Crane, Author at Crane Renovation Group

What it means to live out core values

How do people describe you? Do they say that you’re creative or kind? Maybe they describe you as honest or thoughtful? In a sense, they are describing your core values as a person. Think about it; what’s important to you, and what do you live by? Do your core values match up with the core values of your workplace?

Here at Crane Renovation Group we are incredibly proud of our core values and how they define us as an organization. Our core values were not plucked out of the air, chosen or assigned—they grew from our employees and our collective, shared values. Our values are taken into consideration when we are hiring and when we are out in the community interacting with our customers and community partners.

The Crane Renovation Group core values are:

Respect everyone
Achieve a sense of family
Give back to the community
Be forward thinking

These are not just words on paper

Giving back to the community is especially near and dear to Crane Renovation Group’s heart. Many of our employees are out in the community every day working face-to-face with our customers which leads to a deep understanding of what our customer, and in turn, communities, need. In this industry, we are quite literally working to improve our communities through a variety of renovations, so it’s important that all of our employees share a desire to provide for the communities we touch every day. Every employee we hire lives and breathes a culture of service, whether that is servicing the basic human need of shelter or providing excellent customer service.

Outside of our day-to-day, we live out this core value of giving back to the community through corporate philanthropy, the Crane on Board program, internal fundraising, and more. We work closely with a variety of non-profit organizations such as United Way, Operation BBQ, Modcon Living, and many others as opportunities for partnerships in philanthropy present themselves. The Crane on Board program helps our employees get involved with a non-profit board of their choosing where they can volunteer personal time and professional expertise. Our employees take it upon themselves to run a variety of internal campaigns ranging from food and clothes drives to fundraising for local causes.

A servant heart

Our Mr. Roof office in Nashville, Tennessee, has taken community service to the next level by designating a full day out of every month to volunteer together in their local community as a team. This new community service program was spearheaded by Katie, who was inspired to live out the Crane Renovation Group core values in a very real way. At first, it was like pulling teeth to shake up routine and get the whole office away from work for a day, but now everyone looks forward to it.

They choose the organizations and causes for volunteering based on what they feel passionate about. So far, they’ve already participated with organizations serving a wide range of geographic locations, demographics, and age groups. Their volunteer activities have included packaging food and medical supplies, planting crops, working with their local animal shelter, adopting a highway for trash clean-up, providing support for children and adults with special needs, and more. When volunteering with their local animal shelter, Justin fully committed to living out the Crane Renovation Group core values by opening up his home and expanding his family to include a small, orphan puppy (who grew to be much larger than anticipated).

Katie described her experience volunteering with National Dolphins as one of the most fulfilling volunteer experiences she has ever had. The National Dolphins have a mission to “to bring the physical and emotional benefits of swimming to people with special needs regardless of age, ability or financial circumstances.” The Mr. Roof staff had the privilege of interacting face-to-face with the community that National Dolphins has created to offer support, encouragement, and friendship. National Dolphins really appreciated the number of volunteers that showed up to provide emotional support for all of the swimmers that day. Mutually, working with the National Dolphins had an incredible impact on every single volunteer. They have created such a positive and heartfelt community for everyone involved and that was felt by all of the Mr. Roof volunteers.

*National Dolphins*, http://nashvilledolphins.org/.

Word spread

It didn’t take long for the other offices to hear about what Nashville was doing and become inspired. Devon, from the Mr. Roof Louisville office, took a page out of Katie’s book and pulled her office together to write birthday cards for “Courageous Carter”, a young boy who is battling a rare form of cancer. Many of the Crane Renovation Group offices, including Nashville, jumped in to join their peers in Louisville in their support of Carter by also writing and sending birthday cards.

Volunteering brings all of us closer together and creates a sense of family among our teams, as well as with the members of our community. Every employee at Crane Renovation Group lives out our core values in unique and impactful ways, but it can be most readily seen when people get out there and touch the community with their time and energy.

