Talking TOP 500

Patrick O'Toole and Tim Musch talk with Jason Couto of Couto Construction in New Bedford, Mass. in Episode No. 13 of the Talking TOP 500 podcast.  Jason learned the business from his father, who was a Portuguese immigrant to the United States and who founded the company when Jason was very young. Since taking over the firm in 2008, Jason has grown the company to over $20 million in revenue and com...

In Episode No. 12 of the Talking TOP 500 podcast, we speak with a couple who is widely admired in the home improvement industry. They are Emily and Kevin Lindus, owners of Lindus Construction in Baldwin, Wisconsin. They started the company in 1981 out of their kitchen and last year the company generated $43.2 million in revenue on gutters, decks and a number of other home improvements. A few years...

Episode No. 11 features a conversation with one of the rising startsin home improvement, Rich Begalla,executive vice president of Window Depot's national network of 82 dealers. He's also the owner and managerof one of those 82 branches—Window Depot of Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. In 2022 the Window Depot network was ranked No. 17 on the Qualified Remodeler TOP 500 list, posting$127.7 m...

Charlie Gindele is a hugely successful home improvement entrepreneur who, in 2019, sold Renewal by Anderson of Orange County—to Renewal by Andersen corporation. It was the capstone to a 38-year career in the industry. After the sale Gindele agreed to continue as general manager of the business until the end of 2021, when he retired and wrote a business book to help younger home improvement entrepr...

Brian Gottlieb is widely regarded as one of the most innovative entrepreneurs in home improvement today. Starting from scratch he built the three businesses to approximately $150 million in revenue and 800 employees. He is founder of Tundraland Home Improvement, Renewal by Andersen of Wisconsin, and Jacuzzi Bath Remodel of Arizona. Jacuzzi Corporation acquired his Arizona business in 2021. Leaf Ho...

The spring home-show season is here. All around the country, remodelers and home improvement pros are preparing to exhibit at one or more of these popular local consumer events. For many remodelers, home shows are their bread and butter. The leads generated at these events can make-or-break their year, or, at the very least, put them on the path toward a successful year. For others, home shows are...

The job of creating a consistent flow of quality leads is not for the feint-of-heart. Home improvement company owners typically shoulder this task themselves, sharing responsibility with a marketing associate. Many of the largest home improvement companies today are big enough to require the services of a true chief marketing officer. One of the best in the business in that role is Dawn Dewey, sen...

Chris Counahan is the chief sales officer of Leaf Home , the No. 2 company on Qualified Remodeler's annual ranking of the industry's largest remodelers and home improvement firms— the TOP 500 . In 2021 Leaf Home hit $1.43 billion in revenue on a staggering 337,340 jobs. Our conversation with Counahan offered a mix of Leaf Home history along with present-day opportunities and challenges. He also sp...

B.J. Werzyn is the CEO and founder of West Shore Home, which was ranked No. 7 on the TOP 500 last year. That ranking was based on 2021 installed revenue of $659.8 million on 57,572 jobs, up from approximately $40 million in 2018. Today the company operates in 35 markets and has 3,000 employees in several regions around the country. In his Talking TOP 500 interview with co-hosts Patrick O'Toole and...

For over three decades, Vince Nardo and his brother Anthony have run the family-owned cabinet refacing business based in Anaheim, California. During that time, they've grown the firm dynamically. Today the firm operates six branches in California, Nevada and Arizona and is ranked No. 24 on Qualified Remodeler's ranking of the largest 500 remodelers. Last year they billed $86.1 million on 6,305 job...

Talking TOP 500 catches up with Scott Berman, owner of Florida Window & Door based in Lake Worth, Fla. Berman's firm is among the largest independent operators in the nation. With six locations in the Sunshine State, his firm will bill over $100 million this year. Much of the company's growth has come in since 2015 but Berman's success has been years in the making. He started in the business in th...

In 2021, Bob Quillen sold Quillen Brothers Windows of Bryan, Ohio to Leaf Home. It was the culmination of years of hard work to develop rock solid systems and processes. Quillen is known for operating his business at very high levels of net profit. UPDATE: Bob Quillen had been scheduled to speak at TOP 500 LIVE in Columbus, Oct. 18-19 but had cancel. We will be sure to have him back. Enjoy our con...

On this episode of Talking TOP 500, Patrick O'Toole and Tim Musch chat with Amy Zimmerman (CMO Leaf Home | Tundraland Home Improvements) about the latest trends in lead generation for home improvement companies. Zimmerman previews her TOP 500 LIVE panel discussion featuring four All-Star marketers who will present their top lead-gen trends in-person Oct. 18-19, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio. The impact o...

Patrick O'Toole and Tim Musch Kick off the brand new Podcast from Qualified Remodeler Magazine: Talking TOP 500!