Leo Lantz is a straight shooter; like many professional remodelers, he isn’t willing to waste his time. He’s direct and unafraid to shy away from difficult projects. That commitment to getting the job done—as efficiently as possible—is what has propelled Lantz to success.
The offices of Leo Lantz Construction in Glen Allen, Va., are unassuming. You’d never know that in this small office on a dirt road away from the busy sounds of downtown Richmond, you’ll find a company that is in the top tier of the remodeling industry and one of this year’s Case Award finalists. It’s a testament to Lantz’s work ethic, which he credits to his father. Growing up, Lantz and his two brothers would help their father maintain the three rental properties he owned. That background, along with 20-plus years of professional experience, has turned into Leo Lantz Construction.
Lantz went to college for computer science, but the remodeling business always seemed to be calling him. “I just couldn’t sit be- hind a desk all day,” Lantz tells Remodeling. “I realized that all these smart people don’t know how the real world works ... and I’d been kind of doing this my whole life.”
Making the decision to change careers was easy enough, but it has taken a lot of sweat to get Lantz to where he is today. When he launched his company as a one-man operation in 2007, Glen Allen was feeling the pain of the recession, so Lantz had to be resourceful. He began to drive three hours from Glen Allen to Baltimore, three to four days a week, to pick up whatever jobs he could get. “Things here didn’t just slow down, they stopped,” Lantz says. “There was nothing going on here.”
Lantz has relied on that resourcefulness and an emphasis on efficiency to grow his company, and his hard work has paid off. The company has garnered a slew of awards, including being named one of Remodeling’s Big50 winners in 2016 and a two- time recipient of the Home Building Association of Richmond’s Remodeler of the Year award.
Leading Strategy
One essential part of Lantz’s business tactics involves getting and maintaining quality leads. Through his website’s lead- generating system, Lantz is able to focus on committed clients without wasting precious time, energy, and resources. “We were overwhelmed with ‘tire kickers’ and wasting time manually screening leads,” Lantz says. “We’re a small company, so I needed to focus on the productive leads.”
Clients visiting Lantz’s website can look through a gallery of projects he and his company have completed, along with a free download entitled “Seven Questions to Ask When Choosing a Kitchen and Bathroom Remodeler in the Greater Metro Rich- mond Area.” It’s a seven-page guide to what clients should look for when hiring a contractor.
When visiting the site, clients are prompted to download the hiring guide. Once they do, they are offered a $350 coupon for a fixture upgrade and a free consultation. That comes in exchange for their email, which allows Lantz to follow up with and vet his potential clients. “It makes our close rate so much higher for peo- ple we meet with because we’re not chasing every lead,” Lantz says. “Our main thing is if the people have taken the time to go through all that, then they’re serious.”
In his application for the Case Award, Lantz credited the lead-generating system for introducing and pre-selling the company to potential clients, citing the subsequent increase in sales as “95% attributable to eliminating bad leads.” The campaign has led to a drastic reduction in the number of unqualified leads, allowing Lantz and his team to focus on higher-end projects.
Team Effort
Given his computer science background, it’s no surprise Lantz also has invested in the newest technologies in the industry. That’s where project manager/2020 CAD designer Bradley Seay comes in. Using 3D CAD and 2020 Software, Seay is in charge of developing visual renderings, which Lantz uses to show his clients the potential outcomes of their project.
The 3D renderings allow the company to streamline the design and estimating process, and because clients must sign a design service agreement, it ensures only clients who are serious about their project move forward. Customer satisfaction is increased by being able to see a tangible representation of their space. “The key is that clients do not get an emotional attachment to the projects until they can see it,” Lantz says.
Unlike Lantz, Seay doesn’t have a construction background: Seay was head of customer service at the local Arby’s Lantz used to visit. One day, Lantz said he needed a quick learner to take on the visual technology components of his company. Seay jumped at the opportunity. “This is what I always wanted to do, is to work in architecture,” Seay says. When Seay taught himself the entire software, Lantz knew he was serious.
Finding great employees in unlikely places is something of a trend for the resourceful Lantz—office manager Kimberly Mull- ins-Williams used to be the person that Lantz ordered his bagels from at the local Panera. She was going to school part time when Lantz started talking to her about the business. “He was telling me how busy he was,” Mullins-Williams says. “He was talking about all the things he had going on and I just said, ‘You need me! I’m perfect!’ And I wanted to do something new.”
Two years later, Seay and Mullins-Williams now make up the tight-knit family of Leo Lantz Construction, helping Lantz keep the everyday demands of his business running smoothly. With his small but well-organized team behind him, Lantz’s business continues to thrive and grow.
Gone are the days of driving back and forth for jobs. However, Lantz’s commitment to customers and knowledge of the industry has remained a constant.
