Krysti, welcome.

Today, I’m excited to talk with you about design, about pre-construction, and about what sets us apart as a design-build company.

So Krysti has been with our company for how long?

Six, seven years.

Since almost the very beginning.

Almost the very, very beginning.

So Krysti has seen the company go from where it was to where it is now.

She’s been in almost every single position, which is a very powerful thing for us as a company because she can understand every single position in the company.

With your role, Krysti, as a pre-production manager, you are in charge of managing all the interior designers, the drafters, the cabinet designer, oh, and the sales guys, the product directors.

So if I could ask you a question of what are the things that you feel like set us apart from just the standard construction industry, how we are designed, built, what sets us apart?

Well, definitely the fact that we have all of these people on our team that make everything work and make everything seamless from start to finish for the construction process.

So the biggest thing would be our designers.

So we design these homes for our clients, but they’re also working hand-in-hand with the directors.

So then our pricing, we’re making sure we’re staying within pricing.

We’re working with the estimators.

We’re working directly with our cabinet designers.

And then in the end, when it gets to the field, then we’re working hand-in-hand with our construction team, who we all know, so it’s easy.

It’s like easy communication.

We do on-site visits at the project.

The designers, they’re super involved the entire time.

So it just makes it a seamless process, and it’s just easier for the homeowners and for everybody when everybody is involved.

I was just doing an interview yesterday with a potential person we were thinking about hiring, and they work for a high-end company, and I was blown away by, I said, explain to me your guys’ process a little bit.

And he says, well, what typically will happen is our owner will give a bid.

So he’s like, so for example, what we tell them is we’re gonna build this house for $750 a square foot.

And he goes, and sometimes it just turns into, he’s like, one of our products turns into $2,500 a square foot.

And they were that far off, and I thought to myself, what a terrible experience for anybody.

And as somebody who’s gonna build a home or do a big remodel in a home, my biggest fear would be, who am I gonna hire, and do I hire an interior designer, and then do I hire an architect, and then do I hire my own engineers, or do I hire a construction company to take care of the, and there’s just so many parts.

Yeah, and that would be all over the place, because then you have to, okay, let me contact this engineer and see where they’re at.

Oh, well, let me call the designer who’s over here and then have them meet with them even though they don’t know each other.

And there’s gonna be something that’s missed.

There’s so many ways of communication, and something will be missed, and it’s gonna be a bad experience for the client, and an already stressful experience of building a home.

So we wanna make sure we, our whole goal with having everyone here on our team is to lessen that and to make it a smooth experience.

And we wanna make sure we’re getting all these details in the very beginning and that there’s no surprises.

That would be the ultimate goal at the end is there’s no big surprises, and everything is accounted for in the final build.

No, absolutely, and the question people always have, they always ask is they always say, well, how much is it gonna cost?

And then you’re like, well, define cost.

Are you talking about just construction?

Are you talking about interior design?

Are you talking about layouts?

Are you talking about architectural plans?

There’s so many things that go into this where your team can guide them through the whole process.

You have a product director and a designer teamed up on a project where they can team up and really communicate with the clients on cost, and they do their best to be able to keep them on point.

Like I see the product director sometimes will say, hey, designer, we’re over-designing right now, and it’s gonna be outside of our budget.

So then the designer’s like, okay, let’s call up the client and let’s ask them if they can afford it.

If not, then we’ll dial it back.

Right, exactly.

And that, to me, is huge.

Yeah, and we do our best, especially in the beginning when we’re giving these ballparks.

That’s what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to encompass all of these costs.

And I know a lot of the times if you go to some other companies and they give you a ballpark, they’re probably just giving you a ballpark just for construction.

But they’re not taking into all the other structural engineering, maybe the design materials.

We’re taking into account everything because I know that’s the number that our clients want to hear because that’s what they need to know in order to be comfortable with the process.

As a client, I put myself in my client’s shoes because I’ve been in those shoes before.

My biggest fear is your goal is to do this beautiful design, and you want to do it as cost-effective as possible.