Citation:

“Homepage.” National Dolphins, info@nashvilledolphins.org, http://nashvilledolphins.org/

CEO Jim Ziminski on empowering the Crane Renovation Group staff

Smart Business Magazine Columbus Names Jim Ziminski

Smart Business profiled Crane Renovation Group CEO Jim Ziminski for the October 2019 issue. The magazine features insights, advice, and strategy from entrepreneurs and senior executives in the Ohio area. They asked Ziminksi about leading the evolution of the renovation industry by empowering employees and harvesting inspiration from unexpected sources.

“When we say we want to be different and innovative, we don’t look to other contractors or roofers. Nothing against them. We look outside our industry and say, ‘What are some cool, different innovations we’re seeing that could be applicable to our industry?”

Read the full article

Employees Give Back to United Way

Crane Renovation Group seeks to improve the quality of life for people in the communities in which we live and work. Our goal is to provide peace of mind by servicing the basic human need of shelter, and one way of doing this is through our partnership with United Way of Central Ohio. With their Community Impact Fund, United Way supports a network of nonprofits with initiatives to reduce poverty by providing basic human needs such as food, water, and shelter. As well, the United Way fund helps link people to good jobs, build strong neighborhoods, and enable the success of students trying to make their way in the world.

In the early 2000s, Crane Renovation Group started contributing to the Community Impact Fund by selling raffle tickets to employees for prizes such as OSU tickets and premium gas grills. But this wasn’t enough. Feeling blessed and supported by a company like Crane Renovation Group—which engages employees to give back and shares company profit—a pledge drive was started. With an extra day of paid time off given to those who pledge at the leader level, our goal was set to garner 100% participation across all Columbus employees. We did not disappoint. With 100% participation, our pledge amount for 2018 totaled $52,305.62, up 14% ($6,526.26) from the previous year.

We’re committed to helping United Way find every dollar they can to fight poverty in Columbus, Ohio. Support has been ongoing since the pledge drive, with a children’s book donation drive last February that resulted in Crane Renovation Group employees filling boxes and boxes of books.

There are tough issues in Weinland Park, Franklinton, Northland, and many other areas of Columbus, where moms and dads, children and seniors who have fallen on hard times need support and compassion. Crane Renovation Group recognizes this and strives to be part of the solution.

If you also are interested in learning about how you can influence your very own community through United Way, visit https://liveunitedcentralohio.org.

Fostering the Power of Women in Construction Through Art

Construction is among the top three prevalently male-dominated industries in the world. It can be difficult for women in construction to find their place within the industry, establish mentors, and ultimately, to feel connected to the industry as a whole. Connection and engagement are essential to employee retention, and Crane Renovation group strives to help our employees navigate their career path. The importance of building a culture of empowerment is vital to any business, but especially in industries like construction that are more likely to lack workplace diversity.

At Crane Renovation Group, we hold our core values dear to us and our family-oriented culture is perhaps the most fundamental. While we pride ourselves in being more diverse than most construction companies, we still maintain a lower ratio of women to men. As we look to create a culture of female empowerment, facilitating inclusion is key to making that connection. We began by hosting quarterly Women of Crane Renovation Group happy hours to combat the gender disparity by empowering and fostering a network of support for the women working in our male dominated field.

The female-focused happy hours took on a life of their own. Initially as a hushed, secret buzz around the office that soon grew into a source of pride among all the ladies involved. The energy present at each happy hour was more intoxicating than the cocktails, and we quickly created a dynamic that enabled us to transform the organization as a whole: the more we understood each other’s role in the company and journey in the industry, the more we could support each other to affect positive change. We were able to implement improved, and more innovative, ways of doing things across departments.

Our most recent event was a wine and paint night. We were honored and fortunate to include all the women of Crane Group (our parent company), including our fearless female leader, CEO Tanny Crane. All of our events have been focused on fostering a powerful female network, but this happy hour was designed to go beyond that. We wanted to empower women through art.

