Friends of Build Magazine

You Can't Rush a Masterpiece: Slow Building on the Big Island with Urs Leuenberger of Roy Lambrecht Woodworking Inc. | Friends of Build Magazine #68

Episode Summary

Ted speaks with Urs Leuenberger of Roy Lambrecht Woodworking Inc. in Kona, Hawaii about navigating a changing business. His market went from small to large and that has brought challenges and new opportunities for his clientele.

Episode Notes

Today Ted speaks with Urs Leuenberger of Roy Lambrecht Woodworking Inc. in Kona, Hawaii. Urs tells the story of coming from another country to start his business and all the ways the island has changed in the time he’s been there.

Ted leads Urs in sharing his American dream, what the future of development in Hawaii might look like, and the evolution of his clients in the 40 years he’s been doing business there. Urs gives his insights on what his clients are looking for, new trends, and why you can’t rush a masterpiece. 

TOPICS DISCUSSED

• [2:00] What was your dream?
• [4:10] How has Hawaii changed?
• [8:30] What’s the future look like?
• [10:45] The evolution of clientele 
• [15:00] What gets you excited in your business?
• [19:00] Difficult clients
• [20:45] Cold kitchens vs Warm kitchens
• [ 23:15] Client patience with Island time
• [25:20] You can’t rush a masterpiece
• [26:15] Working on large scale homes
• [27:00] Reputation is everything
• [28:00] Challenges of cabinetmaking

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KEY QUOTES FROM EPISODE

• You look down on the whole island and you see that there is so much land, so much so much land. It's incredible that really there is – very little is developed. It does not mean that everything needs to be developed, but there's still definitely, at least in my lifetime, it's gonna be.
• You also never on the island in the 80s, you never saw a Ferrari or a BMW on the road, and now you see almost exclusively BMW's on the road.
• And it's just more or less the understanding of what the client wants, what they're looking for. And you can achieve that by either knowing them very good or engage them in a dialogue of of creating the piece. And a lot of clients come in here and. they get very involved in designing their pieces of what they want.