Reputation is everything: How client experience and timeless design ensure success

Zach Wojtowicz:

Hey, everybody. Zach Wojtowicz here.

Charley Burtwistle:

Charley Burtwistle here.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I cut you off. It’s “The Building Code.” I was just so excited to say it.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, no. I’m sorry if the middle of my sentence interrupted the start of yours.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, well let’s just not let it happen again.

Charley Burtwistle:

Absolutely. It is Friday. It’s a beautiful day, beautiful. It almost feels like fall.

Zach Wojtowicz:

We had a little brisk breeze this morning walking in.

Charley Burtwistle:

Brisk breeze. We got Husker football this weekend. It’s just an exciting day to be alive, and it’s an exciting day to be in the studio.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Well, first time in a while you and I have been together.

Charley Burtwistle:

It is.

Zach Wojtowicz:

There’s going to be some intermixing on the stream episodes. We have some special guests. Courtney Mattern, you had a shot with her. I had a shot with her. We’re still unsure what that means for us. I’m just kidding. They’re not going to take us anywhere.

Charley Burtwistle:

Maybe. Famous last words. But yeah, it does feel good to be back and with a guest that has been on “The Building Code” multiple times. Zach, who do we have today?

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, we got Melissa Hryszko out of Calgary, Canada. She’s a native of the United States, citizen but has moved to Canada. We’re going to get all into that. She’s got a ton of energy. They’ve got a great story. Their homes are incredible.

Charley Burtwistle:

Beautiful.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I cannot wait to talk. Let’s not delay further. Get her in here. Hey Melissa, welcome back to “The Building Code.” It’s so great to have you on. It’s actually Charley and I’s first time meeting you, but you’re a third time guest. That’s a rare club.

Charley Burtwistle:

Big vibe. Very rare.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Thank you for coming back.

Melissa Hryszko:

Third time’s a charm.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yes. It’s going to be your best.

Charley Burtwistle:

There we go.

Zach Wojtowicz:

How are you?

Melissa Hryszko:

I’m good. How are you guys today?

Charley Burtwistle:

Doing fantastic. For the listeners out there that weren’t lucky enough to catch your first couple episodes, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Melissa Hryszko:

My name is Melissa Hryszko. I live in Calgary, Alberta, and my husband and I own a luxury custom home building company called Veranda Estate Homes, and we’ve been with Buildertrend for a very, very, very long time, which we were talking about before we jumped onto this podcast. We build about, on average, 10 to 12 homes a year. Everything is fully custom, from the floor plan to the millwork, and I am the design brains behind all of the homes and what you see on our website and my Instagram page.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, that’s fantastic. We were looking at your website before this, and Veranda Homes has been around for almost 50 years, is that correct?

Melissa Hryszko:

That is correct. Next year is our, if you want to call it the 50-year anniversary for Veranda Homes, and that actually goes back to 1974 when Rob’s dad started building in Calgary. It’s actually a neat story, the way that Rob’s dad actually got into the industry because he was an immigrant from Poland, came, was doing cribbing, which that’s what we call it up here down south.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Cribbing?

Melissa Hryszko:

Cribbing. Cribbers. He was doing the foundation section of the homes, and the market tanked here, and one of his builders couldn’t afford to pay him his invoices. He said, “Listen, take this lot. This is the only way I can pay you. Take it before the bank takes it.” That is what started what you basically see today. From Rob’s dad acquiring this one piece of land, he was able to build, over the years, an incredibly successful company. Throughout the eighties and nineties, they were in various subdivision communities, building not what we build today, but building anywhere from two to 300 homes within each community. You have your stock floor plans and everything else.

Then when Rob and I took over after his dad decided to retire and go fishing, we segued more into the luxury custom market. But we do have an interesting opportunity, which unfortunately I really can’t say too much about coming up soon, which is going to open up the doors to a lot more people being able to have a beautiful Veranda home, which we’re excited about.

Charley Burtwistle:

Wow. Well, whenever you can talk about that, you may need to come on the podcast for a fourth time and we can …

Zach Wojtowicz:

Which only three people have ever done, so.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, and we can do the news drop here. We’d love to break that story.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Charley loves a good scoop, so as soon as you said it, his eyes lit up. He’s like, “Oh my gosh.”

Charley Burtwistle:

We got to have this.

Melissa Hryszko:

Actually, I was texting Rob and I was like, “Hey.” And he’s like, “Nope.” He’s like, “No, not yet.”

Charley Burtwistle:

Not today. Okay, all right.

