Do Unto Others
Remodeler Dale Crisp's success is built on the Golden Rule.
The last day Dale Crisp spent aboard the commercial fishing boat owned by his two older brothers was a harrowing one. Sixty miles offshore, the trio bailed water for 29 days as their vessel was tossed about by eight- to 12-foot waves.
????Once safely on land, Crisp walked away and never looked back.
????“That was the last commercial fishing trip I ever took,” laughs Crisp, 56, president and CEO of Kendale Design/Build LLC. “That was absolutely the hardest job that I have ever had.”
????Hard enough—and dangerous enough—that Crisp decided to set his sights on a drier industry. And that’s how his storied career as one of Northeast Florida’s premier remodelers began.
????Crisp, a Jacksonville native, along with friend Ken Atlee, started out as a contractor in 1976. The name Kendale was dreamed up by Crisp’s mom over a lunch break of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at his house.?
????After several years buying and selling homes that they fixed up themselves, the duo began remodeling homes for others. The company has since morphed, as Crisp likes to phrase it, into several different entities.?
????Atlee left the company at the end of 2005 after a partnership of nearly 30 years and dozens of local, regional and national awards for remodeling, historic restorations and new-home construction. But the pair remain close and share fond memories of their time building the company.
????“We started out mainly doing painting and contracting work, and I can remember having a three-week conversation about whether to invest in a $75 ladder,” Crisp recalls. “We’ve come a long way from those days.”
????Certainly true, given the fact that Kendale has for the last several years topped the Jacksonville Business Journal’s Book of Lists as the region’s largest-volume remodeler. Nationally, the company has been ranked among Qualified Remodeler magazine’s Top 500 and Professional Remodeler magazine’s 100 Benchmark Leaders.
????Crisp and his current partner, Brian Wingate, 55, are low-key when talking about the company’s growth. But the pace lately at Kendale has been brisk despite a turndown in the overall housing market.?
????Revenues for the past two years exceeded $8 million and the employee count includes superintendents, designers, office staffers and a large pool of subcontractors.?
????There are design-build divisions in both residential and commercial construction as well as a cabinet company. And plans call for expansion within each of the company’s operations.??
????“The remodeling industry has changed and has become quite a business,” Crisp notes. “We’re no longer the guys in flannel shirts driving trucks. We’re now the guys in the 10,000-square-foot building with the design center.”?
????But Crisp says the increased professionalism of the remodeling industry is more than cosmetic.
????“It’s very important that we’re held to the same standards as any other business,” Crisp states. “And it’s a big deal to us to make sure we offer every client unmatched quality and a great remodeling experience.”
????Case in point: More than 70 percent of Kendale’s business comes from former clients, some who wait months or even years to have a particular superintendent work on their project.
????“They’re willing to wait, which is a testament to our people and to their experience with the company,” adds Wingate, who’s also a Jacksonville native.
????Both agree that the field of remodeling has become more crowded over the last several years—but they’re convinced that Kendale’s standards, particularly in the area of customer relations, set the company apart.
????“Don’t hire anyone you wouldn’t like to sit down to dinner with yourself,” says Crisp. “And treat every job as if it were your own home.”
????Clients like Tom Hudson and his wife Carol have reaped the benefits of these philosophies. The couple used a different company to add a master bedroom onto their two-bedroom, two-bathroom South Ponte Vedra oceanfront home and the experience left them sour on remodeling in general.
????“Let’s just say that communication and customer service were very lacking,” concedes Tom Hudson.
????Then they hired Kendale to create a two-bedroom, two-bathroom suite and a garage for a third car and storage.
????“We got every penny of what we paid for in the relationship with the crews and supervisor and in the work that was done,” Tom Hudson recalls. “They actually cared about the job. They really did approach it like our home was their home.”
????The Hudsons were so pleased that they did, indeed, have dinner with everyone involved in their project, inviting the entire crew and their families to a beach picnic.?
????That anecdote demonstrates how much Kendale values its subcontractors, notes Crisp.
????“Let’s just say that the remodeling industry has a reputation for not being concerned about subs being profitable,” Crisp adds. “Because we want long-term relationships, we value our subs as partners. Our projects are managed with this continuity in mind, and communication between our entire team—contractors and vendors included—is very important to how we operate.”
????The family attitude is reflected not only at Kendale’s jobsites but at its offices as well. Wingate, who handles the production side of the business, recognized it right away when he began working as a company subcontractor in 1983.
????“I was always extremely impressed with the ethics and the generosity of the company, and I knew that working here would be a life-changing experience,” says Wingate, who became an employee in 1986 and partner soon thereafter.
