Interview: Teaming up with Distributors

JLC: Don't you have to be a big volume remodeler to make deals with distributors? Tenhulzen: Not necessarily. If you're asking for referrals, your primary selling point is your ability to perform. We were only in our second year when we approached a window and door distributor that was setting up here in Seattle. That was nine years ago. Our volume wasn't quite $250,000 at the time, and our primary work was window and door replacement. JLC: What's your volume now? Tenhulzen: We'll write nearly $1 million this year, and we've expanded beyond that original niche to full-service design/build. We have three twoman crews in the field with a production manager over them. I handle all sales and estimating,