FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #17 Building Quality Kitchens in Stafford
From a hammer at age twelve to owning a thriving renovation business, Chris Romero's journey exemplifies what happens when passion meets craftsmanship. As owner of Kitchens For You, Chris brings decades of hands-on experience to every kitchen and bathroom renovation in Stafford and surrounding areas.
Growing up in small-town Ohio, Chris discovered his calling early when his father, a Whirlpool retiree who took on weekend construction jobs, put tools in his hands. This early exposure blossomed through trade school, where he split his days between classrooms and building houses. His path took a unique turn when he joined the military while maintaining his construction focus as a 51 Bravo specialist in carpentry and masonry.
What truly distinguishes Kitchens For You is their approach to renovation as a premium service experience. Chris likens it to a resort vacation, where clients are treated like "movie stars" throughout the process. From Sheila handling scheduling and billing to Lori guiding clients through overwhelming selection decisions, and project managers maintaining daily communication, every step is designed to make potentially disruptive renovations as comfortable as possible.
Chris addresses common misconceptions about construction workers with pride, emphasizing that true professionals choose this work out of passion rather than necessity. His philosophy on mistakes reveals his wisdom – he views them not as failures but as knowledge gained when properly corrected, building expertise that serves future clients.
When not transforming homes, Chris treasures time with family, continuing traditions like annual Virginia Beach trips now shared with grandchildren, and indulging his Dallas Cowboys fandom with yearly game pilgrimages. Check out their stunning before-and-after transformations at kitchensforyou.com and discover why local homeowners trust Chris and his team of licensed professionals to bring their renovation visions to life.
Chris Romero
Kitchens For You, Inc.
310 Garrisonville Road Stafford, VA, 22554
(540) 657-3398
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 2:Welcome to another episode of the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. Today we have a fantastic neighbor to introduce you to. Chris Romero is the owner of Kitchens For you. Chris, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 3:Hey, thank you, Dori. Thank you for inviting me on this. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2:I'm excited for this. So let's start out by sharing with the listeners a little bit about your business.
Speaker 3:Well, we're a kitchen and bath renovation company where we supply and install the products that we offer. I like to keep it like that because it offers me to be able to give them the turning key warranty that we provide. So, like there's any issue with any products that we installed during or after the renovation, there's no. There's no delay and getting the items addressed. So you know, we do a lot of bathrooms and kitchens in the Stafford area, in the surrounding areas also, but we've been very fortunate to stay busy just right here in Stafford.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice. So tell us a little bit about your background, tell us your journey, how you got into this.
Speaker 3:All right. Well, like I started out really young. Actually, I was probably 12, 13 years old when I actually my dad put a hammer in my hand. My dad retired from Whirlpool. He did 20 years there, but he would do a lot of weekend work and side jobs, you know, and so he would. Obviously I was the oldest son and so I had to go to work with him. And so I would assist him in all these renovations. But as I was there, I realized how much I really liked, you know, working with my hands.
Speaker 3:And so he introduced me to a lot of different areas of construction, from roofing, from framing, drywall flooring. So I got exposed to that very young and realized that, you know, I really enjoy this quite a bit. So I really looked forward to going to work, you know. So as I got into high school they had trade programs back there. I was in Finley, ohio it was the biggest city next to it. I was in a small town called Lipsick, ohio, where I was raised, and so I went to trade school my junior and senior year. So I would go to school half a day and I'd build houses half a day, and so you know I really enjoyed it quite a bit. I mean, you know I actually enjoyed going to school, at least when I was building, you know. And so I did that, you know, my junior senior year, and we got to work with a master carpenter. So he taught me a lot during there and you know we had to pass the test and exam just like anything else, to make sure we, you know, qualify at the end.
Speaker 3:And then when I got out, I mean I always knew I was going to join the military. That was a goal of mine when I was in high school. But what was a plus on it was when I realized they had a construction you know 51 Bravo. It was a corporate masonry, and so when I joined the military I was in the reserves prior to that, or three years first, but I was in construction in the military and so really I was the best of both worlds too. So I was in the military and I did construction. So I knew from the beginning this is what I wanted to do. So during that process, a time from when I was young to where I'm at now, I've been able to be associated with a lot of knowledgeable construction workers, carpenters and plumbers and worked with them over the years, and so it's been a great journey, especially when you enjoy what you do. One biggest thing is everybody said how do you know you want to do construction? I said well, you got to have a passion for it.