????Calling themselves kindred spirits because commercial fishing is in both their backgrounds—Wingate’s father was in the shrimp and oyster business—Crisp and Wingate are proud of the collaborative corporate culture they’ve nurtured.
????“We have a terrific tenure among employees with over half the company having been here 10 to 12 years,” Crisp notes. “Several employees have left and come back, saying that they not only missed the people and fun here but also the fact that we take the time to do our jobs right the first time.”
????Company cook-offs, group fishing trips and company-paid Dale Carnegie courses foster strong bonds and even friendly rivalries.?
????For example, company meetings become an excuse for employees to outdo one another with their signature dishes. And in typical Kendale fashion, Crisp brags about Wingate’s gumbo, famous in remodeling convention circles, while both men heap praise on project coordinator Richard Prevatt’s empanadas and chili.
????“This is a great example of a nice and easy place to work, and we do have a lot of fun together,” says Prevatt, whose wife Lori also works at the company. “I enjoy a place where I can be proud of the work that I do. I’ve actually seen clients cry because they were so happy with the way their project turned out.”
????Sharing the company’s success is also important to Crisp and Wingate. A portion of the company’s profit funds a faith-based foundation. In addition, employees are encouraged to donate up to $500 to charities of their choice—an amount Kendale matches.
????The company has also been a good neighbor to a non-profit organization called The Inn Ministry, located across the street, contributing money, assisting with building renovations and often sharing the office’s good cooking with staffers.?
????Focusing on charities benefiting children and families, Kendale has also contributed to the Boy Scouts of America, the Second Harvest Food Bank, the March of Dimes, the Youth Crisis Center and the I.M Sulzbacher Center, to name a few.?
????But while community, client and employee accolades are appreciated, the greatest compliment for Crisp and wife Leslie, who’s the company’s human resources director, is the fact that their two college-age sons are interested in joining the business.?
????“I’m proud to have built a company that I feel good about bringing my boys into,” Crisp says. Eventually, that might mean Crisp will have more time to devote to hunting and, despite his unpleasant experience as a young man, fishing. Both he and Wingate are passionate about fresh- and salt-water angling.
????“When our employees and subs are doing their job, they’re in your house,” adds Crisp. “We want to be able to answer ‘yes’ to the questions, ‘Would I let that person be with my family, my pets, my cash, my rose garden?’ And if, at the end of a project, we can all—clients and crew alike—say that we’re truly friends, then we’ve achieved our true objectives.”
????Once safely on land, Crisp walked away and never looked back.
????“That was the last commercial fishing trip I ever took,” laughs Crisp, 56, president and CEO of Kendale Design/Build LLC. “That was absolutely the hardest job that I have ever had.”
????Hard enough—and dangerous enough—that Crisp decided to set his sights on a drier industry. And that’s how his storied career as one of Northeast Florida’s premier remodelers began.
????Crisp, a Jacksonville native, along with friend Ken Atlee, started out as a contractor in 1976. The name Kendale was dreamed up by Crisp’s mom over a lunch break of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at his house.?
????After several years buying and selling homes that they fixed up themselves, the duo began remodeling homes for others. The company has since morphed, as Crisp likes to phrase it, into several different entities.?
????Atlee left the company at the end of 2005 after a partnership of nearly 30 years and dozens of local, regional and national awards for remodeling, historic restorations and new-home construction. But the pair remain close and share fond memories of their time building the company.
????“We started out mainly doing painting and contracting work, and I can remember having a three-week conversation about whether to invest in a $75 ladder,” Crisp recalls. “We’ve come a long way from those days.”
????Certainly true, given the fact that Kendale has for the last several years topped the Jacksonville Business Journal’s Book of Lists as the region’s largest-volume remodeler. Nationally, the company has been ranked among Qualified Remodeler magazine’s Top 500 and Professional Remodeler magazine’s 100 Benchmark Leaders.
????Crisp and his current partner, Brian Wingate, 55, are low-key when talking about the company’s growth. But the pace lately at Kendale has been brisk despite a turndown in the overall housing market.?
????Revenues for the past two years exceeded $8 million and the employee count includes superintendents, designers, office staffers and a large pool of subcontractors.?
????There are design-build divisions in both residential and commercial construction as well as a cabinet company. And plans call for expansion within each of the company’s operations.??
????“The remodeling industry has changed and has become quite a business,” Crisp notes. “We’re no longer the guys in flannel shirts driving trucks. We’re now the guys in the 10,000-square-foot building with the design center.”?
????But Crisp says the increased professionalism of the remodeling industry is more than cosmetic.
