Nov-2017

92 93 About six months in, I hired our first employee, Steven Schell, who I’d worked with at the Y. He was a go-to guy, and is now a partner in our business. We are a general contractor and use sub-contrac- tor crews. A typical project for us includes almost all the same trades involved in building a home. You’re pouring a slab, framing and building a struc- ture, you have electrical, plumbing, a painter.” The industry has changed significantly since Texas Custom Patios began. The homeowner is more sophisticated regarding outdoor living, a vast variety of resources are available, and competition among design/build companies has increased. The scope has evolved tremendously from the days of simple decks and decorative patios. Today, it’s about a seamless outdoor design that looks orig- inal to the home. Douglass says, “People used to want shade in the backyard, so they’d add a simple patio cover with a metal roof, and a ceiling fan. But we want it to look like it was built with the home. And, while a memorable outdoor space certainly adds value for resale, it’s not a good investment unless you’re going to stay there and enjoy it for a long time before you sell.” Texas Custom Patios still has its original office in Houston, with a second location having opened in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area in January 2015. The company has 12 project developers (seven in Houston, five in DFW), who design, build, and manage projects. They are territory-based, general- ly working from home in the area they live, so they can visit job sites frequently. Katherine Douglass manages the Houston office; a DFW office manag- er and part-time receptionists are the only other employees. Everyone else is a sub-contractor. The company covers Greater Houston and the DFW area, and will build about 150 sizeable proj- ects this year, averaging in the $50,000 range. TEXAS CUSTOM PATIOS Plenty of projects in the $20K to $40K range are still its bread and butter, and a sweet spot it enjoys. That’s offset by massive projects over $100,000 - all residential work, no commercial. “We are technically a remodeling contractor,” says Douglass, “but we only do outdoor living spac- es. If it doesn’t fit that category, it’s probably not the right project for us.We have done an outdoor addition on a historic home, where we had to get approvals through a commission that was ensuring the heritage integrity of the design. So, it’s not out of our realm to do that type of work. But we don’t do restorations, or take on whole house remodels. “Our typical customer is mature, living in their home three to five years, has been thinking about this project for awhile, and has the financial wherewithal to make a significant investment in their home.We do offer financing, but not many people take advantage of that.We generally do work for people who can afford it, or have made their own financial arrangements.” Custom projects are fairly low maintenance and designed and built for the life of the home. Howev- er, the work is warrantied: two years on materials and workmanship, five years on structural. Prob- lems usually appear in the first couple of years, usually due to a foundation issue or wood that has warped or sagged, and the company deals with issues immediately. When expertise is required for a permitting issue, Texas Custom Patios works with an engineering specialist. Douglass adds, “We sell the product we build, not the design itself. It’s specific to that project.We use an off-the-shelf design software that we’ve modified for our purposes.We spend a lot of time on design with our employees –under- standing home styles, what’s going to look best, and submitting new ideas; things we’ve tried on a