Melissa Hryszko:

Not today, but I think it would be good because it’s a very exciting opportunity. It’s something that’s … Yeah, it’s going to be great. That’s all I’ll say.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, that’s a great teaser right there. When did you and Rob take over the business?

Melissa Hryszko:

2001. I was working in the show home at the time. We had a show home in a golf course community in the northwest area of Calgary called Lynx Ridge, and Rob walks in the show home and he’s like, “My dad’s done.” I’m like, “Oh, okay, so he’ll be back tomorrow?” He’s like, “No, he’s done. He threw up his hands. He said, ‘I’m bleeping done. I’m not doing this anymore’, and he walked off a job site.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

Oh my God. That’s how I want to go out. I just want to be like, “Peace. It’s been a ride”

Charley Burtwistle:

That’s going to be Zach four days from now.

Melissa Hryszko:

That’s the plan …

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, yeah. We’ll see what Monday’s like. Incredible. Mad respect.

Melissa Hryszko:

Finally, we looked at each other. We’re like, “Okay, so what does that mean?” We were super young at the time. We were just engaged, didn’t know what to do, had to scramble money together. We ended up buying the show home that we ran at the time, which back in 2001 was 2,700 square foot bungalow with 2,350 square feet developed in the basement. I still remember every detail about that house. At that time, it was listed for $950,000 home loan tax, and that was unheard of. We had people driving from all over Calgary coming to see a million dollar home in Calgary, which now that’s normal, and we’re like, “Oh my God, how are we going to do this?”

I remember we double mortgage everything else, buy this show home, had it open on the weekends while we’re living in it. I’m cleaning, trying to hide pug hair that was all over the floor, and it was just baby steps. One step at a time. We got one client, and then we found an opportunity to do an inner city home. A piece of property came up. Take out another loan, like why not leverage the heck out of you? Did that first inner city home, and then it just escalated. Year by year, we started getting more and more clients based on our reputation because that is what we will live and die by until this company is no longer because that is all you have is your reputation.

I know builders have such a crappy reputation. Not all builders, but a lot of builders have a really crappy reputation. That has been our goal throughout the years, has been to service the hell out of our clients and just make sure that the one happy person tells five people, and I don’t have one unhappy person that’s going to tell 500 people.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I love it. I was looking at your website, the work speaks for itself. It’s actually one of my favorite things about construction is you get to see the product. It’s not like other things where it’s a lot of promising. You actually get to deliver on it. I was taken aback, not just like … I’ve seen a lot of houses like, wow, the design on these are incredible. It’s really, really special. I’m interested, you’re running this business with your husband. What’s that like, this family-run business? What’s your guys’ working relationship within the process? You’re on the design side. Is he in operations? Is he still building? What does that look like?

Melissa Hryszko:

I tell people I make it pretty. He makes sure it stands up.

Zach Wojtowicz:

What a deadly combo. Well, deadly awesome.

Charley Burtwistle:

The two things you need.

Melissa Hryszko:

I often joke, he just sits in the office and signs checks. He doesn’t do anything anyways. But no, he’s really behind the operation side of life. He is still on job sites multiple times a week, keeping an eye. We have an amazing construction manager who I bow down to. Garth, he’s the bomb dot com.

Charley Burtwistle:

Huge shout out, Garth.

Melissa Hryszko:

Then, we have two amazing project managers, again, who I absolutely love and adore. Shannon and Esme, our whole team, what we have built, especially over this last year, getting geared up for some very exciting news to come soon has just been …

Zach Wojtowicz:

Another tease. Love it.

Melissa Hryszko:

It just makes me so happy. I remember when we closed out one home a few months ago. I looked over at the guys, our two project managers were there, and I started crying, and they’re like, “What’s wrong?” I’m like, “I am just so freaking happy. I love you guys,” because our thing is when we turn over a home, I don’t want to see more than five deficiencies. I’m talking, a paint touch-up is one deficiency. They just continually treat this business as their own, and that just to me speaks volumes.

Rob and I’s working relationship, it’s all we’ve known. He may have been my boss before he was my boyfriend turned fiancé, turned husband of almost 19 years. This is all we’ve ever known, but we’re really good at, when we do take those date nights or weekends away where, try to limit the shop talk. It is next to impossible, because there’s always something that’s going to come up, but we really try to focus because when we are here, and we are working, we’re working 24/7, but when we do take that time away with either just us or with our two boys, it’s about family time and connecting, and not just going through the motions of life. The only time that we ever argue is about work. I’m always right, and he doesn’t seem to think of that, believe that, but it’s true.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Sounds kind of familiar, not in a building context. It happens.

