myhomeus.com Blog

sometimes people choose not to use MyHome due to various reasons. When this happens I always feel like we did something wrong. Quite often I get some funny email describing bad experiences of such clients. I always wish I can post these letters on our web site, but off course that would be wrong, because it’s not very nice to describe other people’s bad experience. However, I think it would be ok to do it on the blog as long as I’ll keep the names of the clients anonymous. Here’s the first one, which I just received tonight (That’s what made me think of posting it). Below is an email I received from Beth, senior remodeling consultant forwarding her client’s email to her.

Hi Mayan,I thought you might be interested in this. This is a very satisfied former client of mine. We did some beautiful custom interior doors for her. I was RC and PM. A few weeks ago she called me that she was having some problems with the tile in her walk-in showers (she lives in a new building and these are only a few years old. We did not have anything to do with them) Her super had given her a price to fix the showers but she asked me to come over and take a look. I went with Eduart, and excellent tiler, and told her the work was more involved than the super led her to believe and gave her a (more expensive) price. She decided to save some money and went with her super’s guy and now she is regretting it. Read on:

From: anonymousSent: Tue 6/26/2007 4:07 PMTo: Beth Gilbert

I posted this about 5 weeks ago and reposting it, because we are just now displaying at 2 booths in the Architectural Digest Home Show at Pier 94 in Manhattan. At one booth we had a MyHome Cabinetry kitchen and at the second, MyHome Furniture. Video coming soon. For now I can show you what one of our factories looks like.This is a very special announcement to all home owners, interior designers, architects and everyone else in the home improvement and building industry.

Click here to watch the video

MyHome has just launched 2 lines, which are the biggest and most exciting events of our industry. The reason it’s so exciting is because with these two new lines we will be able to completely revolutionize the New York market. To make a long story short, let’s get right to the point and show our advantages over the competition in regards to these lines:

Starting with Furniture:

1. Custom – This is the only line that you can easily customize without being charge a fortune. Our exotic wood collection and various finishes will be offered, including the option to order custom sizes. Our customization option is unlimited so for some special customizations we will charge, but in most cases the costs if any will be minimal!!!

2. Lead times – Currently similar style furniture is only available in European stores who import from Europe. The few local manufacturers are so busy and since the market standard has turned into 16 to 20 weeks they choose to follow the Europeans and not make any special attempts to reduce lead times. Our lead time will be 4 to 6 weeks!!!

3. Quality – The most amazing thing about it all is the fact that the quality material, craftsmanship, engineering, assembly, finishing and service will be top class. We don’t want to expand on how it would compare with our competition since we don’t mean disrespect to any of the other most reputable furniture companies in the market. However, with all due respect our quality will be completely superior to everything else in this price range

4. Price – Actually with all of our advantages we don’t even need to be less expensive, but initially we will be 10% to 15% less expensive than comparable looking products and there’s a reason why I say looking, because there’s no chance the quality is even close to what MyHome Furniture is about. We don’t know how long we’ll be able to maintain the reduced price since our forecasts are that there will be a very high demand within a very short time period. Our manufacturing facility is equipped to handle very serious volume, but we are already discussing several large orders and that’s before any supporting documentation (photos, catalogs, etc…) have been published. That’s why this is a rare and special announcement since through the power of blogging I am able to release such an announcement to the general public and especially to the trade (Interior designers and architects) and announce a special trade discount of 15% for anyone who will open an account before the end of February. This special one time only promotion will be available only until February 28th for home owners as well as trade professionals.

5. Last, but not least the real revolution is that MyHome Furniture will be designed, sold, supplied, installed and serviced by MyHome. This is the natural ultimate extension of MyHome’s full service concept. Isn’t it easier and probably more enjoyable to have the same team of people who you already know and trust and who will design and renovate your entire space to help you fit the right furniture to your taste and budget and then manufacture it for you right here in New Jersey and finally deliver and install it? Not only that the same people who are providing the 5 year warranty for all the labor on your project will warranty and service the furniture.

