Houston Inside Out

Beverly Langston from Bath Fitter joins us this week on the podcast, and we’re going to be talking about bathroom remodeling and renovations, and what sets them apart from the competition.

Bath Fitter is an international company know for their state-of-the-art product line that includes acrylic bathtubs and shower liners, free standing bathtub and shower bases, acrylic seamless walls, domed ceilings, tub and shower doors, accessories and wainscoting.

Know more about their services and products here!

QUOTES

“We are very versed in safety because bathrooms are very dangerous places no matter who you are. They’re slippery. So we have lots of different options for safety like grab bars, different types of grab bars, and we really work with our customers to make sure they’re getting everything they need so that everything is safe and secure, and usable and accessible for them.”

MENTIONS

• Bath Fitter
• Contact Beverly at:
• Office: 713-691-4110 or
• Mobile: 281-636-3560
• Email: blangston@bathfitter.com

SHOW NOTES

• [0:01:22.2] Bath Fitter: Who they are and what they do
• [0:04:11.2] Issues usually encountered when remodeling the bathroom
• [0:05:29.2] Converting the tub into a standing shower
• [0:06:56.0] Renovating and remodeling for investment properties
• [0:09:02.1] The origins of Bath Fitters, showrooms in Houston
• [0:10:54.1] ADA Compliance
• [0:12:06.7] Create your own custom bathroom on their site!
• [0:13:17.6] Contact Beverly, Bath Fitter office hours
• [0:14:39.6] What happens during the consultation phase

[00:03] INTRO: Welcome to Houston Home Talk featuring all things real estate in the Houston area. We'll interview real estate professionals, local business owners, and special guests from right here in the Houston community. This is where you get the inside scoop about what's new in real estate, new community openings and business openings and much more the Houston home talk show starts right now.

[00:33] JAMES: All right. Welcome guys. Welcome to Houston Home Talk. My name is James and I am excited today I am joined by Beverly Langston from bath fitter and Beverly and I met just actually just not even a week ago at the sip and stroll and Katie and it was great getting a chance to meet you. How are you doing about really?

[00:55] BEVERLY: I'm great. How are you?

[00:57] JAMES: I'm doing great. Great. I wanted to have you on. SO as soon as I saw you in the booth, I wanted to have you guys come on and talk about what you do because I am a…in addition to roadster. I'm an investor as well and I think what you guys do can help anybody, but I was very intrigued by it and wanted to have you on. Thank you for coming on the show.

[01:21] BEVERLY: Thanks for having. We're excited.

[01:22] JAMES: Yeah, it's pretty cool. Why don't you tell, tell us a little bit about what it is that you guys do, how you got into it, a little bit more about bath fitter and I think it's pretty interesting what you guys do. I really do. Why don't we just start there and you introduce yourself to the audience.

[01:40] BEVERLY: Sure. I'm Beverly Langston. I'm the event manager for Bath Fitter here in Houston. We are actually an international company. We're in Canada and the United States all over North America or United States. Our corporate office is right outside of Nashville, Tennessee. I've been here for about a year. I do mostly events and marketing and it's just a really amazing company, quite a unique product. It was started and the mid-80s about my [inaudible], four to be exact by three brothers, the Cotton Brothers. It started because one of them had had a baby and his wife said, I don't want to bath my baby in disgusting bathtub. He trying to figure out an economical way to repair the bathtub and make it look better and for it to be cleaner so that his wife would be happy because happy wife, happy life, right?

[02:32] JAMES: Absolutely, yeah.

[02:33] BEVERLY: They developed this system. The product is made out of acrylic which is really great for bathrooms because the bathrooms firmly are made…you have lots of tile, lots of grout, those kinds of things and they're porous which means they absorb the water. That's why you get all that mold and mildew in your bathroom which nobody likes and you can never ever get rid of. The acrylic is not porous. It will not ever mold and mildew ever.

[03:01] JAMES: Okay. 

[03:02] BEVERLY: Very, very easy to keep clean. There's no scrubbing involved. Basically it's a spray cleaner if you have hard water, you either squeegee it or wipe it off with a cloth and that's it. That’s it. It's super easy to maintain as well which is a wonderful thing. Bath Fitters philosophy is we want everybody to walk into the bathroom and smile and be happy. We want to give you joy. We should all love our homes and our spaces so much and unfortunately the bathroom isn't one of those places where a lot of people are like, I just really hate it because of things like mold or mildew or maybe things are not updated so that's where the product, you know, it's great. It's a great solution for construction too because what we're most known for is our tub over tub system, which is where we can create a brand new bathtub that goes directly right over your existing bathtub. There's no like tear outs which is wonderful. Even if we do take out a product, it's still also a one day install. It's a very short timeframe.

