Remodeling and renovation focus

With construction growing exponentially in Prineville, the need for remodels and cleanup before a real estate listing has become a niche market.

A new business recently got its beginnings in Prineville, and RENOV8, a family owned and operated business, has taken on that market.

RENOV8 was established in August 2021 and primarily provides services for residential remodels. They are licensed as a general and plumbing contractor with plans to build and grow to get more into newer construction as a general contractor. Within the next month, they will be opening up the plumbing side of their business, which will include residential and commercial service in plumbing. Joel Sodorff, one of the partners in the business, is a licensed plumber with eight years of plumbing and pipefitting while in the United States Army and became licensed once he got out of the military.

Jim Kinsey, also a partner, has a background in paving and has been a licensed contractor, as well as a construction crew superintendent for several years.

"Basically, I have been doing construction my whole life," he pointed out.

Jim moved back to Prineville approximately one year ago after doing contract work for the military in Washington state. He was born and raised in Prineville and has enjoyed coming back to the community.

"It's really great, and working out of Seattle and Tacoma, it's just sort of hectic up there. I just wanted to get back here, and it's just so nice," he added.

Jim and Joel worked for a contractor in Redmond for a period of time before they decided to begin their own business.

"We were driving home every day, talking about 'why don't we do this for ourselves?'" Joel explained of their company beginnings.

Rita (Rhoden) Kinsey, Jim's wife, studied for the contractor's license and is the primary owner of the company. Kristi Kinsey, Jim's sister, and fiancé to Joel, is also part owner in the company. She is also a realtor for Coldwell Banker.

"We definitely want to grow the business, but the core of it will always be a family thing," said Joel.

He indicated that they strive to keep things local and purchase locally whenever possible.

"We are big on keeping things local and try to help support other local businesses as much as we can, and we do a lot of work for some of them," he said.

Although Rita holds the contractor's license, she also offers expertise in business management. She has operated and owned her own massage business and worked as a personal trainer for a long period of time. She and Jim have also had some businesses on the side, including a coffee cart.

"I've always been self-employed for the most part," said Rita. "I was really driven to do this, and I saw the need of it in Prineville to have remodels and small fixer upper things for contractors. I really pushed Jim into doing this because that is where his skill set is. He is a great visualist and really creative."

She added that each member of the team brings a different skill set to the business. Rita has a wide network of connections and has a lot of business experience as a sole business owner. Joel and Jim have a combined construction experience in all phases of construction. Kristi has expertise in interior design and offers that dimension to the business.

"What we love to do is go into people's houses where they have no idea what they want to do and let us bring all of our creativity work. She does all our interior design, and she is pretty well-known around here for it and has very good vision," elaborated Joel.

He said that they really enjoy this part of the remodel side of their business.

"All three of us are really creative when it comes to stuff like that. Jim remodeled his and Rita's house, and I had a store at one time when I was in Clatskanie," added Kristi.

"I love to see people happy," she went on to say. "A lot of people don't have the creativity or the eye to see things, and they see something, but they don't see how it can be fixed up. To come in and help them with that--it is really exciting to see their face when it is all done."

Rita indicated that she would also like to be part of the clean-up for real-estate listings. This would include clean-up both inside and outside for real-estate listings.

"We are going after that real-estate punch list, where realtors come in and someone wants to sell their house, but there are these little fixer-up things that need attention before they can get their house on the market," she added.

"One of the big things that we are trying to do, is not just be a company that just does standard remodel work but be creative and do custom work that is unique. Service is also of utmost importance to the RENOV8 team," said Jim.

He added, "One of our biggest things every time we talk to a client is, 'I can't believe you guys actually showed up when you said you were going to show up to give me bid.' If we say we are going to be there, we are going to be there and do our best to get people on our schedule."

Jim noted that there is a lot of construction happening currently, and homeowners are having a hard time getting a contractor out to get a bid on needed construction work. He added that big construction has also taken a lot of workers, and there is a need for services in smaller jobs and remodels.

"That is where we are going to fill in the gap there, and there is a need out there that needs to be filled," he noted.

In the spring, they are planning on expanding their crew to add paving and retaining walls to their services.

 

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