Bond Street Triplex by CNR Group
It’s not often that you get to take the pulse of the wealthy and elite first hand. We interviewed Peter Reiss, a luxury residential construction expert with CNR Group, for his take on the best way to serve high end homeowners as an integrated design team.
Rosenberg: What do luxury home owners worry about when they hire a construction consultant?
Reiss: The three main concerns are always the classic time, quality and money. The thing is, you can only get two out of three.
So our approach is to ask ourselves, “How can we partner with you to provide perfection at a fair cost but also make sure we can guarantee quality in the time frame we’ve agreed?” And that’s another thing – timeframe. If it’s not a realistic deadline we will not accept the project. That’s a built in recipe for disaster.
Rosenberg: Tell us a story about a time when something when horribly wrong but you were able to save the homeowner from the problem through your commitment to service?
Reiss: We were working on a luxury home and had ordered a gorgeous stone bathtub and free standing shower with water coming down from overhead with no shower stall. It was specified by the architect from Italy and it was guaranteed to be at the dock the next day.
We followed it all the way. Is it ready? Has it shipped? Is it going to be on time?
“Si, Si, Si!”
Well, the ship showed up and guess what? No bathtub.
“Oh, so sorry. We made a mistake.”
Well, we had three weeks. So with our stone people, the architect and the client we were able to redesign and fabricate this amazing white alabasters stone tub here in the states.
It was completed at the very last second. As in, the client is about to walk in and wants to take a bath and all of a sudden the tub is there.
Part of what we do and pride ourselves on is creative solutions, which is a real cliché, but we do it. And we try to anticipate things, but you can’t always predict everything in advance.
Decisions have to be made. Everyone is part of the decision making process and no one is holding it up. That is how everything comes together in a short time.
Rosenberg: What do your vendor partners need to know about you?
Reiss: We want to understand what they’re going thru, what they’re problems are, what they might be facing. We need to hear and understand each other’s perspective.
We have a sister company called Armadillo Metalworks that does the finest metal work in the northeast in my opinion, if not in the country. But we bring something else because our owner brings a GC mindset to the company.
We know what has to go in to be prepared for these high end, delicate polished nickel medicine cabinets/shower doors/stairs… pieces that are easily damaged in the construction process. So we might put a dummy medicine cabinet in so that the tile people and everybody else can do their job and then at the end, we pull the dummy out and slide in a pristine $15,000 dollar medicine cabinet.
We have the mindset and the foresight to say we know all of the problems because we’ve been on the GC side. Things can happen if we don’t anticipate and that’s part of what they need to understand. We try to have as few allowances as possible. We know that if you’re asking for a certain type of floor, we might need to install a subfloor. Maybe it hasn’t been specified, but we know it has to happen because we’re anticipating. That’s what architects and clients need to know about us. We anticipate so it’s easier for them in the long run.
Because in the end, a happy client is good for everybody.
Rosenberg: What are the technology trends you are seeing in luxury construction?
Reiss: The homeowners want every convenience available on the market. They want to sit in one spot and raise the blinds using an automated window treatment solution.
We address technology upgrades through our extended client services division which handles smaller projects, fix ups and updates. Maybe they need new wiring and there’s a beautiful treatment on their walls. We make sure the room is protected and at the end of the job, make sure it looks like no one was ever there. The room will be perfect once again.
If we have a contract with the client, we try to take over all their warranties so we can control who goes into the home and one of our people can be there to supervise. Example, a client spends a ton on an inlaid imported tile floor in the kitchen and then the refrigerator guy comes and drops his wrench on it. That doesn’t happen with us. Everything gets protected so everything stays perfect.
One of our clients says we are the only people they will let into their home unaccompanied. That is a great compliment, especially when you think of the kind of homes these people have!
Rosenberg: What do luxury homeowners tend to overlook with their homes?
Reiss: Noise is very important. We work with acoustic consultants to make sure that everything works perfectly. We’ve actually had clients where the spout on the sinks must be fabricated so the water falls down directly center. Those are the little things that bug people and we always want to satisfy our clients.
Rosenberg: How do you ease stress when issues come up?
Reiss: Alcohol! No way. It happens. There’s no way to ease it. Just work through it. And in the end our clients will be happy.
Rosenberg: How do you meet a demanding architectural schedule?
Reiss: Everyone has to be in agreement. There can’t be hesitation when making decisions. You can try to prepare in advance, but sometimes it’s difficult. It can be done, but it goes back to cooperation and everyone being on the same page, including the client.
We are notorious for having detailed bids, and sometimes the architect needs to help the client understand that more details are good. Blank spaces will cost money in the end. We really try to take care of our clients honorably. And our employees too! We have many long-term employees. If we can’t take care of them like family then we can’t take care of our clients.