Vancouver, Wash.
https://cegc.us/
GQ All-time Recommend Rate: 98%
GQ 2022 Recommend Rate: 100%
Number of Jobs in 2022: 35
Type of Firm: Home improvement/Replacement
CEO: Sean Kelly, Brandon Nuorala
QR: Your team was able to achieve high rates of customer satisfaction during the pandemic, a time of greater scrutiny because clients were at home more. There were also supply-chain delays. What measures did your firm take to maintain client satisfaction?
A lot of client satisfaction boils down to communication and quality control on projects. With supply chain issues disrupting lead times and material availability across all trades, our company made it a priority to perform pre-job walk-throughs and material takeoffs for every project we brought in as soon as possible to help mitigate any potential delays in our supply chain and to help keep jobs on schedule.
Being able to start on time helps projects get going on the right foot with the client. During project execution, our company’s main focus is always delivering a high quality installation, and that mission is consistent through our crews, foremen, project managers, and production managers. Being on top of details before your clients are and communicating those details to clients really helps them understand the quality and care that goes into their project and the attention to detail that we maintain throughout the job. We’ve found that executing on these two items really helps build an enormous amount of trust with our clients, and that allows them to ease back, relax, and thoroughly enjoy the show and the finished product that we deliver.
QR: Firms with happier employees have higher levels of customer satisfaction. What are the top ways you are able to keep your employees happy and satisfied?
Having happy and satisfied employees absolutely contributes to higher levels of customer satisfaction, and that is clearly one of the main drivers behind Cutting Edge’s customer satisfaction ratings, hands down. I believe a large part of having satisfied employees really comes down to making sure you have employees that are the right fit for your company, and that your company is the right fit for them.
From the beginning, we established that our company would be known for having a high standard of excellence, and we wanted people that hold themselves to that same high standard. We wanted top talent and performance, and top talent attracts more of the same. As we’ve grown, the people who have come onboard, stayed and excelled with us are people who take pride in what they do, are people that care, and are people that want to get better. Once you find the people that are the right fit for your company, the rest of it comes easy.
Cutting Edge really is a tight-knit group with a lot of cohesiveness, and we have a nice mix of benefits, fun and informal things we do with our team, and periodic formal reviews we conduct for career development and advancement. I think one of the cool company benefits we provide to help promote health and well-being is that we pay for gym memberships or personal training sessions for our employees. For fun and informal events, we have done company parties, barbecues, sports events, and even some really fun company trips, like the one we did to Hawaii this past year. And for our formal reviews, we have an open feedback forum with every employee to discuss progress, career goals, extra responsibility to take on and growth opportunities. We do bonus reviews at these times, as well as provide the opportunity to give feedback on what we can do to help them or make their job easier. I think all of these contribute significantly to employee happiness and help us make sure that we have happy, fulfilled, and well-balanced employees. If you have that, then you’ll have a healthy, well-balanced, and profitable company.
QR: “Purpose driven” companies, those that exist to effect change or take action on something bigger than their products or services, attract a younger, higher skilled employees who tend to be more engaged workers. Some firms connect their “purpose” to a written mission statement. Do you operate a purpose-driven organization? And in what ways does your firm extend itself to outside causes.
Cutting Edge Contracting is one hundred percent a purpose driven organization. We want to be on the Cutting Edge of the building and contracting industry. Although we may not be in product development, using the best technology, materials and installation methods to help make sure our clients get the best jobs possible is in our mission statement. Sometimes this means using newer products and materials, and sometimes this means utilizing the wisdom and installation methods of our most experienced tradesmen who have seen installs and projects stand the test of time. Knowing and using the right tools for the job to get the best outcome for our clients is what we aim to do.