6. Perfect style!! Our designer was one of the founders and designers of one of the most well known furniture brands in the industry. This means that our furniture designs and his ability to work with you to develop your own design is second to none in the furniture industry. Below are some links to manufacturers who are making some styles which we can custom make:

www.delaespada.com
www.ligneroset.com
www.troysoho.com
www.danieldonnelly.com
www.cliffyoung.com
www.dennismiller.com

7. How about some patriotism? Yes patriotism. I’m not trying to be political about anything, but why should we spend our hard earned American dollars and invest them in European companies overseas who are not really helping our economy in any way while American manufacturers are suffering, many plants are closing down and the craziest thing about it all is that we can manufacture stuff in the US!!! I know it sounds crazy and it’s popular to think that everything is going to China and manufacturing in the US is way too expensive, but I’ll tell you one thing for sure in the furniture and cabinety industry – European furniture is easier to make than American furniture!!! Fact!!! What this means is that the American manufacturers are actually pretty good, because producing one of those super traditional old American kitchens is much tougher and requires more precise craftsmanship than a modern frameless European kitchen. Yes we’re jumping to kitchens, but it’s exactly the same with furniture. Since we’re already moving on to cabinetry, let’s about MyHome Cabinets and what they’re all about -

Cabinetry:

1.High end traditional American – The same manufacturer making the MyHome Furniture will create furniture finish cabinetry!! The quality of the finish, wood, attention to detail, cratsmanship, engineering, stability, hardware quality, and any other high end innovative feature will all come together to create the perfect super high end custom line. The quality of MyHome cabinets will be as good or better than other high end manufacturers such as Neff Kitchens. Please click below for Neff web site:

www.neffkitchens.com

2. High end contemporary European – Now this is something that I haven’t been able to figure out for at least the last 6 years – ever since we started to get involved in the world of kitchen cabinets. Why are smart hard working tax paying American citizens willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money (Up to $ 5,000!!! per linear foot) for very simple frameless European cabinetry which is made in Europe – usually in Germany or Italy, pay the very very high Euro verses dollar exchange rate, pay an insane amount of money for shipping, wait 16 to 20 weeks all to have a very similar kitchen made of particle board and with a few European hardware gadgets (Which are all available, because all the European hardware manufacturers also have planst in the US) installed!!! All along this process our naive consumer is convinced that some supposed to be brand name kitchen manufacturer like Snaidero, Poggenpohl, Siematic, Scavolini, Pedini, Boffi or Bulthaup Which all sound like wonderful names, which connect your imagination with quality and some magic “European craftsmanship” or “German Engineering” and the crazy thing is that the American public is actually buying it. I mean people are actually spending 5 and 10 times!!! more for one of the brand name kitchens from Europe, which actually is a more simply kitchen than most average American kitchens. Why are people willing to pay more? Is there some great secret European quality or perhaps European Craftsmanship? What is it that makes this whole thing seems logical to many thousands of Americans every month? I mean, after all we’re talking about kitchen cabinets not some high tech gadgets!!

Kitchen cabinets are simply made of 3 things – A box, a door and all the rest of the components (Usually referred to as hardware). If the box is a simple frameless particle board box, which any simple cabinet make can make and all the European hardware manufacturers (Like Blum and Hafele) are making all their products and selling it to all the American manufacturers so is the whole reason we’re jusifying this insane reality, because of the door? But what if we can also get European doors including the ones with glass and alluminum in the US? Would that mean that since all the parts are available in the US and there are some very good American manufacturers than European cabinets can actually be made here? Bingo!!! That’s exactly what MyHome Kitchen is all about. MyHome Kitchen Cabinets will be made in NJ matching or surpassing in quality our European counterparts. This whole situation totally doesn’t make sense and all these years I’ve been asking myself why? Why don’t any American manufacturers make a modern high end European line? There are many ways to try to explain it, but the only fact is that until today despite of some occassional local attemts there isn’t one domestic kitchen cabinet manufacturer who has managed to reproduce a truly European product. MyHome Cabinet’s European line, which is made in NJ will absolutely change the European kitchen cabinet marketplace in the US. Since our product will be significantly less expensive, much much faster, more easily customized, much better in quality, contain 100% European high end hardware components, but will also include some new special innovative gadgets, which are not yet available by all high end manufacturers everyone will want a MyHome Kitchen. This new cabinet line will make it possible for many who wished for a high end European line in the past, but couldn’t afford it to be able to own a MyHome Kitchen. Below are some of the current popular European manufacturers. The MyHome can line can create any European kitchen’s exact same appearance, but faster, cheaper and better. Please view some of the European manufacuters below in order to develop your design concept:

www.poggenpohl.com
www.siematic.com
www.snaidero-usa.com
www.boffi.com
www.pediniusa.com
www.bulthaup.com
www.valcucine.it
www.poliform.com
www.scavolini.com

