The Kuhn Philosophy
Building Relationships
“We’ve been building relationships since 1980,” Rick Kuhn says proudly. As the CEO of Kuhn Construction Co. and with his Silver Anniversary behind him, Rick knows a lot about relationships. “We’ve been able to establish a lot of trust with our clients,” he says. “There are probably 12 companies doing what we do in this area, but these people call us again and again.”
Rick goes out of his way to establish rapport with the clients, making sure that he knows as much about what the client wants and needs as the client does. “We establish a high level of trust, and, then, we deliver a quality product. And the responses come in.
“You do a good job; that might get you one referral. You do a bad job; that will get you 20 bad stories going around.” And the referrals keep coming in.
“Our relationships with our clients are an extension of our relationships inside the organization. I trust the people we ask to work for us, both those who are permanently on the payroll and sub-contractors we bring in for a particular job,” says Rick.
The Way We Work
Most of our work is done for friends. If they aren’t friends before we start, they are before we finish. That’s how we build our business. Referrals. Our clients tell their friends, show off their homes. And the next thing you know we have a referral and a job to do.
The job, of course, can be a lot of different things. Kuhn Construction is flexible enough to be able to tackle virtually anything from the relatively simple kitchen remodeling to the complexities of a second-story addition. The flexibility comes from several things. First, we have a core group of talented, young men who work directly under Rick Kuhn’s leadership and we supplement with a team of sub-contractors depending on the expertise needed for a particular job.
The first thing we do when we’re talking with a prospective client is to figure out exactly how best to serve the client. That means spending some time listening to the clients in order to find out what they want and what they need. Sometimes, that may not be quite the same thing. So, we make suggestions. We ask questions. Then, after we’ve got a firm concept in mind, we match the right people with the job. We develop a schedule. And we go to work.
The people on the job, both the full-time Kuhn employees and the sub-contractors, “Are all nice, they’re well mannered, they care about the clients,” says Mary Jane Kuhn, President. “That’s the way we deal with our clients, building relationships.” It is a condition of employment. “Rick can teach them the skills they need. They get hired because they care.”
Although the journeyman assigned to the job has the authority to make decisions on the site, Rick takes full responsibility for knowing exactly what the client wants. Exactly. And that’s why he takes a personal interest in each job that the company is working on at any time. He makes personal visits to the site.
And then the job is complete. Probably better than the client even envisioned, on budget, and on time. “We couldn’t stay in business if we were consistently late on projects,” says Rick.
When the job is over the relationship is often only just beginning. Repeat customers and referrals make up the great bulk of the company’s jobs now.