????“It’s very important that we’re held to the same standards as any other business,” Crisp states. “And it’s a big deal to us to make sure we offer every client unmatched quality and a great remodeling experience.”
????Case in point: More than 70 percent of Kendale’s business comes from former clients, some who wait months or even years to have a particular superintendent work on their project.
????“They’re willing to wait, which is a testament to our people and to their experience with the company,” adds Wingate, who’s also a Jacksonville native.
????Both agree that the field of remodeling has become more crowded over the last several years—but they’re convinced that Kendale’s standards, particularly in the area of customer relations, set the company apart.
????“Don’t hire anyone you wouldn’t like to sit down to dinner with yourself,” says Crisp. “And treat every job as if it were your own home.”
????Clients like Tom Hudson and his wife Carol have reaped the benefits of these philosophies. The couple used a different company to add a master bedroom onto their two-bedroom, two-bathroom South Ponte Vedra oceanfront home and the experience left them sour on remodeling in general.
????“Let’s just say that communication and customer service were very lacking,” concedes Tom Hudson.
????Then they hired Kendale to create a two-bedroom, two-bathroom suite and a garage for a third car and storage.
????“We got every penny of what we paid for in the relationship with the crews and supervisor and in the work that was done,” Tom Hudson recalls. “They actually cared about the job. They really did approach it like our home was their home.”
????The Hudsons were so pleased that they did, indeed, have dinner with everyone involved in their project, inviting the entire crew and their families to a beach picnic.?
????That anecdote demonstrates how much Kendale values its subcontractors, notes Crisp.
????“Let’s just say that the remodeling industry has a reputation for not being concerned about subs being profitable,” Crisp adds. “Because we want long-term relationships, we value our subs as partners. Our projects are managed with this continuity in mind, and communication between our entire team—contractors and vendors included—is very important to how we operate.”
????The family attitude is reflected not only at Kendale’s jobsites but at its offices as well. Wingate, who handles the production side of the business, recognized it right away when he began working as a company subcontractor in 1983.
????“I was always extremely impressed with the ethics and the generosity of the company, and I knew that working here would be a life-changing experience,” says Wingate, who became an employee in 1986 and partner soon thereafter.
????Calling themselves kindred spirits because commercial fishing is in both their backgrounds—Wingate’s father was in the shrimp and oyster business—Crisp and Wingate are proud of the collaborative corporate culture they’ve nurtured.
????“We have a terrific tenure among employees with over half the company having been here 10 to 12 years,” Crisp notes. “Several employees have left and come back, saying that they not only missed the people and fun here but also the fact that we take the time to do our jobs right the first time.”
????Company cook-offs, group fishing trips and company-paid Dale Carnegie courses foster strong bonds and even friendly rivalries.?
????For example, company meetings become an excuse for employees to outdo one another with their signature dishes. And in typical Kendale fashion, Crisp brags about Wingate’s gumbo, famous in remodeling convention circles, while both men heap praise on project coordinator Richard Prevatt’s empanadas and chili.
????“This is a great example of a nice and easy place to work, and we do have a lot of fun together,” says Prevatt, whose wife Lori also works at the company. “I enjoy a place where I can be proud of the work that I do. I’ve actually seen clients cry because they were so happy with the way their project turned out.”
????Sharing the company’s success is also important to Crisp and Wingate. A portion of the company’s profit funds a faith-based foundation. In addition, employees are encouraged to donate up to $500 to charities of their choice—an amount Kendale matches.
????The company has also been a good neighbor to a non-profit organization called The Inn Ministry, located across the street, contributing money, assisting with building renovations and often sharing the office’s good cooking with staffers.?
????Focusing on charities benefiting children and families, Kendale has also contributed to the Boy Scouts of America, the Second Harvest Food Bank, the March of Dimes, the Youth Crisis Center and the I.M Sulzbacher Center, to name a few.?
????But while community, client and employee accolades are appreciated, the greatest compliment for Crisp and wife Leslie, who’s the company’s human resources director, is the fact that their two college-age sons are interested in joining the business.?
????“I’m proud to have built a company that I feel good about bringing my boys into,” Crisp says. Eventually, that might mean Crisp will have more time to devote to hunting and, despite his unpleasant experience as a young man, fishing. Both he and Wingate are passionate about fresh- and salt-water angling.
????“When our employees and subs are doing their job, they’re in your house,” adds Crisp. “We want to be able to answer ‘yes’ to the questions, ‘Would I let that person be with my family, my pets, my cash, my rose garden?’ And if, at the end of a project, we can all—clients and crew alike—say that we’re truly friends, then we’ve achieved our true objectives.”