Today we’d like to introduce you to Lawrence Pyrz.
Lawrence, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
After leaving the corporate world of technology, I was looking to start something that was a bit more gratifying, Something that helped people and still offered a bit of income. I teamed with an interior designer and started doing small fix-it projects.
Eventually, the small projects got bigger and to date, I’ve done a couple dozen bathroom rehabs, almost a dozen kitchens and even a three flat restoration. These days I have well over 300 client’s that I’ve done work for, many whom are repeats multiple times over, word of mouth referrals and new business that comes from neighborhood blogs. I basically cover the entire city including the collar suburban areas all the way out to the Fox River, as far north as McHenry and south to Plainfield. I’ve even done projects in St. Thomas in the USVI and for special clients in southwest Michigan.
Working the way I do, I run into a lot of people who are experts in their respective fields which then allows me to learn from them. On the larger projects, I will introduce these folks to my clients which allows them to contract directly with them for work without me playing the role of money-grabber middleman. To keep a project on track, I perform in the role of General Contractor though, but without the income from the “subs” who really aren’t my subs but independents doing the tasks that bring a project to completion.
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?
Over the course of the past 8 or 9 years, things have run pretty smoothly. However, of the hundreds of satisfied clients, there are always a few that stand out. The lady who wanted her dozen Persian carpets rolled, tagged and relocated to her new home along with a $30,000 Murano chandelier and about two dozen works of art.
But then when offered the invoice, refused to pay more than $600, or the lady who decided she didn’t like how the kitchen floor tiles were grouted and refused to pay the last $3,400 of her invoice, or the best one, the guy who did a pay-as-you-go using his credit card. Then at the end, decided he wanted all his money back (he told me he was diagnosed bi-polar and wasn’t taking his meds) but – in the end, he lost and I won and that’s all that mattered. The two ladies though got away with murder.
Please tell us about MrDid’s Custom Touch.
I’ve been entrusted with the keys to some very exclusive properties in the downtown Chicago area known as the Gold Coast, Streeterville, South Loop, Museum Campus, Printer’s Row, River East, River West, West Loop, Bucktown and Lincoln Park. Basically, when a client calls to say “Larry, I need you to take care of ……” I take care of it.
These clients are part of my old crew. I take care of properties for out-of-state owners who rent their local holdings and many of Chicago’s best real estate professionals have probably heard of me. I do lots of support work for @properties, Baird & Warner, Dreamtown, Keller-Williams, and ReMax. I get the call to clear inspection report deficiencies.
I also do restoration work for a couple of rather “historic” properties. As an example, repairing plaster crown moulding destroyed by water incursion has happened at least three times. Most often, this sort of project work comes from building management firms like The Building Group or Peak Properties.
My real and true enjoyment comes from kitchen and bath gut rehab work. I like doing the design and specification of the materials. With the occasional aid of an assistant for the heavy lifting, I manage everything from rewiring electrical circuits, plumbing, new tile floors, overhead lighting – EVERYTHING.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Sitting at my desk in my bedroom with my souped-up radio, trying to pull in radio signals from as far away as possible. Back in those days, I was registered as WPE9HYF. The objective of what I did was to collect radio transmissions from all contiguous 48 states, Canada and wherever else I could hear. Yep, I was a total geek. I built my own low power radio station and did a broadcast weekly that could be hear a mile away.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2326 West Farwell Avenue Chicago, IL 60645
- Website: www.mrdid.com
- Phone: 708-267-0603
- Email: larry@mrdid.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/mrdidpage
- Twitter: @larrypyrz
- Yelp: MrDid’s Custom Touch
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.