Charley Burtwistle:

It happens.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Charley’s engaged, so you’re going to learn. You’re going to learn.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, I just recently got engaged, so it sounds like it’d be a good time to take out a second mortgage and start running a business together, right?

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah. It’s the reverse. Your father-in-law walking off, it’s the go all in at the beginning, just absolutely go full send.

Melissa Hryszko:

No risk, no reward.

Zach Wojtowicz:

There you go.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, I love that.

Melissa Hryszko:

Charley, just remember, happy wife, happy life, my friend.

Charley Burtwistle:

There you go. Yeah, let’s just turn this podcast into a relationship, lifestyle …

Zach Wojtowicz:

Relationships and construction. How do you survive?

Melissa Hryszko:

My part-time job is a marriage counselor between my clients, keeping both …

Zach Wojtowicz:

Great point.

Melissa Hryszko:

… Both clients happy.

Charley Burtwistle:

Both clients happy.

Melissa Hryszko:

Yeah, because being with one client yesterday and she’s like, “He wants a ceiling fan in the bedroom.” I’m like, “Oh, unfortunately those are against code in Veranda Homes. You can’t have ceiling fans in bedrooms here.” He’s like, “Really?”

Zach Wojtowicz:

The arbiter?

Melissa Hryszko:

I was like, “Don’t worry.” I said, “We’ll get to that point. Let’s focus on the floor plan right now first, and then we’ll get to your possible ceiling fan in your bedroom.”

Charley Burtwistle:

I love it. Something I love, whenever we have design build people on the podcast is to, because I feel like everyone does it slightly differently, is what is the lifecycle of, a customer first comes to you and says, “I’m interested in working with you guys,” to the final walkthrough. Can you walk us through your process?

Melissa Hryszko:

Cliff notes. Initial meeting, “Hi, it’s great to meet you. Amazing. Here’s our portfolio.” Obviously, if people are coming to us, I do believe that they’re very familiar with our portfolio. Then, a discovery meeting, you can call it per se. We’re going to discuss what sort of budget you have, what sort of home you’re looking for, what are the key features that you want to be in at, what is your timeline?

From that, we go have a lifestyle questionnaire that clients fill out, which is about a 12-page form, and it just walks them through the home room by room, section by section. What sort of exterior do you envision? What sort of front door? Very detailed, and the reason we do that is we actually use that lifestyle questionnaire to create a very detailed proposal that we are able to present to the clients before we even have a floor plan. Then, this allows us to give them a ballpark range of what we feel the home is going to cost based on the features and the items that they have told us, and size, that they want to be in the home.

From that stage, we go into the design agreement stage, where we start the design of the floor plan design. Typically, main floor and upper floor first. Then we move to elevations and then the basement. Then once that all gets completed, we send that out to tender, solidify the pricing, whether it’s going to be cost plus or fixed price, because we do both.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Oh, interesting.

Melissa Hryszko:

Then, from there we go into the purchase agreement, start construction, use Buildertrend throughout the entire process to take care of change orders, take care of our scheduling, sending out POs, everything else. We use that throughout the process.

Typically, honestly, with most of our clients, I only meet with them in person on average two to three times. Some a lot more, but most of our clients come to us because they trust the process. They’ve seen our work, they trust what I’m doing. It’s more to get that tactile experience when it’s time to make selections, or it’s time to do the electrical walkthrough to make sure everything is absolutely perfect.

We’ll do that. Then the guys on site are kicking it. They are making sure that the home is perfect. Typically, a home is actually completed about a month before we turn it over, and then we use that last month of construction to make sure that if there’s a nail pop, that drywall is touched up, it’s paint touch up. If a cabinet door is warped, that door is getting replaced, it’s getting repainted, it’s getting put on, and to kind of feel out the home, to massage it a bit, so then clients aren’t moving into a house that has blue tape all over the walls or something like that.

Then our client walkthrough, the last meeting that we do, again, I cry. I’m usually not really an emotional person, but I always cry on possession day, because it’s typically about an 18-month to a two-plus year relationship that you have. It’s also a relationship that I have with these homes, because I’m on site constantly throughout the build, popping in, going in, checking, taking quick videos, talking to the guys, and all of a sudden I’m now turning around, and I don’t have a key and I can’t just walk in. Some clients have told me I could, but I haven’t done that yet. You’re almost raising this child, and now you’re handing it away, and you’re like, “Please be good to my baby.” It’s funny because our aftercare process, we do a three month, six month, and one year walkthrough with our clients. Some of the PMs, one in particular, he’ll text me and he’s like, “You’d be really proud of so-and-so. The house is meticulous.” I’m like, “Okay, thank you. Thank you. That makes excited.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

They’re in good hands.

