. I mean, they look so much alike.

I mean, I know. I mean—

No, you know what? Take the time to interview your contractor and your designer. Personalities don't always match. If I'm already combative in the first meeting, you might not want to hire me because how are we going to work together?

Right.

So, see how we communicate. And then, you know, like you said, if you're asking me questions, how am I answering those questions? Am I defensive? I mean, you just— you have to interview. You have to interview these people to make sure that you have the right fit for you. Not every client is for me, and I know that, and I'm okay with it.

Right.

You know, and not every client is for you either.

Hmm.

Okay.

A little bit like—

I want all the clients. I want all of them.

I think the thing that I hear you saying though in, in that, Mel, specifically though, is like, you're just test driving now. You haven't— you're not in the finance department yet, right? You're just test driving.

Like, I, you know, you have to work with me daily.

Yeah, yeah. Put yourself in a position where you realize I could walk away and go to a different dealership if this doesn't work out, right? Right. And understand that, and it's fine. And they had— and, and people that are in the dealership business have that happen all the time, right? So, you know, y'all are dealing with that. Like, maybe, maybe you're not the right person, and that's okay for both of you because you both don't want to be frustrated because then it's just a silly situation you got yourself into.

I've heard people say, well, he doesn't listen. I've already tried to tell him to do this and he's not listening. Okay, friend, you hired him. Somewhere in that interview, you guys had a conversation and he wasn't listening then, and you saw that, but you continued on this path. So, my advice to anybody that is looking is, yes, credentials, all of that. You can research, you can find it. But personalities, they have to click. You're going to have to let me in the house daily. Who are the people I'm bringing in your house to come and do the work? So, if you don't trust me at the very beginning, and tomorrow I'm going to have Billy Bob or somebody else—

It was Joe Bob. Now it's Billy Bob.

It's his brother. Okay. The Bobs have a lot of children.

Family business. Billy Joe Bob.

But yeah, no, just my advice to anybody is interview. Yeah, see if those personalities match. That's your first thing. Then second, credentials. Are they honest credentials? Because, you know, scam artists, you can make up credentials. So do the research.

Yeah.

You know, and then third, you be honest with your contractor or your designer, whoever it is that you're hiring, because when we have a very transparent relationship magic happens. So, if you're not happy with me at the beginning, please don't go tell everybody else. Let me know, and let me fix it right now, right here. It just— it makes sense because the end result is you being happy. Something on my mouth?

Nope.

You did the most. I had a scratch. Okay, well, can you not while we're on?

Sorry.

When I ain't got a beard, I got a scratch.

What are you scratching? 'Cause there's nothing there.

It's phantom beard itch.

Oh, my God.

It's like you lost an appendage.

You say that. That's a little more true than you think, probably.

I'm sure. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's kind of like with a girl when she gets her hair cut. Like, I had my hair really long, and then when you chop it off and you go to like brush your hair and you're like, oh yeah, the hairbrush is still going up in there. I would say also too is if your contractor, your designer is not asking you a lot of questions, that is a red flag. If they're just walking around listening to everything you have to say and they're not asking you items. They're not really going to— they're not really going to get into the project. They're just going to do what you want, which is— that's okay. But you want someone who's going

to probe a little bit and say, well, what if we did this? Or how do you feel about this? Or do you have kids? Do you have grandkids? Are you going to live here for 5 years? You know, they're, they're personal questions, yes, but that kind of gives us some insight on what it is we can and can't do and how far we can go with the project. And that's when something really great happens.

Because they can't know unless they ask the question.

Right.

If they're not asking questions, they're just looking to yes-man you.

Yeah. And, you know, it is, you know, a lot of times whenever I go into— I mean, I've never met these people before, so I go into their homes and I start asking them those kind of questions. You can see a little reserve because it's like, I don't know you, why am I telling you how many kids I have and stuff like that? But I think once you kind of warm up a little bit, they understand, like, I'm really trying to get to know how you use your home. home, because not everybody uses their home the same. Everybody uses it completely differently. And depending on the age of your kids, or if you have older parents that live there, whatever your situation is. So don't be afraid when you have someone that's in

there that's asking you a lot of questions. And that one question that everybody is afraid of is, what is your budget? And you cannot be afraid to tell them what your budget is.

Yeah. Even if, even if it's less than you think that they want to hear. Right. Right.

Yeah. If you tell me your budget's $5,000 and I can't do what you want to do for $5,000, I can tell you that right then. Instead of us going through the whole, you know, process and then me coming back with, you know, a $15,000 bid and then you're like, oh, I only had $5,000.

It's expensive. No, that's expensive. But it wasn't realistic because you thought you were at $5,000. So if you tell me, I can tell you.