Yes off course we’re very very excited about all this and the best news about it is that it’s already available. Don’t forget any residential client who opens a MyHome Furniture account by the end of February will receive the 15% trade discount. Those of you who wish to see the MyHome Furniture and MyHome Cabinet lines there will be photos of the line in each of our 3 design centers within one week. We will also be featuring the MyHome Furniture line during our next home shows in February and March – The Architectural Digest Home Show in the city, Westchester Home Show, Bergen County Home Show, and Rockland County Home Show (yes we’ve just expanded our service to Rockland and good news Connecticut – We are now serving South Western Connecticut as well).Yes off course we’re very very excited about all this and the best news about it is that it’s already available. Don’t forget any residential client who opens a MyHome Furniture account by the end of February will receive the 15% trade discount. Those of you who wish to see the MyHome Furniture and MyHome Cabinet lines there will be photos of the line in each of our 3 design centers within one week. We will also be featuring the MyHome Furniture line during our next home shows in February and March – The Architectural Digest Home Show in the city, Westchester Home Show, Bergen County Home Show, and Rockland County Home Show (yes we’ve just expanded our service to Rockland and good news Connecticut – We are now serving South Western Connecticut as well).

We can design and build a home just as nice as this one.

Click here to watch the video

MyHome has recently produced a special movie about MyHome and the Remodeling Process. Click below and watch the full length feature.
Click here to watch the video

On January 20th, 2007 Mayan Metzler received the Inc 500 Award on behalf of MyHome at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco California.

MyHome was ranked among the 500 fastest growing privately held companies in America.

Click here to learn more

First of all I’d like to thank all the members of the MyHome team and by that I mean all of the hardworking remodeling consultants, project managers, executives, branch managers, and everyone in the various departments including purchasing, warehousing, accounting, operations, sales, production, marketing, kitchen cabinetry ordering, approvals, technology, customer service, research, merchandising, interior design and development. I would also like to thank the rest of our team members including our tradespeople, supervisors, suppliers, and all of our third party support staff including all of our consultants. But most importantly we’d like to thank our clients who have all been a most vital part of the team handling their specific projects. Without all of you, we would have never made it this far. Thank you all for being a part of the team and playing along with everything that happened as great team players. Hopefully this new blog will be a wonderful platform for recognizing the fact that we are all one team and finding new ways to positively affect our performance.

Dear clients,

 Thank you. Thank you and once again thank you. Actually lots of more thank yous. We owe it all to you. Without you this would have never happened. We started 7 years ago from my rental house on Irwin Ave. in Kingsbridge, Bronx. We were simply two young Israeli guys (22 and 23 years old) who were starting a contracting business. Actually when we started we didn’t do most of what we do today. At first we were called Flooring Manhattan and Painting Manhattan. We started this business in the summer of the year 2,000. It was only a year later that the idea of MyHome began to develop. The My of MyHome means Mayan and Yoel. Although we are originally from Israel we only met each other in New York. in September 1,999 I met Yoel when I started to work at New York Wood Flooring. That’s when I also met Lior who is a Vice President and the Westchester/Connecticut/ Putnam manager. Lior and Yoel were already good friends when I joined the company. Lior started working there in March 99 and Yoel joined in August. The three of us bonded instantly and became good friends. If I were to choose one story to tell about MyHome it wouldn’t be anything related to our business achievement. It would be the story of a great friendship between people which created a certain synergy. This synergy allowed certain magical events to happen which lead to everything we have become today and will become in the future. That original friendship still exists today and we believe that good leadership and management which lead to good team work is what it’s all about. For us it never was about the money or the business. We were always simply trying to enjoy ourselves and do our best to make sure that everyone else is happy. Offcourse this includes everyone on our team and even those that are not on our team. Part of our philosophy is to always do our best to be friends with everyone. Since we started this business without any former knowledge, education or experience sufficient for running a large corporation we had to learn and still learn a lot everyday in order to figure things out. That’s why we realized very early on that things can only succeed if we will always work as a team. This means that we must respect everyone, learn from anyone, and listen to anything any one says. At first we didn’t know too much at all. In fact when we first started it was only the two of us. There was no one else in the company, we didn’t have any money at all and the little that we had we spent on advertising. We had to survive so I had to focus all my energy to generate sales. Yoel would mange all the projects driving an old beat up Chevy Vandura. I was driving a 91 Buick which in August was upgraded to a 99 Honda Civic. We were simply doing our best to survive and pay our bills. Since it was only the two of us we learned to know each other and work together in perfect harmony. This unique cooperation and synergy created a very special management style. People often ask us to describe what each of us does or in other words how the tasks are distributed between us. In most cases it’s impossible to explain since we truly do everything together.