Melissa Hryszko:

They’re taking care of my baby. Yeah, that’s the process from start to build, but also a little bit of after, because as I mentioned, the reputation and the service aspect of it is such a big part of our business. With the service, we do the three month, six month, one year walkthrough, but if you’ve been in your home for 15 years, “Hey Melissa, listen, I got a window. The seal’s broken.” “No problem. Let me get you in touch with the window company. Everything else we’ll arrange for stuff.” We’re not going away. It’s not a taillight warranty. We are there for the long haul.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s amazing. There’s so many directions I want to take this, I’m trying to pick which one. A lot of threads to pull on. I’ve met a few builders that do that warranty. I had a builder that, out in Portland, he was a custom home builder, and he lived in the neighborhood he developed, and so he would let …

Melissa Hryszko:

Which I would never do.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I know, I know. I was like, “Bold, man.” His name was Joe. His neighbors would stop by and be like, “I got this siding issue.” But he offered lifetime warranties because a lot of those same things, that extra care went so far for new business that it made him …

Melissa Hryszko:

Absolutely. It’s going to show that you’re going to stand behind your product and you’re not just here to whip up a disposable home, and take a check to the bank, and then walk away. We’re not in the business just to build one home. I want to build two or three homes for each client, and we have for multiple clients. I have two homes on the go right now that are repeat clients. I think that that says a lot about the company as well.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, that’s incredible. I was thinking about 50 years of business, and I’m just thinking as you’re going through your process, this thing is dialed. Is that a product of just being in building so long, or is it something that you guys innovated on in your time in the last 20 years?

Melissa Hryszko:

I really feel like it’s something that Rob and I have taken on ourselves over the last 20 years because it was a very different business concept when his father was building. When you were in that show home with, “Hi, pick your five floor plans and everything else,” to what we have done. That’s always been something that’s very important to Rob and I. We’re the type of individuals that in our life in general, you believe in karma, and put out what you want into the world, and manifest the good. A little rainbows and glitter and unicorns. That’s how we live our life on a daily basis and that’s how we want to live our company as well, live with the company. We’re straight shooters, no BS. What you see is what you get.

Same with the proposals and pricing. A lot of times we go in and clients are like, “Well, this other builder said that they could do it for this much less.” I’m like, “Okay, well let’s compare notes and let’s see, because I could build it for that, but it’s not going to have this, this, and this, which you said you wanted.” We don’t want that situation where during the build, “Oh, well I wanted a solid marble backsplash.” “Oh, sorry, it’s not on the budget. That’s going to be $10,000,” or whatever because those are uncomfortable conversations for me to have with our client, and it’s also an uncomfortable situation for the client because this is their largest commitment financially that they’ll probably ever make in their lifetime. That needs to be respected, and you need to follow through with that. Not everybody has money trees. I know I don’t. So far just green leaves, not money.

Charley Burtwistle:

When you are working with a client to design a home, you mentioned you have a reputation, you have a portfolio that you work with. How do you personally and as a company, especially being in business so long, stay on top of where the industry is moving, and what specific design trends are? I’m sure the homes you were building back in 2003 look very different than the homes you’re building now. You have a full-time job, so you’re working to do it. How do you …

Melissa Hryszko:

I beg to differ. I beg you to go on our website and tell me which home was built in which year. No, I’m kidding.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, I could be absolutely 100% wrong.

Zach Wojtowicz:

She just put you right on the spot.

Charley Burtwistle:

I had no back with statement I made.

Melissa Hryszko:

We should play a game. It could be a fun … It is Friday afternoon, after all.

Charley Burtwistle:

That’d be a fun segment.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That would be a fun segment.

Charley Burtwistle:

Show a home and guess the year.

Melissa Hryszko:

Yeah. Really honestly, I don’t love the word trend because I feel like trend kind of has a bad stigma behind it.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Hold on. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean? Buildertrend? Come on.

Melissa Hryszko:

Well, okay. No, trends in homes. You know I love Buildertrend, okay? I’m here for a third time. Come on.

Charley Burtwistle:

Builder blank. Builder me out.

Melissa Hryszko:

With interiors and everything else, whenever we’re designing them, I really want to focus on the client. I look at how they dress, I look at how they act, and I swear that you can look at my client, and you would be able to say, “Oh, that’s their home.” I had one client that showed up. She always had a string of pearls on and very soft, pastelly clothes, and she was so soft-spoken and everything else. Her home is a reflection of her, and her style, and everything else. It’s really about narrowing in.

