Maxim Enterprises

Contractor Profile: Tony Dechant

Maxim Contractor Tony Dechant keeps his mind and hard work where the money is, and for him it’s in property preservation.

Before joining the Maxim team in October 2008, Tony was working with a Safeguard contractor when he decided to venture out and start his own property preservation business. He also owned a landscaping business at the time, an industry he intends to start back up this year.

Tony began his Maxim career with a lock change and a grass cut. It wasn’t difficult for him to complete the rest of the work once it started coming in, though.

“I have knowledge of just about everything: plumbing, electrical, remodeling, landscaping.” Tony said. “I showed the guy from Safeguard how to winterize.”

Tony considers himself a jack of all trades in this regard. He has the ability to do just about any kind of preservation work, including plumbing and electric; he’s just not licensed to do so. Of all the work he receives, Tony prefers rehabilitation jobs. These don’t come very often, but he enjoys remodeling type work like taking out wet drywall and replacing it.

While Tony feels comfortable enough to perform any kind of work on a property, he said the biggest challenge in this business has been keeping up with different banks. He relies on the client leads to answer his questions about the varied expectations of each bank.

“If it wasn’t for you guys sending us memos we would be lost,” he said of the Maxim staff.

He also runs into challenges trying to locate properties. Tony covers the Northeast corner of Pennsylvania and a bit of New Jersey. Like much of the rest of Pa., matching up addresses can be complicated. Between the rural route, a physical address, and a lot number, he said 50% of the time he has issues locating a property.

Despite this Tony likes the area. He says it’s a beautiful place to be, and he enjoys his work.

“I love what I do,” Tony said. “I love getting out there and working. It’s my own business, and I’m a hand-on person.

Overall, Tony tends to go with the flow, the flow of money anyway.

“Where there is work and money being made, there I am,” he said.

As several rap artists have proclaimed in their music, Tony thinks his theme song should express that he has his “mind on my money and my money on my mind."

When he’s not running off to another property, though, Tony’s retreat is his 100 year old house that he shares with his wife, Lisa, and three kids: Brennan (21), Nina (13), and Nicolo (5). Tony’s wife inherited the home from her great-grandfather, so when they got married he moved in and has been remodeling it for the past six years, using his preservation skills for personal use.

“I enjoy spending time with my family,” Tony said. “Family life is very important to me, when I don’t have to work.”

 

 

Perpetual Snow

I feel so compelled to write a blog because I keep staring out the front doors at the perpetually falling snow. No, I'm not going to write some nonsense about the newness of snow and a new year and new beginnings. You can google snow poetry if you want that. All I have to say about this downfall of cold wetness is props to our contractors. Seriously, I'm sitting inside this heated building (in addition to having my little space heater under my desk) in my professional clothes, glaring outside willing the snow to stop, and not looking forward to my drive home in a few hours. Meanwhile, our contractors in PA, OH, WI, MI, WV, and probably other places since temps have dropped everywhere, have to bundle themselves up and battle the snow-covered roads so they can do work on properties that don't have heat (or if they do it's set at 55 degrees), and then when they're done they move on to the next one. I know that's part of what they signed up for when they took this job, and they're expected to get work done no matter what, but lets give a little credit to our contractors who are getting work completed on time despite what it looks like outside. Good job guys. Keep up the good work.