An Ohio couple was so impressed by the remodeling experience in one home, they hired Steve Miller’s DreamMaker remodeling franchise to transform a second home.

Nancy Ryland’s remodeled kitchen.

Nancy Ryland wanted new kitchen cabinets in the home she and her husband have lived in for nearly 40 years. Once the remodeling began, her vision kept getting bigger. Soon, DreamMaker franchise owner Steve Miller had taken out a wall between the kitchen and the dining room, installed wood floors in the living room, remodeled a bathroom and gutted and restyled the laundry room of the Copley, Ohio, house.

Nancy was thrilled with how the Colonial-style home was transformed — and by DreamMaker’s ability to handle a wide range of projects. That capability is one of the key things that sets DreamMaker apart from other remodeling franchises: Franchisees are provided with systems and vendor relationships that help them tackle any interior remodeling challenge. That way, when a customer loves your work in one room, they can hire you for another.

“Steve kept saying, ‘No problem, no problem,’ and he was good to his word,” Nancy says. “He did what he promised, and it came out wonderful.”

Making room for this tub was a special — but worthwhile — challenge for Steve Miller and his team.

First house turned out great — let’s do another!

She was so happy with the work, in fact, that she recently invited Steve and his team to tackle another project. Nancy and her husband, William Pepple, recently inherited her mother’s home in Akron. First, the kitchen was updated. Then the remodeling spread throughout the entire home. Some rooms were gutted and reconfigured. New woodwork was installed. Some rooms simply got a fresh coat of paint.

“He had to step up to a whole different ball game with my mother’s house, and he proved he could perform in any arena,” Nancy says. “I would ask him to take on another project, and he would say, ‘Sure, everything’s possible.’ ”

One of the most important things about Steve and DreamMaker, Nancy says, is that she felt she could trust him to do the job just as he promised and do it right. While much of this work was taking place, Nancy was traveling for her job as a professor in Pennsylvania, and her husband was on the road for his work. Yet Nancy says she had no trouble trusting Steve and his team to work in their houses, even when no one was present.

“I felt very comfortable with them, because they were so kind and professional,” Nancy says. “That was vital as we were trusting them with the keys to our house.”

Bold colors add panache in the Ryland home.

Helping to make the projects seamless was Steve’s communication with the couple via text, to alert them immediately to any blips in the job. It also let Nancy get answers to her questions, even when she was on the road.

One such blip was when Nancy found a Victorian tub she wanted to put in one of the bathrooms. Steve and his crew had to reconfigure where the shower was, re-tile, and reconfigure the plumbing to make it fit.

“There wasn’t enough room, but Steve took a look at a closet in there and said, ‘We can take 11 inches off the closet and still keep some closet space,’” Nancy says. “It made such a difference in the bathroom, and I still have storage there.”

Bringing a designer’s touch

Beyond his ability to accomplish just about anything, Steve brought resourcefulness and imagination to the job, said Nancy, and she appreciated how he helped turn her ideas into reality.

“I had a thought that I wanted the basement of my mother’s house to look like a lodge,” Nancy says. “We didn’t draw up any formal plans, I just talked to Steve about what I wanted — and he figured it out.”

Steve engineered it so that half-depth logs were mounted on most of the walls, with one wall done in cedar so that it’s flat to allow Nancy to hang pictures. DreamMaker also redesigned the bar area to fit with the lodge theme and concealed a sump pump so it was not noticeable, yet accessible when necessary.

“Another thing I wanted was electrical outlets in the middle of the room, not just along the walls,” Nancy says. “We brainstormed and came up with the idea of taking a log without the bark and coring it out to run an electrical cord in there. It’s like a column made out of a tree.”

Learn more about DreamMaker

DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen helps remodeling franchise partners stand out by offering savvy, proven marketing plans and tools, excellent systems for operating your business, and a wealth of support to help you grow. Our systems encompass the full range of interior remodeling projects, which allows you to win more repeat business and grow revenue. DreamMaker’s systems have helped dozens of remodelers, like Steve Miller, find a new level of success. To learn more about the remodeling industry, and why we are excited about the growth potential for our franchisees, visit our research pages. To learn even more, fill out a form to download our free franchise report and start a conversation. We look forward to talking with you!