A lot of times, I get asked because I don’t have a lot of modern portfolio items yet, but we have some amazing modern homes, which Melissa’s very happy about, coming up because that’s actually my own personal aesthetic is more contemporary and more modern. But people want what they’ve seen. If people are like, “Oh, I love what you did in this home. I want to do something similar,” it’s like, “Okay.” Right now, I told my supplier for base material, I’m like, “I need you to eat a lot of fiber, because I need so much panel mold. I’m going to need it to be coming out like crazy because it’s going in everywhere.” I understand that’s a look and it’s very style specific and it’s a beautiful feature, but it’s like, let’s do it, but let’s do it just right. Let’s not go overboard with it. Less-is-more approach for us, which is why I think a lot of our homes will last the test of time.

A lot of the homes, even on my Instagram, I’ll post homes that are up to 15 years old on my Instagram account, and I see things that I would do different. Maybe I wouldn’t have done all glass uppers for the cabinets, or I would’ve done a little bit of a warmer color and everything else. But for the structure of the home itself, and for the overall, the cabinets and the way that they’re built, I try to keep in mind that I want those to age incredibly well. Maybe if you do want to change with the trends, it’s a new paint color, or a new stain color, or a hardware finish because again, we’re not building disposable homes. Our cabinets are handcrafted onsite. If I walk in, I see a sledgehammer coming up, an Ikea truck driving up the driveway, I’ll throw myself in front of the truck. That just can’t happen with the way that we do things.

We always try to think whenever we’re designing it, one, what does the client want? What are the trends? I’ll use the word, but what are the trends? I ask the clients, “Is this a long-term home? If you plan on only living in this for two or three years and you want to all brass everything, okay, let’s go with it. But if this is your long-term home, let’s do some mixed metals, so if you do get sick of the brass faucet, then you’re only changing out plumbing fixtures. You’re not changing out lighting and cabinet hardware, too, and everything else.” It’s just finding that good balance within the design.

Charley Burtwistle:

One thing that you said that I think is super interesting is, the personality of the client and meeting with them and their aesthetic and things like that, being able to match the home. Another fun game that we should play is build a home for Zach. Now that you have met Zach for 30 minutes now, I’d love to see …

Zach Wojtowicz:

Dark.

Charley Burtwistle:

… What you would put in his home. Yeah, just really dark.

Melissa Hryszko:

Dark, I love dark themes.

Charley Burtwistle:

Brooding.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Sad.

Charley Burtwistle:

We made you the Bat Cave.

Zach Wojtowicz:

You can see stalactites coming down.

Melissa Hryszko:

Hey, my dining room is black.

Charley Burtwistle:

Really?

Melissa Hryszko:

Really, I’m all over that. Yeah.

Zach Wojtowicz:

No, that is really interesting though. I really like that process. We’ve talked to quite a few design build firms, and they all have a different approach to it, which is really cool. Some are really exploratory, some are more personality, psychology based. It’s interesting to hear everybody’s own. I consider it a creative process. It’s like art. You’re describing something that is art, that is …

Melissa Hryszko:

Completely.

Charley Burtwistle:

… You are going to infuse some of you into it, but it’s working with a client to make it their vision, and their dream. What is that experience like with your clients? Do they let you just have a blank canvas, they want your vision ever? Do you really …

Melissa Hryszko:

Every client’s different. I have one client that said, “Here’s our budget. Don’t go over. Do what you want.” Perfect. I have another client right now that, we hammered through the millwork and the selections in no time, everything, I’m like, “Here you go.” She’s like, “Oh my God. Love it.” Perfect. Then I’ve had other clients who want to be incredibly involved. I have one client where I think we redrew her pantry 23 times.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Her pantry? Wow.

Melissa Hryszko:

Yeah. It was a very important pantry.

Zach Wojtowicz:

How’d the rest of the house go?

Melissa Hryszko:

Very similarly to that, which is fine. It’s those clients that are one and done, that balance out those clients that want to see all the options. That’s what we’re here for. You’re building a multimillion dollar home. You want me to draw it 12 different ways, I’ll draw it 12 different ways. That’s totally fine.

Back in the day, I actually used to do all of our millwork by hand, and Melissa obviously had a premonition of what was coming. I hired an assistant, Jordan, who I adore, and she now takes all of my chicken scratches that’s still to scale, but she takes them and implements them into CAD. So, when I do need to move something by two inches, I’m not sitting here with an eraser going like this and redrawing. I’m like, “Okay, change this, do this and everything else,” and that has been such a game changer for me, because I was so afraid to hire somebody to work with me for so long. Obviously, because she’s just started six months ago.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Oh, wow. You were hand drawing your mill designs?

