Ep # 165 - Building Trust: A Woman Leading Construction

You can feel the difference when a builder actually calls back. We sit down with Kristie Veri, owner of Cleanscape Construction in Bergen County, to unpack how a childhood love of building turned into a woman-led firm known for responsiveness, craftsmanship, and real accountability. Launching in 2008 during the housing crash, Kristie doubled down on credibility—partnering with lenders and insurers, tightening process, and proving that transparency and communication turn first-time clients into long-term advocates.

We dig into the realities homeowners face today: ghosted inquiries, slippery scopes, and the anxiety of turning inspiration into a plan. Kristie explains the systems Cleanscape uses to set clear expectations, align budgets with design, and prevent last-minute surprises. From bathrooms and kitchens to garage-to-mud room transformations and full additions, she breaks down when a project needs a designer, how to leverage in-house showroom support, and why early selections keep timelines and costs on track. If you’ve saved Pinterest boards for years but don’t know your first step, this conversation gives you a practical roadmap.

Kristie also shares how leadership and learning fuel better builds. Through the National Association of Home Builders and Professional Women in Building, she mentors and learns alongside peers, helping elevate standards across New Jersey. That network keeps her team current on codes, financing requirements, and best practices that directly improve client outcomes. Along the way, we surface simple vetting tips: confirm insurance and licensing, ask about lender experience, and make sure responsiveness is non-negotiable.

Ready to turn a vision into a space you love? Press play, then connect with Cleanscape Construction on Instagram at ccc_builder or by phone at 201-440-0525. If this conversation helped you, follow the show, share it with a neighbor, and leave a review with the project you’re dreaming about next.

Cleanscape Construction
Kristie Veri
P.O Box
#103 Montvale NJ
(201)440-0525
ccc@cleanscapecorp.com
cleanscapecc.com

Transcript

Restart And Guest Introduction

Intro/Close 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Doug Drohan.

Doug Drohan 0:10

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, brought to you by the Bergen Neighbors Media Group. I am your host, Doug Drohan. Today we have a very special guest. It's you know, you I've met a lot of different contractors and home builders, uh, and I've met a lot of female business owners, but I don't think I've met a female business owner who is running a construction company. So Kristie Veri is the owner of Cleanscape Construction based in Bergen County. I want to welcome you to the show. Can you hear me?

Speaker 2 0:46

Can you hear me? You can't hear me.

Kristie Veri 0:53

Oh I can. Yes, now I can. Hi.

Doug Drohan 0:57

Hey, how are you?

Kristie Veri 0:59

How are you?

Doug Drohan 1:00

I'll tell you what, let's start that over, okay? I'm gonna start it over.

Kristie Veri 1:03

Yeah, I don't know what happened. It just started to freeze. I don't know why.

Doug Drohan 1:06

Yeah, I don't know. Alright, I'm gonna start over with the music and then I'll do the introduction again. Here we go. Let's see, where are we?

Speaker 1 1:14

Where at one I'm gonna wait till I get to 125 then for editing purposes.

Intro/Close 1:24

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Doug Brohan.

Kristie's Path Into Construction

Doug Drohan 1:35

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, brought to you by the Bergen Neighbors Media Group. Today we have a very special guest. It's uh it's I don't want to say it's rare, but I've I'd say the majority of of business owners that I interview on the show are women, you know, women-owned businesses, and I've interviewed a few construction and and uh you know contracting businesses, but I don't think I've ever merged the two where we have a female business owner who runs a construction company, and that's who Kristie Veri Kristie Veri is the owner of Queenscape Construction, based in Bergen County, New Jersey. Kristie, welcome to the show.

Kristie Veri 2:12

Hi, thank you so much. Excited to be here.

Doug Drohan 2:15

Yeah, so you know, we're gonna get into your whole story. Um, I'd love to know, you know, is it something like how did you get into uh, you know, construction? I guess. Was it something that your family did? Was it something that you, you know, had a passion for early on, or is it something you just kind of fell into?

