Welcome to Explore Rogers Minnesota, where we take you on a journey through the wonderful town of Rogers and all it has to offer. In today's episode, we have the pleasure of sitting down with Justin and Jenna from Xtra Mile Construction. They are here to talk about their residential construction company and the incredible work they do in remodeling and rebuilding homes. Not only that, but they also share their passion project, The Lime Tree Group, a nonprofit aimed at helping children and youth living in orphanages in Guatemala through home remodeling. Stay tuned as we dive into their story and learn more about their mission to make a difference. Let's get started!
Episode Transcription-
Introductions
Hello, Jake Derauf here with Explore Rogers, Minnesota. And today my guests are Jenna and Justin with Xtra Mile Construction.Hi, guys. How's it going?Hey, it's good to be here.Thanks for inviting us.Thank you so much for your time.I appreciate it. Yeah, great.
About Xtra Mile Construction
So just tell us a little bit about Xtra Mile Construction just to start things off here.Yeah, go ahead, Jenna. Do you mind if we start it for you, Justin?So a little bit about Xtra Mile is we are a residential construction company.We have an awesome team and we do a lot of work at design in-house. And we have a really amazing team of subcontractors that we work with time and time again. We have clientele that reach out to us and we have the amazing opportunity to rebuild and remodel their homes completely. Most of the time, our clients live in their forever home and maybe fell out of love with it or maybe the home just no longer meets their needs. We get this amazing, again, opportunity to go in and remodel, rebuild so that it makes sense for the lifestyle, for their kids or grandkids, or maybe if they're empty nesters, we get to rebuild and redesign. We're really, really proud about that.
What is your Service Area?
Considering we're a local show here, what's your service area? Great question. We typically, and we do this intentionally, we work about 35 mile radius. If it's a very special, particular client, we're willing to go outside that radius. But our goal, too, is with our team members and our subcontractors, we want to make sure that at the end of the day they can have enough time to go home and spend with their family. So ideally 35 miles from Elk River. Okay.
History of Xtra Mile Construction
All right, great. How long have you been in business then? The business started in 2016. It was started by Justin's father, DJ. And over the last few years, Justin and I have had the opportunity to work together, grow the business, and are in the process of- Cry together. Cry together. So many tears. So many times. So many wins. Sometimes more tears than wins, though. It's looking up, though.
What types of Projects does Xtra Mile Construction Specialize in?
So we absolutely love doing a full home remodel. I would say it's something that our team is equipped for. We do everything from interior to exterior finishes. Our team will meet with a client, will guide our client the entire way from meeting with them, listening to their ideas, figuring out budget, selections, helping them choose everything, helping them source and purchase everything, delivering things to their homes, to project management and completion. It sounds perfectly smooth and that's our ideal system. It doesn't always run that way. Sometimes timelines, often in the last couple of years, they get extended.
That's probably the biggest frustration we see right now is our timelines. But apart from that, we have a really amazing team, and our trade partners are wonderful, and we've been blessed with the most amazing clients. So there's so much to be thankful for.
Justin, do you have anything to add to what Jenna has said? Yeah, maybe I think one of the things that I see that we try to offer is like where the scope of work and the design can meet together, because I think a lot of times people go to an architect or they go to a designer and they're actually out of touch with their contractor. And so what we try to do is we marry that together. And so when you're going through the design process, the contractors typically, I mean, it's not always perfect, but we try to update as we go or if there's an initial design, or for me, I know pretty much all the codes for most of our residential remodeling. So we're able to bring unique aspects to a home. But at the end of the day, man, it's not my house. It's the customers. And we just try to bring it together so that they have a… It's fun to be able to transform a space and then also transform how a family will unite together. If it's for their holidays and stuff, that's probably something that we see a lot is like trying to make a space that will work for a family. When they come out of state, they actually want to stay at their house and be proud of hosting.
Our Non-Profit Venture – The Lime Tree Group
Well, we were talking before we started this interview here, and you guys have a couple of other things going on as well. Would you want to talk about that a little bit, Jenna, you want to start first? Yeah, absolutely. We always have a lot of ideas and things happening. It's fun to have a team now because you tell them an idea before you're done sharing, you're like, here you go. I've implemented it. This is how it's going to happen. So it's a really fun stage to be growing. But one of the things that we're really excited and proud about is that we finally went for our dream of launching a nonprofit called the Lime Tree Group, where we get to marry what we love about remodeling and transforming people's spaces that they call home and the work that we've done in the last 10 years. We're going to be completing 10 years married in November, which is pretty cool, doesn't it? But yeah, and we've done a lot of volunteer work in Guatemala. And now we want to marry both things together. And specifically, we want to help children and youth living in orphanages by starting with something as basic as remodeling the place they call home.