And the fear that I have and that most of our clients will have, and sometimes what they’ll do is they’ll go with the cheaper contractor.

Well, they’re a lot cheaper than you guys.

And like you just said, they don’t factor every little detail.

And then what ends up happening is they get a low bid, and then throughout the whole process, now they’re stuck, and now they’re getting change-ordered, and there’s nothing they can do about it except for having a terrible experience.

And now they’re at our cost or higher, and they weren’t prepared for it, but there’s nothing they can do because they’re handcuffed.

And if I’m a client, that’s one of the biggest things I would recommend everybody to be careful of is if you have really crappy plans, then you’re gonna have a really crappy bid, which means you’re gonna have a lot of change orders, which means you’re gonna have a crappy experience.

Right, and that’s something our designers are really, really good at, is getting the details to make these plans have as much detail as possible so then we’re not having those change orders.

And that’s something that we completely want to avoid because that just ruins the client experience.

And so our designers are super detailed.

So even when it comes to our designs, they’re gonna be asking you the things that are like making sure, to make sure your home is as functional as possible.

So we look into all the little details of things just to make sure your house is exactly how you want it in the end.

Right, and you have other designers that are in the Valley as well, and they’re really good designers, but the challenge is not all plans are created equal.

And so yeah, they have really pretty, shiny stuff, but what a lot of people don’t understand in this is she’s a good designer, but her plans are terrible.

And so in order for us to, you know, we’ve worked with outside design before where we have these really funky, awesome designers, and they’re really good at what they do, but they hand us these set of plans, and we’re going, there’s no details on these things.

But it’s not really plans, it’s like a PowerPoint.

It’s like a PowerPoint, yeah.

We see it’s like a PowerPoint.

And then you think to yourself, well, this poor client that we’re working with now, they’re gonna be 200 grand over budget because this designer just went to town on their design without communicating the entire time with the contractor to know what pricing is.

And then at the end of the day, now you have to go back and redesign, and then everybody’s feelings are hurt, and so anyways.

Krysti, explain to me the product director and designers, why those two work together so important and powerful.

It’s really important because, I mean, the designers, they’re the ones who are gonna, working hand-in-hand with the client, making sure the client is getting what they want out of the design and the functionality they need.

But then we have the project directors that are also super involved in that, but also know more about the pricing of things and making sure we’re staying on track.

Because it’s really, really easy in design once homeowners start to get into design.

They’re like, whoa, what if we do this?

And what if we do this?

We can go out of control pretty fast.

So we have the project directors there that help reel it in, making sure we’re staying within that original ballpark.

Because the last thing we want to do is get to the very end where we’re bidding it out, and it’s way over because it was over-designed.

So having them work together, checks and balances, making sure we’re staying on track and going on the right path to the end product.

And I love that because they’re able to, the product directors help the designers focus on their artistry, while the product directors are focused on logistics and technicalities, where it’s like, hey, we noticed that, I’m gonna go talk to the construction team and make sure that we can still do this, and how are we gonna do this, make sure the estimators are informed on what kind of scope of work it is.

So it’s so cool to see them work hand-in-hand together and why we’re able to design quicker than most people because of this process.

Can you explain to me, Krysti, a little bit more about the advantages that we have having our in-house cabinetry, having our own cabinet designer working alongside with our interior designers?

Explain to me how that gives a leg up.

The designers, they come in and they have a general idea.

I mean, they’re the ones working with the clients.

So they know, hey, I need this cabinet to hold this, but I need to be able to store these items in these cabinets.

So they have the general idea working with the client, and then they can go to our cabinet director who has the super knowledge of how cabinets really work and how to make things work.

So he’s building the cabinets in this program as the designers are thinking them up.

You know what I mean?

So then at the end, we know that, yes, we can do a cabinet like this, or yes, this is a real thing that we can do.

So the last thing we would want would be to design these cabinets.

Be like, no, you actually, you can’t do that there because you’ll hit the fridge if you do this, or no, the doors won’t open like that.

