Via Builders

By Greg Howard

First-time clients with Via Builders may be surprised at the degree to which the company takes responsibility for its home building projects.

A house may be finished and a year later something occurs to the buyer that he or she wants done or changed. Via will come back and do the work, often without charging for it.

"They're shocked that we come back and take care of it, even if it's a year or two later," says Ralph SaViano, the company's owner. "They learn that one of the differences between us and similar firms is our willingness to ensure that the job gets finished to the client's specifications. We do that regardless of how long it takes."

Via Builders is a Bay Area firm specializing in high-end custom home projects. The firm does no advertising of any kind, and is not even listed in the yellow pages. Instead, it brings in business based on a sterling reputation and word-of-mouth, and it has earned its clients' trust by providing responsive and timely professional service, as well as a track record of exceptionally high-quality construction projects.

The firm tackles projects with square footage ranging from anything from a few thousand to an entire 8,000-square-foot build. Generally, the team builds about 10 homes a year, and has at least five projects at various stages proceeding simultaneously. The company's bread and butter is custom homes in the Bay Area, including the outskirts such as Brentwood and Watsonville, but it also does additions and remodels.

Mr. Sa Viano explains, "Generally, when a contractor hits a certain high level of caliber they don't do remodeling or additions anymore, but I've stayed in it because there's always a market for it, whereas new construction is more cyclical. There's a constant need for quality contractors."

The firm is usually hired even before there's a set-up plan, and the staff spends time on the details of cabinets and materials - making sure that transition points such as flooring, tile, countertops and wall trim all work together and coordinate to meet the client's expectations.

This represents another of the firm's other major competitive differentiators: the hands-on quality of the team. Whereas other companies have employees that simply shuffle papers and contractors for most of the job, Via has a staff of 50 fulltime employees with expertise in the gamut of construction: painting, plumbing, electrical work, foundation and roofing.

"We generally only use our people to maintain the budget or fill in a gap when a subcontractor can't perform, but they can also step in and do the work whenever it's needed. Our employees are most involved at the finish end of things, because it's important, but we also do foundation and framing."

Because their people have to be exceptionally skilled, Mr. Saviano is very careful to ensure that new hires have the requisite technical talent. But he also looks for more than professional know-how. Due to Mr. Saviano's own belief in the ability of personal character to impact a project, he doesn't just select the most technically capable people - he also looks for people who understand and agree with the company's high standard of integrity.

"When we hire employees, we want people who care more about the work they're performing than the hours they're spending on it," Mr. Saviano explains. "And the same holds true with subcontractors. The motivation needs to be about the quality of the job, not simply the financial end of things."

Via in turn rewards that degree of professionalism and integrity with a truly remarkable company culture. "We definitely prioritize the relationships we build here, even more so than our bottom line. If one of my guys needs to take time off for family issues, we don't even ask questions; they simply go off and do it."

Mr. Saviano, who spends a great deal of personal time volunteering with his local church and youth group, believes that it's important to carry this philosophy into all aspects of the business.

"I do what's right and the finance end of things will follow. Once you get off that focus and start being driven solely by financial considerations, you end up on a slippery slope."

Mr. Saviano sums up his management philosophy in this way: "You can build skills but you can't build character." And that character shines through not just in the quality of Via Builder's staff, but in the amazing quality of their work.

April 2005 Builder Architect Edition Issue

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