And I, sometimes I do that. Sometimes people will tell me what their budget is. I mean, you know, they, they'll tell me their budget's $12,000 and I'm, I'll say, realistically, we can't do everything That you want to do. So when I do come back and present the bid, they're a little bit more open to it because they've realized. And I think a lot of times what happens too is after I say that, then they start asking their friends, well, how much did you pay? How much did you pay? And then they start realizing, oh yeah, somebody just remodeled their master bathroom. It was $30,000, you know? So it helps.

Yeah. Yeah. And like, I would also say, I mean, like, just don't, don't feel like you've done your due diligence when you've only talked to one. Right. I mean, and I like, even, even like in my business, I don't get offended when you talk to other companies and get bids from them.

Like, no, please do.

I will ask.

I will ask. That's my money you're messing with, Craig. I'm so amazing, you're gonna pick me anyway, right?

But, but it's good to know that too. I mean, I will ask them, are you interviewing other contractors? I mean, it's, it's a good— it's good information for me to know because, you know, then what type of person are you?

If you're— if you— I mean, you're getting to learn stuff about them whenever you ask that question.

Yeah, well, and also it kind of helps me to know that, okay, if I— if you are interviewing other contractors, I need to really show you what my value is. Yeah, I need to show you what makes me different from the other contractors. I mean, I'm— there's a million contractors out there that can do just as great work as I do, right? But what makes mine different? Why are you going to want to hire me over hiring another contractor? And so So it helps because some of those things I may not tell you right up front, but if I know, oh, they are interviewing another contractor, let me make sure they know these, you know, these points of what I, what I offer that most contractors don't.

Well, I mean, just like the picture that brought us here, he did have another contractor, right? And that contractor was just going to do— yes. What did you call it? Yeah, the baseline. So here you have the same budget, but there's your value, one that thought outside the box rather than the yes man that came and said, oh, that's what they're paying for. All right. will do. So, you do need to interview a few because if he had not reached out to us, he would have never known. He would have just went with what was there, what he was supposed to do, and he would have had the same end result. 3 years from now, it's time to sell that thing and they tell him, oh, you got to remodel, when he had

the money at this point and he could do something spectacular.

What actually made him reach out to you?

So, the neighbor— hi, Angela. She listens.

For growing by the up and down.

She had a friend, it's her friend. And he said, hey, do you know a designer? Because my contractor wants me to pick tile. And I don't know how to pick that and put that together. And so, in came Design on a Dime Interior. And so, I was there just to pick the tile. But as soon as I walked up, just like y'all saw, man, that wall's got to go.

Yeah.

What are we doing right now? This is silly. So, when I pitched that and I said, listen, Listen, for what you need to do, don't stop here. I mean, this thing is open. We can all see that there's nothing going on. Let me get my contractor in and let's find out realistically what can we really do for you.

Mm-hmm.

And so, that's when he said, well, you know, my contractor said that it's A, B, C, D, and that's the final. And I was like, yeah, let's go ahead and have mine come in. So, that's when I brought her in and said, hey, this is what I want to do. Do you think I can with this budget?

Yeah.

And she said, oh, yeah. Is it not a load-bearing wall? She goes, what are those things there at the bottom? You know, she's like, oh yeah, we can do it. But it full stop with that one contractor had he just stopped there.

Right.

And he didn't even tell him about the paint. So what ends up happening is now when you're doing the project, the contractor that came in at $5,000 and we came in at $8,000, right? Example. The contractor that came in at $5,000, now he'll start saying, oh, okay, well, you got to pay Oh, now that we're at this project, well, insurance didn't cover this, so you got to pay. So now you had a little bit more. Before you know it, he's gone to $10,000, but you hired him.

And you haven't gotten what you wanted.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. It's, it's a bad practice in the construction industry. I mean, I go up against guys all the time that are low bidding a project just so they can get in there and then they change order them to death. Yeah. You know, and, and it's just, it's not good. I'm, I would rather go in high and then, you know, I will, I'm a cost-plus contractor. So you, you will get money back sometimes. So it just, I'd rather be high and then come in low than to go in. I mean, and I'm talking about, I've bid against people where, I mean, I was twice as much. And when I start looking at what they're speccing

out, it's, they've missed out on so much that they were going to end up spending twice as much, but they weren't going to be prepared for it.

Yeah.

It's a bad practice. Stop doing that.

I don't think it's a bad thing. I mean, I've run across situations where homeowners are hesitant to show other bids.

