Today we’d like to introduce you to James Dohner.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
in spring of 2017 i was opening a new chapter in my life. like the many times in my life i was starting over again with almost nothing. My resources were limited. I reached out to my brother Joe who had recently just return to Lebanon, PA from California and he also was starting over from next to nothing. From my teenage years to early adulthood i worked for my father’s general contracting company where we did a lot of renovating the exterior of homes and i grew up very close to my grandfather who was also very good at remodeling. I figured at that time id link with my brother and we would launch our own business and see where it would go. The entire process has been grueling lol. In the beginning we bought a $600 work van that we put extensive time into repairing and keeping it on the road. We started with about $500 in tools and Went everywhere and anywhere we could to find work and start to build our name. Most of our work in the beginning was exterior work but by the summer of 2018 we decided to start to shift to interior work since we got rained out almost the entire summer. little by little we started to accumulate any and all aspects to interior remodeling and we really started to wear ourselves thin. fast forward to today we just finished building our own in house project processing system and are tailoring our remodels around tier packaged bathroom remodels. Our essential package, our signature package, and our legacy package. We’ve created a streamlined process for our customers that from start to finish flows well for them, backed by warranties and a designated project support coordinator for every step of the way. From late January of 2017 when i was released from Jail, and my brother coming home from a California rehabilitation center in early 2017 we have fought everyday through the highs and lows of what it is to be small business owners. We sacrificed times with our loved ones, Times of taking our customers over ourselves and over our business. We’ve been taken losses working with other business owners who knew the game better than we did. Through all the trials, tribulations, stress, and loss, we found a system that we know works, It’s been refined, tested, and tried. Through all these years of struggling in this business it has always redirected me back to the Bible, Even now as i read through the book of Nehemiah i am continuing to learn the process of rebuilding and sustaining. This hard fought journey has not only shown me how weak i am but also how strong i am. I thank God for the process and i trust and believe what is next to come is going to be far beyond what i could ever have imaged! Thank you!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has never seemed to be too smooth. Early on we started with little resources. Our $600 work van broke down many times on us and every time we had to do the repair ourselves. A year or two into the business we had all our tools stolen and did not have insurance on our tools at that time so we had to start over tool by tool to keep going. When we finally got rid of our first work van and bought a used truck we had it for about a week or two and it was parked on the side of a the road and a drunk driver smashed into it and totaled it. In the same week while looking for a new truck and figuring our insurance and rental options to keep going a strong storm came in on and ripped the protective temporary felt off of a roof of a historic home in Annville, PA and really taught us a hard lesson about how our General liability insurance actually works (which we were glad we had). For years we messed up our financial books over and over again. We never had any real warranties in place we would always double back if there was an issue and make sure we did everything to rectify whatever it was our fault or not because preservation of our name and reputation was so important to us. At times it has seemed like every step of the way has been a hard fought through journey.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are Stoic Renovations LLC. We really live in this business, it is our life line. we’ve dialed back our ability to try and do everything and were sunk our heels into started with the best possible process anyone out there could ever have with bathroom remodels. Slowly we will integrate kitchens, basements and other project options but for now with our newly built project process system called the Stoic Experience from the first consultation to the very final close out we have created the most streamlined and effect process to help our clients have a complete hands on approach to items selections and upgrades and leaving all the gritty unfavorable stuff to us but still delivering every piece of info needed to give them the sense of security we care about them and their project just as much as we care about our company. We see each project as an extension of who we are and what we do. During the first consultation our clients will be able to pick from 3 tier packages all with base rates and upgrade options, as they pick their item selections from our top brand manufacturers, and a stoic experience consultant to answer any and all of their questions right there in person. We have a live package total right there for them see the exact cost as they pick all their selections. No coming on site, waiting a week for a “estimate” then extra costs and hidden expenses, none of that. at the end we offer promo codes on all upgrades so they can see live right there in person the exact amount of savings they can get on any and all upgrades they choose to select. During the process they will be assigned a project coordinator who will be speaking with them everyday of the process, touching base with our installers, and touching base with me and my brother joe, all this is done in house. We are not sending in some random subcontractors to do our installs, all of our installs are done by people who start as apprentice installers with us, work their way to lead installers, and are overseen by our master installers. All warranties are disclosed to our clients by the coordinator and the very end of the project our coordinators will hand over to them their close out. This is the Stoic Bathroom Experience.
What does success mean to you?
Success to me is defined by failure. Every mistake, every set back, every problem we have ever had. To hone in on that and create a way to rectify it and project what is next. I often say to my brother every solution creates a new problem, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to take on whatever it is that is coming next. That to me is success. It isn’t the finish line, its every step taken in the race to finish.
Pricing:
- $24995.00
- $34,995.00
- $44.995.00
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stoicrenovations.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stoicrenovations/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stoicrenovationsllc/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-dohner-93794414b
