This year Valley Remodeling turns fifteen.
That number still catches me off guard. It does not feel like fifteen years, and it certainly does not feel like the same company we started. But the calendar says 2011, and here we are.
Since we are marking the occasion, I thought I would tell you how it actually started.
It started with John and a truck
My husband John has been in the trades for more than thirty five years. He started in pool building, then moved through plumbing, electrical, and carpentry. He learned each one the way people used to learn them, which is to say on job sites, from people who had been doing it longer than he had.
When we launched in 2011, the company was John doing the work and me running the office. That was the whole operation. We were not called Valley Remodeling then. We were Use My Guy Services, which tells you something about how the phone calls usually started. Somebody needed a guy. John was the guy.
We have lived in the valley for twenty nine years. Our kids grew up here. That matters more to this story than it might sound, because almost every job in those first years came from someone we already knew, or someone they told.
What changed, and what did not
A lot has changed. We are a full service design build remodeling company now. We have an in-house designer, a network of trade partners we have worked with for years, and a process with real steps in it instead of John’s memory and a legal pad.
Our daughter Lizzy works with us, which I did not see coming and would not trade for anything.
What has not changed is how we treat a house. We still walk into every home the way we would want somebody to walk into ours. We are not a big corporate outfit with salespeople working on commission. We are your neighbors. If we do poor work on a kitchen in Gilbert, we are going to run into that homeowner at the grocery store.
That is not a marketing position. It is just what happens when you build a business in the place you live.
What fifteen years actually buys you
Time is the thing you cannot shortcut in this trade, and it shows up in ways homeowners do not always see.
It shows up in the trade partners. The plumbers, electricians, tile setters, and cabinet makers we use are people we have worked alongside for years. That is what makes something like our Trades Day possible, where everyone walks your job site together before we price it. You cannot do that with subcontractors you found last week. You do it with people who will pick up the phone.
It shows up in what we can promise. Because those partners walk the site and price it honestly, we can give you an exact estimate and stand behind it with a one hundred percent price guarantee. That confidence was earned one project at a time.
And it shows up in the reviews. We are at 269 reviews on Google with a 4.9 rating. Some of those are from four and five years ago, from people who still remember the job. Those are the ones I read twice.
Thank you
Fifteen years happens because people let you into their homes. They trust you with their kitchen, their only bathroom, the room where their family gathers. That is not a small thing to hand over to somebody, and we have never gotten casual about it.
So thank you. To the families who hired us in 2011 when we were two people and a truck, and to the ones who called last week.
If you have been thinking about a project, we are always glad to talk about it, even if you are nowhere near ready to start. Start a conversation with us and we will give you honest answers.
Warmly,
Connie Bunyard
Owner, Valley Remodeling
Because remodeling is not just about improving a house. It is about creating a home where life happens and memories are made.
