Contractor Q&A

PRO Q&A

Every Deck Has Its Day

Chris Wolf launched Wisconsin’s Deck Dogs LLC because more of his existing clients wanted decks. By October, he had already built 63 decks. Now Wolf is battling the labor shortage one young pup at a time.

Q. How did you get started in the decking industry?

A. I co-founded 2 Dogs Construction LLC in January 2009 after working for a concrete company for many years and then a construction company for a few years. 2 Dogs Construction’s business was primarily remodeling and building residential homes.

After about five years, more and more clients started wanting us to build screen rooms, three- and four-season rooms, and decks. We found ourselves building more decks and screen rooms than remodels in the spring, summer, and fall months. We continued to do remodeling during the winter months.

Q. How did Deck Dogs get started? How did you come up with the name?

A. After a year of pretty much nothing but building decks as 2 Dogs Construction, LLC, we decided to create a trademark company, which then became Deck Dogs LLC to dual-brand ourselves in the construction industry. Ever since Deck Dogs LLC was established, we have been strictly building outdoor living spaces for clients. Now, we are building decks all year long with the help of great decking and railing products that allow us to install during the cold Midwest months of the year.

The name was derived from our parent company, 2 Dogs Construction LLC. We wanted to keep the name sort of the same, but simple, so we decided upon Deck Dogs. The “dogs” part of each company came from myself and my oldest brother, Lenny Wolf. We both, at the time, each had a Great Dane puppy, hence “2 Dogs.” And the “Deck” part is self-explanatory.

Deck Dogs LLC

Specialty: Custom deck building Founder/President: Chris Wolf Year Founded: 2009 Website: deckdogsllc.com Instagram: @deckdogsllc Facebook: Facebook.com/@deckdogsllc YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/ UCNQSKHPUQF3ddCyMBC0zfYg

Chris Wolf

Q. What makes Deck Dogs truly unique?

A. We do not focus our business model on certain sizes of decks or certain locations, within reasonable distance of our service area. We have established ourselves like a well-oiled machine from the first meeting with the client, to the install, to the finishing touches. We take pride in every job that we do, no matter the size.

We also enlist the help of high school kids to work in the summer months to learn the trade and make some money for themselves. We find that not many companies like ours give high

BARKING UP THE

RIGHT TREE: Wolf looks at each project as a blank canvas and draws a lot of his inspirations from magazines and social media.

school kids the ability to grow their knowledge and skills of basic construction. We teach them every aspect of the deck from footings, framing, decking, to railing. They get the whole nine yards.

Q. What are some challenges your business faces and how do you manage those complications?

A. The biggest challenge over the past two years has been finding good quality workers who want to learn the trade. We had been experiencing this challenge before COVID, but now it is an even greater challenge. We have posted hiring ads on Instagram, Facebook, and Nextdoor to try to obtain more workers, but, as we are seeing with a lot of companies, there are jobs needed all over the place.

With this issue comes the issue of a smaller crew. We like to hire high school kids, when on summer break, to help them learn the trade, if that is what they want to do, and to earn some money. You have to pay to get good help and that is what we try to do—pay a wage that is attractive, yet sustainable for a smaller company. The labor shortage, in our area for sure, is an ongoing issue for everyone right now.

Q. What advice can you give aspiring builders or those just getting started?

A. The biggest piece of advice that we can give aspiring builders or those just getting started is do not fall into the trap of a lot of overhead right in the beginning. Use the resources that you already have, i.e., your own vehicle, tools, office equipment, etc.

We started 2 Dogs Construction LLC in the midst of the financial bubble burst, so we took advantage of what we had already because we saw a lot of good quality companies go under due to more overhead than they could manage. Take it one day at a time and think through every decision that you make.

Q. Where do you draw inspiration from for your deck builds?

A. The inspiration for our deck builds comes from our clients, magazines, social media, etc. We do not focus on one place for our inspiration. We let our clients tell us what they are looking for and we go from there. It is a blank canvas for each client we meet with.

Q. What new design trends or products have you noticed that you’re working into your outdoor living builds?

A. We try our best to keep up on the newest design trends and products out there, but being a small company, this can be a challenge.

In our area, most families are looking for sleek, traditional, easy-maintenance decks and nothing that looks out of place for their neighborhood or that will break the bank. We always try to introduce some out-of-the-ordinary options for clients, but it all depends on their tastes.

Q. What do you look for in products and in companies that you choose to partner with?

A. When we are looking to add a product and/ or company to our product offerings, the number one thing we look for is customer service. If you do not have good customer service, how can you have

USING ELITE products from companies like Deckorators and United Forest Products, Wolf measures each project by how the homeowner feels about the process from start to finish.

a good quality product?

After customer service, we look at production locations, cost (must be affordable for all customers), warranties, lines (multiple lines for all clients and budgets), colors (the more colors, variegated colors, the better), and added extras (multi-width boards, etc.).

The products must be well made and something that we would install on our own homes, because if we wouldn’t want the products on our house, why would we push to sell it for another person’s house?

We have been fortunate to be able to establish a great relationship with Premier Cooperative in Mt. Horeb, WI.; United Forest Products in Janesville, WI.; and Deckorators, to be able to get good, quality products relatively fast.

Even during the worst times of the pandemic, we were able to get materials shipped from other yards, from other states, to complete our orders. These are the types of things we look for when deciding to partner with a company.

Q. How do you measure success for each project and the Deck Dogs business overall?

A. The way we measure success for each project is how the homeowner feels about the process from start to finish. If they are happy with

START ’EM YOUNG. Wolf is no stranger to the labor shortage and finds it important to introduce students to the industry at high school age (left) and he’s even starting with his own kids (right).

the sales, bidding, construction, and finishing, then that’s a sign of true success!

It isn’t about the money; it’s about how we interact with our customers and the final product that we create for them to enjoy for many years to come. We pride ourselves on customer service and that shows by getting repeat customers or having referrals. There’s a sign of success.

Q. What project or accomplishments are you especially proud of?

A. I am especially proud of our crew(s) and what we have accomplished this year. We installed 63 decks by October 1! We have been able to come up with innovative ways to make the installation of our decks easier and more efficient and our workers have had a hand in doing so.

As of November 1, our Pro Summit 2022 rank is 8. We are especially proud of that accomplishment as we run a small crew most of the year. Again, our strong partnerships have made this possible for us.

Q. What does the future look like for Deck Dogs?

A. Ahhhh, the future. What I see for the future of Deck Dogs is for us to keep doing what we do best: creating quality outdoor deck spaces using quality materials so families can enjoy them for many years to come. We are hoping to add to our workforce, but as I mentioned earlier, that is a challenge.

More importantly, we want to maintain our relationships—with Premier Cooperative, United Forest Products, and Deckorators. Maintaining these relationships gets passed onto our customers by us providing them with a great product that we can back 100%.