Expertise: Kitchen & Bath Remodeling

The home improvement market is saturated with companies eager to assist in a remodel, but not all companies are made equal. Variability in budget, customer service, portfolios, and experience can truly set a company apart—and Dilworth’s Custom Designs meets the mark in every category.

House & Home spoke to Dilworth’s owner and CEO Dan Dilworth about the benefits of working with a full-service, experienced company and the current trends in the home improvement space.

Why should someone choose a full-service company?
The advantage of this type of company is that everything is local—giving us complete control of scheduling. We work through the design process, give clients a schedule of events, guide the selection process, get the information out to the shop so they can start building…and then start the project with minimal-to-no subcontractors. We have everything ready to go.

Tell me about your showroom.
Many showrooms have small vignettes showing a little bit of a lot of things. We took a different focus; we wanted an actual-size showroom, so that you can see what a full-size shower or kitchen really looks like. Computer visualization is good, but only goes so far—and it’s helpful for our clients to know what they're getting when they select it. Our showroom has hundreds of selections to pick from, so they're not being sent multiple locations to figure out what they want. They can pick everything out in our showroom. We're not an appliance store, but we will help them with appliance selections, and have recommendations on where they can go. 

What type of projects are hot right now? 
For bathrooms, most clients want to get rid of big bathtubs of the ‘80s and ‘90s, and go to either a standalone tub or just a larger shower. Everybody wants larger showers and we can make custom pans to make them as big as you like. 

With kitchens, we want the cooking experience to be pleasurable, so we try to make the kitchen functional and enjoyable. If you don't enjoy being in it, you're not going to want to cook, which means you're not going to spend much time cooking or enjoy the food. When people entertain, everybody crowds in the kitchen, so we’ll expand the kitchen to make that entertainment experience all that it can be.

How does Dilworth’s ensure each customer walks away satisfied?
Customer experience is No. 1; it's paramount to everything else. There's a lot of people that can do kitchens and baths, but if they can’t provide great customer service and the experience clients deserve, they're just another contractor. We take the time from the beginning and guide them through making selections. We're not afraid to say no to a customer, but we’ll tell them why so they’re putting their money where it needs to be. 

Once we start a project, the same guys will be working on the project, allowing our clients to get to know them and have meaningful conversations about the progress. The installation experience is what impacts people the most in their home, so we want to make sure, not only that the guys do a great job, but that they're just nice guys. People say ‘We enjoyed having them in our home, and the kids—even the dog—miss them.’ 

We've noticed that once a client chooses us to do their first project, we end up getting a call years later for the next one, and [subsequent projects] because they found that they love our process and the results. 

Dilworth’s Custom Design is turning 35. How important is it to work with an experienced company? 
It's a big deal. We've been around for a long time. We started small doing cabinets, and grew into a full turnkey operation. If I added the number of years of combined experience among the guys, we're well over-100 years of quality experience. We all collaborate to share advice and knowledge. It’s not often, but when something stumps us, we don’t walk away from it. We dig our heels in, research and figure out a solution. 

What advice would you give to homeowners starting a home improvement project?
A lot of the time people want to go out and get other quotes to compare, and we encourage that. When getting other quotes, make sure you ask these three questions:

Who are your referrals? I want to know who you work for, and I want to be able to talk to them. We supply a huge referral list and clients can call any one of them and ask any questions. 

Did they finish on budget? Ask referrals if the project finished on budget. We try to keep people aware of where their budget is during selections, so the budget doesn't run away on them. 

Was the project completed on time? That's a big deal, because a lot of projects, a lot of contractors will start multiple projects at the same time. That means they're not going to be there every day, and that's where we are different. Once we start, we're not going to leave.