Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Delaware County, PA (Delco"") and the surrounding Philadelphia Metro Region.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
The Real Work Of A General Contractor
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The Real Work Of A General Contractor
A great remodel is not magic, it is management, craft, and trust working together, and it's the subject of this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast when host Bob Blaisse sits down with Eric Schreiber, founder of Schreiber Construction LLC, to unpack what homeowners rarely see: the planning and coordination that turns a demolition into a clean, finished kitchen, bathroom, basement, or new home construction or an addition into new living space.
Listen as Eric shares how graduating from Williamson College of the Trades shaped his standards and work ethic, and why disciplined training still matters when you are matching finishes in older homes or trying to keep a multi-trade job on track. Eric shares what it means to operate as a true general contractor in Delaware County, Pennsylvania and beyond, including how a general contractor builds relationships with master electricians, master plumbers, HVAC techs and other specialty contractors so the right pros show up at the right time.
In this episode, you'll also hear Bob ask Eric the timeless homeowner concerns about permitting and zoning, insurance, background checks, scheduling dependencies and the real reasons construction projects often run behind. Whether you're planning a home remodeling project in Delco, researching kitchen remodel and bathroom renovation options, or considering a home addition for multigenerational living, this conversation will help you ask smarter questions before you hire a general contractor like Eric Schreiber of Schreiber Construction, LLC.
If you enjoy the show, subscribe, share this episode with a neighbor and leave a quick review so more local businesses and homeowners can find us.
Schreiber Construction, LLC
610-809-0551
RemodelSchreiber.com
facebook.com/schreiberconstruction
--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond... The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.
Welcome To The Good Neighbor Podcast
SPEAKER_00Hello, Devil Cumber. This is Michael Varkan. Welcoming you to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host, Bob Lacey.
SPEAKER_01Everybody, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Thank you, Michael Barcan. Bob Lacey is my name, and we're coming to you from Delaware County, Pennsylvania, here in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, lovingly referred to as Delco. And our podcast is called the Good Neighbor Podcast, Delco and Beyond. Our purpose is to bring you good neighbor businesses that we learn about. They're nominated often, and sometimes we find them. And we want to talk about them because here they are in our community serving Delaware County, Pennsylvania residents, and also outside of Delaware County in our collar counties, such as Chester County, Pennsylvania, and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, the city of Philadelphia, even crossing the line to the south, the state of Delaware, and also to the east, even over into New Jersey
Meet Eric Schreiber Of Schreiber Construction
SPEAKER_01sometimes. So today we have as our guest, the owner, the founder, really the name behind the business, uh Mr. Eric Schreiber of Schreiber Construction. Eric, welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
SPEAKER_02Hey, Bob, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01Well, Eric, we were looking forward to this nomination, this effort to have a contractor on the program because we've had them in the past, but this one's a little bit different because, first of all, I'm told you're all Delco, as I hear. And we're going to hear that a little bit in Eric's accent, I think. We get accused, you know, Eric, of our Delco accent sometime. I have it, you'll have it. But really, what we want to do is really get out the fact that we have a business owner here who has been trained in what is now a college to be able to be um kind of a trained contractor.
Williamson College And Trade Discipline
SPEAKER_01And is that true, Eric? What I heard that you actually are a graduate of the Williamson Trade School.
SPEAKER_02That is correct. Uh graduated back in 2013, 1w3, as they say, is how they dictate their graduation years. And I did go for masonry, so it's kind of how I got into building.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I worked with my dad a little bit, and well, let's talk about Williamson if we can for a moment, because although people are listening that in Delarick County, Williamson is a kind of a well-known institution, it's a trade school that was formed in its earliest years. I mean, we're talking probably almost 100 years ago for uh fatherless boys who needed to learn a trade. And so these were tradesmen who were coming together to build this little institution to help create um you know tradesmen for the future, correct? Is that the kind of the earliest history of Williamson?
SPEAKER_02That's right. Uh back 1888 is is the first year they started, and they've been going strong ever since.
SPEAKER_01They're still around and now known as Williamson College, right? I mean, it's you can go through Williamson and get a get a college degree as much as you can get a trade, pick a trade, and and um you know it's from what I've heard, I'd like to know there's a rumor about Williamson that um there's pretty tough discipline, and uh they don't want any messing around. And you could you could blow up it's it's a free scholarship, right? When when kids get to be able to be accepted in that school, you could blow it up in a day with talking the wrong way to the wrong professor.
SPEAKER_02That's correct. Uh 100% free. Uh you know, walking on the grass will get your points, and the points will get you kicked out of school.
SPEAKER_01So let's talk about the good part because what Williamson Trade Schools, it used to be known, I think it's now known as Williamson College, does is turn out tradesmen every year, and they're seated in the different uh you know unions in our area and working as independent um uh businessmen, you know, in all trades, plumbing, electric, you know, masonry and and metals and such. Eric, your uh field of study started really, as you said, masonry, but in the years that followed your graduation, you kind of uh evolved into really being a tradesman of many types of uh construction work, right? And you formed your own company. When did that happen?
