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By: DOROTHY O'DONNELL Special to The Daily Transcript Reprint from FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2006 • Live. San Diego • THE DAILY TRANSCRIPT |
Some problems, such as delays due to bad weather, can't be avoided. But others arise when homeowners put their trust in inexperienced or unethical contractors. &The black eyes of this business are contractors that lack integrity, lack the capacity to do the job right or have a lack of caring," said Chuck Swimmer, founder and president of Charco Construction, one of San Diego's oldest and most successful remodeling companies. From the time he started his company in 1966 with his wife Carol, Swimmer's focus has been on quality and customer satisfaction. That commitment is even stronger today. "We're interested in providing a service to our customers at a fair and reasonable price, and quality that's as good as or better than what they'd find elsewhere," explained Swimmer, who began working in construction as a teenager in Ohio. "This surpasses our desire to sell something. We're not interested in projects that don't make sense either economically, functionally or because they'll quickly become obsolete. It's a philosophy that's rewarded us with hundreds and hundreds of customers who come back to us for a second project or refer a friend or neighbor to us. Doing the right thing for the long haul has paid off for us." Charco started out doing what Swimmer calls "simple remodels." Today, the company is recognized as a leader in the remodeling industry with some 7,000 satisfied customers throughout the county. The bulk of the company's projects — about 60 percent — are residential remodeling jobs while building custom homes and commercial buildings each account for about 20 percent of its other work. |
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Charco has been in the same office at 7065 El Cajon Blvd. since 1970. The company has 30 full-time employees, including two licensed architects, six field supervisors, three estimators and a variety of office personnel. In addition, Charco regularly works with between 200 and 250 licensed subcontractors, many of whom the company has used for more than 35 years. "We started out as a family business — my wife used to work here and my son-in-law is now vice president of marketing," Swimmer said. "There's a very good spirit of people feeling like they're part of what might be considered one of the top groups in the field. We look at our work with a different eye than lots of folks. We're not trying to stay in business — we're trying to do good projects. We maintain close contact with customers and provide a level of service and follow-up that's way beyond the industry standard." As an example of that dedication, Swimmer cited his staff's willingness to respond to customer problems around the clock, seven days a week. "We have people who are qualified to go out to a home at 2 a.m. if there's a problem," he said. "You can't make them do that -- our people do it because they take pride in their work." Ultimately, Swimmer believes customers must do their homework when embarking on a remodeling project to ensure they hire a contractor who is not only honest, but also has the resources and experience to complete a job and do it well. He advises those getting ready to remodel to check with their local Better Business Bureau (BBB) and state agencies to ensure a contractor has a good record and is financially stable. He also suggests making sure a contractor has expertise in the specific type of work a homeowner wants done, talking to former customers and visiting previous projects. "The people I have here all true professionals," he said. "They can sell something with the trust and confidence that the company is capable of delivering it, financially and by virtue of our personnel and relationships with the building community. They know that as a whole, the end result will be very satisfying, so they can go into a project feeling comfortable and knowing they'll come out the back door with a friend instead of creating a problem." With interest rates rising, Swimmer said Charco is seeing an increase in the volume of large remodel projects customers are requesting, many of which |
involve adding a suite for elderly parents or young adult children who can't yet afford to leave the nest. "People are spending what they have to get their home the way they want instead of moving and buying a no frills home for $500, 000," he explained. According to Swimmer, adding square footage that's well-designed and seamlessly blends with the rest of a house yields the biggest bang for the buck for homeowners seeking to add value to their home and get the greatest return on their remodeling investment. "If you do something like a kitchen or a bathroom, it can make the house worth more money, but you won't necessarily get back what you spent if you sell it, because people expect those kinds of things," he stated. "But if you add a 700-square-foot family room and it's beautifully done, it can make your home worth a lot of money." In addition to having paid off with a mountain of repeat business and referrals, over the years, Charco's integrity and commitment to exceptional service and quality has also earned it a host of national and local awards. These include being voted San Diego's top remodeling contractor in the Union-Tribune's annual Readers Poll for the last nine years. Active in many community organizations, Swimmer has served on the board of directors of the local BBB for more than 10 years. In the 1990s, the BBB asked him to head a committee formed to develop a code of ethics to help reduce problems related to contractors making false or misleading advertising claims. "The incidents of advertising problems in San Diego have cleared up a lot since then," Swimmer said. "Truth in advertising is very, very important." Last year, Charco won a BBB Torch Award for its commitment to maintaining ethical business practices and was a finalist for the honor the previous two years. This year, the company is up for a national Torch Award. "The awards are nice, but in this business, you're only as good as what you do tomorrow," Swimmer remarked. "We've won awards because we've tried to do as much stuff right as we can for 40 years -- they come if you do your job." O'Donnell is a San Diego-based freelance writer. |