Kristie Veri 2:34

Believe it or not, it's something that I've always absolutely loved. I, as a child, I played with Legos. I I absolutely loved the construction world. Um I did not initially go into the construction world. I went to college, got a degree as a school psychologist, and in graduate school, I met my husband. He's a third-generation contractor, and my dreams merged and came true. And I was able to dive into the construction field, uh, got some hands-on experience, and we opened our company back in 2008.

Launching In The 2008 Downturn

Doug Drohan 3:12

Okay, oh wow. So, you know, a perfect time on a business when uh the economic uh great recession was just starting and home prices were dropping and uh plummeting, not even dropping. So uh, but with that said, uh if you had cash, it was actually a good time to be, I I think, uh, in the real estate business because there was a lot of buying opportunities and um, you know, you can get things uh relatively cheap, certainly compared to today. So what like what did you experience in in 2008? Like obviously that's you didn't expect the uh the the bottom to drop out in the markets, but it did. Like, did you think we shouldn't be doing this? Maybe we should stop and wait.

Kristie Veri 3:58

So we um we experienced that as well as that was a time when there were so many contractors. Uh contractors really had a terrible name. Um, pretty much anybody could be a contractor, and so we were experiencing two different things. We were experiencing both the economy as well as trying to really get ourselves a very comfortable, you know, audience um clientele based on this, you know, terrible contractor. Um, social media was really starting to pick up, people were able to share. And so, you know, we just really trade stayed true to ourselves. It was something that we both really loved so much. And so we navigated it. We started really working with insurance companies, the construction end of insurance companies. We started really connecting with other business to business. We started working with lenders. So we were doing the construction end of it, but we were working to create credibility within different businesses to establish ourselves. Because, you know, in the construction field, you don't have to have, you know, my background is degrees. I have, you know, college degrees. And so college degrees give you that credibility. And so I wanted to try to apply that to the construction world where yes, referrals are important, but there's got to be some other credibility parts to give yourself some sort of a foundation, like these guys are legit, they know what they're doing, they have the right insurances, that kind of stuff.

Contractor Reputation And Callbacks

Doug Drohan 5:36

Right, right. So, you know, it's funny you said that about back in 2008, there were so many construction and contractors, and they got a bad name. I feel like it's it's been that way recently because there's so many stories of people you call that never call you back. Or um, I mean, I'm always amazed at how many um contractors I've called over the years to come out for a quote, and either they don't call you back or they come out and then you never hear from them again. But the worst case scenario, which thankfully has never happened to me, is they take your money and then they disappear. And I feel like because the, you know, ever since the pandemic, when you know, people were renovating their homes and buying new homes and moving from the city or from Hudson County up to Bergen County, northern Bergen County, it's just been too easy to get work. Like they don't really have to do much to get work. And I think it makes a lot of them, it it it uh tracks maybe the wrong kind of crowd, and uh the quality can be um, you know, dubious to say the least. So I don't know if you're seeing that now, but I feel as a homeowner that we're back in that spot and that you know, like they talk about market corrections. Um, you know, maybe there needs to be a market correction to weed out these uh, I'll call them shysters, you know, these pretenders. What do you think about that?

Kristie Veri 6:55

Yeah, so I mean, just from my our experience and you know, just social media and feedback from clients and and different individuals, we've definitely seen a lot less of the whole contractor stole my money. I I think social media has made it much harder for that. But I think the next issue is correct. You've got contractors out there that do not give a callback. You know, we really try our best, regardless of the call to give a call back. We we do our best to if it's something that we cannot service, um, we really try to make a connection, some sort of a relationship to a resource that can help that client. I think that, and I agree, I you know, that could be the issue where there is a lot of work. Um, you know, there was a time where the work was just kind of like overflowing. So, you know, if the if the if the if the project was not an enticing project, maybe they need callback. Maybe they just didn't have the means to address each and every client, whether they can, you know, complete that project or not. So that's listen, I'll I'll take the no callbacks as contractor reputation versus the they're gonna take my money, they don't have insurance, that kind of stuff. So I I feel like we've come a long way to establish where, you know, the biggest complaint I would say is we don't get a callback. Um, I you know, for us, we really, really try hard to go against all of that and and really make sure we take the time to connect and have a conversation with anyone that does reach out to us, again, if we can help them or not.

