What sets you apart? This is a question every custom builder is asked virtually every time they meet with clients for the first time. In my 20 years as a builder I have had several ways to answer this question as I am sure many other builders do as well. For most builders this presents an opportunity to sell themselves or their business and talk about any specialties they may perform that others do not.
So what answers will you get? Common responses will include the following:
I am a second, third, or fourth generation builder.
I love what I do.
We specialize in managing your time and budget.
And probably the most common response; Our quality and competitive rates.
As you can see, in short, the so-called answers are nothing but basic marketing. They will tell you what they think their target demographic wants to hear in order to close the sale. There is no right or wrong answer to the question "what sets you apart", but is it really fair for one custom builder to say their quality is better than the next? Have they seen the work? Is the cheapest price and the quickest timeline the guage of a good builder? I can tell you from experience that if you hire the cheap builder; you will for sure be able to see that in the finished product. Want to hire the builder who claims they can build your house in 5 months? Well get ready to start finding mistakes at every turn.
In my experience the best client relationships I have had as a builder are the ones that are built on trust. Can you trust your builder to build your house structurally sound, on budget, and on time? Can you trust that they are monitoring the subcontractors to make sure they are following the blue prints and the specifications you spent so long crafting?
The trust factor is incredibly amplified when building a Healthy Home. Not only are you trusting that the builder will build your home structurally sound, on budget, and on time; you also must trust beyond a shadow of a doubt that no material will be used in your home that you did not test and approve. You must trust that your builder did not just tell you what they thought you wanted to hear. Or that your builder is only pretending to understand what MCS or EMF sensitivity is because they have never experienced it first hand.
This brings me back to the title of this post: "WHAT SETS JS2 PARTNERS APART"? When it comes to building custom Healthy Homes I have a very short answer; my wifre and co-founder of JS2 Partners, Jen Stout. Jen is by far the most important "asset" at JS2 Partners. Jen lives with MCS and allergies. Jen lived in a moldy apartment and had to battle for years to regain her health. When our clients ask what sets us apart, the answer is always Jen. Because of Jen and the health struggles she endured, our mission is to provide every client with the promise that nothing will ever be used in their home that was not approved by them. Our clients can trust our word because we live the same way all of our clients live.
How many of you have had to switch hotel rooms because of a moldy air conditioner? How many of you have attended a dinner or a party and gotten sick because of the cleaning chemicals or deoderizers used caused a reaction? Anyone reading this blog with MCS issues will know exactly what I am talking about. This is what sets us apart; our connection with our clients. I have seen Jen spend up to three hours on the phone with clients just talking about all of the adjustments that have to be made in order to live a healthy life with MCS. Many times these conversations do not even involve their build, but rather just two people who share the same issues.
One of the best adjustments anyone can make is to live in a Healthy Home. If you are reading this then I hope you are thinking about building at custom Healthy Home. Even more so I hope you chose to involve JS2 Partners in that Healthy Home. While I will never say that we are the best custom builders out there, I can without hesitation say that we are the best custom Healthy Home builder anywhere because of my wife, Jen Stout.
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