So, you know, the reason— the way I get around that is I tell them, send me the bid and take off the pricing. Just send me the scope of work. I mean, I'm not going to learn any information by the scope of work. You know, sometimes people are afraid to show you the other bid because they don't want you to see the pricing, but it's really not about what the scope is. is. So I say, you know, blank out the pricing. I don't care what he priced it at because I'm going to price it. My pricing is my pricing. It's not based on what somebody else is pricing it at. I'm not going to look at his

and go, well, yeah, I can cut, you know, $5,000 here and there. Let me ask you— But I can look at that scope and tell like, hey, he missed 5 line items that I've included. So either I need to take those out and then I will be in the same bracket as him, or he needs to add those in. But once they start saying, oh, well, you need to add this stuff in, then they realize Huh, she's pretty competitive.

Yeah. Let me ask you, Kevin—

Craig, it's even on his shirt. He wore a shirt with his name on it. He literally has a name tag.

Kevin is so famous, everybody knows him. Craig, let me ask you.

Please do.

Because, okay, as a homeowner, can you tell me why you wouldn't want to show me those numbers?

I wouldn't, I wouldn't have a problem with it. I'm just, I was saying I've run across it in my business where people are like, you know, they have another, another bid and they're like, well, no.

But I think I know what the reason is. I think so many times it's a, it's a competition. It's a competition between, let's say I get 3 different people to come in and bid out a project. Like, I don't want you to know because I want you to tell me what you're gonna do and I'm gonna, I'm in the control seat then because I have all the information. Whenever I hold the information, then I'm in control. If I give you that information, then that puts you in control. And I think a lot of people, at the end of the day, they don't trust their contractor.

Right.

But this goes back to what Mel's been trying to say all night, is you don't know what you don't know.

Sure.

So you feel like you're in control, but you're not truly in control.

And at the end of the day, if you were in control, you wouldn't be hiring a general contractor to begin with.

Right, right, right. So what about Christie's proposal? Don't show me the numbers. Just show me the scope.

I think that that makes a lot of sense to me because at that point, what you're, what you're finding out is not just how much something costs, because at the end of the day, things are going to cost what they're going to cost. But what you are finding out is who's going to do the job, right, the best way. And if, and if Christy comes back and tells me, hey, um, you're— this guy is, is giving you all this information, which is fine, but but let me tell you, he's leaving off 3 line items that are, that are actually pretty important that you might want to just consider. If I go with this guy, then down the road I'm going to have to do this. If I hear that from her, all of a sudden it's not about the

price. It's about the quality of what I'm actually getting at the end of the day. So I think that's a really smart way to do it. Yeah.

If you don't feel like you're hiding anything, I mean, the scope of the work is what you've told me. Yeah. So, but the problem is, is that, You know, I do have some amazing prospects that I go and meet and they have like a list. Here's my list of everything I want to do. And that's great because if they're meeting with 3 different contractors, they've given that list to 3 different contractors. So we're all looking at the same thing. But when they don't have that list, especially with me when I come in, because I will start asking you questions and I'll start saying, well, did you think about doing this? What about doing that? Oh my gosh, that's an amazing idea. Okay, great. I'm going to bid it that way. Well, now

I'm bidding something that the other 2 guys haven't even talked to you about. Or if I'm the 3rd person in, you can't go back and say, hey, I talked to another contractor and she suggested we do this. You know, so it's just, and it can get, I mean, it can get really confusing, especially if you're talking about an entire home. It's like, what did you forget to tell? Because they don't always leave stuff off because they're trying to be—

Negligent or dishonest.

Yeah, it's just, that's just what was told to them. And so they're bidding what was told to them, or maybe they didn't write their notes very well or something.

So, sorry, what about the time that we had the client that she just wanted to redo her countertops? So she went to a big retailer and they told her how much it was going to be for her to put in the granite. Then we went in and our price was more, and she said, oh my gosh, that's so much more than what they were going to charge. So when we sat down and we looked at it, well, they weren't taking or demoing what she had.

Ah.

They weren't putting back the faucet. There was no plumbing involved. Remember that one? But they had just sold her the granite.

Oh, man.

And because that price came in, so now when we showed it to her on paper that, yeah, that's just the granite, sister, that they're just going to bring in. But you have to do all this stuff before. And if not, once the granite person comes here, he's going to tell you you need to hire somebody. You're getting the full scope of work, not just— because when you start itemizing things like that, you're right, it does seem like we're coming in at a higher price. But what all are you getting? You know, so that's all I have to say for the rest of the night. Oh wow!

She just dropped show over.

I didn't get to talk a lot.

No, I had a lot I needed to say. A lot.

I didn't get to talk a lot.

So you talked the most.

Well, I I really think that this is a it's hopefully a really helpful episode because I think there's a lot of people that don't. fully understand the, the relationship that needs to be there. And so I think it's really cool. Uh, this guy's really lucky to have both of you come in and do this for him, and I hope he, he recognizes that. I'm sure he does.