[04:06] JAMES: If you guys are going over the top of existing are there situations where maybe you're not able to just go over top or fruit for most bathrooms, I guess you guys have the ability to be able to really literally just go over top of everything that exiting. Is there any situation where maybe… 

[04:27] BEVERLY: There are. Sometimes there are plumbing issues that we might we have to people get. Most of the times we cannot go over fiberglass tub because the structure of them is weaker.

[04:36] JAMES: Okay.

[04:37] JAMES: We still have solutions for that. We can actually just remove those tubs that don't work and put in a brand new bathtub. Still with the product, still the great acrylic. Another thing that we do, we do showers as well the same way. We have a wall system that will go right over your tile. One of the greatest things about our wall system and we're the only company that does it, is it's seamless. There's in the corners is to bang on the material. There's no caulking or grout. It's not going to mold or mildew,

[05:11] JAMES: That’s awesome. 

[05:13] JAMES: That’s is awesome. Literally there is no seam. I'm assuming then the corner is it rounded or --

[05:16] BEVERLY: It depends on the material. We actually bend onsite. People always say to me, well, you're not going to get it through my door. Yeah, we will. You'd be surprised. You think you have a small doorway. We will get through it. The other thing that we do that's really, really popular now for a plethora of reasons is we take the tub out and turn it into a standing shower using the same footprint as that tub. You've got a long shower. I think a lot of people are in a point where they're not really taking baths like they used to like it's a waste of space. A lot of people also want to change it because of mobility issues, getting up and over the top. If you're older and if your short, it's very difficult so removing the tub and not having that 18 inches to get up and over is very, very popular. 

[06:07] JAMES: It's funny that you bring that up because a lot of people, when I sell homes or when I'm listing homes as a realtor, a lot of people for some odd reason they still ask for Tub. Most people don't use it.

[06:20] BEVERLY: Yeah, yeah.

[06:21] JAMES: Is baffling to me. It really is. I have a home in San Antonio where we actually built it with no tub. For some reason when we tried to sell it, like that came up at certain points, but I think now and that was I was eight, nine years ago. Now I think a lot has changed because of, like you said, the mobility for a lot of people as we start to mature, I'll use that word. Yeah, the tub. I have a tub. I never use it even now. My kids use it. That's awesome that you guys do that.

Now do you guys have more like you, I guess your typical client. I don't know if you really have a typical client. I'm assuming you guys have people that are just looking to renovate, remodel, maybe investors. Maybe I could see that part of your product being awesome for a lot of people that may do an investment property where they don't have to come in and rip out. You guys don't have to come rip everything out. You could go over the exist and that's a big time saver because I've done some remodels and it can be expensive if I'm having to rip everything out

[07:30] BEVERLY: Exactly, especially if you have an investment property where you have a tenants that leaving and you need to make a repair. It's pretty quick repair. The tub actually whether the shower whatever you're using has to get manufactured because it's all custom done so it's manufactured for you. Once the install happens it's a one day and the great thing is that with construction where there's a lot of dust and debris and dirt and it's sort of a messy process. We're not like that at all. The bathroom probably will be cleaner than when they walked into it. You've got a fresh, clean bathroom ready to show to your next tenant, which is wonderful. For residential, the product has a lifetime guarantee on it. For a rental facilities that's considered commercial. It doesn't have that lifetime guarantee, but I will tell you it really will last a very long time especially because in tenant situations people don't clean them as if was their property. That’s okay because the product is so sturdy and hold up so well to that. That is okay. I've talked with people that have had a rental property and the tub and the wall has been in there 30 years. Other than having to replace the caulk every few years it's been fine. 

[08:39] JAMES: Got it.

[08:40] BEVERLY: We also do a lot of properties like hotels and apartment complexes, dormitories, lots of dormitories because kids.

[08:50] JAMES: Okay. That’s makes a lot of sense.

[08:51] BEVERLY: Yeah. Yeah, college students destroy things. They get in product for this. 

[80:59] JAMES: Absolutely. 

[09:00] BEVERLY: Yeah.

[09:01] JAMES: Now you guys have locations. You said it started andI did not realize that you guys have been around for that long. You said the eighties. Where did this, I guess where the company originate and then where are you guys located in the Houston area? Because we're in the Houston Area. Where are you guys located? Where did things originate.

[09:20] BEVERLY: It originated in Canada. That’s where the Cotton Brothers are from. Got some branches out in Canada, some stuff mostly with people who are buying in the franchises. There are some franchises store out there, but mostly they're all corporately owned stores. It is a US based company now though because our headquarters are in Springfield, Tennessee, which is right in [00:09:43] in Nashville.

