At Pella, we go above and beyond for our partners to make sure that their high-end projects go off without a hitch. When our partners choose Pella for their windows, they can rest easy knowing that where windows and doors are concerned, we’ve got it under control. And that’s, as we say, “The Power of Pella.”
Kyle and Andrea Vorachek of Neighborly Property Group have been working with us for about a decade now, and have been Pella Certified Contractors since 2019. They’ve come to expect and rely on the high quality of service that Pella offers.
To glean some insight into Neighborly Property Group, we sat down with Kyle Vorachek to talk about their first few years of business, NPG’s ideal clients, and their experience with Pella Design Works.
Neighborly Property Group: A Perfect Match
Kyle Vorachek and his wife Andrea both got their start in the construction industry in 2009 and 2011 respectively, working for the same general contractor. Kyle enjoyed the work, and so did Andrea, for a time… But she had an idea that just wouldn’t quit.
In 2018, Andrea took the leap, leaving the construction industry to start her own real estate business, Neighborly Property Group. The company was an immediate success.
Watching his wife take a risk and succeed inspired Kyle to do the same.
“I think it’s easy to get blinded by the safety and security of the status quo,” Kyle muses. “But I was inspired by Andrea’s ambition, and decided to become my own general contractor.”
With Kyle’s construction expertise and Andrea’s real estate prowess, Neighborly Property Group could really stand out from the crowd. Not only could they sell beautiful homes, but they could remodel them to make them even better.
“We were already married, and had worked together for a long time,” says Kyle. “So we thought it was kind of a natural ‘marriage,’ if you will.”
Q: How do you think the combination of construction and real estate sets Neighborly Property Group apart from the competition?
K: Being a general contractor and real estate hybrid really benefits us. It adds to both sides of the business. For example, we do a lot of insurance work: clients who are tackling major renovations due to insurance situations often decide to go beyond the original scope of the work to significantly improve the value and equity of their homes. Then, they’ll want to capitalize on that renovation and sell their homes. We can help them navigate that process.
And vice versa—when Andrea’s working with clients, they’ll look at a house and they’ll say “Well, this house is nice, but the kitchen isn’t very nice,” or “The house needs new windows,” or something along those lines. At that point I can step in and offer those services.
We’re actually meeting with a customer this afternoon who’s in a “love it or list it” situation: do they remodel the place they're in right now, or do they sell it? So we’re discussing that with them this afternoon. There’s just a lot of great back and forths between the two sides of our business.
Q: What construction services does NPG offer?
K: On the construction side, we offer a full menu of remodeling services, but we can also do new construction. We’ve done a few knock-down rebuilds, kitchens, basements, and bathrooms. A lot of our business is roofing and siding—window replacement is another area we specialize in.
People spend a ton of time in their houses, especially these days when so many of us are working from home. So, when we’ve got the opportunity to remodel, I think it makes a lot of sense to really dig in, take a look at the home as a whole, and ask ourselves how we can transform it. How can we improve it, not only from a comfort and quality-of-life standpoint, but financially, too?
When we can do the right things on the remodel, we can improve equity of the home and salability of that home. That’s something we’re always looking at at Neighborly.
Q: If you could wave your magic wand and get your 5 dream clients, who would that be? What would that look like?
K: We really excel when working with higher-end, million dollar plus homes. We’ve done several of those, and have made some amazing home transformations in the Minneapolis metro area.
Some nice custom houses were built during the building-boom that lasted from the 80s to the early 2000s. But now, those homes are architecturally aging, inside and out. So I really enjoy working with customers who are in homes like that, and are open to new ideas for changing up the design.
I think some of the coolest projects we’ve done on these higher-end homes is where the house had some old brown brick, old brown windows, and just a “blah” looking design. We came in and painted the brick, changed the color of the windows, and changed the grid pattern in the windows to allow more light into the house. Projects like that are transformative. I had one customer tell me it changed his life.
Q: How long has Neighborly Property Group been a Pella Certified Contractor?
K: We’ve been a PCC from the start, basically—2019 I think. But I’ve been working with Pella since 2012, when we were with the last contractor. Even then, we had a really good working relationship with our Pella representatives.
I’ve really enjoyed the partnership we’ve had with Pella. As a small business, the more things we can take off of our plate, the more we can accomplish. Pella is able to do a lot of the stuff that just buying windows from a distributor doesn’t usually allow for.
For example, Pella comes out to our projects and does order verification, they do the final measurements with me, they offer support from their service technicians, they handle delivery coordination… All that stuff has really helped us become a more efficient business.
And, with our big projects where there’s 40, 50, 70 windows to be installed in a home, there’s bound to be a product that doesn’t arrive correctly, no matter what manufacturer we use. Some of it’s probably going to be damaged, too. It’s just the way it works.
But with Pella, I don’t have to spend my time chasing those things down. That’s the great thing working with Pella, is they really take a lot of the headaches off our plate. It’s always been a business relationship that’s a true partnership. You just don’t get that working with other distributors.
Q: Have you found that being a PCC has improved your credibility with your clients?
K: Yeah, that’s the power of Pella, right? You know, as a young business—we only started in 2019—people are always going to ask, “Are you reputable? Are you qualified to do this? What’s your experience?” And I think being able to tack-on the Pella name and credibility to ours as we’re starting up has been really significant.
I also think it gives clients peace of mind to know that we’ve been vetted by a company like Pella. For them to know that our installers have gone through training and that we’re “product experts” is hugely powerful when clients decide to trust us with their home—their biggest investment—and allow us to go in, basically cut it to pieces, and then put it back together.
Q: What about Pella’s Design Works Program? How has NPG been able to utilize that in your projects?
K: I can’t stress enough the importance of the Design Works Program. It’s gone such a long way for us. We actually won “Pella Design Partner of the Year” for 2022 because we used that program so much.
The Design Works Program is super easy to use with quick turn times, and it’s been so helpful for our customers who are changing the design of their homes. It allows them to be able to look before they leap, and actually see what their dream home can look like.
Some people view windows as just windows, but I see them as something that can be transformative to the architecture of your home. When I show customers some of the work we’ve done through this program, it excites them, which helps us drum up more business. I’d encourage people to use the program as much as they can.
To learn more about Neighborly Property Group, or to request a quote for your next project, visit their website and click “Get Started.”
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