GoodFellas Construction Builds On Success
Photo/Ron Bouley
Joe Kupstas and Dale Shadbegian, co-founders of GoodFellas Construction Management in Worcester.
No doubt, there are remodeling horror stories.
And that’s why, when Joe Kupstas and Dale Shadbegian started their design-build firm in 2004, they sat down to a two-day brainstorming session, jotting down every negative aspect of the industry that they could muster.
Then they set out to do just the opposite.
New Model
And despite the declining housing market, it’s worked: Since its inception, Worcester-based Goodfellas Construction has prospered tremendously. In just the past three years, it’s grown its revenues by 550 percent.
“We’ve brought professionalism to the remodeling industry,” said Kupstas.
But as many entrepreneurs will tell you, the firm’s success results from following through on basic concepts: remaining flexible, maintaining good listening skills and working with customers until the final nail is in place. It also means observing general courtesy — being respectful, on time and promptly returning phone calls.
Similarly, as might be the case with other companies, Goodfellas doesn’t try to soak people dry.
They want to find the best value for the money and only perform necessary work. (For instance, if a client thinks they should put in a new roof but doesn’t ultimately need one, project designers will let them know.)
It’s an intimate philosophy reflected in their name: Goodfellas.
When settling on that moniker, Kupstas and Shadbegian hoped to invoke a feeling of trust and to also engender a friendly, approachable atmosphere.
“We’re not the company that comes in, gives a proposal and leaves,” said Kupstas. “We’re not there to just get jobs, we want to work with people.”
As a result, the design/build/remodeling firm has an 83 percent re-hire rate and a 90 percent referral rate.
Some of the latter haven’t even come from full-fledged customers. A Shrewbury couple, for instance, initially contacted Goodfellas for a consultation but then decided to hold off. A short while later, they recommended the company to a friend.
“They liked how we dealt with them,” said Kupstas.
Industry Accolades
Guy Webb, executive director of the Builders Association of Central Massachusetts, commended Goodfellas for their efforts.
This year, the association awarded the firm “Remodeler of the Year.”
“They leave a lot of happy customers in their wake,” said Webb, adding that networking and working with mentors further enables their growth. “They are doing very good work. Word spreads. People don’t hire contractors out of the phone book anymore.”
But there’s no doubt that the market is going to be “spotty” for some time, he said, although there’s optimism that it will experience an upward trend next spring. Therefore, most design-build firms are now in survival mode. “It’s probably gonna be tough for a while,” he said.
Still, even as the overall housing market continues to slow, Kupstas said remodeling remains steady.
Right now, it represents about 95 percent of Goodfellas’ sales, he said. Oftentimes, people opt for remodeling after they’ve taken their homes off the market and decide to stay put.
All told, Goodfellas is set to have the busiest winter in their short history, said Kupstas. Similarly, the nine-employee firm just hired an interior designer and plans to actively recruit more project developers; they’ll likely bring on between two and three additional people by the spring, and will also continue to develop their exterior division (which comprises of shingling and roofing).
“It is very busy for us,” he noted. “That doesn’t seem like the norm in our industry now.”
But in many ways, he sees the economy as a state of mind. When people fall into the mindset that it’s all “doom and gloom,” they will suffer — but those with entrepreneurial spirits can charge through.
Prosperity also comes with adaptation.
“You have to work harder right now, you have to be in front of more people,” said Kupstas. “What you did five years ago is not what you do right now. We accept change.”
Taryn Plumb is a freelance writer based in Worcester.
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