We supplied canvases and paint supplies, as well as inspiration and guidance via two local artists. Everyone who wanted to paint was encouraged to do so. It can be powerfully therapeutic to paint, but we never could have anticipated how impactful this event was for some of the ladies. There is something special about coming together to do something you don’t regularly do, and may not even be comfortable with. Everyone who painted a canvas walked away with something they were proud of.

In addition, with a little bit of internet inspiration, we got the ambitious idea to build a large-scale, abstract, relief sculpture out of 150 hand cut and painted wooden blocks. Every woman who showed up that night painted part of a huge piece of artwork that now hangs in our lobby. When the women of Crane Renovation Group walk into the building every work day, we see the fruits of our labor and feel proud that together we built something bigger than ourselves—something we could not have done alone.

Case Study: Electrical Fire at a Pet Boarding Facility – Southern United States

August 19, 2019 – September 27, 2019

A high-end pet boarding facility in the Southern United States suffered an electrical fire early in the fall of 2019. The fire started with a malfunction in a branch circuit, and flames rolled up the backside of building. On and off-duty firefighters, police, and veterinarians rescued 75 cats and dogs from the fire. The fire directly damaged the rear portion of one building, and inflamed building materials caused substantial smoke and soot damage throughout the building complex.

Responsiv Disaster Recovery was called in to remediate the damage. After a fire, a heavy smoke smell will stay in the building until everything is wiped down and cleaned. Even if you can’t see the soot, you will be able to smell it once the sun hits the surface. A thorough, multi-part process was in order.

Steps

The process starts with identifying the areas contaminated with smoke and soot.
Once identified, affected areas were gutted down to the steel and wood framing. We removed the sheet rock from stud walls, took down the acoustic ceilings, and removed all building insulation in order to thoroughly remediate the damage.
We then started the wipe down process in which all metal surfaces are treated with a degreaser and cleaned.
Unlike a residential house, we dealt with both metal and wood for this project. Wood areas were sprayed with degreaser, wiped down, and encapsulated with a white shellac pigment paint to seal the wood.
Negative air machines with HEPA filters were online throughout the project to clean and dehumidify the air.

Challenges

Agreeing upon scope of work with the insurance company and the building consultants which are employed by them is always a challenge. Our job to justify the scope of work, and discuss what is most cost efficient. Estimates are created and written in Xactimate, using open book pricing.
Some contents didn’t want to come clean after several attempts. We had to replace items that were too damaged to repair.
This building had plywood on the walls along with sheetrock, which we didn’t know about until the sheetrock was removed.

Next steps

The pet boarding facility opened for grooming and day camp on September 3, and opened in full on September 23. It is planning to rebuild the kennel with safety standards beyond what is required after they reopen, including a new fire sprinkler system.

What we accomplished

Responsiv Disaster Recovery is proud to have the pet boarding facility back to business quickly. This was especially important considering people’s pets were involved, and the job was very high profile. For two weeks after the facility caught fire, news anchors were on the scene, covering the story and monitoring the situation.

Case Study: Metal Roof at Sound Image – Nashville, TN

Commercial Metal Roofing Completed by Mr Roof

Sound Image Productions in Nashville, Tennessee provides sound reinforcement services for top musical performers on a national scale including Brooks & Dunn, Def Leppard, Pharrell Williams, Janet Jackson, and Jimmy Buffet to name a few. When they needed their roof reinforced, the job required a similarly premier company. Because our competitors “service, presentation and other options did not appear to be as efficient,” Sound Image Productions decided to go with Mr. Roof Commercial.

The warehouse at Sound Image holds millions of dollars worth of equipment. The metal roof above this area had leaked, and some of the equipment was damaged. Owners inquired about a complete roof replacement, but after our fair and honest assessment, we realized an American Weather Star Met-A-Gard system was just what they needed, less $150k on the invoice.

