Built for Real Property Work
FLiP was built around the kind of work property owners and managers deal with every day. Repairs, turnovers, maintenance, cleanup, and the small problems that still need to get handled.
We keep the process straightforward: document the issue, communicate clearly, handle the work we’re equipped to perform, and coordinate licensed trades when a project requires them.
My Story
I got my start in the trades when I was about 12 or 13 working with my dad. At first I mostly did paint prep, cleanup, carried stuff and helped wherever he needed me. He taught me a lot over the years, but the biggest thing he taught me was how to work.
I didn't take a straight path after that. I had some troublesome years when I was younger and got away from a lot of what I had been taught. I became a dad at 18, and that changed things pretty fast. I had somebody depending on me and it was time to get serious.
After that I really never stopped.
I kept working while going to school and eventually earned both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in business. At the same time I was still working with my hands. Construction, painting, repairs, whatever kept the bills paid and kept me moving forward.
Eventually I started Varo's Construction. A lot of the business grew through relationships with local property owners and referrals. We did a little bit of everything.
We painted interiors and exteriors, including some pretty high three-story peaks. We did a lot of rental turnovers. Flooring, doors, windows, cabinets, countertops, decks, bathrooms, framing, cleanup, exterior repairs and plenty of nasty work other people didn't want to touch. I also spent time working on properties at the coast, which taught me a lot about dealing with corrosion and wear caused by salt air.
Turnovers were a big part of the work. I always tried to keep them moving and get them wrapped up within about 30 days when the scope allowed it. I learned pretty early that knowing how to fix something is only part of the job. Materials matter. Scheduling matters. Communication matters. One unfinished item can hold up the whole property.
I also learned not to be scared of ugly jobs. Sometimes you open something up and find a much bigger mess than anybody expected. You figure out what is actually wrong, make a plan and keep going.
Years later I met my wife. We've been together for 11 years and married for one. Together we're raising two girls. Being a husband and helping raise them changed what I was working for too. It became less about just getting through the next job and more about building something stable for my family.
After Varo's I eventually went to work in residential property maintenance. That taught me another side of the same business. I already understood repairs and turnovers. Now I was also seeing the work orders, tenants, property managers, documentation, scheduling, vendors, after-hours calls and everything else happening behind the repair.
Then my health started getting worse.
I couldn't move or work the way I used to, but the bills didn't slow down with me. The financial pressure kept piling up while I was trying to figure out what was happening to my body and what I was still capable of doing. My wife stuck with me through all of it. The frustration, the setbacks, shutting down Varo's, changing directions and trying to figure out what came next.
I don't think FLiP would be here without her. She kept believing in me during a time when it was getting pretty hard for me to believe things were going to work out myself.
That changed the way I look at property maintenance.
It isn't just about showing up with tools and fixing something. The person managing the property needs to know what happened. The customer needs good information. Pictures and documentation matter. Sometimes the right answer is fixing it ourselves. Sometimes the right answer is knowing when the job needs somebody licensed for work outside our scope.
My health also forced me to accept something I probably should have figured out years earlier.
I can't do everything myself.
For a long time I tried to be the estimator, the guy doing the work, the person getting materials, answering calls, handling paperwork and cleaning up when the job was done. I could get away with that for a while. My body eventually made the decision for me.
I wasn't done. I just had to do it differently.
Why I Built FLiP
FLIP is really the next version of everything I've learned from those years.
I didn't want to rebuild Varo's and put myself right back in the same position. I wanted to take the field experience, what I learned working around property management and what I learned studying business and put it together into something better.
I know now that a good company can't depend on one person trying to carry everything.
It takes employees who care about the work. It takes customers who trust us and communicate with us. It takes good vendors and licensed trade partners. It takes systems that keep jobs, pictures, paperwork and communication from turning into a mess.
And it takes family. Mine has already been through enough of this journey with me to know exactly what they're signing up for.
My business education taught me a lot about planning and systems. Years in the field taught me what happens when those plans meet a real property with a real problem.
FLiP is where those two parts finally come together.
We're still building it. I'm still learning. But the goal is simple. Do good work. Be straight with people. Document what we do. Take care of the work we're equipped to handle and bring in the right people when we're not.
That's what I'm building FLiP around.
Licensed, Bonded & Insured
FLIP is a Washington registered general contractor with a $30,000 contractor bond and general liability insurance. L&I Contractor Registration: CCFLIPSTL748BO.