Melissa Hryszko:

Everything.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Oh my God.

Melissa Hryszko:

Not our plans, but all the millwork.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, the millwork?

Melissa Hryszko:

All of my cabinet layouts, all of my everything, down to each style and rail of each cabinet door. Yeah, it was fun.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Is that traditional?

Charley Burtwistle:

Until six months ago, too? Is that what you said?

Melissa Hryszko:

Yeah, everything was all hand drawn until six months. It still is. Any concept, when I do my concepts, I still draw it by hand and I still do it to scale, just so I can see proportionally because I’m a freak about proportion, and scale, and everything else, and how lights relate to everything else. Up until six months ago, but now I’ll still draw it to scale, but it’s more like quick chicken scratch. I’m not spending time to do a one and a half inch style and rail around each cabinet door with the knob placement or the pull placement. Now it’s like quick, here, there, knob here, this, give me her measurements, and then try to read my handwriting.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, that is fascinating. Is there ever anything that a client has wanted that you just 100% do not agree with, and you just throw up your hands like, “Okay, if you say so. I don’t think it’ll look very good.”

Melissa Hryszko:

Well, last week I had a client, and we had to pick their front door. We’re doing a custom wood front door, and this client I have a very good relationship with. We go out for dinner and everything else, and they sent through the front door and I’m like, “I’m sorry, 1982 called, and that’s not allowed.” I said, “I don’t know where you’re finding these front doors because I didn’t even know that they were still on the web, on the internet, but we’re not going to do that for your new home, okay?”

They’re like, “Well, what’s wrong with it?” I’m like, “Well, where do you want me to start? Let’s start from the top and work our way down.” I was like, “It doesn’t suit the aesthetic of the home and everything else.” I’ll tell all of my clients, “I will always give my opinion. You can take it or you can leave it. This is your home. You’re the one having to live in it. I’m designing the home for you, not for me, but when you are going to pick out a door with an arched etched glass insert for this modern, beautiful home, I’m going to have to question you on that because stay in your lane a bit.” He joked about it. We designed a beautiful front door.

Zach Wojtowicz:

“What? I’m eclectic. I’m trying to be unique.” No, no, don’t do that.

Melissa Hryszko:

There are times where I may not agree, but again, it’s not my money and it’s not … As Rob says, “We’re not in the business of saying no.” If you come in, and we sign this purchase agreement, and this is what we’re building, then you come in and you’re like, “I want to backlight all of my walls in onyx and quartzite.” “Okay, no problem. Here’s the price. Still want to do it? Great. Let’s do it. We’ll do anything you want. It’s just, know that there’s going to be a price and possibly a timeline associated with that as well.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

Do you guys help at all with interior finish design of the aesthetics, of the materials and furniture?

Melissa Hryszko:

I do. Materials like all countertops, all lighting, all cabinet pulls, that’s on me. Flooring, paint colors. Then we work with Heather from The Heather Company. Not every client goes that way because some clients are like, “Oh, we’ll do it off Restoration,” or whatever. When clients do want more of that turnkey experience, which we have a lot of clients that do, at least minimally for drapery and window covering, so they can move in and have that done and then we have some clients that do full home turnkey with her.

Then, Heather and I will work together with the clients. I’ll give her my mood boards and my selections, and then she builds that based off of what the client’s budget is, and what they’re wanting. Some homes, like the one that’s turning over next month, she’s done all the furniture throughout the main level and then the primary suite, and then everything else the client is bringing from home, and then they’ll move it in and realize that the scale doesn’t work, and then she’ll come in and do the rest of the house.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I thought of it because you’re talking about the IKEA cabinets. Well, then it’s, “$2 million home. I got the IKEA furniture.” I feel like you’ve got to go all the way.

Melissa Hryszko:

I actually had a client last year ask me, they said, “Can we just put IKEA cabinets in our closets?” I was like, “I’m sorry, what did you just say?” I will say, I have very, very good relationships with a lot of our clients, and a lot of our clients become very good friends. We travel with clients and everything else. I wouldn’t say that to every client, but I was just like, “What did you just say to me?” I’m like, “I’m sorry…”

Zach Wojtowicz:

I thought we were friends.

Charley Burtwistle:

Of course, of course, we love the good people over at Ikea. We don’t want to get cease and desist.

Zach Wojtowicz:

We’re going to hurt our sponsorship chances if we keep this up. We better … great product.

Charley Burtwistle:

Great products, great options.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Very affordable.

Charley Burtwistle:

For some people, yeah, of course.

