Past and resent with a glimpse into the future: California Renovation is

California Renovation: Bridging the gap between dream and dream home

PHOTOS BY DIANE NICOLE PHOTOGRAPHY There’s no shortage of contractors in Chico, but finding one that’s actually available to work is a different story entirely these days. A confluence of events have created what amounts to a perfect storm in the construction industry, rendering a shrinking supply and exponentially increasing demand with each passing year.

In 2017, the Tubbs Fire destroyed 5,643 structures, pulling contractors south to assist in rebuilding the Napa, Sonoma, and Santa Rosa areas. In 2018 the Carr Fire pulled contractors north to the Redding area to assist in rebuilding 1,604 structures. Three short months later, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history swept through Paradise and its surrounding communities, leveling a staggering 18,804 structures. The disaster not only nearly quadrupled the number of structures in need of rebuilding, but simultaneously displaced 50,000 residents, a large number of which were individuals skilled and employed in the construction industry. Many of them left and never returned. time where we discovered we were less than satisfied with the homes we lived in, encouraging another boom in demand for contractors focused on remodels and renovations. Finally, 2021’s Dixie fire added yet another 1,300 structures to the long list of those needing to be rebuilt. With contractors spread thin throughout Northern California, finding an available one—let alone the right one—couldn’t be a more daunting task. California Renovation owner Kelly Mann believes he has a way to change that for good.

Born and raised in Roseville, Kelly grew up in a family steeped in home renovation. His grandfather owned and operated a furniture store in Shattuck, Illinois, and the inheritance built within those walls allowed Kelly’s father the opportunity to move to Roseville, where he opened his own furniture store in 1962. As carpeting started to take off in the 70s, his father took over another building in town across from Denio’s Market & Swap Meet, and decided to expand the business into carpet sales and service. and outs of both businesses over the years, watching their father build his empire from the ground up. He eventually gifted the carpeting business to his two boys in 1987. After operating the business for nine years, they decided to relocate it next to the original family furniture store, constructing a brand new building and warehouse on the lot the two once played in.

“Earl and I knew the business well.” Kelly recalled, “We expanded to carry vinyl and other flooring options, reached out to builders, and did everything we could to make sure their projects were completed on time with excellent customer service. Our name spread quickly as a result of our attention to detail, and we began receiving referrals from one builder to another. Those referrals built the business, and our audience grew faster than we ever expected.”

Eventually, the brothers decided to incorporate hardwood flooring, traveling to the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association (NOFMA) school in St. Louis to learn all there was to know about hardwoods. They renamed their business

Roseville Floor Center, joined the nationwide Carpet One co-op, brought in tile, and set out to become the top full-service flooring provider in the Roseville area.

As the years went by, Roseville Floor Center grew exponentially, and the brothers’ reputation quickly spread. Though the volume of business grew, they held off on expanding their footprint, declining to open multiple locations around the region. Instead, they scaled internally, hiring more team members to accommodate the evergrowing book of business. The decision proved to be a wise one. When the housing market crashed in 2008, their one location was significantly easier to maintain than the multiple locations many of their competitors had to service. The nimble nature of their business allowed them to pivot and test new opportunities allowing them to not only stay solvent during one of the most difficult economic times in recent history, but to find new ways to grow their business as well.

In 2010, the brothers set out to expand their footprint, traveling around Northern California in search of the perfect location to increase their reach. On a trip north, they happened upon Carpet One in Chico located in the Savemart shopping center on East and Esplanade. The location was owned by Ken Glaziner, an icon in the Chico flooring community, who had spent decades connecting with local businesses and creating a vast network of clients in need of continued flooring products and service. His approach to the business was similar to that of Kelly and Earl, so the two offered him the opportunity to merge with their Roseville outfit. He accepted, and together the community grew even stronger.