A Met-A-Guard system is applied to restore metal roofs back to their original glory, and to protect the material from any future damage. It yields an elegant aesthetic to the overall appearance, and provides long lasting protection with a Mr. Roof Commercial warranty to support it.

Challenges

As with any older roof, there’s a fine balance to strike between what you can repair and what you need to replace entirely. We diagnosed the existing internal gutters as the structural aspect that absolutely required special attention. Due to their placement, Sound Image would never have a viable roofing system unless we addressed the internal gutter system. We restructured the gutter system into a long-lasting product to support the roof.

Steps

All of our projects start with logistics planning and scheduling. We introduced our on-site project manager, who is highly trained and on the job throughout the project to make sure crews are working safely and daily progress is met.
Next, we established the staging area, and developed a communication plan.
We commenced power washing to clean the roof, gutter system, and walls.
Then, we removed and replaced deteriorated metal.
From here, we restructured the internal gutter system and replaced rusted gutters with pre-fabricated gutters using EPDM elastomeric rubber.
We sealed the gutters, seams and exposed fasteners with fiber mesh.
Finally, we applied four-stage coating system.
We picked up debris, and fully returned the area to its original state.
All our projects end with a quality control inspection walkthrough with the client.

What we accomplished

Mr. Roof Commercial is proud that we understood the customers needs, and we were able to provide a more economical solution than what they were previously aware of which satisfied the scope of the project. The client cited our “presentation and constant and clear communications” as the number one reason he would recommend our services.

Lessons learned

In addition to rust damage, we found leaks the size of a pinhole. This reinforced our principle to take extra time to become aware of any and all areas that need reinforcement.

Partnering with Modcon to Improve Lives

Able Roofing Giving Back Through Modcon Living

Part of our vision at Crane Renovation Group is to improve upon the basic human need of shelter. We do this not only as a business venture, but also on a volunteer basis to underserved communities, helping to provide reliable homes to people in need. One of our partners in this pursuit is ModCon Living, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustaining homes and neighborhoods for the elderly.

Able Roofing, a Crane Renovation Group company, has been working together with Modcon for four years to refurbish houses into safe places for people to call home. This past year we took on a house that a grandfather, his son, and his nephew—all with health issues— call home. The house needed a safer wheelchair ramp and a new roof to preserve the integrity of the structure.

We are proud to say that this project was completed in two days with the help of 20 employees, from marketing specialists to expert roofing installers, all united in the goal to improve upon the basic human need of shelter.

Modcon Living is a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustaining homes and neighborhoods by providing reliable, affordable home repair and modification services, while serving vulnerable homeowners. We believe everyone deserves the choice to age in place with independence and dignity. Learn more about Modcon Living, formally known as “Rebuilding Together” at their website: https://www.modconliving.org

The results are in for the Smart50 award!

Every year top executives around Columbus compete for a Smart 50 Award based on their company’s innovation, impact, and sustainability. This year we are proud to announce that our president, Jim Ziminski, has been given the honor of being recognized as one of the Smart 50 honorees with a focus on his impact internally and externally.

A little bit about Jim’s leadership

Jim Ziminski creates a dynamic vision for the Crane Renovation Group and implements innovative strategies and processes to achieve that vision. He has developed a culture internally and externally that focuses on three customers; employees, consumers, and subcontracting partners. With these customers in mind, Jim drives growth and innovation while developing and protecting a unique company culture that supports the Crane core values:

Respect everyone – Treat everyone with respect and dignity and value a rich diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and styles. Communicate openly and honestly, and act with integrity in everything we do.
Achieve a sense of family – Strive to be the best place our associates have ever worked by encouraging teamwork and a sense of family. Ensure that everyone’s contributions are valued and successes are shared. Have fun together.
Give back to the community – Act as leaders and stewards to our community and seek to improve the quality of life for everyone where we live and work.
Be forward-thinking – Nurture a forward-thinking and curious culture that inspires the best in the renovation industry.

