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Quick starters

By Sweet, Jonathan
Publication: Concrete Concepts
Date: Wednesday, March 1 2006

When Luke Secrest and Andy Rehner started The Basement Guys, they knew they wanted the company to be different.

"We realized we could do things better," says Secrest, the company president. "We didn't want to be like other construction companies."

The two had met as salespeople at another

construction company, and Secrest had spent his entire life around the construction industry. They started in 2000 with a "pickup truck and two shovels," says Rehner, but expect revenue to hit $4.5 million this year.

From the beginning, the company's focus has been on quality work, a dedication to customer service and a systems approach that allows the business to grow quickly but still maintain those core principles.

"A good judge of a company is if there is a problem, how do they handle it?" says Rehner, the company's general manager. "If there's any inkling of a problem, we're on it like bulldogs and fix it immediately."

Building a good reputation has been a key part of the company's rapid growth.

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