This letter started with dear clients and those of you that can stand my writing this long may be wondering, “Wasn’t this supposed to be a letter adressed to us? Why is he telling us this whole long story after thanking us?”. Well, here’s the point: Without you it would never have happened. We would have never turned from a couple of guys who have nothing into a multi million dollar corporation in less than 7 years. Since now you know how we started you may realize why we may not have been that great all the time. Our character and intentions never changed. Anyone who ever personally met us knows that we would always do anything to satisfy a client, but perhaps in the beginning years we weren’t that great. Since we didn’t have any money and didn’t have too much previous experience we may have screwed up sometimes. If we did, I apologize. Actually while I’m admiting that we may not have been as great as we are today I must admit that we probably screw up today. For that I’d like to apologize as well. Am I admitting right here and now as one of the owners of MyHome, a company that is supposed to be the best in the country, that sometimes we make mistakes? That’s right. Anyone who wouldn’t admit simply doesn’t understand this business. Remodeling is all about mistakes, problems, delays, aggravation and a whole bunch of other potentially negative stuff. Most companies approach things differently. They try to fix everything so there won’t be any problems never realizing that it’s impossible. Any remodeling project involves coordinating many many different human beings who usually include trades people (carpenters, electricians, plumbers, painters, tile men, and many more), interior designers, architects, building managements, town or city building departments and inspectors, engineers, consultants (decorators, lighting designers, kitchen & bath designers, tile consultants, owner’s reps, construction mangers), project managers, supervisors, building staff, delivery drivers, warehousing, purchasing, accounting, financing, moving and many more and that’s before we even started with any suppliers. Usually there are many suppliers (as many as 20 to 50 different suppliers for residential remodeling and may be as many as hundreds for larger construction or commercial projects. That’s suppliers, not products there may be hundreds or thousands of different items for one project!!!). Each of the suppliers relies on other suppliers who manufacture the raw material. All this means that we need to rely on thousands of human beings for every remodeling project!!! Anyone who truly understands this equation would realize that there’s a very very slight chance that everything will go exactly according to plan. A remodeling project is probably one of the most complex things you have ever done in your life. I can pretty much guarantee right here and now on this blog that if you’re about to remodel something is bound to go wrong at some point. It took us several years to truly understand this and I must admit that the first years were very very tough. Completing over 2,000 projects in the Tri State area during the last 7 years has tought us a lot about the remodeling industry. Growing from nothing to a 300 people with over 300 ongoing projects has tought us a lot about management. We’re far from perfect and make mistakes everyday, but that’s the only way we can  learn and grow. During this growth process we may have made mistakes and perhaps some of you feel that you were mistreated. We’d like to apologize for any inconvenience or frustration that was caused to you. We want all of our clients to be very very happy with the product and service they have purchased from us. Anyone who feels that we can do anything more to satisfy them and not enough effort was made by our team please let us know about it. To all our clients, once again Thank you very very much for everything. We appreciate every cent of your business. I hope most of you now realize how difficult renovation is and appreciate our team’s effort towards satisfying you. Without you it would have never happened. We view all of you as part of our team and hope that you feel the same way about us. In fact, since all of us at MyHome are friends we feel that you are also our friends. Even though I don’t know each of you personally I would like to personally thank every one of you for your business. Since meeting with over 2,000 clients (Which probably means over 4,000 people) individually would be kind of time consuming, but the good news is that there’s a new communication tool that will allow us to personally communicate. This special tool is this blog. This blog will soon turn into a Vlog (Video blog). You can get to know me and I would love to get to know you so please don’t hesitate to post any comment about any topic you’d like to discuss. In fact, anyone who wishes to write a post, add a page, category, tell me about an idea or discuss anything else can email me at mmetzler@myhomeus.com. I can’t promise that I’ll change things according to your requests, but I do promise to listen carefully and discuss anything. Once again, sorry about my very long posts and thank you very much for your business and team work.

MyHome is all about combining art and engineering. We do it everyday on every project when combining the beautiful selection of products with their well engineered materials and technology.