[09:43] JAMES: Okay. Yeah. Got it.

[09:44] BEVERLY: It's manufactured here in the U.S. We manufacturer on acrylic. Everybody that works on it or all Bath Fitter employees. We never have third party. From the person that answers your phone call to the person who installs it. We are all Bath Fitter employees. We're behind our company. For Houston we are actually in the Garden Oaks District of the Heights, right off of Shepherd and Crosstimbers. We have a show room. We are welcome for people to come in and see the showroom and you have to that. If they're interested we'll send a consultant out to you and they have a mobile showroom they can bring you. If you are around and you wanted to come say hi, we love it. We love having people in here. We can give some more information here and let you see all the different models. We have garden tubs in our shower. We have the standard tub type of the tub. We have tub to shower. We also can change your shower into a bathtub, both ways. Really. Anything you want to do with your tub or shower, we can handle

[10:52] JAMES: Got it. You guys can…not only just replace what is existing. You can actually do the remodeling more or less instead of ripping the tub complete out and just make it into a full shower?

[11:05] BEVERLY: Yeah. We can. Yeah. Yeah. There's different color [inaudible], wall options as far style and things that people like. We even do showers for those who are wheelchair bound, who need an ADA shower.

[11:20] JAMES: Yeah. I was just about to ask you about that because that's a big thing. I was about to ask you about ADA, being ADA compliant because I get a lot of clients that are looking for that so that is something that you guys have the ability to do as well.

[11:32] BEVERLY: You can [inaudible] too as far the type of thresholds that we have with them or seat option. We are very, very verse also in the safety because bathrooms are very dangerous places no matter who you are. They're slippery. We have lots of different options for safety, like grab bars, different types of grab bars and we really work with our customers to make sure that they're getting everything they need so that everything is safe and secure and usable and accessible for them.

[11:59] JAMES: That is awesome. In Houston that is the only location that you guys physically have here in the Houston. Go ahead…how can people look if they want to look on the website. What is the website? Go ahead and I'll post the website as well for people to be able to go and look and see what you guys have to offer. what is the website?

[12:18] BEVERLY: Sure. The website is www.bathfitter.com.

[12:22] JAMES: Okay.

[12:23] BEVERLY: The website has got a great tool as well. You can watch some videos on how the process works. It also got a build your bathroom tool that you can imagine what you like, would it look like?

[12:36] JAMES: that's awesome. That is awesome. Is it almost like a preview of what your bathroom would look like if you chose this or this --

[12:47] BEVERLY: It's a virtual room to build your bathroom. 

[12:50] JAMES: Right

[12:51] BEVERLY: On the computer so it's not going to look like it does in reality. It will show you how things will fit in certain ways. A lot of times when our design consultants go out, they use that tool as well on there. They always bring an iPad with them so that people can see and imagine it because sometimes when you actually see it put together, you're like I really don't like that soap dish. I want to be bigger. You could play around with it and see what you like.

[13:18] JAMES: Got It. Got it. That is awesome. If anybody wants to reach out to you to have either email, phone number and I'll post that as well so people can reach out to you. I've got a lot of people that I work with but a lot of investors and a lot of clients that are looking for remodeling. I think you guys are very cost effective way of doing it which is really, really was intrigued when I saw what you guys did. Do you have like either a direct phone number for yourself or a… 

[13:44] BEVERLY: Sure. My office number is 713-691-4110. I also have a company cell phone and you can call me anytime on that which is 281-636-3560 You could e-mail me at blangstonatbathfitter.com. You're welcome to come by the store which is 356 Garden Oaks Boulevard.

[14:08] JAMES: Awesome. What are your hours? What are your hours, Monday to Friday. Saturday. Tell us so we'll know what that is as well.

[14:14] BEVERLY: We are Monday through Thursday. There's somebody here at 7:00 p.m. On Fridays we're open until 4:00 and on Saturdays there's somebody here from 10:00 to 2:00. Like I said we can bring everything to you. Our sales staff is great. Our consultants are great. If you can't make it in during those hours, we can come to you and we do have evening and Saturday hours or you book appointment for our consultants to come out.

[14:39] JAMES: Awesome. Awesome. On the consultant, when they come out, I know you said everything was custom made so they look at the customer. Once they it out like is there…I'm assuming it's probably obviously case by case as far as how long it takes, Do you have… 

[14:59] BEVERLY: The process is really for us to give anybody a pricing we have … just like any home construction we've got to come out and take a look at what's going on in a bathroom.

[15:05] JAMES: Sure. Sure.