Doug Drohan 8:36

Yeah.

Kristie Veri 8:37

But yeah, yeah, it's interesting.

Doug Drohan 8:39

Yeah, no, so what do you think, like what do you think is the reason for your success? Uh, you know, it's been almost 20 years. What do you find has been uh kind of like your mission or your overriding uh approach to business that has allowed you to be in business for 20 years?

Credibility Through Partnerships

Kristie Veri 8:58

I really think our success is just being genuine, period. Um you know, one of the things that I love to do is to be resourceful. So while I'm out and about connecting and making relationships with other businesses, um, meaning, for example, we do a lot of work with lenders. So we do the construction end of a construction loan, a 203K loan, any kind of rental loans. So we really take our time to create those relationships, follow through with any of the work that needs to be done, really, really focus on client, happy, you know, being happy in the end. Um, our name is on each and every project. So we really make sure that when we walk away from it, we walk away with pride, um, you know, really taking the time to address any concerns, um, understand the goal of the client. And we love it. We love what we do. So I think that it's a mix of that, really customer service, connecting with some really great people. We try to be super resourceful. If a client reaches out to me and we don't have the means or we don't specialize in something that they're asking us to do, I take that extra step or we take that extra step to connect them to somebody that either we've used, uh someone else has used, um, to kind of like so it's not just a oh, we don't do that, let's let's can't help you there. Um, you know, so that builds other relationships with other resources. Even though that client didn't initially call you for something that you do, they might call you again because you were resourceful. So, you know, people talk, reputations fly all over the place. So we really take our time and and in you know, to just be a good human, uh, whether it's something that's going to bring business to us, whether it's something that's going to bring business to a rape, a great connection. Um, it it all it creates that network of clients, businesses, relationships all around you. You know, there's lots of times I make connections that have nothing to do with me, that have nothing to do with our business. And it somehow comes back around and it just feels really good. So I do believe that is a big part of our success.

Values, Service, And Long-Term Success

Doug Drohan 11:33

So there's a um, you know, when I got into business eight years ago, um, you know, I had worked behind a desk for 25 years. I was in the music industry and then I was at uh in TV licensing at uh Paramount, Nickelodeon MTV. So when I went out on my own, I was like, oh man, like I really didn't know what I was doing in a lot of ways. And I found um podcasts, like communities, right, of entrepreneurs and things like that to get not only advice, but to understand that I'm not alone, even though I was alone. Um and I found that um there was one guy I stumbled on, his name's Larry Levine. He's got a book called Selling from the Heart, and it talks about being authentic and about caring about your client more than you care about your next sale. Because if you do things from your heart, then the sales will follow. And and all the people that I've interviewed over the years, over the years, I mean, over the years, not just on a podcast show, but over the eight years that I I guess I interview people when we when we talk about advertising and other things, and it it the successful people seem to be the ones that follow that kind of mantra, that it's about uh just doing the right thing and then you know, good whether you want to call it karma or whatever, that that will follow um eventually. You know, it's not uh maybe an overnight uh attribution that you know if you just do things the right way, it'll pay off in the end. But you have to have that vision and you have to have that patience to be able to believe in that. So yeah, so I want to talk a little bit about um you know being a woman in this business, right? Now, I now you said your husband's family is like third generation, so um, but you know, you kind of I guess in some ways run the business, right? Is that is that correct?

Intro/Close 13:16

Yes.

Doug Drohan 13:17

So what is um, you know, I guess I I looked on your Instagram that there is a uh you were part of some uh event where it was women, what is it called? The uh NAHB professional women in building. So what is the National Association of Home Builders? So it's women who are in the home building industry.

