Coming out of the pandemic, I realized something that should have been obvious all along.

We’d been in what I call hibernation. And when we emerged, I saw the industry clearly for the first time in years.

Construction had given up on customer service somewhere along the way. The numbers confirm it. The industry’s Net Promoter Score sits at 37, down 23 points from just a year earlier. Meanwhile, financial services and technology companies score in the 60s and 70s.

That gap isn’t just a metric. It’s an opportunity.

I started thinking about Amazon. Not because we’re trying to be Amazon, but because they understood something fundamental. Customer service sets you apart when everyone else is competing on product alone. Their strategy created a moat their competitors still can’t cross.

At Schlaegle Design Build, we needed our own moat.

Transparent Communication Isn’t Just Good Communication

Most companies say they communicate well. We say something different.

We practice transparent communication. It’s one of our five core values, and the distinction matters more than you’d think.

Good communication means keeping clients updated. Transparent communication means telling them the truth even when it’s uncomfortable. Especially when it’s uncomfortable.

Research backs this up. Transparency increases workforce trust by 86%, according to leadership surveys. Employees in high-trust workplaces experience 74% less stress and 50% higher productivity.

But here’s what the research doesn’t tell you: transparency is expensive in the moment.

There was a project in Pittsburgh recently. We delivered stone countertops as part of our package. From day one during estimating, we flagged concerns about the material. It was tough to work with, prone to issues.

The customer still wanted it. So we provided it.

On site, the material started warping and bowing. Strange behavior for stone, but it happened. We could have pointed to our warnings and walked away from the problem. We’d documented everything.

Instead, we stood behind our work.

We coordinated with our stone vendor, who also stood behind their product. We changed out the countertops for the exact same material. The new batch was more stable and went in without problems.

It definitely cost us some money.

But that’s what separates good contractors from bad ones. Whether you’re willing to stand behind your work and get the job done regardless of what it takes. We’ve done that since day one at Schlaegle.

The Pittsburgh client remembers that we made it right. Not that we warned them. Not that we were technically covered.

They remember that we fixed it.

I Audit My Team Every Single Day

Here’s where I lose some people.

Every morning, I run a daily work order audit. I look at completed work orders, checking for cost overruns, naming convention issues, material assignments, margin maintenance.

When I find problems, I download the spreadsheet and send it to the project management team with questions.

Most millwork companies don’t do this. But the good ones do. We’re not pioneers of auditing, but we’re using it to our advantage.

People get defensive when questioned about their work. That’s natural. When someone asks “what the heck’s going on here?” about something you did, your first instinct is to protect yourself.

I’m not playing Big Brother. I’m auditing.

There’s a difference. Everyone on my team knows I audit. They know why. You audit because there are problems that need fixing.

What I’m really doing is changing behavior through discipline. The more consistent I am with this process, the better behaviors I drive. Better behaviors mean better results. Better results mean better data for decision-making.

We have an ERP system with more data than I know what to do with. Years of information we can slice, dice, and analyze. But there’s an old adage in the tech industry: garbage in, garbage out.

I see some of that garbage. That’s what I’m trying to correct.

When your data is clean, you can make real decisions. When it’s messy, you’re guessing with extra steps.

The auditing creates friction. I’m aware of that. But it also creates accountability, and accountability is one of our core values wrapped inside “continuous improvement.”

Some people do need to be micromanaged. That’s a truth most leaders won’t say out loud. But I’ll say it because it’s real.

The goal isn’t to micromanage forever. It’s to build systems that make the right behavior automatic.

Culture First Means Systems First

We’re a culture-first company. That phrase gets thrown around a lot, usually by companies that don’t mean it.

Here’s how you know if a company actually means it: they have systems.

Our culture is defined by five core values. Continuous improvement. Transparent communication. Positive attitude. Hard working. Problem solving.

Those aren’t poster words. They’re the filter for every hire.

I love our interview process because it’s designed to weed out people who just tell me what I want to hear. The first step is a discovery call where I interview everyone personally.

I ask core value questions without naming the core values. I listen to their answers and get a gut feeling in 15 minutes whether they’ll fit.

Right now I’m hiring for a position. I’ve done eight interviews where nobody passed that initial test. Eight conversations where something felt off.

Yesterday I interviewed someone different. He was genuinely passionate about everything we do. I have a good feeling about him.

I want to hire him right now. But we have a process.

It’s a three-interview process. Next, he meets with our operations manager. Then we make him take a test so we’re 100% certain about the fit.

The discipline matters. Research shows that 90% of companies using skills-based hiring methods report reduced mis-hires. We’re not just checking skills. We’re checking values alignment.

This year we’ve hired five new employees through this process. All rock stars.

The process isn’t guaranteed to work every time. But the win rate tells me we’re onto something.

When you’re culture-first, you can’t shortcut the hiring. Bad hires destroy culture faster than good hires build it. One toxic person can unwind months of team development.

So we take our time. We ask hard questions. We test people.

It’s who we want 100 more of.

Growth Mindset With Accountability

There’s a tension in how we operate that I don’t try to resolve.

On one hand, I come to work every day with a growth mindset. I’m trying to grow myself and grow my people. We send employees to seminars, conferences, executive forums. We invest in coaching and courses.

On the other hand, I’m the person sending spreadsheets questioning their work every morning.

Some people see this as contradictory. I see it as necessary.

You can’t grow people without holding them accountable. Growth without accountability is just hope. Accountability without growth opportunities is just punishment.

We do both.

The auditing is how I live our value of transparent communication. I’m not hiding what I see. I’m not letting problems slide. I’m being transparent about gaps between where we are and where we need to be.

I expect my team to be problem solvers. That’s another core value. When I point out an issue in the audit, I’m not looking for excuses. I’m looking for solutions.

The best team members see the audit as a tool, not a threat. They use it to identify patterns in their own work. They fix things before I find them.

That’s the behavior change I’m after.

What Differentiation Actually Looks Like

Every company claims to be different. Most aren’t.

Real differentiation is uncomfortable. It requires doing things your competitors won’t do because those things create friction.

Standing behind work that costs you money creates friction.

Auditing your team daily creates friction.

Running candidates through three interviews when you desperately need to fill a position creates friction.

But friction is where differentiation lives.

Amazon didn’t become Amazon by doing what was comfortable. They built systems that were harder to execute but impossible to compete with once they were running.

We’re building the same kind of moat in custom millwork.

Transparent communication when projects go sideways. Daily audits that improve data quality. Culture-first hiring that brings in rock stars. Continuous improvement that compounds over time.

These aren’t revolutionary ideas. They’re disciplined execution of simple principles.

The construction industry gave up on customer service because customer service is hard. It requires systems. It requires consistency. It requires doing uncomfortable things every single day.

Most companies aren’t willing to do that.

We are.

That’s what makes Schlaegle Design Build different. Not our millwork quality, though that’s excellent. Not our project management, though that’s strong.

What makes us different is our willingness to build systems that create friction in the short term and competitive advantage in the long term.

Five rock stars hired this year. Clean data driving better decisions. Clients who remember that we stood behind our work when it mattered.

That’s what differentiation looks like when you’re actually doing it.