So it’s really good having that specialty knowledge in-house to be able to give the clients what they’re expecting and what they want.

So functionality and beauty can be enhanced and having that in-house, I love that.

And then having our own plans manager, that can be a benefit as well.

So explain to me kind of how that works with our interior designers.

Yeah, so there may be a time in the process where the designer might be like, hey, what if we just open this space up a little bit, and then you could have all of this space for like, say, your mudroom or something like that.

Then the plans manager can take a look, and he can see from the plans like, well, this is a load-bearing wall.

So he can see that.

So we’re gonna have to go in and get an engineer in here.

He’s gonna know the steps we need to take in order to make that happen.

And that gets related to the project director.

And so then we’re seeing if that will fit into the budget.

So, and I mean, if you didn’t have a plans manager and you just had a designer and they started moving walls, then you get to the very end and you realize, oh gosh, I need an engineer now.

I need this to be permitted, and I didn’t know.

And all of a sudden your process just lengthened by months.

Right, and that’s one of the things that I noticed that when we do an addition or a new build, or we do a big remodel where there’s a lot of structural changes, that’s very overwhelming for most people because living in the world that we live in in Las Vegas, it’s being able to get an addition or a new build or a big remodel where we’re doing structural changes.

Like having that plans manager be able to manage the engineers, being able to manage the permitting process, being able to make sure it’s functional, it’s practical, working with the designers.

If that’s all in-house like we have, we just have such a leg up because we’re able to do it cheaper and faster.

And I love that.

We just walk into the other room to ask them the questions to get the info we need in order to move forward with making the plans instead of waiting weeks to get answers.

Can I build right here?

What are my setbacks?

You know what I mean?

Yeah, it’s easy having everyone in-house.

Right, and that’s one of the reasons as an owner, one of the things I wanted to do for the city and for this company was I wanted everybody to be able to come into this company and be like, hey, I wanna build my house, or hey, I wanna do an addition or a big remodel, and it’s a one-stop shop because the communication on these things is so important.

And if everybody’s in the same office collaborating and talking, we still make mistakes, but there’s so much less mistakes made when we have everything in-house.

And so I think you’re doing a really good job managing these people.

There’s a lot of work.

I know you have a lot of different moving parts and a lot of different personalities, but what’s the hardest thing in your position like when you’re doing these things?

Like what’s the hardest thing for you in your position?

Like what’s the most challenging thing?

That’s a really tough question.

It’s a loaded question.

That’s a loaded question.

The toughest thing, it depends on the day.

Right.

But I mean, the top thing in my mind that I’m always thinking is client experience.

I want these clients to have the best experience that they can.

So that’s what I’m doing in the background is working with my team to make sure we can provide that service to our clients, making sure everything is running smoothly on my end so that clients are getting what they deserve when they’re building a house or remodeling.

It’s such a stressful process regardless, and I want to take that away from them because I have the team to do it.

So that’s my goal, is to make sure that they have everything they need in order to provide that service to our clients.

And I love that you said that because that is one of the things that we really, really try to do is give our customers a great experience.

And sometimes we fail and it’s because there’s so many decisions being made.

This, what we do is, I think how many times do I tell you this?

What we’re doing is hard.

We are literally transforming people’s spaces where they’re comfortable living.

It’s expensive to do and there’s so many moving parts.

I mean, it starts from the designer who makes literally hundreds of choices and then construction, they make hundreds of choices.

And then you analyze all the things that could go wrong in a process.

I mean, I think if you analyze our process, it’s almost like a 200 step process if you started it from design all the way to the finished product.

All the little things we have to think about.

You know, hundreds of decisions.

You’re gonna make some mistakes in those things, but there’s so much less with our team because we have the team to do it.

It’s all in-house.

Exactly, yeah.

It’s pretty cool.

So Krysti, one of the cool things that sets Kingdom & Co apart that you’ve been a big part of through the design process is being able to give the clients the visualization that they deserve and they want.

Right.

