House Lift Remodeler

BY TERRANCE GRIEP | PHOTOS COURTESY OF HOUSE LIFT REMODELER

A sag here. A protrusion there. An unseemly wrinkle—a dozen, or a hundred. One feature too big, another too small. An accident, a defect, an infestation. If these blights appeared on your visage, you might consider a facelift; if these blights appeared in or on your house, you might consider a House Lift.

“House Lift started in 1991 as a glorified handyman service doing smaller jobs,” remembers president and co-owner Randy Korn. “By the time my dad and I purchased it in 2004, the company had become a large residential remodeler completing all types of construction. We have done whole house remodels up to $650,000 and even built several custom homes up to $1,000,000.”

House Lift’s website expands on this notion: “From the initial planning, through creation and design, to the successful completion of your remodeling project or home addition, House Lift has the extensive experience and expertise to make your dream home a reality.”

Toward this end, House Lift enjoys a kind of home remodeler home field advantage of sorts. “While we work throughout the Twin Cities, 80% of our jobs are within seven miles of our office in Southwest Minneapolis,” Korn notes. “This means we are experts at handling the challenges that remodeling older homes often presents.”

The home field advantage, in addition to developing a expertise, can result in catching other teams’ rebounds. Notes Korn, “On more than a few occasions, we have been called in to fix major remodeling mistakes done by other contractors.” This expertise has led to a specialized series of frights that border on the Lovecraftian. Korn narrates, “There are always unknowns when you are working with older homes and the surprises you will find when you open up walls and ceilings.”

The work can lead Korn and company through a different kind of terror within different kinds of walls. “Some of our greatest challenges now have been with getting permits,” says Korn. “What used to take one

day to three weeks is now taking one and a half weeks to three-plus months depending on the city and project.”

While this sort of specificity can prove frustrating, its opposite can prove equally so. “Another major issue has been that none of our subcontractors or suppliers will guarantee their pricing for more than fifteen to thirty days out now,” Korn observes. “We’ve had custom windows backordered for over six months recently.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a trend which might have been unexpected but not all that surprising. “With people spending more time at home these last two years, our most requested projects have been gaining more living space, or better utilizing a current space,” Korn reports. “That means finishing basements, doing an addition, or taking the roof off and going up one story. We have also been busy remodeling kitchens and adding one or more bathrooms.”

Communication as meticulous as any tape measure’s tell is an integral part of the ongoing operations. “We have a weekly meeting with each client explaining what will be done in the next week and if something was not done the previous week why it was delayed and when it will be completed,” the President says. “In

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Wishing you a Happy Pride

from

REALTOR

Keller Williams Realty Integrity Lakes 612.940.1577

Custom Framing and Local

2022A Ford Parkway

St. Paul, MN 55116 Art

651-698-3372

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addition, they will also know what work will be completed and by whom each day. This is an extremely tough business and the only way to succeed is to be upfront and honest when – not if – issues arise.”

Which isn’t to say the company leaves its doings to fate’s whimsies. “In our thirty plus years, House Lift has successfully completed projects that now number in the thousands,” Korn assures. “We have policies in place that we adhere to ensuring everybody knows what to expect through our entire process.”

Like a facelift, each of House Lift’s project requires its own metric of success. “We have always measured customer satisfaction one client at a time,” Randy Korn affirms. “My thought is that every project we complete where the client is satisfied is a success.”

House Lift

4330 Nicollet Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55409 612-821-1100 www.houseliftinc.com