 Today in our local business spotlight, we are featuring Pillar To Post Home Inspectors, owned by Kevin Kansaki. Pillar To Post Home Inspectors is the largest home inspection company in North America, with over 500 franchises. Kevin services Riverside County as well as San Bernardino County through his Pillar To Post Home Inspectors franchise. Kevin opened his Pillar To Post franchise in January of this year, however, he has over 27 years in the construction industry which includes Commercial Due Diligence Inspections with Commercial Real Estate Investors. Apart from his many years of experience, he also had to go through Pillar To Post Home Inspectors training course when he started his business to ensure he is providing the level of service Pillar To Post Home Inspectors is known for. In addition, Kevin holds a Bachelors’ degree in Engineering Technology/Construction Management and a MBA (Masters of Business Administration).  One of the things that differentiates Pillar To Post Home Inspectors from the competition is that
they print the inspection report right onsite, meaning the realtor and the home buyer doesn’t even have to wait a day to receive it. This way, the deal can be closed faster and the homebuyer can finally move into their dream home. While most other inspectors use a checklist (that can be up to 75 pages long), Pillar To Post Home Inspector reports print out in a simple, easy to read format they call “Defect Based Reporting”, so the homebuyer can easier understand and can make informed decisions. With every inspection, the homebuyer receives a beautiful home inspection binder, with maintenance tips and over $1,000 in coupons from their partner companies. There are also 3 different packages for you to choose from, as well as convenient 7 days per week scheduling. Apart from being an owner of the Pillar To Post franchise, Kevin is also gives back to an organization called Homes For Heroes. Homes For Heroes was formed after the 9-11 tragedy, as a way to give back to the heroes in our communities. Through that program, Kevin offers 10% off his services to our local heroes including Military (Active, Retired, and Reserves), Police Officers, Firefighters, Teachers, Healthcare workers, and first responders. Aside from all the benefits of being a Pillar To Post franchise, Kevin also brings years of industry experience, as well as his strong ethical standards to his business. He operates on the basis of “treating people the way you want to be treated”. He offers a level of professionalism that is hard to find in this industry, from the clothes he wears, to the vehicle he drives. If you are buying or selling a home, or if you are a realtor looking for your go-to inspector, don’t hesitate to give Kevin a call. He can handle all of your home inspection needs in a timely and professional manner.
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 In our continued small business showcase, we now feature Dependable Garage Doors, owned by Byron Echeverria. With over 25 years’ worth of garage door repair and garage door installation experience, Echeverria has developed a reputation for being among the best local companies around. In fact, during our interview he was fielding calls while we spoke.
What is unique about Dependable Garage Doors is that, unlike other contractors, Echeverria is focused on keeping the company small. Most garage door service companies go the opposite route, trying to expand too fast at once to keep up with demand. However, Echeverria has truly mastered his craft. When he needs a few extra hands, he will bring on his children, now grown, with garage repair skills of their own, but more often than not Echeverria is a one-man show. While this may sound like he is limiting himself, he is busier now more than ever. He services many local communities, including Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Winchester, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, and even has clients as far as Orange County. Of course, this did not just happen overnight. Echeverria has been living in California for many years now. Before moving to Murrieta, CA, he spent about a decade in the San Diego area, honing his craft with many reputable garage door agencies in the area. For about ten years, he was hard at work with many of the big names in the local garage door market. By 2009, he was ready to strike out on his own. Most homeowners may not see it this way (at least not until they have garage door issues), but garage installations and repairs are a true trade, just as being a mechanic or a plumber is. Working with garage doors means dealing with several thousands of pounds of tension, making even the most basic repair a potentially bad day. But Echeverria keeps to a simple enough plan of attack for his business: stay upfront and honest, and be good at what you do. And that is exactly what makes Dependable Garage Doors such a success. One man handles every aspect of the company - Echeverria takes all of his own calls, he handles all of his own work; he even goes so far as to handle the sales end himself as well. When asked why he did not just hire a marketing agency, he explained that at one point, he had. But they did not market his company the way that he had wanted; in fact, the two sides seemed to be in direct opposition with one another. While Echeverria wants to be open and honest about his small workforce, they, instead, tried billing him as a far larger company with many employees who did not even exist. The assumption was that his advertising costs must be high; but instead, he relies on free advertising online. Despite not being a part of many websites, many customers find him through Facebook and Yelp. When asked if he had any regrets or intentions of changing course, Echeverria replied that he was satisfied with how things began, as well as how things have remained. “If I were to try and grow the business larger,” he explained, “I would have higher overhead costs. Higher overhead means charging customers higher pricing. And since now, eight, nine years later everyone is doing garage repairs, I can’t risk charging more.” In a time when more jobs are facing automation, it is refreshing to find someone with that classic American Dream attitude. Echeverria told me that since day one, he has seen to it that his business is essentially run 24/7; in order to live without the safety net of a weekly paycheck, you have to keep the phone ringing, he explained. For a company that is dedicated to operating the way that one would expect, Dependable Garage Doors lives up to its name. A true family owned small business that keeps the middle man out makes Echeverria a true local entrepreneur.  It’s important to know the difference between helpful and harmful insects if you are a gardener and want your hard work to flourish.
Most people know that butterflies and bees are helpful because they pollinate flowers, but not many know that they also keep dangerous pests to keep away from your garden as well. Insects are the most diverse group of organisms. What we know is that 900,000 different kinds of insects are known in the world and it can get frustrating for gardeners when they find their garden has been infested. To remedy this some homeowners may be tempted to kill any insect that they find in their yard, but it would be wise for gardeners to learn the difference between which insects are doing their garden harm and which are actually helping, especially in Temecula, California, where there is a thriving wine country. Killing one bee may not just mean killing the one, but it could cause a ripple effect that can not only do more harm to your garden in the long run, but gardens in the surrounding areas as well,. However, there are certain insects that can be dangerous to animals and plants. Some harmful insects to be on the lookout for include aphids, which suck on the juice of plants, bald-faced hornets, which are aggressive and can sting repeatedly, carpenter ants, which will burrow into wood and cause damage to any wooden structure and homes; locusts, there are a variety of species that can cause damage to plants and crops because of their appetite. Other harmful insects include treehoppers, which can look like leaves and they, like the locusts, have a big appetite and can do a lot of damage to crops and gardens. The red pavement ant will feed on just about anything that they can consume and therefore can easily take over areas with their numbers, and they also have a painful bite. There’s also the grasshopper and caterpillar. Certain grasshoppers can destroy food crops and carry parasites to birds when they get eaten, and many gardeners are aware of this, but several types of caterpillars will feed on any and sometimes all parts of a plant. Some like the tobacco hornworm moth caterpillar can destroy potato and tomato plants entirely. But don’t fret because there are plenty of helpful insects as well which is important since plants depend on certain insects to pollinate and keep other, more harmful ones away, especially in the Temecula area with its growing wineries. Antlion are helpful in that they eat and control the ant population and pollinate flowers. The big dipper firefly eat earthworms, slugs and snails during the larval stage, keeping them from doing growing into full grown pests that can do damage to your plants. Some other helpful insects include garden spiders, dragonflies, blue-winged wasp, which are great because they attack the larvae of Japanese beetles, and of course bees and butterflies because they are the best pollinators. |
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