Today we’d like to introduce you to Spencer Hulbert.
Spencer, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I had always had an interest in building and construction. When I was younger my parents bought a new construction home. I remember watching all the other homes get built around it, and playing in them on nights and weekends. In high school a friend of mine’s dad got him a job with a contractor that did some remodeling work on his home. Eventually, he was able to get me a job as well. They were building a big addition in the middle of January and his boss needed help bringing the lumber from the driveway to the backyard. That was my first day and the start of my career.
I worked for him for over a year and a half. In 2008 the recession hit and over the next four years I bounced around from company to company and would stay until the work ran out. During that time I had the opportunity to work for various different remodeling companies, a fire and water restoration company, a construction defect repair company and a multi-family rehab company. I was able to see the same general process managed many different ways. I learned the good and the bad from each of them.
In 2010 I bought a house that I slowly fixed up over two years. I was able to sell the home for a profit and I took the money I made from the house and started my business.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Everything I’ve learned has been the hard way. There’s nothing that I could have done to prepare myself for the amount of work it has taken to get to this point.
I had a good first year. The biggest thing I worried about when I starting my business was being able to keep the work coming in and I had enough work to keep both myself and a helper busy year round. After my first year, I had more work than I could handle and hired help. I grew too fast. In hind sight, I should have turned work away and focused on learning how to run the business not completing as many jobs as possible. I had no idea how to price anything and as a result dug myself in a big hole.
After the second year I let everyone go and started from scratch, I realized what I was doing wasn’t working and started working on the jobs again instead of just managing them, I spent my whole third year learning the business and understanding what I needed to do to keep the company going.
Some of the biggest challenges have been finding the right help, pricing things and estimating time correctly, and keeping customers happy.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Spencer Hulbert Construction – what should we know?
We specialize in interior residential remodeling. Everything from kitchens and bathrooms to repair work and general remodeling/updating. What we are most proud of our ability to get our projects done in a timely manner while keeping our customers happy. What sets us apart from other companies is our cleanliness and we do the whole project from start to finish with no interruptions. Every project we do we try to keep the quality standards as high as possible. Also, I am very proud of the quality of my staff and the people I bring in customers’ homes.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Being honest and having integrity with my customers and employees. If you do the right thing and your honest you have nothing to worry about.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.spencerrhulberthomes.com
- Phone: 8479770854
- Email: spencerhulbert@gmail.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/spencerrhulberthomes
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
