The PureTree Story

How A Pet Project Became A Life Calling

By: James Maddalone, CEO of PureTree At PureTree, remodeling is not just something we do to earn a living – it’s in our blood. My father was a hands-on builder and he involved his sons in his building projects. At 5 years old, I was helping with a roof replacement on a neighbor’s home down the road. I picked up the basics just by osmosis and spent my high school years pitching in and learning the ropes of remodeling and construction. At 20, I married my wife and we purchased our first fixer-upper home. Naturally, we made a go of renovating it ourselves. We fixed it up, flipped it – and bought another fixer-upper. When we were married for five years, we had flipped two homes and were on our third. That’s when I realized how much I LOVED doing this.

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Timeline Of An Entrepreneur

PureTree didn’t wind up on the pages of Entrepreneur Magazine  right away. We started at the bottom and worked our way up slowly and steadily. 2005: I started out working for a friend who was a seasoned remodeling contractor. Under him, I became a carpenter and gradually grew my knowledge bank. 2007 – 2016: I began offering remodeling and construction services to the community, and slowly started building my business. Eventually, I started taking on bathrooms, windows, doors, decks… pretty much anything that involved building and remodeling. If it wasn’t something we already offered – I made it part of our wheelhouse. 2017: This is when things really started to take off. We hired workers, managers, estimators, and office staff. Our company expanded to include 18 full-time workers. 2018: The projects we undertook kept getting larger. Kitchens, bathrooms, whole house transformations… Whatever our customers needed, we did. Around this time, we started to get some attention from business magazines like Pro Remodeler, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Qualified Remodeler. 2019: Once we were sure-footed, we moved to the main area of town and built a showroom that became our selection center. Our selection center allowed us to streamline the ordering process by keeping everything under one roof.

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A Family Pursuit

My small passion project had morphed into a full-blown MISSION – but it wasn’t just my mission. PureTree is owned and operated by family and with family values. Every single person at PureTree is caring, trustworthy, loyal, empathetic, and genuine. We don’t tolerate any fakeness, and we don’t EVER bend the truth. At PureTree, what you see is what you get. And what you see is a company that will stop at nothing to give you everything you ask for. We strongly believe in the power of family and we make an effort to do things as a family. My daughters, Michaelah and Gia, joined PureTree to help run the office and streamline our process. We work side by side to turn visions into reality EVERY DAY. Our goal is to pass down the tools of the trade – and our values – to the next generation.

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Challenges Are OPPORTUNITIES

At PureTree, we don’t see challenges – we see opportunities. Our specialty is kitchens and bathrooms, but when a customer calls us with a home improvement request that’s outside our normal work – we almost NEVER turn them down. When we saw that our customers needed a place to see ALL of their product and material options, we opened our selection center. Our customers can visit our selection center to select paint colors, shingle colors, tile options, cabinets, countertops, and more. When we were frustrated with turnaround times for products and materials…instead of complacently waiting weeks on end for products to arrive in our warehouse – I started my own supply company. Now, we have the opportunity to supply our community with construction materials. Because at PureTree, we stare challenges in the face and GROW from them. That’s what we’re all about, and that’s how we got to where we are today.

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We Never Stray From Our Values

The core values that paved the way for us when PureTree had ONE employee are just as binding now as an established company with 20+ team-members. Our first allegiance is to our values of integrity, loyalty, service, friendliness, and trustworthiness. If a project contradicts any of these values or if a growth opportunity is not in line with what we value – we TURN IT DOWN. We’re the kind of company that has values and sticks to them no matter what.

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