Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirby Harris.
Hi Kirby, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in Carrollton, started dating my wife, Jan, in high school, went to college in Denton, and then started a long corporate career with Ford Motor Credit Company that took us all over the country and to England. My last job there was running three of our insurance subsidiaries – two based in Michigan and one in Ireland. It was a very fulfilling career, but we decided it was time to get back home to Texas. My wife, Jan, and I are high school sweethearts, and most of our family live in the area – including two of our three children and two grandchildren.
As we returned, we decided to own our own business and really focus on something that helps people during difficult moments. We thought Lightspeed Restoration really fit the bill by the very nature of the work and we liked the training and support provided by this Flower Mound-based franchisor.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Starting a new business is always a high-effort enterprise, and for a corporate-guy like me I never had to worry much about important ‘behind-the-scenes’ details because another department or your own employees handled them. Examples are things like running payroll, managing an HR system, keeping safety and employee manuals updated, training updated, etc. Then you add doing the marketing and sales, managing vendors, managing your customer satisfaction process, and managing accounting and financials. You employ vendors for most of these things, but as an owner, you are very much involved. So, it’s really learning to balance all these demands on your time.
Where I’m very fortunate is that a) I had 23 different jobs along my corporate journey and had so much good training and mentoring that I had good knowledge of what needed to be done at a pretty detailed level and b) Our franchisor gave us a very detailed roadmap of what needed to be done to get going, and absolutely incredible training and support – not just for ourselves but also our employees.
The thing I heard would be the hardest, getting good people, actually hasn’t been difficult at all. We’ve got great experience on the team. I think the key is to treat people the way you want to be treated. If you just drill that into your very being as a leader, good people will be attracted to you and stick with you.
So, has it been smooth? Yes. Has it been easy? No, and I didn’t expect it to be.
As you know, we’re big fans of Lightspeed Restoration of Northeast Tarrant and Lightspeed Restoration of Flower Mound & Coppell. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are certified to do remediation and reconstruction of both commercial and residential properties damaged by water, fire, mold, and biohazards. We also help customers with Indoor Air Quality needs like duct cleaning, odor control, and humidity control – that last one being super important in avoiding mold issues.
Our focus is to really follow the Golden Rule – treat people like you would want to be treated. That means integrity is never compromised, the work is done quickly and correctly, we communicate effectively with our customers and their insurance companies, and we turn hard situations into better-than-expected outcomes.
To be very blunt, there are some bad actors in this business that run up their bill doing unnecessary work, charge for work that they didn’t do, don’t take proper care with mold remediation, or do substandard work in the reconstruction process – just to name a few. I heard all these stories from people I interviewed that had experience in the industry. I’ve had subcontractors ask me if I wanted to do the expensive but unnecessary fix or the more affordable and appropriate fix. My response, ‘What would you do if this were your grandmother?’ These bad actors are the exception, not the rule, but we’re out to be the antithesis of that. I’m a ‘God is watching’ kind of guy.
In the duct cleaning side, there are companies that do not follow the processes set forth by the National Air Duct Cleaners Association. Those processes are very time-consuming and require some very specialized and expensive equipment. However, I think it is absolutely worth it if you want your ducts to be fully cleaned. This is why many commercial and government customers require NADCA certification if you want to clean their ducts. So, we’re not going to a halfway good job so that we can beat someone on price.
So, I probably made some folks mad with what I just said here, but it’s important to be honest. Integrity is never compromised here.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I think people are surprised that I’d go from a corporate finance and insurance career to this kind of home services business. I can remember standing in a 130-degree attic this summer with a customer who knew my story, and he said ‘So, this is how you decided to spend your retirement?’ But that’s just the point, I have no interest in retiring. Maybe I’ll change my mind years from now, but I really have a desire to contribute and solve problems for people going through a tough time. I also want to build a business that helps my employees achieve their goals in life and allows them to grow over time. We all win together.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lightspeedrestoration.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lrflowermoundandcoppell/ and https://www.instagram.com/lrnetarrant/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LightspeedRestorationofFlowerMound and https://www.facebook.com/LightspeedRestorationofNortheastTarrant/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-restoration-of-flower-mound-and-coppell/posts/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-restoration-of-northeast-tarrant/
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/lightspeed-restoration-of-flower-mound-and-coppell-carrollton and https://www.yelp.com/biz/lightspeed-restoration-of-northeast-tarrant-roanoke
Image Credits
These were all taken by us.