Melissa Hryszko:

It is. There’s a time and a place for it.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s right. Me in college, yeah.

Charley Burtwistle:

I would actually love if we got served a cease and desist from Ikea. That’s how I’d know we made it in the podcast industry, if someone from their corporate headquarters listened to this.

Melissa Hryszko:

I was worried about saying a bad word and instead, I’m just going to get you guys sued. Sorry.

Zach Wojtowicz:

No, that’d be not the first time. No, I’m just kidding. That’d be hilarious.

Charley Burtwistle:

I’d love that notch in my belt.

Zach Wojtowicz:

This interview has flown by, Melissa. You’ve got so much energy.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, I just looked at the time, too. I was like, “Uh oh.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

You’re so much fun to listen to. I want ask one last question, and it’s a little bit of a side tangent based on something you said, and it’s not on the script.

Charley Burtwistle:

Oh, boy.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah. You mentioned how you delegated, you hired your CAD person. How have you changed as a business owner over the last 5, 10, 20 years? What do you know now that you wish you would’ve known when you were getting started? I know it’s not on the script, so it’s really on the spot here.

Melissa Hryszko:

If I knew that much, I wouldn’t be here. I’d be on a beach, retired, my friend.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Good point.

Melissa Hryszko:

Even Jordan asked me when she first started, she’s like, “When did you know everything?” I’m like, “Girlfriend,” I said, “I don’t know everything.” I said, “I still learn something in every single home, every single kitchen design.” I said, “When you stop learning, you’re going to fail yourself, so you always want to evolve.” That’s even with our business. I will 100% admit Rob is amazing at business development, and he’s the type, he listens to motivational podcasts, and “Oh, I heard about that.” I’m like, “Yeah, on a podcast, whatever.”

Melissa doesn’t do that, even though I’m on podcasts. I’ll listen to them, but it’s not like … He’s so good at self-improvement, business development, and I will admit I’m the pushback queen between the two of us because I don’t like change. I was mentioning to you before we jumped on about how we’re implementing cost codes and everything else in with Buildertrend and everything else to just track better where things are going. Rob was like, “You can’t keep doing change orders just by doing them. You need to put line items for each thing and cost codes,” and you would’ve thought that somebody was taking away my puppy or something. I was like, “But why?” It’s just because I don’t like new things. I’m the pushback queen, but I give Rob so much props for what he does, and for putting up with me and my hesitancy to make changes.

But I will say everything that we have done over the past five, 10 years has just helped us to become more and more successful. Even after dealing with when Covid went through and everything else, I hate talking about it, but it’s a reality and it’s what we all had to live through, and it really took us for a turn in our industry up in Calgary. I remember I had a builder group of guys on Instagram I was chatting to. I’m like, “What are you guys seeing down there?”, and like, “Oh, it’s still busy.” I’m like, “Everybody’s walking here. I don’t know what we’re going to do.” Then the lumber, and then everything. To be able to come out of that, and still be here, and just continue on this path of growth, and the things on the horizon and everything else, it’s good. The only thing I can say is I’ve never stopped learning. You can’t ever stop learning, and lots of exciting things that I haven’t given too much pushback to.

Charley Burtwistle:

I love it. I mean, that’s just an incredible mindset. I love your quote in there is, “When you stop learning is when you’ll start to fail.” I think oftentimes people have this destination in their mind of like, “Oh, I’m close to knowing everything. Then it’ll be perfect,” that’s the exact opposite mindset that you want.

Melissa Hryszko:

If I could only get that through my 17 and 15 year old child, it would be perfect. They think that …

Zach Wojtowicz:

As two former teenage boys, it takes a little more time. Don’t give up hope.

Melissa Hryszko:

They actually know everything. I didn’t know if you knew that.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I tell that to people, all I’ve done since I was 17 is get dumber. Well, I don’t know. I knew everything then. It’s just how it goes.

Melissa Hryszko:

I know.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I was a genius.

Melissa Hryszko:

My 17-year-old kid’s even telling me how to drive, and I’m like, “You don’t anything.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

Well, Melissa, thank you so much for coming back on “The Building Code.” You’re going to be on again. It’s happening.

Charley Burtwistle:

We’re calling the shot.

Melissa Hryszko:

It’s happening. It’s happening. There’s big things happening, and it’s going to be a very different thing, and I think it will be well worth the chat once we get our feet wet with it.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Can’t wait.

Charley Burtwistle:

Very, very, very exciting. Well, thank you so much for your time, Melissa.

Melissa Hryszko:

Thank you guys. Have a great weekend.

