Four decades is a long time in the business world. While that span has added to the expertise and burnished the credentials of OKC construction firm Gary Randolph Master Builder (which, as the name indicates, were extensive to begin with), it shouldn’t be too surprising that they changed the company name last fall. The original namesake will want to retire eventually, after all – but when he does decide to, his legacy is already in good hands, while staying in the family. Ashley Randolph-McAllister is the future face of Randolph Design + Build.
Randolph-McAllister calls the new name “a more modern take on the master builder phrase and concept,” and explained that the phrase isn’t the ceremonial title it sounds like; the difference between a builder and a master builder is a level of overall expertise that allows the latter to guide a project continuously from design to pricing to actual construction. “It’s being able to have the full mind and knowledge of the whole product from start to finish, all the way from putting the pencil to the paper to it physically being built and someone living in it,” she says.
That concentration of responsibility means reducing the potential for miscommunications and allows for greater flexibility in dealing with logistics. Thanks to Gary Randolph’s decades of hands-on experience in both planning and executing construction projects, Randolph-McAllister says, “He can’t be blindsided, because he knows how it all works. If somebody says, ‘That can’t happen,’ he says, ‘Yes it can, let me walk you through it.’ So we can do some really interesting projects.”
Those projects can encompass anything from a single-room remodel to a new house built from scratch – starting with a conversation about the client’s desires and vision and providing plenty of guidance and clear communication, including about costs, along the way. “It’s a very organic, clean process; people feel comfortable working with us and they see there’s lots of opportunity for them to get what they want.” Randolph-McAllister added that a common element of their business – one that’s fairly uncommon among contractors as a general rule – is returning or ongoing customers. “One family we did a kitchen for, and then we did their attic conversion, and then they came back three years later and said, ‘I think we’re ready to sell and get out of the city; we’re buying a lot.’ So we went and looked at their lot and designed and ended up building them a whole new house. I think that speaks volumes; the reason we do get so much repeat or word of mouth business is because they see the quality in our work.”
Change is a part of life, but if we embrace it, plan for it and approach it the right way, the results can be tremendous … even masterful.