By 2013, the housing market was starting to rebound, and contractors were getting back to building. Simultaneously, homeowners who had weathered the storm were looking to renovate their homes, both to modernize its look and increase their long-term equity. Kelly and Earl spotted the trend and decided to increase their offerings once again, identifying countertops as a key element to any kitchen or bathroom remodel. They sourced a wide selection of granite and quartz options to satisfy any taste and opened the doors to their sister business, California Renovation, in Roseville. Partnered with their Carpet One stores, it was the perfect combination to provide customers and contractors alike with the products they needed to complete kitchen or bathroom remodels.

The brothers quickly saw success at the Roseville location and once again looked north to Chico. They found a building for sale at the bottom of the Skyway on Dominic Drive in need of major renovations itself. Though the remodel needed was extensive, the location—perfectly situated at the exit from Chico and entrance to Paradise—was too good to pass up . They purchased the By 2015, the remodel was complete. Kelly, Earl, and Ken relocated Carpet One Chico across town to the new building and opened the second California Renovation location next door. To complete their offerings, they sourced cabinetry as well, making it a one-stop shop for all kitchen and bathroom remodeling needs.

They hadn’t been in the location for more than two years before the first major wildfire broke out in Santa Rosa. Kelly watched the supply of available contractors in the area become strained as many found a well of new construction opportunities to the south. The following year, the Carr fire pulled many of the remaining contractors to the north, before the Camp Fire decimated Paradise and a number of surrounding communities a few short months later. Many of the area’s contractors and skilled laborers lived in Paradise, and the loss of their homes and community was understandably too much to bear. A significant number left Northern California altogether, while those that remained began working to rebuild the town. The strain Kelly noticed in 2017 quickly turned into a full-blown crisis in the supply chain. The number of available contractors had dwindled to such an extent that it was nearly impossible to build or remodel in Chico during the years that followed.

As things began to ease towards the end of 2019, the pandemic complicated matters yet again, and the 2021 Dixie Fire threw yet another unexpected wrench into the industry. Kelly realized the issue was bigger than any one of these individual events, rather, it was the result of a bottleneck caused by decades of mismanagement. Though there were plenty of places you could go to find reviews on various contractors, there wasn’t a local hub that could connect you with an available contractor that was not only highly rated but also well versed in the customer’s project needs. He decided it was time to change that.

Kelly began outlining a software platform that would allow California Renovation to catalog not only local contractors and subcontractors, but also those from a viable distance away. The catalog would turn the

company into a networking hub, connecting those in need of construction work with the contractors who were available to provide it. To further its effectiveness, the software platform would have an internal rating system so clients could rate their experience across a number of different crucial categories. Each rating would increase or decrease the contractor’s trust factor within the company, and with it, their likelihood of being recommended for a job.

“There are tons of general contractors and different subcontractors out there.” Kelly said, “The difficulty is finding one that’s available and right for the job. You could spend weeks using any current platform, calling one contractor after the other in the hopes of just finding one that’s available. Add on the time it takes to schedule and collect bids, make sure they’re right for the job, and procure the necessary materials, and you’ll be ready to give up on the project before it’s even started. People want simplicity. They want to be able to call one place and have quality delivered with as little time spent as possible. We’re working to make sure that’s the new standard for everyone.”

Their new software platform and app will provide just that, and more importantly an opportunity for everyone to get the most out of their remodeling experience. “Most of the problems in any service industry occur as a result of a technical language barrier.” Kelly explained, “By that I mean customers and service providers tend to speak different technical languages. Customers know what they want, but they often have difficulty explaining it in a way contractors will fully understand. Contractors know how to build it, but they often have difficulty conveying things to customers in a way they’ll understand. We understand and speak both sides fluently, and we can make the experience far easier for everyone from the get go by handling that communication. As a result, everyone leaves the project happier and more satisfied with the end product. The platform is a way to make sure everyone prospers. The more contractors we have in the database, the more opportunities we have to refer to jobs. If a customer calls and says they need a specific project completed, we can not only find the perfect contractor for them, but also the one that is soonest available, saving everyone time, money and hassle.” The software platform is nearing completion, and Kelly couldn’t be more excited for what it will soon offer everyone in Northern California. “It truly will be an incredible asset to the construction industry, customers in need of work, and our team at California Renovation. When we exhaust all of our immediate local resources, the platform will allow us to look outside of the city at incremental distances to find the best contractor closest to the project and offer them the job. Doing so will give everyone access to a larger pool of contractors and ease the burden on the construction industry, returning it to a point where everyone is still busy, but wait times are no longer astronomical. Best of all it is completely scalable. When it does what we expect it to do here, we plan on launching it in other markets to help alleviate bottlenecks there as well. ”

