Kime Construction :: In the News

In The News

Watch construction work progress if you can’t be close to home

Story By Katharine McQuaid

While living in their home in Michigan this summer, Margaret and Bill O’Neill could see workmen repairing their summer home more than 700 miles away in Merrimack New Hampshire.

They don’t have superhero vision they have the internet. The O’Neill’s were in the granite state this summer just long enough to hire Kime Construction, a new Manchester based company that uses the web to let customers see the work done on their homes when they cant be there every step of the way.

“It was great because we’re not in New Hampshire a whole lot,” said Margaret O’Neill, who regularly logged on to KimeConstruction.com to see streaming video of workers replacing the front façade of her summer home.

“We could just go up to the site, and put in our code and see the work they’d done,” she said. “No matter where we were traveling on business we could go ahead, log in and e-mail him back and tell him what we wanted.

Kime Construction was started about six months ago by Randy Kime, Jason Fitzpatrick and Rob Maille, three men who say a combination of old-fashioned customer service and state-of–the–art technology is allowing them to run a successful construction business- and still go to bed with a clear conscious.

The men know contractors have a reputation of being unaccountable for their work. “Every horror story I’ve ever heard has been about construction,” Kime said. And during his years as a foreman for other construction companies, Kime saw first hand how some people in the business cut corners and treated customers poorly. He and his partners said they want to set a new standard for the construction industry.

“We’ve basically seen all the wrong way to do things” Kime said. “We want to change how we do business and how people interpret construction companies,” Maille added.

One way they are trying to accomplish that is through their website, where homeowners can access their own “Customer Panel,” The panel allows a homeowner to view proposals and progress of the construction, and keep track of certain milestones like payments and completion of each portion of projects.

“The ultimate goal is they can easily see what we’ve done and what is left to be done.” Kime said. While they are all web savvy, Kime and Fitzpatrick are the hands-on guys in the business and Maille, an independent software consultant, runs the website and takes care of the books.

Having grown up in the computer generation, the concept of communicating with customers through the web came naturally to the trio, and they knew it would put them ahead of the game.

This is what separates us from everybody else.” Kime said.

In the O’Neill’s case, they didn’t know the extent of water damage to their house until workers pulled it apart. But they were able to see the actual damage video and tell Kime what direction to go next.

“He’s got everything to keep us posted and alert us to problems,” she said. “There are contractors out there that will tell you things, and you can either take there word for it or you can fly out or drive out to see for yourself.” And, Kime said, customers living in the home during construction can access the website while they are at work, to look at unexpected problems and give workers the go ahead to fix them that day.

“This right here makes the working relationship and customer communication 100 percent better,” he said, pointing to his web site. It also cuts down on costs, added Maille. “Anything that helps streamline communications always helps streamline money,” he said. The O’Neill’s haven’t visited their Merrimack home since Kime Construction completed its work. But they were so happy with the service; they are already talking about hiring Kime for more projects. “We have some other projects we’re considering in the future so definitely, he would be the person we’ll call.” She said.

Makibie and Kime Construction Bring Home Building and Remodeling Online

Manchester, NH – Do you ever wonder what your contractor is working on while you’re away at your job or when he will get around to finishing the work on your home? Many contractors are usually overwhelmed with the work at hand and either don’t have the time or the tools to keep their customers up to speed on the project. With fall approaching, many homeowners are going to be facing the challenge of improving their homes during the remaining warm weather, while still maintaining their own busy lives.

ConstructionWare was originally born out of an emphasis on customer service that Kime Construction has been providing for years. Out on the job site, Randy Kime, president of Kime Construction, has met with clients who were worried about the large investments they were making on their homes. They wanted the job done well, but they also wanted to be able to keep up their own busy schedules, and couldn’t be at home to monitor the progress. Working with Makibie to develop ConstructionWare both companies were able to combine the real world challenges of home renovation with technical innovation. ConstructionWare is an easy-to-use, web-based communication tool that shows a live video of the work in progress, lists out the construction milestones, and keeps online proposals, along with other useful information, available. Customers can log on at any time, even on PDAs and cell phones with Internet access, and view their project to monitor its progress.

Using the innovative solutions from Makibie, Kime Construction won an New Hampshire Internet Award last year for their website that featured some of the features of the upcoming release of ConstructionWare. Randy Kime is anxious to find the next level of online solutions for the construction business. “Since our customers have found ConstructionWare to be such a success, Kime will be extending ConstructionWare as an application for other construction companies to purchase and use,” says Kime. “ConstructionWare makes customers feel involved in their home projects and that gives them a lot of satisfaction - and it also filled a need that we had as well.”

ConstructionWare will be built using the Makibie PanelWare technology and will be officially released in the spring of 2007. “I wouldn’t have put construction and the web in the same sentence a few years ago. And now we have established a process of developing an impressive combination of technology and hands-on craftsmanship,” laughs Kime.

About Makibie
Makibie is an idea factory and a productivity playground where leading companies can build new ideas, expand brand awareness and improve the user experience of a nearly limitless array of products. Focused on quality and creativity, we help our customers achieve a competitive advantage by uncovering new and exciting market opportunities. Our insight and innovation coupled with our ability to provide an impact uniquely positions Makibie to develop winning strategies, driving our customers towards their goals and vision.

Kime Construction wins first place for 2005 New Hampshire Internet Awards

Manchester, NH – In March 0f 2005 Kime Construction Inc. received the first place trophy for the Best Building and Remodeling Website in the State of New Hampshire. The Judge's Comments on the site were that it is simple, clean content, easy navigation, and the customer panel is nice feature. Kime Construction beat out much larger construction companies such as Stabile. Kime Construction prides itself on its web "savyness" and its ability to use the web to make communications with its customers easier and more convenient for them.