Kristie Veri 13:38

Yes, yes. So one of the things and one of the um passions that I have for our business is education, education, education, learning as much as I can about the construction field, really being connected with a variety of individuals, um, learning as much as I can, um, being a mentor, being a mentee. And so I've gotten involved with the builders organization as one of my roles in our business. I had the opportunity of getting involved in the local one, which is Metro, and I was the president there. Uh, you know, I worked my way up the ladder and fulfilled uh my presidency there. And now I'm actually on the state ladder at NJBA, which is the National Build um New Jersey Builders Association. And within that, one of the one of the things that I'm spearheading is the professional women in building. And so it's it's a great thing. It's not just for women, it we include everyone, but it's an opportunity for women in the construction industry to really connect, network, learn from each other. And it's it's a great resource. You know, it's been nothing but beneficial to our business to really be knee in deep with the build other individuals, women and men in the building industry across New Jersey.

Women Building Networks And Leadership

Doug Drohan 15:10

Yeah, no, that's great. I mean, I it you know, there's something about being an entrepreneur, but then um, you know, I found certainly during COVID that I was fortunate to be part of a network of other entrepreneurs that are in my industry. So you can bounce things off of people, uh, what's working, what's not working. And I think it's really important to have that because, you know, at the end of the day, you might be competitors, but you're, you know, in a lot of ways you're not, you know, you're just trying to lift each other up. So I want to I want to go back to uh you know Cleanscape construction. So you guys offer a bunch of different services. So there's something called builder services and construction services. What's the difference between the two? And then of course you do renovations. So I want to get into the kind of the nuances of each of those.

Kristie Veri 15:55

Yeah, so we do on the residential end, we do rena's renovations, interior, exterior, demo renovations, at a levels, um build outs. That is more of the construction services where we offer anything that's not a new build. In addition to the we're remodelers, we also have our license as builders, so we do new builds as well. Although we predominantly do renovations, we do build new as well. So that is the difference between the builder versus the construction services. We complete both residential and commercial properties.

Doug Drohan 16:50

Okay. So renovations, so uh new bathrooms. Like is it like do you is there a certain size project you won't take on? Like it does it have to be like I noticed on your uh Instagram page you have like I have you know, FOMO is fear of missing out, right? I don't have that. I have uh I don't know what the word is, envy or um whenever I see well-organized spaces, so you did like a um a mud room kind of, you know, you come in from the outside and you got a place to hang your your coats and put your boots and there's a bench. I don't know what you call that.

Speaker 2 17:23

Um but I've got room, yeah.

Doug Drohan 17:26

Okay, mud room. Now I don't have space for that in my house, but my garage, you know, you come in from the garage and there's a place, but I I look at this stuff as like, man, I want that. I would love to have that. Um, so you do jobs as small as doing something like that, right? Like find carpentry to doing bathrooms, kitchens, or is it normally a bigger job?

Services: Renovations Vs. New Builds

Kristie Veri 17:46

Yeah, we will do smaller projects like that. So I think the one that you're looking at that we recently did, and it's interesting that you said the garage, it was a transformation of a garage. There was a client that had, you know, an unused garage, right? Most people fill their garages with a variety of things that they've purchased over the year, and that somehow they don't want to throw it out, but they want to keep it in there. And so these uh these clients decided that they wanted to transform this room. And so we created a space where um it it worked with the rest of the basement, and so that was a custom mud room in addition to the rest of the space. Yeah, so we had transformed a couple of the rooms, we had made one of the other rooms larger, there was a bathroom that was a you know um made a little bit larger, and so it created a beautiful space and usable area within their garage and basement, and that is part of that. So um, yes, that was a you know, that is custom built that was a picture that was shown to us that we did our best to match. Um, but we will do something as small as that. But that particular project was the entire basement as well as the garage in there.

