Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Maxim.
Hi Justin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
As a second generation Carpenter in residential remodeling, I got in with two of the country’s best remodeling (casedesign.com) and restoration contractors (jenkinsrestorations.com) at a young age. Like most I was trying to figure out my journey and my thing, working and going to business school at the same time, getting married and having kids, moving, losing loved ones, and much more.
I finally realized that there isn’t one exact path that I have to find. As if I have to find the one needle in the haystack, and if I don’t find it, my life is a failure…
Finally I accepted what I do best, did a lot of planning, research and looked into the mirror to realize that there is nothing wrong with a path of construction entrepreneurship.
With some excellent advice from my brother in LA, who owns viralapplaunch.com, to just confidently pick a niche instead of being a jack of all trades, I struck a chord in the door installation market.
After 16 years of learning on the job, 1 failed partnership, and 1 that wasn’t a good fit, I finally went all in to Just Doors.
Side story: We moved from Washington DC area to Atlanta in 2021 to volunteer full time with our two little boys with nothing but a clear calling from God and a date of August 1st. We sold our house in faith and lived on that for a year while we did ministry training and served unpaid in the highly needy Afghan Exodus crisis. As we were working on fundraising and had long since run out of money trying to remain faithful to the calling, I got a call that no one wants. Dad, a vibrant busy and unstoppable man of God, got called home early in a kayaking accident.
So after being the child in my family that has flexibility, we stayed with my mom to help her get things in order, furthering our struggle entering ministry.
This is when I did a revisit powwow with God and got updated orders… Take care of your family well, build an organization on honesty, excellence and expertise, and then you will be ready for next steps after that…
Now we have 3 sales consultants/project managers and 4 professional seasoned teams cumulating more than 100 years of DOOR experience, much less carpentry and remodeling experience.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Smooth? Anything but. However when I always fix mistakes, and finish well I never end on a bad note. This makes life much more pleasant, and customers paying. Plus referrals and reviews have made the lead flow explode!
I have had to fire multiple teams, employees and had someone hack my Instagram to get back at me for saying I couldn’t afford his service anymore… Really.
I have had to sweat and get through every season with no boss to cry to, accept my wife, who won’t let me give up. I am so glad she has enabled me to work 50-80 weeks year after year, picking up my slack around the house, and not being angry at me for the occasional late night, or week…
I did all this with no cash, only credit card debt, and have had to pay for every lesson out of the bottom line.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Just Doors, yes, not windows. It’s a joke we have running for the countless times people ask. (Now and then we will do windows though,,, shhhh)
Doors are a tricky and nuanced part of carpentry that is a niche unserved by handyman builders in most general contractors.
There is a window and door industry, but we took it one step further.
A big part of our service is the consultation in diagnosing designing and sourcing the right door for the right price. Installing them is no simple task either because we typically get the complicated and custom work that nobody else will take on.
Myself and our salesman have to carefully understand the geometry and reason the door is giving problems which sometimes takes a bit of work. Then once we have a clear plan we can write it up with confidence, order an expensive non-refundable door and prep the team to install it.
The difference ultimately is being able to make good on our promises and our marketing.
While the competition has lots of great marketing on their websites, the majority don’t have the reviews to back it up or the bandwidth to serve a wide audience with predicable success
How do you think about happiness?
A freshly finished door is visually and functionally very satisfying. It does bring me joy, but going on adventures with my 2 boys, and getting closer do my deeper calling. Makes me really happy!
Also giving people jobs, helping them personally and giving them leadership that I wish I had is also very fulfilling.
The invisible hand of business is a great thing!
Pricing:
- Doors are almost always custom special order or unique situations. So pricing is rarely generalized.
- A typical front door, all in, could be anywhere from $3,500 to $15,000
- Most interior doors at scale, whether sliding, swinging or folding run around $600-1600/ea. There are a million options!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Justdoors.io
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/justdoorsatl
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EdvDmD3xC/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/just-doors-atl/
- Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tskpni7a99P4F5eV6
- Other: https://www.homeadvisor.com/rated.JustInDoors.99318686.html
Image Credits
These are all from our very own projects and iPhones!
