While others were stressing about the housing market collapse, All Around made the most of the sub-par economy by cleaning foreclosed homes. Real estate agents were impressed by Charles Thayer and his wife’s work and demanded more of their services.
Today, All Around operates a multi-service rehab company with six corporate clients under its belt. The firm completes 400 to 600 projects per month, doing everything from full-scale remodels to carpeting, roofing, and cleaning work. Half of the company’s projects come from corporate clients, with jobs averaging around $7,000.
The team consists of “22 like-minded individuals [who] stay on top of everything and always know what the week ahead is going to look like,” director of sales and marketing Freddy Deen says. And the company is picky about the many subcontractors it partners with: Only about one in 50 contractors it uses works out long-term.
All Around has won the Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal’s Best Places to Work Award and an Angie’s List Super Service Award.
Takeaways
- Job coordinators receive incentive-based pay on top of their base salary, which helps ensure that each job runs smoothly.
- All Around reinvests about 60% of its profits back into the company.
- A quality-control employee with knowledge of the job goes out to the site with an iPad to ensure customer satisfaction.
- Almost everything is subcontracted. Only roofing work is performed in-house.
- Since All Around is not tied to any one contractor, it can work with whomever the client desires.
- Bid requests come in at a clip of 20 to 40 per day. Deen cites great bonds with real estate agents. One job will often lead to 10 referrals, he says.