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Category:
Published: February 2007
Success Magazine: How did you get into the painting and then construction industry?
Ray Decrecenzo: I started working when I was very young. I was delivering newspapers before school, cleaning dishes at the Century House after school, and selling something like Christmas cards on the side. I also delivered paint for a nearby company.
SM: Why do you think you were so committed to work at such a young age?
RD: Well, first off my parents instilled it in me. But another reason I would have to say is that because I was the youngest of the brothers. I always wanted what my older siblings had. I was out of reach at 14 years old when these cars actually came out, 69's and 70's you know. I didn't have a license. I remember Robert had a 59 Dodge and then he had a Roadrunner and I was like "wow, that's just so neat." Seeing these cars and wanting them. That really sparked it.
SM: You mentioned delivering paint, is that how you got into painting?
RD: Not really. The reason I got into painting was that I saw my Dad doing it for years and I had helped him a few times so I knew how to do it. Even before I had finished high school I had helped him paint garages and did a few on my own. So, when I got out of school at nineteen I knew painting was a good place to start. It was funny. Everyone else seemed so nervous to head out into the world, but I knew just how I was going to start out.
SM: How did you get your name out there?
RD: I really didn't to be honest. I tried every now and then, but my business really came in the simplest way possible. I would be on my stepladder painting something and someone would walk up to me and say, 'hey are you looking to paint another house?' And I would say 'yeah where do you have the house?' That house turned into about a hundred homes a year.
SM: So things were easy for your starting out?
RD: Oh no, not at all. For the first twenty years it was just so hard building a business and trying to live.
Mrs. Kathy Decrecenzo: Ray worked as hard as he could, but we had to make a lot of sacrifices back then. We didn't go out with friends a lot and we really put the whole of our efforts into the business. Our phone would ring from five in the morning until ten at night. We couldn't say, 'oh don't call my house.' We had to do whatever it took to make it a success.
RD: We lived in a tiny mobile home back then. During that time period we hit a really rough patch. I fell down and broke both of my arms. If I didn't have good people working for me I would have been out of business. Fortunately, I had good people and still do today. I took care of my people before and they looked after me. Eventually I got back on my feet.
SM: At what point did your business start to become profitable?
RD: We had a spot in the late '70s and early '80s that went real well. We had gotten a lot of money doing asbestos removal since few people were qualified to do it back then and there was a high demand. From there I started to get involved in building, which was good at first. There was a slump in the mid to late '80s when the market really went down, but after that we really hit our stride.
SM: How much business were you doing then?
RD: I didn't realize it at the time, but looking back it turned out I was doing a thousand apartments a year. I knew some builders who were doing eight to ten houses a year and thought they were kind of slow, but when I saw the numbers for what we had been doing I was just amazed.
SM: Did all of that work put stress on your family life?
KD: Honestly, it really didn't. I don't know how, but Ray always found a way to get home at 6:00 every night to spend time with us.
SM: Did you have some kind of system when you set up your construction company that allowed for such rapid gains?
RD: It is something that I brought into the company years ago. I always thought that people could have a specialty in this business, but should also be able to take care of the many other tasks that have to get done at a construction site. So a painter should have one job he can do really well, but can also pick up the slack and caulk out the house or poly the windows if we're short on people or if there isn't much work for a painter that week. It allows me to have a smaller workforce that can do more in less time but still do it well.
SM: Do you have any hobbies outside of work?
RD: Remember how I said seeing my brother's car inspired me? Well, I'm still a car fanatic today. I go to swap meets and buy parts and put cars together piece by piece. I've spent eight years putting a car together because it took me that long to find specialty parts. I tend to like the older models, ones that I saw when I was younger and envied, but I enjoy new ones too. I bought a car not too long ago that I remember seeing someone drive by me every day at the bus stop. It is really gratifying.
SM: What are you most thankful for?
RD: To be honest, I am just so thankful that my wife has been so supportive of everybody, both my business and my family. She had a business, the Pottery Passion, that she did really well with but later on her mother got sick and then my father got sick and she gave it up just to take care of them, like she was their personal nurse. That takes a rare person.
I also have to be thankful for my mom and dad. They really put the work ethic into me that allowed me to get where I am today. My father had terminal lung cancer yet for the longest time you would still see him out there doing work or taking care of things around the house. A few weeks ago my sister said, "'If only Dad could have seen this.' I told her that I believe he is seeing it. I said, 'Dad's been with us, he never left. Every action I take I take as if he's watching me.
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