He empowers, develops, and challenges emerging leaders around him to think critically and implement improved ways to serve and engage with customers.

Jim’s vision

Jim shares his vision with the entire company through quarterly videos and annual companywide meetings. To wrap up an amazing year in 2018 and to encourage consistency throughout all the business locations, he led two companywide meetings, one with Contractors Inc and Responsiv and the other with Mr. Roof and Able Roof. He celebrated the amazing accomplishments of Contractors Inc while re-focusing the team in preparation for a groundbreaking year ahead. The theme of being “Deeply Rooted, Growing Together” brought business leaders together from all over the country under the banner of growing together as a united and synchronized company. Jim then led Mr. Roof and Able Roof with the theme of “Oh, the Places We’ll Go!” where he shared his dynamic vision for the future and led a diverse group of business leaders to reach new heights in the contracting industry.

The company pulse

One of the biggest challenges of leading a rapidly growing business is keeping a pulse on the company as a whole. Jim does this by utilizing a third party, called GLINT, to benchmark Crane Renovation Group to industry standards. In the most recent GLINT survey for Crane Renovation Group, scores were above the national average in all 20 categories, with the highest score being “employees would recommend joining the company to friends and/or family.” These ratings have proven to be top predictors of employee engagement and fulfillment.

How innovation plays a role in leadership

Jim has developed a company culture that is centered on curiosity. He empowers employees at every level to seek improved and innovative ways of servicing all three customers; our employees, consumers, and sub-contracting partners. He leans on the strengths of those around him as well as reaching outside the contracting industry for modern tools and processes we can adapt to better meet our customer’s needs. For example, Jim met with Safelite and adapted some of their customer experience practices that have already been proven to be successful and well-received by customers.

Another example of innovation would be Jim’s pursuit of the latest technologies. He invested in an innovative new application that originated in the military. It’s a 3D modeling program the Crane Renovation Group uses on residential and commercial projects to help business and homeowners visualize their projects before committing to the major expense of renovation. The program creates an accurate model of the consumer’s building, including measurements and design options from our product offerings. It ultimately saves the consumer time and money by assisting them in making the right decision the first time. It also helps us on the production side by having better accuracy of material usage and helping our production people see the finished product before the job starts. This all happens via an app in our smartphones. With Jim’s leadership, we were the first major company in the nation to adopt this unique technology.

The impact of good leadership

Sales and expansion

Under Jim’s leadership, we have grown significantly with no signs of slowing down. We were acknowledged as the largest residential roofer by Roofing Contractor Magazine and we won Roofing Contractor of the Year in 2016. We are not only looking at new startup locations but also attracting companies that want to join what we are doing by joining the Crane Renovation Group.

Giving back to the community

Being stewards of the community is one of our core values, but core values are meaningless unless they are acted upon. At Crane Renovation Group Jim lives and leads by example as a steward of the community and in turn, this core value is lived and breathed throughout our organization. Under his leadership and guidance, we partner with nonprofits all over the country including but not limited to United Way, Operation BBQ, Rebuilding Together, and many more.

To celebrate the end of 2018 and to ramp up for a monumental year in 2019, Able Roof and Mr. Roof hosted an all-in meeting where employees from all of our locations were invited to come together. For our last day, we lived out our core values by spending the day volunteering together at LifeCare Alliance. We were honored to run the entire Meal’s on Wheels route in Central Ohio and we served the elderly in Carrie’s café. The core values are more than just words, they are intrinsic to every interaction we have in the community, inspired from the top down.

Use of technology as a business tool

Jim has fully embraced the use of technology as a business tool. Not only does the Crane Renovation Group use 3D modeling technology and drone imagery, but we have an innovative marketing team focused on modernizing the contracting space through digital and social media, graphic design, video, and data mapping. We have a G.I.S. expert on staff to help us stay on the leading edge of technology. Jim guides the Crane Renovation Group into the future by inspiring and supporting every department to be innovative, efficient, and consistent so we can provide the best possible customer experience from start to finish at every location.