[15:08] BEVERLY: They'll come out. The first thing they generally do if they go into your bathroom and take out a lot of measurements because those measurements are what gets sent in when you decide to purchase. 

[15:18] JAMES: Right.

[15:20] BEVERLY: They'll sit down with you and go over all options and all the colors and if there's any underlying problems with the bathtub or the bathroom, what those solutions would be. We do have a master plumber on staff. If there's some drainage problem or a leak somewhere, we can definitely get that fixed because we don't want to put a band aide on a problem. We want to make sure everything fits perfectly. The design consultants are really amazing people. We do understand sometimes we need to leave you with the estimate and let you think about it and they're not ever going to pressure anybody. When you decide that you want to purchase it, all of that goes to our plant in Tennessee. The product actually gets manufactured to fit your specifications. For instance, if Joseph Smith ordered a tub, it will have Joe Smith's name on it throughout the entire process up until it's actually put into their bathroom because that is Joe Smith's bathtub.

[16:17] JAMES: Yeah. Awesome. Once you get it back, the actual installation, once it's put together, the actual installation process is about basically a day.

[16:26] BEVERLY: It's one day, one day, unless we come across some problem. There are issues just like any construction. Sometimes you up a wall or whatever. For instance, we did a tub to shower renovation, we pulled that tub out and there was a tree root growing up underneath it

[16:43] JAMES: Yeah.

[16:44] BEVERLY: Our sales guy really tried to take care of that or installer trying to take care of it himself, but then he was worried he was going to damage the foundation. We stopped what we were doing. We made sure to have a professional…we met with the homeowner. They had somebody come out to fix that issue. We came back and finished it. The goal was one day but occasionally things happen.

[17:08] JAMES: Yeah, it's amazing what happens behind walls. The reality is nobody really knows until there's a problem

[17:18] BEVERLY: Yeah, unfortunately my guy – there's the times where I thought they're not going to finish it today and they always be like I was with a woman, very sweet lady. She'd had a knee and a hip replacement maybe six weeks out of surgery and decided she didn't want the bathtub. She wanted to shower and we took the tub out and there was this huge amount of concrete coming up from the foundation. We had to go run a Jack Hammer and it's still not done in one day. All done in one day.

[17:44] JAMES: Yeah. It's amazing what happens. Unfortunately when these houses are being constructed whether it's new construction or 10 years or 15 or 20 years. The stuff that happens, it's amazing. I've seen a lot. I've been working for a few builders that I've worked for in the past and seen what happens as homes are being constructed. Yeah, it's amazing what can happen. So that's …

[18:08] BEVERLY: Yeah. There had a been a ton of these structural support for the original tub that was there which was not the best option. That’s what happened. Our installers worked very hard to try to get everything done within that one day timeframe. I have done actual construction of a bathroom prior to me working here and not without a bathroom for a couple of weeks. That's not fun. We don't our customers to experience that.

[18:34] JAMES: Yeah. No, I've, I've had to do the same thing. Yeah, it is a big hassle. Yeah. We like our bathrooms. We like our bathrooms and when were disrupted from being able to use one is it is definitely it disrupts my whole household. That's awesome that you guys…

[18:52]BEVERLY: That’s what the construction does disrupt because there's so much dust and debris everywhere. Yeah.

[18:57] JAMES: Awesome. Alright, I will post your website. Give me the website one more time Beverly.

[19:03] BEVERLY: www.bathfitter.com.

[19:06] JAMES: Okay. I will post that and then I'll also put your contact information. You guys share, reach out to Beverly. The service is, it's amazing. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to have you come on and talk about this because I think it's a really, really great way for people to save if they're looking to remodel or if someone's got an investment property. I think is a great alternative to ripping something completely out and investors like to save money. Actually we all like to save money. It's not even just for that matter who it is and I just think what you guys offer is a great alternative.

[19:42] BEVERLY: It's great way to do it. Not have to redo it again in a few years. In the long run really cost effective.

[19:51] JAMES: Yes, very, very important. I will post all that contact information there Beverly. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. It was a pleasure meeting you guys. [Inaudible] has been barely a week. That's how I'm sure what you guys l with you guys. We had a long conversation the other day. Thank you for coming on and you guys reach out. If you have questions, reach out to Beverly, www.bathfitter. That's FITTER dot com, correct?

[20:19] BEVERLY: Correct.

[20:20] JAMES: Got it. All right guys. Thank you. Thank you Beverly. I appreciate your time.

[20:25] BEVERLY: Thank you

[20:26] JAMES: All right. Take care.

[20:27] BEVERLY: Take care. All right, bye-bye.

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