Ida Franklin, the owner of Venus Construction in Katy, said her and her staff have kept busy and are booked until mid-December.
Venus Construction opened in 2006 and specializes in high-end kitchen and bath remodels as well as commercial remodeling and build-out.
"We're very fortunate to have a good business base," Franklin said. "We're just trying to keep up with the business we have. "
Franklin and her crew have kept up good practices as they continued business as usual.
"I talked to my employees at length about not putting themselves at risk unnecessarily, being careful and wearing masks," Franklin said. "Especially after we went through it at my house, it was terrible. I wouldn't want to wish that on anybody. Having to quarantine and separate yourself from each other in the house, and if people have kids, I can't even imagine telling a kid they can't hug their mother."
Venus Construction employees mask up around their customers, Franklin said, and most customers will not mask up in their own homes, but the crew typically does not work near them.
Although local regulations have not affected business operations aside from wearing masks, Franklin said they have had supply chain issues.
"We have a horrible time right now getting appliances," Franklin said. "Anything made in China or anywhere overseas is taking way longer to get here. Things that normally take a couple of weeks to arrive are taking months."
Franklin said Venus Construction has struggled a little in getting parts to complete a job due to factories closing overseas in March and April, but manufacturing is picking back up.
"The things that we would be selling now are things that they would be manufacturing back in March and April," Franklin said. "They just started reopening so now they are having to play catch up but it's going to take months."
In addition to a slow recovery in supply chain, Franklin lost two employees in the early days of the lockdown.
"Most of the guys and gals who work with me have been with me for a while, but I've had to hire a couple of new people, and that's always a challenge," Franklin said. "In our construction and remodeling industry, it's crazy busy right now, so there's not that much unemployment. I know there are lots of people unemployed and lots of people are struggling, but we're not struggling."
Franklin hopes to take off a couple of weeks during the holiday season as she does each year, and so far she seems to be on track.