You know, how are you able to accomplish putting all the design boards, the inspiration, the VR stuff?

I mean, explain to me how you do this so that the clients can have a great experience.

Yeah, so usually our clients come in and they have kind of this idea.

Like, they’ll just give us keywords.

Like, you know, we want it modern, but we want to keep it still Tuscan, you know?

And we have to try to translate that.

And so, yeah, the first thing we start off with would be mood boards.

Like, are these pictures kind of the style that you’re going with?

And they’ll be like, yeah.

And so if they like that, then we’ll move forward.

And then we’ll start to find, like, material and we’ll plug it into the plans.

And then they can actually see.

So we can do, like, a cartoon rendering so they can kind of get a feel for it.

And then from there, if they’re liking the idea, then we can go into, like, the highly realistic 3D renderings.

A lot of clients have a very hard time visualizing.

Right.

You know, they’re like, I think I like this, but I don’t know what it looks like in my space.

Like, I can’t see it.

Right.

So that’s where we can, you know, bring in the highly realistic renderings.

Be like, oh my gosh, that’s what it would look like.

Right.

Or we can, we do have the VR headset.

So if you really want to, you can actually go into the space and kind of see how it would feel if we’re doing layout changes and things like that.

So then they can, you know, really visualize and, like, feel more comfortable with the changes that they’re making to their home.

Well, it’s funny you say that because one of my, one of our clients that just recently built, they’re building a 6,000 square foot house.

And I’m explaining to them, like, your house is, it’s a good size.

Like, it’s, and she’s like, I just feel like it’s just too small.

Because she’s looking at these small, these plans and can’t visualize.

And then, like, this is the reason why you’re hiring us is because you are having a hard time visualizing.

And I’m like, no, trust me, this is, this living room is big.

Your kitchen is big.

And she’s like, I just feel like it’s too small.

So we put the headset on and she was able to look through and she’s like, oh, the hallway is big enough.

Oh, that mudroom is massive and it’s too big.

And, and so you were able to, she was able to visualize it with that 3D headset that really helped calm her down because they would have ended up going to about seven, 8,000 square feet.

Yeah.

And it would have been over budget and then she would have been stressed and had a lot of anxiety.

Instead, she was able to go into the virtual reality and be benefited from realizing that her space was good enough.

And that, it’s very hard to visualize a 2D drawing.

It is.

We can visualize it, but they can’t.

Yeah, exactly, because we look at them all day.

But yeah, so it’s super helpful to have that.

For sure.

In the space.

One cool thing that we have is Job Tread.

That’s in the construction side of things, but explain to me how the designers use that as well.

Well, we use it even from the very beginning.

We’ll start putting in, you know, documents and things like that on there.

But like, as the project starts going into construction, because the designers, they can’t be on site every single day.

We do go on site for, you know, many times in a project at specific times, but not every day.

And there’s always usually something happening every day.

So that gives the designers a tool to go in, see the pictures that were uploaded for that day.

So they can also follow along and make sure that everything is going, you know, according to plan.

On the days that we can’t be there, maybe we could, you know, catch something like, hey, I don’t know if that tile is in the right spot.

You know what I mean?

Then we can go catch it, you know, if we didn’t end up going on site to do a walk or something like that.

Right.

I’ve seen that happen before.

Exactly what you’re explaining.

I saw Jen going through her builder or her Job Tread and she’s looking through it.

She’s like, wait a minute, that’s not right.

And then she immediately called the project manager and the superintendent was like, guys, we need to address this as soon as possible.

And because we have these tools, instead of the product going along, and then be like, oh crap, we caught this too late.

It’s like, they caught it immediately.

We fixed it right away and it wasn’t a big deal.

We can see the schedule.

So I just looked at it yesterday because I needed to know when we were painting.

Right.

You know what I mean?

Just to make sure I had one more paint color that I needed to choose for a project.

And we were waiting till drywall was up to see what it looked like in the home first.

Right.

And so I wanted to make sure we did that as soon as drywall was up, but obviously before we painted.