Though the addition of California Renovation’s app and software platform is truly something to be excited about, the products and services offered within the showroom are just as noteworthy. They house a large variety of options for any kitchen and bathroom remodel, including granite and quartz countertops, custom and prefabricated cabinetry, and plenty of hardware to personalize your space. Just next door, Carpet One offers more flooring options than you could ever need to tie your entire home together. Beyond the products, California Renovation and Carpet One provide an immense amount of product knowledge and more than 100 years of combined experience in the remodeling industry. They even have inhouse interior designers who can take the burden of making those difficult design decisions off your hands. Best of all, your entire project is handled at one location with one phone number. No need to find the perfect contractor or subcontractors—they’ll manage the entire process for you from start to finish. We’ll give you a minute to finish that sigh of relief.

We could go on—and we will on the next page about their incredible team—but do yourself a favor and stop into their showroom to experience and appreciate California Renovation for yourself. We know you’ll be just as impressed with them as we were.

Carpet One at 2525 Dominic Drive in Chico. They’re open 9am-5pm Monday through Friday, 10am-3pm on Saturday, and closed on Sunday. You can reach them by phone at (530) 343-1661 and gather more information at www.CaliforniaRenovation.com

Kevin Riley

An icon in the Chico flooring community, Kevin Riley has been installing floors throughout Northern California for over 38 years, and there’s a good chance you’ve walked on some of his handiwork.

Kevin opened his first store in 1983 outside of the original Arco Arena in Sacramento, and he quickly saw success with the business. He scaled the company for years, before ultimately deciding he needed a break, sold the business, and moved to Oroville to take a couple years of R&R. As with most early retirees, he didn’t stay inactive for long.

Missing his original calling, he began working with local flooring companies before landing a gigantic deal with Home Depot in 1999, doing all of the flooring installations sold in their stores. The opportunity grew exponentially, and within a few years’ time, he was running 20 crews throughout Northern California, installing the flooring sold at all Home Depot locations in Chico, Red Bluff, Redding, Oroville, Yuba City, Auburn, and Crescent City. During this time, he also completed countless massive flooring installations for Northern California casinos, Round Table Pizzas, and many more. He continued on with Home Depot until 2009, before meeting Kelly Mann. They’ve been working together ever since.

“My specialty is anything that has to do with flooring.” Kevin explained, “I don’t want to sound egotistical, but after 38 years in this business, you better be good at what you do! At this point I’ve done it all and am the answers guy, the inspector, the installer, and the fixer. There isn’t an aspect of flooring I don’t know. When it comes to any flooring remodel, I recommend making sure you get someone who knows what they’re doing— specifically that they aren’t just a salesman but also have experience installing. There’s so much to know when it comes to floor removal, what to put down, and how to install each type of flooring properly. The knowledge usually means the difference between a beautiful installation that’ll last and one that will be a problem within a few short seasons. So much has changed in the flooring industry over the past few years, and there are lots of options out there. Quality luxury vinyl planks (LVP) have come a long way and are an excellent option for families between their waterproofed nature and scratch resistance. They can take a lot of damage, they’re easy to repair, and are often a better choice than hardwood flooring. Give us a call! We’ll be glad to walk you through the options.”

Ken Glaziner

The co-owner and founder of Chico’s original Carpet One, Ken has been in the flooring business for 35 years. He and his brother built the store from the ground up, growing the business to over $5 million within their first year. Eventually they expanded the store to Red Bluff and built an additional two locations in Redding. They eventually merged with Kelly and Earl’s Carpet One out of Roseville in 2010, creating a larger footprint and offering greater resources to residents throughout the area.