Click here to watch the video

MyHome is all about new technology. In 2007 we will continue improving and expanding our technology including our home automation and audio/ video departments. Very soon we will launch our new video conferencing solutions for business and residences. Please check out the following video, which presents the future of how human beings will interact with machines.

Click here to watch the video

Yes google has a nice playground, but I think MyHome’s is a bit better. Our playground is Chelsea Piers, which is the best sports club in the country. Those of you that don’t know yet, MyHome is running a special promotion, which is:
1. All MyHome employees were given a one month membership to Chelsea piers and
2. Anyone who will go 10 times within the month will receive a one year membership.

Click here to watch the video

2007 will be a revolutionary year for MyHome. We will be kicking into Phase IV of our business plan, which means very fast growth. let’s summarize the first 3 phases so that we can understand what this next phase is about:

1. 2001 to 2004 – Proof of concept phase. That’s when we were trying to figure it all out. We were trying to prove 4 main assumptions – 1. That it is possible to manage many different projects simultaneously while keeping things under control 2. That it is possible to design, specify, order and install all the necessary product for a complete home renovation out of one relatively small retail location 3. Maintain a relatively high client satisfaction ratio 4. Be profitable

2. 2004, 2005 – Establish a strong base in New York, which means build a larger more expensive showroom (Now that we supposively figured it out after the 1st one, which was at 801 Amsterdam – between 99 St and 100 St. – btw this building was recently demolished and rumor has it that a nice new high rise hotel will be build). Our new showroom, which is also our current Manhattan showroom was built at 353 W. 48 St. (Between 8th and 9th Ave.). We recruited and trained our unbelievable team, most of which still remains today. Several people who were remodeling consultants and project managers have been promoted and today are top executives at MyHome. By the end of 2005 we were more than 40 people in the New York branch (Which was the only one at the time). During the summer of 2005 we built our current office, which is located 2 floors about the showroom (3rd floor). We also purchased a small remodeling firm at E. 74 St. However less than a year after buying this showroom, we realized that we are not being properly represented so we closed it. Since we were being evicted from our Uptown showrom (the landlord wanted to start building the hotel), we were left with only one showroom in Manhattan.

3. Phase III – 2006, 2007 – After we have figured out how to run a successful branch in New York it was now time to begin expanding regionally. The first two branches must be close to home so that the entire team can be involved and support when necessary. We were lucky to be able to test two different types of expansion models. The first, which is being implemented in our NJ location. Btw, let’s not use the word showroom anymore, because the proper term to use is Design Center. So the first model is called “Starting from Scratch”. This means coming into an area and starting completely from nothing including recruiting and traing a team and building the showroom. This model is wonderful and has many great advantages, but the disdvantage is the fact that it is more time consuming than the 2nd model. The 2nd model is being worked in our Westchester branch and it’s called “Purchasing an existing kitchen and bath showroom”. In March of 2006 we purchased a local company in Mount Kisco and together with some of their remaining staff turned the place into a legitimate MyHome design center. Currently we are expanding the space and will complete the renovation soon.

4. Phase IV – Actually today we are still in phase III, but during the course of 2007 we will progress from phase III into phase IV. Phase IV is about beginning a more accelerated expansion and opening new locations in other cities across the US. In addition to opening new locations we will launch our new MyHome cabinet line, MyHome Furniture line, MyHome Lighting line and expand the following departments: Siding, roofing, decks, windows, garages, land scaping, pools and spas, addition building, new home building, home automation, audion/ video, security, video conferencing, office renovation, commercial framing and sheetrock, interior design, design build, restaurant design and remodeling, store design and remodeling, boutique hotel design and building, and commercial construction. We will expand our service offering both as a contractor/ designer and as a supplier. Another innovation in 2007 is the launching of our development department. We are already working on several new developments including a small boutique hotel, an apartment building, a multi family house and 6 town houses. Since we realize that we have the ability to successfully manage any project no matter how big or small, we are able to take on larger and more complex projects. We recently completed adding 3 floors to a Tribeca loft, which was quite complex, but our success on this project has helped establish our confidence as a top class project manager who can take on any type of project.