From Masonry To Owning The Business
SPEAKER_02That's right. So I graduated in 2013 and I formed my company one year after that.
SPEAKER_01So ever since you've been a tradesman, but you didn't go the union route as much as you went the self-employment route.
SPEAKER_02That's correct. So we got started doing foundations, and customers just couldn't find the right people to hire. And my background's in carpentry from nine years old, so you know, taking that masonry background, the carpentry background, I was able to kind of build a full ground-up construction additions and homes.
SPEAKER_01Well, now it's so we have people imagining what is Schreiber construction and and who is this Eric Schreiber who is the owner. People could imagine, because we all know good handymen, we know good tradesmen, we know man in a van pulls up and he gets the work done and leaves, and we're happy we know him to come in and do different work, and ladies too. But Eric, let's really try to get this deeper so that um our listeners, and by the way, listeners, if you'd like to be able to kind of follow along with us, if you'd like to go to Eric's website, here's a hint what we're going to be talking about. His website is remodelsriber.com. So the word remodel, and then his last name, S-C-H-R-E-I-B-E-R dot com. Remodelsriber.com is the website for Schreiber Construction L L C. Eric, on that website, I was surprised because it's it's kind of like uh it's kind of like not just uh things that maybe we might try to do ourselves but shun it, like finish our basement or or you know, make a deck, but you're actually doing uh everything around even uh new construction and and and putting additions onto houses. And once you talk that, you're talking about a lot of things like uh permitting zoning issues. We're talking about uh electric and then masonry and and and you know all kinds of uh issues. Is it is it what I'm seeing? Are you you're not doing this just yourself? How big is triber construction?
What A General Contractor Really Manages
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so actually we work as the GC on a lot of these projects. So when you think of GC, you know, we have relationships with master electricians, master plumbers, you know, HVAC technicians that you know we're not only doing it ourselves, we're bringing in all the pros. And that's I think a lot of people have a misconception of I'm gonna hire Schreiber construction and he's gonna do everything. But truth of the matter is, one person can't do everything, and that's why we bring in these professionals to you know get that job done in in a timely manner. And and like you said, I mean the permitting, the the requirements that are set forward in some of these districts that we work in, and and like you mentioned, it's it could it could range from New Jersey all the way up to where we are where we're at in Delco.
SPEAKER_01So I So what we I think what we're hearing here, and this is this is opening up the eyes to I think a lot of listeners, that when a contractor could be a general contractor who then because of the job, the nature of the job, needs to bring in other contractors that really have maybe even finer specialties or more um manpower, more heavy equipment, or all of those things. Exactly. What we're really seeing here, Eric, is that as a general contractor, you're able to kind of bring in the work to get the job done. You can take the the overall responsibility of the whole project for your customer, and then you manage where are the talent, what skills, what equipment, and uh how long is it going to take, and how do we get everybody to work on the days that they're supposed to, how soon can this job be over? Taking really a whole overarching responsibility for the whole job, right?
SPEAKER_02That's right. And I I think it's you know, that's kind of where we stand out is you know a lot of people don't realize how much this takes, and and I think you know, once you once you oversee that type of work for so many years as I have, I believe, you know, our our work will kind of speak for itself, and the fact that you know when that job's done, all the you know, trim work is straight and the floorings level, and you know, are even even down to the paint, right? I mean, paint seems easy, but it's sort of a specialty when you're dealing with new products, old products, trying to match additions and the older homes. And you know, I th I think that's where we strive. And when when I say I I bring in the pros, you know, I I got a lot of experience, but right.
SPEAKER_01I think you're being humble here. I think you are being a humble guy. We're talking to uh Eric Schreiber, who is the owner of Schreiber Construction LLC. Eric, what I'm hearing is that someone company has to take responsibility for what is a very large job. You're going into someone's house, you're gonna dismantle the kitchen, you're gonna take rooms out, you're gonna put all kinds of new things in, a new bathroom or whatever. That's a lot of man hours, a lot of work, a lot of talent, a lot of skill that has to happen, but it's happening inside someone's home and it needs to get done right. It sounds to me like you're looking at this from a perspective of how you would want to have the work done. That comes first from your training at Williamson Trade School in those days, Williamson College now. Eric uh Schreiber is looking at this project, knowing what his customer wants, and then uh what he would want really on the job. But then more importantly, you're bringing in workers that might not work for you full-time, you're bringing in contractors, they have a responsibility to you, not just that homeowner, do the job right. So, Eric, when you look at these contractors, these are people you've worked with and you bring in to the job. If you need an electrician or you need a stone person specialty or a you know, put down a certain kind of flooring, you bring in that contractor who you've worked with in the
Vetting Pros And Keeping Projects On Schedule
SPEAKER_01past.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So we vet we vet our contractor strictly, all of our contractors are insured, you know, they're licensed just like we have to be. And we do background checks, and you know, we we have to make sure we're bringing in people that are gonna kind of have the same view on this project as we have, and right taking taking that responsibility off the homeowner to to go find a flooring guy or go find that electrician who may not even have the availability, but since we work with them, you know, not exclusively, but you know, we we have kind of priority scheduling with a lot of these contractors, and that that's how we're able to kind of get the job done on schedule.