Ken’s experience in large-scale commercial flooring has been instrumental in countless major building projects and remodels including many with Enloe Hospital. His knowledge about the industry, construction, and available products has made him an asset throughout Northern California.

“Residential projects take considerable skill, but commercial projects are a different ballgame altogether.” Ken said, “We’re lucky to have so many incredible individuals here who not only know how to do both, but have decades of experience in executing projects perfectly.”

Michael Dreher

Michael is one of the flooring specialists at California Renovation, and the term isn’t used loosely. “My buddy needed help installing JCPenney’s flooring when it first opened in Chico and reached out to me for help.” Michael remembered, “It was my first big project, and I actually really enjoyed the work. I had a commercial cleaning business at the time, but found a different level of satisfaction doing flooring, so I got my contractor’s license and have been doing it for nearly 20 years now.”

Michael shifted gears within that 20 year span and dove into commercial sales. He met Ken Glaziner along the way as Carpet One was located a few doors down from where his daughter attended kindergarten. He asked if Ken needed help, and the rest was history. The two have worked together ever since. When Ken’s Carpet One in Chico merged with Kelly’s in Roseville, Michael was glad to go along for the ride.

“Most folks don’t have a good understanding when it comes to flooring.” Michael said, “And how could they? It’s a gigantic industry. We make sure each person here specializes in the area they actually know rather than having people who float through each category and know a little about each. The more balls you have in the air, the more chances you have at dropping them, and truly specializing makes sure we don’t run into that issue. We’re huge on customer service and make sure that our customers are educated every step of the way. In fact, we recommend they talk to other companies and see what they have to say. They’re often surprised at the difference in level of detail that they find between stores when they know what to ask.”

Brenda Groteguth

Originally from Lodi, Brenda moved to Chico after her last daughter enrolled in junior college. Her husband received a great job offer in Chico, and she discovered California Renovation, the perfect place for her to put her background in interior design to work. Brenda is now the project manager of kitchen and bathroom design at the Chico office and has been working with the team at California Renovation since July 2020. With her expertise in sales and project management, she is the ideal person to lead customers through their project’s design from start to finish.

“I spend about ⅓ of my time working on design and the rest on project management.” Brenda said, “75% of my work is in kitchen and bathroom remodeling, and we do a ton of projects each month. I always recommend that customers stop into our showroom first and have a look around to see the variety of materials we offer. Get some inspiration and ideas by looking online at the usual suspects—Pinterest, Instagram, Houzz, etc.—then call one of us and book a consultation at home. We do just about everything here and have the option to do custom as well as prefabricated, which makes a huge difference when it comes to creating a unique identity for any space. We love working with clients to hone their design, both in looks and budget, and find a way to make their space exactly what they always dreamed it would be.”

Kim Green

Originally from the East Bay, Kim graduated from Chico State with a B.A. in interior architecture. Her design mentor, Gwen Lauridson, who works for Interface Carpeting in Sacramento, helped her along the way and got her connected in the industry. She started working at California Renovation in Chico this past November and has been growing with the company ever since.

“I’ve been so lucky to have had incredible mentors throughout my time in interior design and architecture.” Kim said, “Gwen taught me so much, and I had the opportunity to train with Kevin Riley, who is a guru of flooring in Northern California. Now, I get to work with Brenda who is so experienced and knowledgeable in interior design—it really is the perfect fit. I love talking with clients, going out to measures, and bringing new youthful faces into the business. I couldn’t ask for a better place to work!”

Kevin, Ken, Michael, Brenda, and Kim are just a sampling of the many individuals that make California Renovation and Carpet One Chico the powerhouse that they are. They’re always looking to bring talented, customerfocused professionals into the fold to grow their business and offer the best level of service possible throughout Northern California. If you’re interested in working with them, call (530) 343-1661 or stop by with your résumé to set up an interview!