Let’s assume that this is the MyHome blog. The reason I say, “let’s assume” is because usually blogs are about community and about people’s lives. It’s kind of like a diary that the blogers write about things that are going on. Anyone can write about anything they wish, but I guess it’ll be my responsibility as the person who initiated the blog to “watch over” certain discussions just to make sure that everything is cool and everyone is enjoying themselves. We may be posting new comments about many different topics, but again let’s assume that this is the MyHome blog. Since I have dedicated the major portion of the last 7 years of my life to MyHome, it can be relatively easy for me to find new topics to discuss. I guess there would be many new topics, which will be introduced as we go along, but here are a few ideas:

1. Product comments about product categories such as kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, painting, siding, roofing, windows, decks, tile, plumbing fixtures, lighting, furniture, technology, home automation, and more.

2. Product comments about manufacturers such as Poliform, Snaidero, Poggenpohl, Boffi, Siematic, Pedini, Scavolini, Regba and others (European kitchen cabinet manufacturers), plumbing fixture manufacturers such Kohler, American Standard, Duravit, and at least 100 more plumbing fixture and faucet manufacturers, over 50 lines of tile manufacturer, hundreds of lighting and appliance manufacturers like GE, Wolf, Subzero, Miele, Bosch, Gaggenau, Viking, Kitchenaid, Whirlpool.

3. Product comments about the MyHome line – MyHome is introducing it’s new line of cabinetry and furniture!!!

4. Discussion regarding MyHome’s projects – An opportunity for any project manager, remodeling consultant, or any other part of the MyHome team including, but not limited to our clients, prospects, suppliers, and tradesmen to post comments regarding issues, ideas or anything else about specific projects, which they think is worthwhile discussing. This way we can all learn from others’ experience so that we would improve as a team and as a company.

5. Since I need to try to keep it short, let’s call this one simply “everything else”. At this point, since we don’t know exactly how and where this blog will develop let’s keep it open. One thing is sure, that this blog will very soon develop into a Vlog. Vlog is a new term used to describe one of the most interesting current trends, which is video blogs. I have only seen a few video blogs and what I saw (Which is also what the “blog consultant” recommends) is to upload short videos daily, which are 2 to 3 minutes long. It’s actually kind of cool, because I’ve been into video quite a bit recently, but more about this topic will be coming up soon.

Happy Birthday to Ronen Betzalel!

European cabinets. What does it mean to be a “European Cabinet”? Does it mean that you are European in your nature? Does it mean that you speak one of the great European languages? Perhaps you don’t really have any special character, because after all a cabinet let’s face it is not alive. So if that’s the case it’s all about the way you look right? Or perhaps there’s more to it? Maybe there’s something behind the European technology or European craftsmanship?

Looking European will be discussed soon, but what about European technology or craftsmanship? I’m sorry to tell you ladies and gentlemen including my dear and beloved fellow European friends that we have come to a time where European technology or European craftsmanship have ceased to exist. The technology and craftsmanship IN any advanced factory around the world is all about machinery. The bigger, better, faster, more branded, more profitable, best managed factories in the world are all about the machinery so there is very little to no human craftsmanship involved in the process. Well that still leaves technology and actually here I must admit that the German and Italian kitchen cabinet manufacturing machines are the best in the world. If that’s the case so why am I still eliminating the technology factor? That’s because nowadays anyone can purchase any machine from any country. Does this mean that the best American plants are using Italian and German machines? Bingo!!! So we eliminated the European character aspect of European cabinets, and took care of European technology and craftsmanship, but there’s still the European look that is left.

So let’s talk about that European look and what that’s all about? Actually now that I think about it, is a European look different from an American appearance? Perhaps, but is that really true? America is all about Europeans. I mean most Americans are originally British, Irish, Italian, German, Spanish, French or Scandinavian. Do Americans look different from Europeans or let’s rephrase the question, Do Europeans appear different than Americans? The answer is not really. Yes there are some fashion differences and Europeans perhaps dress differently, but over all Americans and Europeans pretty much look the same. Now I’m talking about people, but how is that related to cabinets?

