Allyson Case knows what she wants. Her woman-owned Integro Rehab focuses on major remodeling projects and historic homes. These large, high-budget projects mean that Integro completes an average of just four to six projects a year.
“We’re not a company that takes everything we can get,” Case says. “We focus on the type of work that we love doing.”
Taking so few projects at a time may seem limiting, but Case says she and her team refuse to take small projects just to get additional revenue. “I turn down non-design projects by saying, ‘I can absolutely do this for you, but I’m going to price myself out of it. You need someone who specializes in this kind of work.’”
Case adds that taking a limited number of projects allows her and her team to really devote their time to each client and control their product. As project manager, Case is the main point of contact for her clients, communicating by phone quite a bit. She also has a foreman and a superintendent onsite for her projects.
“There are a lot of people touching the project and making sure there’s nothing falling through the cracks,” she says. All of the actual labor is handled by a network of subcontractors she built through referrals from other sub. To help insure reliability, Integro’s network has two subs for each trade.
“I have these guys under contract before I sign on the dotted line with my clients,” Case says. “We have a detailed schedule of when these guys are supposed to be starting. There are no issues with availability.” And feeding the contractors a steady stream of work also helps control prices.