Everyday Iowa Interview with Brian Buresh

Catherine: After serving the Des Moines area for 22 years, Buresh Home Solutions has now opened its doors in Hiawatha. This morning, we’re joined by Brian Buresh. He’s not only the owner of Buresh Home Solutions, but also the founder of the Modern Contractor, where he coaches contractors nationwide. On top of that, he’s the author of Differentiate and Dominate: A Contractor’s Guide to Winning in a Crowded Market.

Catherine: Well, let’s start with Bureshs’ Services. What are the services you provide?

Brian: In Des Moines, we basically do anything on the outside of your house. So, it would be roofing, siding, windows, decking, outdoor living, those types of services.

Catherine:  You’ve been in Des Moines for 22 years and now, you’re in Hiawatha.

Brian:  We’re on Robins Road in Hiawatha and we’re finishing a showroom. We’re also in the process of hiring a branch ambassador that will basically be there from 8am to 5pm helping people. In this market, we’re only doing windows and doors primarily. Not to say we haven’t done some siding and other stuff, but we’re not actively trying to do all that. 

Catherine: And you’re the Pella Windows and Doors ONLY Platinum Premier contractor in Iowa. What does that mean?

Brian:  That means we buy a lot of Pella Windows!  We partner with them on a ton of installs and we pretty exclusively use Pella. If there’s a better option for a customer, we will look at other windows, but we really do pretty exclusively look at Pella most of the time. 

Catherine: What makes them superior?

Brian:  They’re pretty much the industry leader. They do more R&D than almost all other manufacturers put together. They also have local service. I really appreciate that if we do have issues, they can send service techs out and take care of them which is nice. They also have a vast collection of products. 

Catherine: You offer customers a variety of different things to meet their needs and that’s important. 

Brian: Yes!

Catherine: Well, I was reading on your website something about Pella Insynctive technology. What is that? 

Brian: We don’t do a ton of it, but it is where you can get basically built-in alarm systems for windows and doors. So, they have the ability to do that. The nice thing is there’s no ongoing charges. So, you use an app and you can know if your front door opens. So, it’s great for parents with young kids making sure they got home at the right time or if you’re on vacation, if someone opens your door and they’re not supposed to be there, it would help as well. 

Catherine: Absolutely. 

Brian: Um, but that’s a technology that we can put into some of the product line. 

Catherine: Ah, okay. Very nice. And so you also are a coach. You wear many hats. 

Brian: We do a little bit, but The Modern Contractor – that’s newer. We attend summits with the other Pella contractors and we go to different events. I just really enjoy helping contractors who are at where I was five or six years ago – stuck in place doing the same revenue. My business was running me all the time and I know that 80% of contractors are in that position. And I just enjoy helping them. It’s not about a revenue source for me. I think I bring a new perspective to it where a lot of coaches aren’t in the industry. I’m still actively growing a very large home improvement company so I can bring the newer things to the table as well.

Catherine:  Absolutely. Do you coach out of state? 

Brian:  Yeah, most of it’ll probably be out of state. 

Catherine: Okay – and how can somebody contact you about that? 

Brian: That would probably just go to the website ModerContractor.co. That would probably be the quickest. 

Catherine: Wonderful. So, you also wrote a book. Tell me about that.

Brian:  I wrote a book, Differentiate and Dominate. Basically the book is our blueprint. How I started and how I run the business. The things that we do that we believe are unique compared to our competitors. A lot of them are things that most contractors laugh at sometimes. But then if they kind of dig deeper and they start doing some things because contracting is very much a commodity in a lot of people’s eyes and people are racing to the bottom with pricing and they’re all doing it the same way and and I just you know like the book Purple Cow by Seth Godin or Blue Oceans (by W. Chan Kim). We just focus from the beginning on doing weird and unique things like a handwritten thank you after every appointment. Those are just something we’ve done from the beginning and it’s something that’s worked.

Catherine:  I like that. I like weird and different things. Who would benefit from this book? Somebody looking into contracting or already in the business?

Brian:  I think any home service, actually probably any small business. There’s there’s ideas in there that you can implement very easily that don’t cost a lot, but I’ve had people from other industries talk about it, but it’s made for home service professionals. So, plumbing, heating, cooling, contracting, exterior remodeling, those types of people.

Catherine: I like that handwritten note. I think that is universal. That’s always a good idea.

Brian:  When I graduated college, I worked at Robert Half International and one of their things every time I met with somebody they required me to write a note. I don’t know if they required it but that was an option. So we did and then I brought that into this. 

Catherine: Wonderful. One more time where people can find you in person and online. 

Brian: BureshHomeSolutions.com and TheModernContractor.co and then we have socials for both of those too and in Hiawatha now.

Catherine: And in Hiawatha.

Brian: Yes.

Catherine: Well, Brian, thank you so much. 

Brian: Thank you.