The reason Europeans and Americans look different is only because of fashion. Although New York is a world fashion center in Europe there are 3 world fashion centers – Milan, Paris and London. The way things have been going on for the last few hundred years is they start out in Europe and than get to the states. Some times it may take year for a European trend to get here, but eventually it does. Focusing back to European cabinets and being that Milan is a design and fashion world headquarter, new designs in the kitchen world are pretty much dictated by Italian designers. That’s why the Italian kitchens are so well known. Since the Italians always initiate the design they are always ahead of the game and everything else in the kitchen cabinet world is affected by what the Italians innovate. Now just between us and not to offend anyone, we all know that the Italians are not world leaders in technology. Since Italy is such an amazingly beautiful place located right in the heart of the Middle East, the wonderful Middle Eastern mentality and life style naturally has taken over everything. And that includes business. If I was living in Italy, I would never give up my one month (Can we make it 6 or 8 weeks for executives?) summer vacation. I mean if I was in Italy in July or August the last thing I would ever care about is business and it would be simply impossible to tell me not to enjoy the summer at the beach all day long. Since the Italian companies realize that all of their empolyees, executives and even owners all are controlled by this perfect Middle Eastern summer vacation urge they decided that instead of fighting a lost battle, they would simply close the factory for a month. Actually, they decided let’s declare the entire month of August in Italy a vacation month and let’s close all the factories. I don’t know about all industries, but I do know that if you visit Italy in August you’ll find a lot of closed businesses and that even includes many stores and restaurants. Who can blame them? You only live once so you might as well enjoy it as much as you can. All we can do as Americans if we decide to buy anything is keep in mind that if you order anything in June or July instead of the usual 16 to 20 lead week time simply add another 4 weeks. Actually let’s make it 6 weeks just to play it safe, because it take a week to close a big factory and another week just to adjust back from the vacation and get used to working again.

Anyway, let’s go back to the European look, because that’s what we were trying to figure out. So it all starts from Italy, but the Italians are not the best technology people in the world so many of the best kitchen cabinets are made by German manufacturers. Germans after all are the most precise, disciplined, hard working guys we know. I can see why Great German manufacturers using German technology, German minds, German management style, and most Germans would make great kitchen cabinets. Actually some of the best most well known brands are German such as Siematic, Poggenpohl, Almilmo and Bulthaup. They’re good, but still what does it mean for a cabinet to have a European look?

Since the Italians are most innovative in design it means that they’re most modern. Modern mean minimalistic – clean lines, no details, simply forms which seam like they blend into a futuristic surrounding. Some Americans are not into that kind of look and it’s usually those that live in houses. Most houses in the United States are built looking exactly like houses did 100 and even 200 years ago. In some cases even close to 300!! If you live in a house that looks or actually is very old, usually your design style would be what we call very traditional. However, those Americans who live in apartment complexes and condos can see their space as belonging to the year 2007. Actually 99% of all new high rise condos are designed ultra modern. Why is that? Is it because our design preference is changing? No, we simply want to live the year 2007 and not 1967 or 1927.

Let’s wrap this up by getting a bit more technical about what the actual characteristics are of modern European cabinets:

1. This is pretty much a must. Without it you can’t be considered a “European Cabinet”. Your doors must be flat! The color can very, but the door itself must be flat (Sometimes referred to as a slab door)

2. The cabinet construction must be frameless!! This is another feature that is a must. There’s no such thing as a framed European cabinet. If you want to look European you must be frameless. Frameless means there is no frame right? So actually if there is less of something, does that mean that is’ not as good? Well it depends what you mean by good. Less strong yes, but easier and faster to manufacture + it requires less trees (Which is a great thing). It’s still strong enough. It must be – otherwise all the European manufacturers, who are the best in the world wouldn’t be wouldn’t be using it.

3. You must contain European hardware and accessories. Does that mean made by European manufacturers? Precisely! Actually there are only two main European companies that really matter, because that’s what counts. These two hardware makers are Blum (Inventor of the Blumotion glide + many many other great innovations) and Hafele. Both of them are manufactured and widely distributed through out the US. Am I saying that the European hardware manufacturers are also American hardware manufacturers? 2nd Bingo!!!

So what’s my point? If we eliminated European character, technology and craftsmanship and all we have look is the European look and European look is about being frameless (easier to make), having a flat door (much easier to make) and containing European hardware (Which actually American hardware) than what am I trying to prove by this entire long article? If it’s that simple, how come no American manufacturer is making European cabinets? Am I saying that for many years we Americans have been paying an insanely high price for a product that is actually much easier to make and can be very easily made in the US? This means that all these years we’ve been paying $ 2,000 to $ 5,000 per linear foot, because it includes shipping assembled cabinets (lots of air volume = very expensive) over seas (long time) + the Euro go dollar exchange (Very bad for us = more expensive) and we were buying it all along, because of good branding and marketing and we took business away from good old American manufacturers who can actually very easy make the same product and charge us much much less, service us much much better and deliver much much faster? If all this is true, than this is a sensational scandal!!! American has been wripped off by Europeans who through the power of smart marketing convinced that publich that it makes sense to pay so much for a brand!!!

