When Joe Pavone started Bradford & Kent in 1987, his team sought to deliver one-of-a-kind designs and projects. The company handles everything from bathroom remodels to home additions. Rob Quigley began overseeing the projects as general manager in 2002.

“With the magnitude of our projects, you need to have specialists,” says Pavone, who is director of sales. The company has architects and interior designers on staff, though most of the production is done by subs and is supervised by Bradford & Kent construction managers. An in-house service manager and a production coordinator support the team.

Designers are also involved in the sales process. “A lot of competitors start with a salesperson and then bring on a designer at the end, but I’d rather have a designer represent this company,” Pavone says.

Customers get personal service from both Pavone and Quigley. “We feel it’s very important that, as owners, we get to meet every homeowner,” Quigley says.

The community knows Bradford & Kent as being a high-quality contractor. “They know that we’re not the cheapest,” Pavone says, “[but] they know we’re a good value and that when [the job is] done, it will be something they’re going to be proud to show their friends and neighbors. Our clients tend to want to brag that they bought a Bradford & Kent project.”

And Bradford & Kent’s satisfied clients help prospective customers appreciate the value of buying from a full-service company. “We talk about a special group of our customers called ‘advocates,’” Quigley says. “These are people we could call at the drop of a hat and they would let us bring people in and show them the work we did. [Our advocates] help us overcome the challenge of [having prospects understand] why somebody would want to pay a little bit more for the work we do.”

Takeaways

  • Pavone and Quigley host wine tastings and other similar events at their design center as a fundraising prize for local charities and as a way to draw more people in and make their company known.
  • The company conducts itself with respect when in a customer’s home. If workers move something, they’ll move it back so that the customer doesn’t feel it’s out of place.