When Kelly Kutchey joined H.J. Holtz & Son 10 years ago as a painter, he asked several former coworkers who had already joined the Holtz team what they thought of the business.
“They told me it was a very different experience,” Kutchey recalls. “I remember them saying the company actually cares for you.”
Even before Kutchey could register that aspect of company culture, he noticed something else: The Holtz way was to do a job right the first time.
“That was more my speed because a lot of times, my previous employer would say we could come back to touch things up on a job,” Kutchey says. “I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want anyone to find anything wrong, and I didn’t want to have to come back to fix problems.”
Initially, Kutchey planned to remain a painter – “I just wanted to blend in,” he says – but after a while, he was ready for a change. “I thought it would be cool to do more,” he says. “I offered to be a foreman; I did that, then I came into the office.”
Now, Kutchey is production manager, overseeing all departments and monitoring the progress of the many jobs that are underway at all times. “I make sure all facets of production are going well, and everything is getting completed,” he says. “Anything that’s happening that makes money for us, I need to make sure everybody’s happy and doing their jobs.”
Kutchey also manages the schedule, which is often in flux, requiring reassignments to ensure the best possible efficiency. The company currently has 19 two-person teams, with a foreman and painter on each. Additional painters serve as floaters and go where they’re most needed. Every day, Kutchey says, something unexpected arises.
“A customer may say, ‘Hey, while you’re here, can you paint an additional four rooms?’” he says. “Then you have to consider the next customer in line. Can we do that, or do we need to return at a later date?”
In the midst of so much change, the office team is determined to maintain consistency in how the company operates. “It’s up to all of us – Rick, Ricky, Travis, Patrick, and Roxy – to communicate to make sure the culture of the company stays where it should be,” Kutchey says. “Every team can improve and do things better, but I think we do a pretty good job.”
At the end of the week, Kutchey unwinds by spending most Friday evenings at a campground overlooking the Rappahannock River. “I sit with my wife and my dog and watch the sun set,” he says. “It’s nice and calming.”