Newsletter:  February 2007 a   Joe Keith “(founder and owner of Cobblestone Homes) was one of our very first customers.  He really gave us our first chance when we were starting out in 1983.” - Tom Leduc, President & CEO of LeDuc & Dexter On a hilltop in the Carneros wine region there is an office and spa building with a circular driveway and a sign that says “Welcome to the Carneros Inn”. “Good service is the number one thing.  Price is important, but without good service price means nothing"-Tom LeDuc

Cobblestone's Riverview Benefits From Good Weather

Residential

LeDuc & Dexter is in the rough-in stage of plumbing for homes in Riverveiw (click image to enlarge)

Cobblestone Homes’ Riverview, a luxury community in Petaluma, has benefited from the dry weather to help construction move forward in phase one of the project.  Phase one consists of 21 homes called the Parklands, which is located off McNear Ave. and Petaluma Boulevard South.   Phase Two of Riverview will be the Uplands, which will consist of 36 homes situated on a hillside above the Parklands with views of Petaluma and the Petaluma River.  Construction of the homes in the Uplands will begin in the spring.

LeDuc & Dexter, Inc. is the plumbing contractor for the project and they have completed the under slab plumbing for a number of homes that are presently having foundations poured due to the dry winter weather.  Leduc & Dexter’s residential department is also in the rough-in stage for a few of the homes in the Parklands.   Cobblestone Homes has been a customer of LeDuc & Dexter for many years.  Recent projects have included numerous luxury communities in Santa Rosa’s Fountaingrove and Petaluma.

LeDuc & Dexter's Martin Sagala and Carlos Gonzalez installing gas pipe (click image to enlarge)

		Tom LeDuc, President & CEO of LeDuc & Dexter recalls an early project that they did with Cobblestone Homes that was a harbinger of things to come.  “Joe Keith (founder and owner of Cobblestone Homes) was one of our very first customers.  He really gave us our first chance when we were starting out in 1983.”

LeDuc & Dexter's Hiram Garcia cutting gas pipe (click image to enlarge)

“Cobblestone was building the Vineyard Creek condominiums, about 70 units, and we got the job”, says LeDuc, “at the time our company consisted of Artie (Dexter), Rich (Hoaglund) and myself.  Our biggest challenge was getting the labor to do it.  We did it and our company really took off from that point on.  Over the years we’ve had a great relationship with Cobblestone Homes”

Carneros Inn Is Much More

Commercial

Carneros Inn spa and office (click image to enlarge)

On a hilltop in the Carneros wine region there is a spa and office building with a circular driveway and a sign that says “Welcome to the Carneros Inn”.  Below the hilltop lies a “community” that includes a market, restaurant, lodge and meeting room, yoga studio, swimming pool, over 100 cottages and a post office – its all part of the Carneros Inn, a luxury resort.

Farm restaurant and the lodge at the Carneros Inn were plumbed by LeDuc & Dexter (click image to enlarge)

LeDuc & Dexter has been working on this project for over a year with general contractor Jeff Luchetti Construction, Inc.  In that time they have complete the restaurant called Farm along with the market, which LeDuc & Dexter is now working on with tenant improvements.      LeDuc & Dexter is also working on the plumbing for 18 new luxury cottages.  “They’re really more like upscale houses”, says Bill Zeeb, Commercial Manager for LeDuc & Dexter, “They have two bedrooms, a fireplace, kitchen, washer and dryer, a hot tub and outdoor shower.”

LeDuc & Dexter's Gonzalo Ochoa (with pipe) and Gregoria Ibarra installing copper water pipe for the new guest cottages (click image to enlarge)

LeDuc & Dexter's Brandon Curtis installing copper water pipe for spa treatment rooms (click image to enlarge)

Another area that LeDuc & Dexter is working on is the spa with an expansion project that will add a number of treatment room rooms that require copper piping for water and wastewater piping, sinks and soaking tubs.  LeDuc & Dexter also installed radiant heating for the yoga studio floor, which has a cushioned sub floor under the hardwood surface giving it a slight bouncy feel as you walk on it.

Within the Carneros Inn “community” that consists of a number of streets where the cottages are situated, there is a planned town square area.  This town square will be located next to the cluster of buildings where the restaurant and meeting room are located.  The Carneros Inn really is much more than the name indicates.

The Carenros Inn community has over 100 guest cottages (click image to enlarge)

Serving Our Customers

The Company

Most companies in the service sector of business experience success in a direct relationship to how well they treat their customers – LeDuc & Dexter is no exception.  “Our customers mean everything to us”, says Tom LeDuc, President & CEO of LeDuc & Dexter.   “Good service is the number one thing.  Price is important, but without good service price means nothing”, says LeDuc, “Part of good service is quality and dependability.  The quality of our people in the field is one of the reasons we get good customers.  Their product knowledge and having the right products on the job is huge plus to customers.  Also, being there when the customer calls is equally important.”

Tom LeDuc and Art Dexter (right) have built their company by serving their customers (click image to enlarge)

Each morning at LeDuc & Dexter the phone is answered by a person, not a recording, starting at 6 a.m.  “We have a well-educated staff that can give customers answers to their questions or get them to the person that can”, says LeDuc.    In a price conscience industry like construction value can sometimes be overlooked.  “Customers that pay more for good service get good value”, says LeDuc.  One big value that customers gain with LeDuc & Dexter is the manpower to complete big projects on time.

LeDuc & Dexter's Martin Sagala (left) has almost to 20 years of experience in the field with the company (click image to enlarge)

Another value is follow through, “It’s easy to say you’ll do something.  Doing what we say you’ll do is following through”, says LeDuc.

All of the things LeDuc & Dexter can do to serve their customers are important, but their customers expect these things.  Perhaps that’s one of the reasons that LeDuc & Dexter’s motto is “Service Beyond Expectations.”