Zach Wojtowicz:

All right, we just had Melissa on from Veranda Homes. Charley, that was a lot of fun.

Charley Burtwistle:

That was.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Honestly, not a very scripted episode. We did not stick to the script.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, I feel bad for whoever wrote our questions because I feel like we did a poor job following them. But we also …

Zach Wojtowicz:

Shout out, Chelsea, always writes the questions.

Charley Burtwistle:

Shout out, Chelsea.

Zach Wojtowicz:

We follow up 50% of the time, but …

Charley Burtwistle:

I will say that Melissa did a really good job of answering a lot of them just organically.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yes.

Charley Burtwistle:

It’s not really our fault for not asking them if she already had answers.

Zach Wojtowicz:

When you have a guest that you just are drawn to, you can just tell. With Melissa, she’s just a magnetic personality. She brings out the excitement, she’s passionate. You just want to jump in. A couple of times, you and I were almost talking over each other trying to get a question in.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, exactly. The passion is definitely there, and I feel like I say this a lot, and I promise this is unique each time I say it, we’re not replaying my statement, but I always leave these interviews so much more motivated than when I came into them. I came into this interview, it’s Friday. I was like, “Ah, I want to go golf this afternoon. What do I need to do?”

Zach Wojtowicz:

This guy phones it in.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, I was getting ready to, and then you go and talk to a person like Melissa and like, “Okay, I’m going to skip lunch today. Let’s go back to my desk and let’s do some work.”

Zach Wojtowicz:

Let’s grind it out. Let’s go bring value to our customers.

Charley Burtwistle:

Bring value to our shareholders too. No, she was great. I also really enjoy, and it’s probably just lack of knowledge or ignorance on my part, but I enjoy talking to our customers that really focus on the design side because that’s not an area where I have a whole lot of exposure, and I just find it so fascinating.

Especially, high-end custom homes like they’re building. Someone putting in multimillion dollars for their forever home, you have to nail it. To talk to someone like Melissa and see all the checkpoints and unique touchpoints where they’re giving advice, where they’re listening to their clients. The fact that she bases her designs off of personalities, and aesthetics, and how they dress and things like that, I’d have to imagine Melissa is one of the best designers in the world. It was inspiring, and I learned a ton as always.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah, a lot of really interesting conversation points. I found it really interesting, she talked about how she posts older homes on Instagram.

Charley Burtwistle:

I’m looking them up after this. I’m going to comment.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I don’t know if I’ve ever met anybody that does that, or at least talked about why. It’s super smart. It’s almost a way to position your brand as like, “This is going to last forever. We’re going to highlight your home regardless of its status of new kid on the block or something built.” In my head, again, it goes back to its works of art, the hand drawing, the labor, the starting from scratch. But I was really impressed with her process, the way she described it, rattled it off, noticed everything was crystal clear. If I was a customer, I would feel really secure.

I was thinking a lot about the business practices and the scalability of why they’ve been in business for 50 years because they have those systems, they have those processes, and they’ve really just got it to a system. Three times meeting with a customer for a $3 million home. That’s insane.

Charley Burtwistle:

They’re focused on the right things, for sure. When you said there was a moment in the interview when you’re like, “Gosh, it’s like you’re building art. It’s a work of art,” it was just so profound of a statement that you made there.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I’m deeper than people think.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, sipping on some red wine.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s right. Everybody knows in the office, a big specialty coffee guy for a reason.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, absolutely.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Deep in there.

Charley Burtwistle:

But no, I’m excited. I’m going to go check out their Instagram right after this, and I’m going to comment on every single picture a year that I thought the house was built.

Zach Wojtowicz:

So that you can also get a trip to Calgary, and they can give you a little tour?

Charley Burtwistle:

I was thinking next year for the 50-year anniversary …

Zach Wojtowicz:

Let’s show up.

Charley Burtwistle:

… We should probably go out there and do a live podcast.

Zach Wojtowicz:

For the fourth episode of the podcast.

Charley Burtwistle:

And she can drop her big scoop.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah. All right, we’ll make that happen.

Charley Burtwistle:

We’ll make that happen.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Put it in the future.

Charley Burtwistle:

Put it in the future. Manifest it, as Melissa would say. But no, great interview. Great Friday, great episode.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Great friends.

Charley Burtwistle:

I don’t have anything else. Yeah, great friends, of course. Go Huskers this weekend.

Zach Wojtowicz:

That’s right. Thanks everybody. We’ll catch you next time.

Charley Burtwistle:

I’m Charley Burtwistle.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I’m Zach Wojtowicz, and this is “The Building Code.”

Charley Burtwistle:

See you.