Brief Company Description: Steps By Stepp Design + Remodeling is the premier remodeling company in Houston, Texas. With specialties in whole home remodeling, kitchen remodeling, painting, bathroom remodeling, flooring, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical to name a few, they are your one stop remodeling company in Houstin, Texas. To learn more about Steps By Stepp click here.
Owner: Marlon Stepp
Selected Projects: Visit their website for more information on each project.
Tell us about Steps By Stepp
Can you tell us a little about Steps By Stepp and how you got started? Okay, so Marlin Step is just native to Bat Routes, Louisiana. Went to Southern University School of Architecture, and I graduated around 2012, and I moved to Houston to work in the architecture field. There’s a lot of construction going on, so I’ve been to Houston ever since 2013, and I recently started my own architecture business. As for, like, remodeling designing kitchen and baths, we do a lot of flooring started that about maybe two or three years ago. And we’ve been growing ever since. We basically got started from community service. So I was doing community service with a few different churches around Houston, and it just started blowing up. A lot of clients started reaching out to us, asking for particular services, and it just kind of went from there.
What differentiates Steps By Stepp
What differentiates Steps By Stepp from other Design and Remodeling Companies? The main thing that differentiates us is that we’re a small group of people, but we’re very close in it, so we rely on one another very heavily. So it’s not different subcontractors that we don’t know. It’s not different random new hires that are constantly coming on. We’ve been with the same group about maybe a year and a half, two years since we basically started. We have specialists on our team that have been in the field for five to ten plus years. And I think we work very well together. We have five core values that we stand on. And I think if you implement those core values in each project, each time you meet a client, the workspace for itself. I think what I like most is seeing the client’s eyes when they finally see that their project is completed. One thing that I always tell my guys trust the process. I tell the clients trust the process. Sometimes the process can be hectic. It could be ugly when you’re remodeling somebody’s home or somebody’s dwelling space where they like to come after work and relax. When they come home and they see tarps and they see dust and they see debris and they see things that are demo, that can be very, very frustrating. So the process at times can get frustrating.
What do you love most about what you do
What do you love most about the work you do at Steps By Stepp? What we love to see is like the final product. And the client say, hey, look, it was worth every minute. It was worth the frustration. It was worth the time spent, the effort spent, the money spent seeing that final look. When everything is complete, it’s huge. Definitely. I live for it.
What is most challenging about what you do
What do you find most challenging about the work you do? I think the most challenging aspect, I would say sometimes, I guess the idea of not realizing how the client may perceive your thoughts or your presentation, because people like different things. Some people like modern, some people like contemporary, some people like traditional. So whenever you’re presenting a design or whenever you’re presenting a 3D rendering of something, it’s difficult because you’re like, hey, look, I don’t know what this client is used to or what this client is going for. So the initial presentation can be kind of difficult, just getting a really good understanding of what the client is looking for. You go back and forth. I’ve had some clients, we’ve gone back and forth for a couple of months just trying to bring their vision to life. Some clients can’t really articulate exactly what they’re looking for. Some clients don’t even know what they’re looking for. They’re just like, hey, look, there were some ideas, and let’s see if we like it. So it can Ping pong a lot before the actual project starts. So I think the most difficult thing is some of the clients that don’t know what they want and us just presented to them different options.
How has working with KABMS benefitted Steps By Stepp
How has working with Kitchen & Bath Marketing Solutions benefitted your company? So honestly, at first, when I started my business, I was doing everything. I was trying to do the marketing, I was trying to do accounting, I was trying to do client facing. I was trying to do installs, I was trying to do the hiring. It was very hectic trying to do everything all by yourself. When you and I started working together, it was like a weight lifted off my shoulder. A lot of that responsibility you all took on, and your team was always there to kind of hold me accountable, which is something that I’m not used to, being a business owner who holds the business owner accountable. And I think for your team, you all did a great job for doing that. You guys help with my social media, help with my presence on the web and even in person. So definitely working with you all has grown my business and not just my clientele, but also my network. Also people in the industry that have reached out to me and networked with me through you all.
Any advice for your younger self
What advice would you give new business owners looking to grow or what advice would you have given your younger self just starting out? I have had some scenarios where I wish that when it came to collecting payments, there was an easier transaction. Unfortunately, in the industry, it’s a, hey, look, when you do our service and you expect to get the final payment, not all the time. You get those clients that are honest and that are paying their invoices. So sometimes you have to kind of reach out or come up with a contract to kind of say, hey, look, this is due dates. I wish that I would have known that sooner. I also wish that I would have known to delegate more at the beginning. You can’t take on everything. It’s impossible. Even though we try to do it all, it’s so much more rewarding when you have a team that has your back like we do that can actually take on some responsibilities for us. We have guys that are project managers, we have guys that are designers, we have guys that do installs. So at the beginning, I was constantly trying to manage everybody, constantly trying to check in and continue to do sales and play on different types of positions and I realized that you have to trust your team.