If all this is true, why aren’t American manufacturers waking up and taking advantage of this insane opportunity? I’m not sure what the answer is, because I didn’t really understand it for many years. Actually I do have a theory about it all, but that’s for a different article. The bottom line is, we stopped trying to figure it out and convince American manufacturers to adjust their traditional way of thinking (Actually some are adjusting a bit, but their product still doesn’t look comparable to the well know European brands). WE HAVE TAKEN ACTION AND DECIDED TO DO IT ON OUR OWN AND THAT’S WHY WE LAUNCHED MYHOME CABINETRY AND MYHOME FURNITURE!!!

www.poggenpohl.com
www.siematic.com
www.snaidero-usa.com
www.boffi.com
www.pediniusa.com
www.bulthaup.com
www.valcucine.it
www.scavolini.com
www.poliform.com

So I recently realized that it might be a good move to start a blog. Since I don’t know too much about the so called blogoshpere, I met with a blog starting consultant who told me that I should be more clear regarding what this blog would be about. I started telling her what I think the blog should be about, but she didn’t seem to think that my ideas would generate any public interest. She told me that there are many blogs and many people before me thought about exactly the same things. I looked around and didn’t find a remodeling company with a blog, but since she was so convinced that there must be one, I believed her. Her skepticism didn’t manage to shake off my confidence so fast, because although I still wasn’t 100% clear about what I should write, her doubts generated some very productive internal discussions with myself, which made me think deeply about blogs and what they’re all about. So while thinking about it and researching the blogoshpere I think I began to realize what a blog is, what blogging is all about and why this blog may be a good thing despite of the potential risks: Which risks, you’re asking?:

1. I would have to spend many hours every day updating the blog. Definetely not anything which seems like I can afford since I’m always so occupied with running and growing the company.

2. This would be the perfect platform for becoming the “MyHome Complaint Blog” and very soon it would be full of comments from clients and prospects who would like to personally adress the owner of MyHome in order to share their personal experience. Actually that’s something I like, because it’ll be an opportunity for everyone to truly share their knowledge, innovate and improve the company. I always tell everyone that problems during remodeling projects will always come up. That’s actually what remodeling is all about. MyHome is all about problems and problem solving. We’re not afraid of problems and not afraid of dealing with any kind of situation. In fact, when issues come up we stair them in the eyeball and tackle the core of the problem immediately so they can be resolved.

3. Why would I want to be so publicly exposed?

4. What would I write about? Because now that I am leading a blog I would be committed to coming up with new ideas and content on a daily basis.

5. Perhaps my English writing is not that great since I’m not a native English speaker nor am I a journalist or author and actually I’m not even quite sure that I like writing so much.So what is a blog? Answering this question made all the above concerns disappear. A blog is a community which is discussing certain ideas, approaches, products, innovations, situations about life and anything else that any member of the community would like to discuss. I also discovered that most successful blogs usually are related to the main author/ personality who is leading the discussion. I actually think that in a truly great blog there should be uncensored comments and postings from any blogger who wishes to post. This way anyone can contribute to any discussion so if that’s the case I can always step out and let others lead.

One other thing that the “Blog Consultant” recommended is to keep the posts relatively short so let’s end this first opening comment, because it’s probably way too long so I’ll continue as we go along in my future posts. Hopefully this blog will generate some interesting productive discussion about anything and everything related to MyHome or actually anything and everything related to any topic in the world that anyone would like to bring up.

My promise is that I will always do my best to read and reply to every comment.

Sincerely,

Mayan

This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!
The year is 1906.
One hundred years ago.
What a difference a century makes!
Here are some statisti cs for the Year 1906:
************************************

The average life expectancy was 47 y ears.

Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
.

There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles
Of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage was 22 cents per hour.

The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year .

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, A dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME .

Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as “substandard.”

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from
Entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was only 30!!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea
hadn’t been invented yet.

There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.

Two out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write.
Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.” ( Shocking? DUH! )

Eighteen percent of households had at least
one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders
in the ENTIRE U.S.A. !

Now I forwarded this from someone else without typing
It myself, and sent it to you and others all over the United States ,& Canada
Possibly the world, in a matter of seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.