Yeah, if he doesn't, we'll make sure to let him know or to listen to this.

Yeah, we'll just tell him in the comments.

Yeah, in the comments, can you guys please let them know? I mean, they need to get to 100 comments.

Exactly, we had a challenge. That's right.

Well, um, we don't have the final 4 because you guys have already done the final 4. So yeah, if you guys want to hear the answer to, to Christy and Mel's final 4, just go back and listen to their old episodes because their answers haven't changed.

Oh, do you remember which number podcast I was?

We can, we can, we can link it up in the, uh, in the show notes for sure.

90-something.

90-something. Really? No.

Yeah, because y'all were about to do your 100.

Yeah, we were pretty close to 100 when she came on.

Really?

Yeah.

I held the highest position for a very long time, so people should remember who I am. I mean, I was the best then because people were listening and they were listening and they were listening.

Oh, I didn't know it was a contest.

It's always a contest.

I didn't know how many people listened to mine.

Oh yeah, no, I had a lot. If you didn't know that, duh, we live in Texas.

Hello.

It's a competition.

Oh, I can look it up for you here. Well, I, I have to go on the website, but I think you dropped to like number 4. Who?

You. What?

Yeah.

I'm number 1.

Listeners, listeners, somebody please go listen. I can't be at number 4. My mother would not be proud. This is horrible.

It's not even a bronze medal, right?

You didn't even medal. You didn't make the podium. I didn't know that there was a thing about that. Like, I don't even know how many people listen.

That's okay. Don't worry about it.

I can tell you afterwards. It's no big deal.

Nobody listens. I'm never coming back. If it's really bad numbers, I'm not coming back.

It's hard to compete with the organization team that is the Picture Design—

the Picture Group, is that what it's called? Picture Design Group. Picture Design Group.

Are they number one right now?

They're a force to be reckoned with.

Yeah, they're— they— I think like them, they alone have like 4% of our downloads.

Wow.

I mean, like, it's crazy.

All right, I'm on it.

So I'm gonna reshare my old one. I am. Well, and I did. I put it on my Facebook and my— and it's actually actually on my website as well. So yeah, I love this healthy conversation we're having.

Yes, it's good. It's actually— it's a lot easier now too because not only do you have the audio one, you got the video one up on YouTube. It's a whole different, uh, platform. Yeah. So lovely. Where's the camera? Right there.

Hi, can y'all please go back and listen to mine? The best. Simply the best. Thank you.

Thank you. That's awesome. When it wasn't It wasn't just— I mean, Kevin wasn't there. We had a—

Who cares? I had that other guy, Craig. Was that his name?

Kevin too.

Yeah, that other guy was here. Who cares?

Just listen so you guys can do a homeowner's show with Kevin and Kevin.

No, but we did have the lovely Haley. Yes. So who recently had her baby.

Congratulations.

Beautiful baby girl. Yeah, that's right. So shout out to her.

Shout out indeed.

Cool. Well, listen, thank y'all for coming back. I know it's, you know, it's a late night, but that's—

We're not doing the final 4, but tell everybody how they can find you again. Yeah.

All right. Okay, now you go first. And go. How do we find you?

I am Mel Stevens on Facebook. Send me a friend request, I'll be more than happy to answer. I do a lot of playing and tips and what have you on my Facebook, so you'll get to see everything we were talking about. Or I also have a business Facebook account, and it's Design on a Dime Interiors, as well as if you just Googled me, designonadimeinteriors.com.

Okay, awesome. Christy?

Okay, so I have Facebook @expressivebuilders. I also have Instagram @expressivebuilders. I have a LinkedIn @expressivebuilders, um, or you can go to my website, which is expressivebuilders.com. There you go. Make it easy.

Yeah, awesome. You know what I didn't hear?

What didn't you hear?

Twitter.

Twitter.

No, I have a Twitter handle.

What is it?

What is it?

None ya business.

I don't.

Yes, she does. That's awesome. Well, thank y'all very much. Thank you. And thank you all the listeners and the people watching on YouTube. Thank you for downloading today's episode. We hope you enjoyed it. And, uh, man, we're here every single Tuesday. And I'll tell you this, Craig, one of the things that we would really love is if people would go leave us a review and rating on iTunes, because not only does that help us out just in general, it lets people know That this is valuable, and the things that Apple thinks is valuable, they put at the top of the list. So you're helping us out in really, really big ways if you were to go do

that. So, uh, yeah, thanks for downloading this episode. We hope you enjoyed it. And, uh, until next time, we'll see you later. See ya.

Bye. Wow, do we have to stop?