If anybody wants to help or is interested more, what are some ways that they can go about that? Great question. Do you want to share on that, Justin? Yeah, it's fine. So I'm not sure when this will exactly be out, but this winter we actually have in January, February, we have two different trips happening, an orphanage remodel so you can find us at TheLimeTreeGroup.org and then you can find us on Facebook or Instagram as well. And you can reach out to us personally, find us Justin Bakken on whatever social media and then Jenna Bakken as well.
Helping those in the Trades better themselves and their business
Yeah. And then on top of that, you guys are talking about even more things that you're working on. You guys got a lot going on. I'd love to hear a little bit more on that as well, too. Yeah. So another thing that we're trying to do within the Elk River community is we're trying to help build trade partners and build different people that want to be in the trade. So, for example, we've helped probably,
I don't know, somewhere between 30 and 40 people come out of if it's the Union or if it's a corporate job and get into their small business. And not that any of that's bad. These people just had goals and dreams and have changed for that. And so a lot of times the entrepreneur journey is super, I wouldn't necessarily say lonely, but you feel like no one understands. You're like, oh, I got this dream. It's burning inside me. You tell your aunt, your uncle, or your family member, they're like, Dude, stick with it. You don't have 401(k) with that. And so a lot of times it brings a lot of doubt into the experience. And not only that, it just ruins the party for everyone because you got something that's burning in your heart, you got a passion or whatever, and you're trying to go from part time to full-time. And I think we've been able to see and create an environment that celebrates that type of growth. And then for me, the big thing I would really love to see is I want to see people grow where they're planted within our community. I don't want people going out to different areas. Not that it's bad to go out and travel and work somewhere, but I want an opportunity that in the trades, at least in the construction trade where I'm at right now, is that people are so drawn to a culture. They're so drawn to the life that you have within your business and stuff and really transform the way that we view supporting and serving other people. And the goal is that the next generation of people that would grow up in an environment where the average construction worker isn't some drifter through life. I grew up in this. I'm a second-generation contractor. The friends I had that are in the trade are probably divorced, some of them, unfortunately, or they barely have teeth. So I like to keep that in a different way and get some good, normal humans to be in this trade. And not that there's not a bad thing about being unique, but I think I want to see something that draws people out of their addictions,draws people out of the crap in the darkness that we all think we're all going by ourselves in and pull up the greatness in them. And however it is through construction or just being here, it'd be fun to see.
How to get more information?
So there will be a community being built here, but for now, you can reach out to myself or my wife and reach out through Xtra Mile Construction. So if you're a trade partner, you're a towel guy or whatever, and you're just trying to figure out your game started, just reach out. I just had three meetings this morning with guys who are starting to get in their own thing. Will I even work with them? I actually referred them to another contractor because they're a better fit. So there's more than enough for all of us. And so if you guys want to reach out and learn about what we're doing, no problem.
So what Justin didn't mention is that he's in the process of building a course as well as a community where he can bring contractors together and build that community. But his entire goal for this is to help contractors go from $100,000 in revenue to a million and eventually beyond. As part of the community, we're going to be bringing in people that are on their journey to hit that first million or are way above and beyond that. It's going to be fun to learn and be inspired by different people that are in different areas in their journey.
Some Final Thoughts
Just talking to you guys, you guys got a lot going on. I really appreciate you being on the show here. Before we sign off, is there anything else you wanted to say? Yeah, if you're listening to this, be a good person. Shine your light. Don't cower before some dork on the street. And if you're in road construction, listen to this or whatever. But I think there's more than enough for all of us. And the other thing is if you found something, for example, our dream to remodel every underdeveloped on an orphanage in Guatemala and bring the trade schools to that. If you found something, connect with us. And hopefully we can connect with connected people, good people and see that stuff come to pass. Yeah, that sounds great. Thanks. Something that I would say is slow down. And every day remember 5-10 things that are absolutely grateful for. When you're thinking of things that you're thankful and happy for, it's really difficult to stay upset. Say, I love you to people that you love and go for your dreams and/or encourage someone that is going for theirs.