SPEAKER_01Because projects really, uh by nature of what they are, something has to happen before something else is gonna be able to happen. And so your role as the as the GC, as a general contractor, really you have to have a broad, overarching knowledge of many of the fields that need to get done. You're gonna kind of put the puzzle together with the right puzzle pieces and the people who know to do um and know how to work certain parts of the puzzle. It's amazing because I don't think unless someone has put an addition on their house or uh something big, you know, a new bathroom, they've really never seen um just how complicated it can be from demolition to you know closing the door and saying, look at that beautiful new bathroom, it's finished. But you know, the the many, many different things that go into it, not the least of which is making sure the permits are there and the insurance is there in case something goes wrong. And the workers that are coming in your house are credible and honest, and you don't have to worry about who's pulling up with the general contractor. So Eric Schreiber here, the owner of Schreiber Construction, is sharing with us how really a general contractor works and how important it is if you're going to be doing work and having work done
New Homes Additions And Why Families Stay Put
SPEAKER_01at your house. Now, Eric, let's talk about that for a minute because the kind of jobs that it seems to me that your uh your company is not a handyman company, it's a contracting company, it's a construction company, and it's doing things uh for homeowners here in Delaware County that include anything from you know, even fully remodeling a kitchen or a bathroom to putting on a home addition or and and would it even include building a new home? Do you actually go that route sometimes and actually become the GC of actually building or kind of remodeling the whole entire home?
SPEAKER_02That is that is what we do. So a lot of what we're doing now, right, as as we progress, and you know, we're building new homes, ground up construction. So we're taking all of our knowledge from when we first started back in 2013 and doing the bathroom remodels and then building the ensuite for the master room. And and and as we progress, we kind of now are building, you know, our next house is 5,000 square feet, and and you know, we we kind of see ourselves just growing in in the you know, building space, new construction, larger additions. A lot of people are not moving, they're they're moving their parents in. So that that's kind of where we're trying to focus at. And uh I think we're doing a good job.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, they're not they're certainly not small jobs, uh, they're they're good jobs to have. And and you did you I hear you say it was how how many years? 18 years you've been in business?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, 2013, so not quite 18, about 15 years.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, that's a long time um to be self-employed. Uh, you would not be in business that long without being uh extraordinarily successful and competent at what you do. It makes sense. We're hearing um how much sense it makes. If you're looking for quality renovation and some kind of a building done on your property, whether it's a smaller job or a larger job, but certainly if you're someone that's bought a house that you want to kind of completely remodel it for a flip, or you want to build a house because you have land to build it on. If you're in the Delaware County area, the specialty area of Triber construction is the area that is um, you know, everywhere from uh more north and like the main line ish, Gladwin, Villanova, Radner, Berwin area, down through Delaware County, you know, heading down into into all across Broomall and heading into you know Garnet Valley and Chadsford, but even crossing the state lines, if needed, um, triber constructions there for you in those many different services, whether it's new construction or plumbing, even flooring, you know, basins getting finished and bathrooms being remodeled. You're dealing with a person who has been uh well trained at Williamson, the the institution that everybody in Delaware County knows because of its uh more than 100 years, uh almost now what it's almost 150 years of training quality tradesmen. And we have one in Eric Schreiber, who's been uh graduated and in business working for himself and bringing his team together at Schreiber Construction L
How To Reach Eric And Nominate
SPEAKER_01L C. The phone number, if you want to talk to Eric Schreiber himself, is 610-809-0551. And as I mentioned, you can uh take a look at his website at remodelsriber.com. And that's remodel s-c-h-r-e-i-b-e-r dot com. Eric, I have to say, first of all, thank you in a way to your service, not for the military, but thank you for your service to the residents of Delaware County and beyond, because we all know we all have a fear of really sometimes hiring a contractor who is not honest and isn't dependable and really isn't talented. But it's very obvious from the nomination for the Good Neighbor Podcast and from uh your website and even just from your conversation here on the Good Neighbor Podcast, a lot of talent. And there's a lot there with your company, Shriber Construction. I want to thank you for being a guest here on the Good Neighbor Podcast. It's been great to get to know you. And I think I think I have a deck that needs to be built. I might be in touch with you myself, Eric. Thanks for being a guest here on the Good Neighbor Podcast.
SPEAKER_02I appreciate that, Bob. Uh, thanks for having me, and it's it's been great.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan, inviting everyone to get on the Good Neighbor team. Nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to gntdoubleco.com or by fumbling button at 6107 3745.