Right.

So then I can look at the schedule.

I saw it was in a few weeks and then I scheduled that appointment with the homeowner because I knew from the schedule, like that’s when that’s going to be happening.

So that was super helpful for me as well.

See, I love that.

It’s awesome.

And one thing that I’ve noticed that has been very powerful is our onsite meetings.

So we have some onsite meetings that are scheduled to superintendent, the client and the designer.

Yes.

So can you explain that on certain points of when we meet, why we meet and how they’re effective?

These meetings are with, as you said, the client.

Now the designer does go on site usually more than that, but these are the ones that are with the client and the superintendent and the project manager.

So there are, we go, there’s five of them that are mandatory.

And so they’re just at different parts throughout the construction phase, usually important parts.

So usually like right after demo, there’s one that we’re going to go into to make sure, you know, everything was demoed properly.

Obviously we’ll look at to see where the rough ins are going.

It’s kind of just to walk through the client.

Here’s your home.

It’s just the bones right now, but I swear it’ll get pretty.

And then after that, we’ll do one that’s pre-tile.

So we’ll go in there and make sure the tile layouts are exactly how they should be.

Double check the grout, make sure that like everything’s going to line up with that.

Talk to the tile installers, make sure everything is, you know, lined up, make sure everyone’s on the same page with all that.

Then there’s ones that are closer to like the cabinets.

So as cabinets are being built after that, it would be, you know, like after countertop, then it becomes, you know, the backsplash and then all that lighting fixtures go up.

So it’s just like different points of the construction process that are like critical that we want to make sure that everyone is on the same page, you know, and that everything is according to plan.

You know, yes, we have the plans and yes, the superintendent uses them to build, but it’s always good to have us on site more and with the homeowner being involved just to double check everything, just to make sure, trying to catch problems before they happen, you know what I mean?

Trying to minimize all that, so.

Well, it’s pretty cool because especially the one where you do the pre-rough walkthrough, so that’s before you put in all these switches and all these things.

It’s really nice to walk into a house and be like, okay, so the switches plan on being here.

Are you comfortable?

And sometimes the clients are like, actually, I would hate the switch to be on that side of the door.

I’d rather have it be on this side of the door.

Okay, great, let’s do that.

You know, there’s ways of- That’s the time to change it.

That’s the time to change it.

Or like, why is that outlet right there?

That’s such a weird spot.

And those things are things we go over with on the plan, so get me wrong, but like when you’re in this space and then you’re actually trying it out, then it may, you know, it may want to change, you know?

More things come to life, yeah.

That happens.

And I love that we’re doing that because, again, you mentioned it before, it’s about customer experience.

Like, our customer experience is so important to us and if we’re having these meetings with these clients and with our superintendents and we’re all on the same page, then it makes the process go smoother.

There’s still going to be some mistakes, but again, you’re limiting them and it’s so powerful and it gives the customers a lot of confidence in us because we’re letting them know what’s going on and we’re showing them how things are being done.

Keeping them involved.

Ultimately, it’s their home.

We want them to be involved.

We want to show them that we’re doing everything they can to give them, you know, the home that they want.

Yeah, and the experience they deserve.

Exactly, yeah.

Okay, so Krysti, so what you’re managing and what you are in charge of is a lot.

You know, we’ve got design, you’ve got product directing, you’ve got the plans manager, and then you also have cabinets manager.

You have a lot going on and so, to me, it’s so important for people that don’t know who Kingdom & Co really are to understand who you are because of how important you are to this company.

You know, you do a lot for this company.

You do a great job and at the end of the day, it’s obvious because of the product that we’re providing and what you guys are designing, so good job.

What you do for this company is huge.

You know, being able to manage from the product directing to the interior design, to the plans managers, to cabinet design, like all these things, you have a lot to manage and you’re doing a good job.

So, I think it’s important for everybody to understand how much goes on behind the scenes before the project starts and how much energy, money, and time goes into it so that the clients have a great experience.

So, you’re doing a good job.