Project Sizes And Custom Spaces

Doug Drohan 19:08

Okay, okay. Yeah, my garage. That's that's what I uh you want to get a great gift from me and surprise me, kind of like you know, fix a rupper or whatever, or Magnolia Homes, you just have me walk, have me go away for a week and come home and we'll open my garage door and see a garage that's cleaned out and organized and has build outs like that. I would be like, that would be it, man. Just heat my garage and I'll and I'll be like uh, you know, that'll be the man cave. Um, so so that that leads me to this, which is, you know, what you do is very emotional. And you know what uh uh HGTV exists because of that, right? Whether it's fixer upper or it's all these home improvement, you know, uh transformations, it's the inspiration of like, wow, that's beautiful. I want that. And I think the ability to deliver on that, to deliver on people's dreams, uh Um to you know have that dream home or that dream kitchen, that dream space. Um you know it's powerful. And I I think um you know that the challenge for me as a homeowner is that not every contractor ha shares your vision or you don't really understand as a homeowner, all right, you do that work, but I still gotta hire a designer, or I still gotta hire an architect, or I still have, you know, like you when you watch these shows on TV, you think they do everything. But um, like what do you say to somebody if they come in? All right, they showed you a photo, but what if they say, yeah, kind of like this? Do you need to hire? Like, do you have a team of designers and people like that that help you create the vision that somebody might or may not be able to uh communicate to you?

Turning Vision Into Design Reality

Kristie Veri 20:44

So we have a so you know, we take each client in and we really try to assess their vision, what they're looking for, ultimately what the space will be used for, what's their day-to-day activity, what is important to them, what kind of budget do they have, and then we put our team into place. Some projects may not need a designer at all. You know, some clients have that vision where they can give us a spreadsheet or a an array of pictures and we can come together. We've been doing this for a very long time, so we can come together and really put something on paper or you know, organize it where their vision can come to life. Whereas others may need some help. And so, you know, we take each one. We had a client that came, she was able to give us a bunch of Pinterest pictures, we were able to put something together, we were able to guide her. There are a lot of in-house designers, meaning, like, for example, if you we have a couple of tile places that we work with that we know there's an in-house free service designer in there. So, you know, based on their budget, we can then guide them to what resources are available. While we have other clients that really have a hard time with vision, have a little bit more of a resource financially to pay for a designer. So, you know, again, we have a couple of different designers that we know will be able to, you know, if someone's looking for just paint and a little bit of a guidance with a vision, we have a designer for that. If we're looking, if if our clients looking for, you know, I want a completely out of the box, you know, ending point. I I really want a cloud light with, you know, um multicolor wallpaper and they have a bit more of a budget, we'll pull in a designer that can really make that happen. So we really, we really, really, really try our best to fulfill each client's, you know, their check their boxes based on a variety of things. Um, thankfully being able to, you know, we've been in the field for so long that we've got a lot of resources, you know. Um, I'd like to say we have a resource for everyone um based on interest, finances, um, you know, vision, uh ultimate and use. So, you know, each one is very different.

Doug Drohan 23:32

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's great. So, um, what's the best way for people to reach you? Um, website, phone, Instagram, all the above?

Kristie Veri 23:42

Instagram's great. Uh, we you know, Instagram is amazing because clients can look and get some ideas of some of the things that we've done. If we can, you know, uh from small to large. So I I would say our Instagram, uh CC underscore builder, we I uh we're very responsive to messages. Uh they can reach out to the office 201 0204. Uh sorry, 201 440 0204. Um oh no, that's our facts.

Doug Drohan 24:18

You know, I have your website in front of me here.

Kristie Veri 24:20

I can I can Yeah, I usually give out my cell phone number. My apologies.

Doug Drohan 24:25

Yeah, we have 201 440 0525.

Kristie Veri 24:28

0525. Yes, yes, yes. I usually give out our cell my cell phone.

Doug Drohan 24:32

Yeah, the email is ccc for uh at cleanscape corp.com. And your Instagram is CCC underscore um uh builder. CCC Builder, and that's the Instagram handle. Kristie, this was great. I really appreciate you sharing with us. Um, you know, I've I've uh you might have a potential client someday, so I'll have to keep talking once we uh sign off.

Kristie Veri 24:59

Or just a phone call away. It's a free consultation and yeah.

Doug Drohan 25:04

That's great. So thank you for joining us. You and I will be right back. We're just gonna uh hear from Chuck and I'll I'll talk to you on the other side.

Kristie Veri 25:10

Thank you so much.

Intro/Close 25:13

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbergen.com. That's gnpbergen.com or call 201 298 3325.