New building construction and expansion

In order to recruit and retain fresh, innovative talent and continue to lead the way in the contracting industry, there was a need to modernize our workspace. We have already upgraded some of our space and we are about to undergo a major renovation. We allow flexible work hours to support individuals and their work-life balance, and we even offer working remotely for positions that allow it. In the office, we create a creative, fun atmosphere by hosting “bring your dog to work” days, team bonding lunches, and we bring everyone together to celebrate holidays with clever games and good food. We are even looking at flexible office space to provide a creative work environment for employees to work remotely to stay motivated and fresh vs. coming to the same space every workday.

Talent management and development

We have a Leadership Development VP on board at Crane Group and we make use of that resource for personal and professional training and development. Our employees are hungry for growth and after reinstituting our VAL (value added leadership) program we have a waiting list of employees who are eager to join the next class. The VAL class lasts 4-6 weeks and culminates with a capstone presentation on a real business issue or initiative that is presented to our entire leadership team. We invest in our employees and equip them with the tools they need to grow and use their individual strengths at work. As a result of Jim’s investment in talent management and development, he is retaining happier, more satisfied, and more successful employees, which is measured by the GLINT survey.

Differentiation from the competition

We realize most consumers aren’t excited about construction projects, and in particular, roofing. Typically, having your roof replaced is a need not a want and consumers simply don’t expect to have a great experience from stories they have heard from friends or past experiences with contractors. We go out of our way to make their experience as user-friendly as possible from the time we first meet them to the time we complete their project. That’s why Jim has invested in the position of Director of Customer Experience. We will provide our customers with the type of customer experience they want and expect as the consumer landscape continues to transform and develop.

Sustainability

We are set apart by our family-oriented and curious team culture. We find this sense of community and freedom to experiment fairly unique in today’s marketplace. Our employees truly care about one another and our customers, and as we continue to grow and expand, we are 100% committed to focus on developing and protecting this culture. We challenge our employees and customers to keep us honest and they do! It’s in our core values and we stand behind them with every decision we make. Our core values are published, shared, and talked about frequently with all of our employees and those we recruit. We hear things like, “you can feel the passion in this place”, or “it feels like one big family where everyone is rowing in the same direction”, and it’s moments like those when we know we are doing something right. We aren’t perfect, but we are curious to keep getting better!

A huge congratulations to Jim Jiminski for being awarded as a Smart 50 honoree. We are proud to follow his lead as we continue to revolutionize the way things are done, and we couldn’t do it without the transformational and inspirational leadership Jim provide

Dan Crane named Columbus’ 2018 “40 Under 40” Honoree

We are proud to announce that our very own Dan Crane has been recognized as one of the Columbus 2018 40 under 40 Honorees. He is being recognized for his amazing leadership in the workplace and his involvement in philanthropic organizations in the community.

Columbus Business First has recognized 40 local individuals under age 40 each year since 1993. They’re up-and-comers making an impact in the professional world and giving back to their communities, and there’s much to admire about this year’s class. Read on to find out what the honorees think about Central Ohio and the world around them.

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/c/philanthropy-protests-and-puppies-the-2018-40/4137/dan-crane.html

Tanny Crane Named CEO of the Year

We are excited and proud to announce that Tanny Crane has won the CEO of the Year Award. Tanny goes above and beyond the call of duty every single day. She is a transformational leader and an inspiration to all of us. She is being recognized for her ambition and compassion as she drives growth at the Crane Group and within the community. As a coach and a mentor she creates a powerful vision, raises moral standards, and encourages positive development. Through her hard work, perseverance and leadership she has made a lasting and sustainable impact professionally, within the community, and in the lives of those of us who follow her lead.

Read the full article posted on Columbus CEO Magazine here:

http://www.columbusceo.com/business/20171127/ceo-of-year-large-for-profit