Speaker 3:Obviously you want to do construction now. I said, well, you got to have a passion for it. Obviously you know, because it's not on the when you look for you know jobs that pay, you know good money, that's not on the top list, you know.
Speaker 3:So I said you really got to have a passion if you want to do construction. Obviously I don't consider it a job. You know I could. You know it's something I enjoy doing every day. So you know it led me to where I'm at today and you know I have no complaints.
Speaker 2:That's amazing and you do beautiful work. Listeners check out their Facebook page and look at their before and afters.
Speaker 3:I'm always, every time I'm looking at your Facebook, I'm thinking of all the projects I need to do and how I want to redesign my kitchen and that's the other plus is like over the years.
Speaker 3:You know, um, I know what I want, you know and when, when I was younger and working in the field, you know I always wanted to get it right. You know, try to try to get as perfect as you can. Um, that would matter who I was working for, how much they were paying me. I was, my main priority was to make sure the job was right. And so when you go from a piece of paper to something, bill it's, you know it's, it's pretty nice to see it done when you have it in your, your mind at first.
Speaker 3:So that's that's been a benefit for me also, because I have the same vision of what I want in every area. So that's where I surround myself by people that know how to bring that vision together. So that's what you see a lot in our Facebook and websites. That, before and after, is a team of trade partners that have just as much pride in the work as I do and help me bring the vision I have in my head you know, from paper to what you see. So I'm very fortunate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. It's so important to have the right people around you and have the right partners.
Speaker 3:It's a reflection on everything. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, what would you say? That there are any myths or misconceptions around your industry?
Speaker 3:I mean, I mean, I guess there would be one. I mean, a lot of times, um, they always say a lot of the carpenters or construction workers are, you know, maybe guys that couldn't get a job and they had to do this type of work and stuff like that. I've heard that over the years, you know, and that's just part of it. I mean it's construction, obviously, renovations, but there is companies and groups of people out there that really have a passion for what they do, you know. So they're not all like that.
Speaker 3:You know, uh, versus myself, you know, I, like I said before, I said I really enjoy what I do, I look forward to going to work and then it's it's it's the creation of something that what it looks like before pictures, and then you get the afters. I mean, uh, there's a lot of hard work that goes in, with a lot of individuals, part of this company, to make that happen. And so, you know, I really don't believe that's. You know, I don't like hearing that, but I do hear it at times, you know, and unfortunately, there's probably been companies out there that kind of unfortunately push that that language also, you know, but, um, I don't, I don't think. I think there's more companies that really have private work than there is the ones that don't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. So you mentioned that you really love what you do and you enjoy your work. But when you're not working, what are you doing for fun?
Speaker 3:Well, see, that's hard because I love working, that is fun, but no, but yeah, when I am not trying not to focus on business, which is hard not to do you're constantly thinking about it.
Speaker 3:But, I enjoy spending time with my family, obviously, and my daughters, my wife and my grandkids. So we definitely try to do things on the weekends together when we have the opportunity, you know, and obviously we we go to the Virginia Beach once a year. We've been doing that with my, my oldest daughter, since they were kids, so it's kind of been a a routine that everybody looks forward to. And now that I get to do with my grandkids, it's, you know, it's it's even more amazing um and you know me and my wife.
Speaker 3:You know I'm a big dallas cowboy fan. I don't know how that everybody, but I'm a big cowboy and uh, so me and my wife we go once a year we go to Dallas and we watch a game, and so it's our time of the way We'll see some family down there also. When we do so, you know, we definitely try to make some time because I think it's very important. You know, because you know as fast as time goes now, you know you got to try to try to enjoy life with your family especially. You know that's why you, that's why you work so hard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, Well, how special for your grandkids they're going to have that memory of going to the beach every year. I love it. Oh yeah, most definitely. Yeah yeah, you got to recharge, I love it. So can you describe a life challenge or a hardship that you feel you've come out on the other side even stronger for going through it.
Speaker 3:Well, I think, I think anybody that owns a small business can relate to where you know, running a business in general is there's challenges, you know every day. You know you're. You're confronted with a situation that you know you got to handle running a business anyways.
Speaker 3:You know there's books out there and how to run a business and do this and that. But um, really, I think the best knowledge you get is, unfortunately, when you don't get it right. You know mistakes. I I can say I don't really consider mistakes as a. I mean, obviously you don't wanna make mistakes, but I don't consider it too much of a bad thing because I believe if you correct it and you learn from it, it's knowledge. And so all the years that I've been involved with construction and all parts of the construction, there's definitely been ups and downs and there's been some times where it's just like you're really questioning if you wanna continue to move forward. But that's where your passion comes in. You keep moving forward.
Speaker 3:And so that you know for me, some of the stuff that didn't go as quite as planned. I definitely do my homework on it to make sure I don't repeat those situations, and so it's really providing with a lot of knowledge. You know, at least putting some type of plan together in reference to at least forecast as much as you can and try to address every situation that comes your way. But you have to really understand that there's going to be more challenges. That's just part of being a small business owner. You know. Just like I said, it's just the mistakes I have made. I consider a knowledge because I've fixed it and it's opened doors for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's so wise. Your many years of experience as to your expertise and your customers are much better for you going through it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you have an answer for everything, because you've been through it.
Speaker 2:You have an answer for everything, because you've been through it. So what is something?
Speaker 3:that we haven't talked about yet, that you want the listeners to know about your business. Well, I mean, like I said, I try to even as a renovation company or as a contractor, I kind of try to tie to it a little differently sometimes Is that where you know we're a company that provides a, a service you know, um, and this service is obviously from start to finish, we have somebody to help you and hold your hand through the whole process and, at the same time, when we bring our trade partners in to do the renovations, these are all qualified uh, you know experts in their field. You know our licensed plumbers, our licensed electricians, our floor technicians, even my crew that does my demo.
Speaker 3:That's what he does for a living, so he's very professional at that, because I want every stage to be as clean and as professional as we go through it. So that's where I say our company, like I mentioned, is more of a company that provides a service of professionals to get this vision that you want completed and make it the best experience that we can have. Another way I've kind of explained a little bit is kind of like when you go on vacation that week, you're there that resort or that place they make you feel like you're a movie star.
Speaker 3:They park your car, they make your bed. Mr Romero, is there anything I can help you with this week? You just feel special that week and that comes from their whole staff, and so that's something that I try to provide with the team we got and our team does a very good job of it from start to finish From Sheila, where she handles all my scheduling and billing. So any questions in that part, she's there. She got somebody to give you an answer when it gets to the selection process, when you have to pick all the colors and countertops and things that seem like be overwhelming sometimes. You know Lori, she handles all the selections for you and then if you have any questions, you can email or call her anytime. She's there for you. And then once we finally start the project, you know, remember my project manager.
Speaker 3:He runs all the jobs, keeps the communication with the owners, know what's going on every day where the trades are at and then just making sure that we make it as comfortable as possible, because it is a renovation, you know, and the kitchen is usually the heart of the home, so once you're disturbing that, it affects the whole house. So, you know, that's the biggest thing is that I want the experience to be as best it can. So that's why we, you know, try to make sure we hold your hand and we're there for you through the whole process.
Speaker 2:I love that. That's such a great analogy. I love that Awesome. So if the listeners want to get in touch with you or learn more about Kitchens for you, what's the best way for them to reach you?
Speaker 3:Definitely go to our website kitchensforyou. com. There's obviously a lot of information there. It tells you a little bit more about me also, so that way you know who you're working with before you even come to my office. That's why you know Stafford Living has been such a great move for me and what you've done for the company, because I've had, when I do my presentations, owners have come here and they already know history on me because they've read about the articles. So I think it's great. But definitely go on our website. There's a section on there where you can request a meeting and I'll get an email or the office will get an email and they'll reach out to you and schedule an appointment for me to come out.
Speaker 2:Wonderful Chris. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today and sharing kitchen for you with all of us. I appreciate you being my guest.
Speaker 3:Thank you, it's been great.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to fxbgneighborspodcast. com. That's fxbgneighborspodcast. com, or call 540-534-4618.