Like Father, Like Daughter: Committed to Remodeling

Cindy Knutson-Lycholat, CGR, CR, CAPS, laughs when she remembers her first assignment working for her father and uncle at the residential construction company they owned, Knutson Bros. of West Allis, Wis. She was asked to wear short bib overalls, to smile and greet potential customers at a local home show.

Suffice it to say that, over time, her role in the company greatly expanded beyond this humble beginning. She took drafting classes and eventually began turning out kitchens, room additions and other projects for several years. Ultimately, her father, Norvin “Charlie” Knutson took her as a full apprentice, training Cindy in estimating and sales. This was a big step, says Knutson-Lycholat because it took a lot for her father to allow family members into the business at all.

Charlie Knutson and his brother Orville had founded Knutson Bros. in 1955 as a building and remodeling company. Later they learned that new construction and remodeling are “two very different businesses,” says Knutson-Lycholat. “But nobody really knew that back then.”

The brothers committed themselves fully to the remodeling side of residential construction in the late ’70s and became deeply immersed in local, state and national issues facing the emerging remodeling industry. Orville attended NARI meetings while Charlie became the first chairman of the NAHB’s Remodelors Council in 1982.

“He became a true spokesman for the industry and talked it up a lot when it didn’t really exist,” Knutson-Lycholat told QR last year when the magazine honored her late father as one of its Top Innovators. He passed away in 1996. “He was forthright about sharing his knowledge with contractors and getting new ones into the business — and ensuring they stayed there. He knew what were hard costs and soft costs, and he ultimately understood that remodelers had to charge more than they were.”

By the early ’90s Knutson-Lycholat was ready to strike out on her own. With the guidance of her father and the partnership of her husband Gerry Lycholat, they launched Knutson Bros. II, in an area farther west of the Milwaukee suburbs in East Troy, Wis. Since that time, the company has grown a reputation for quality work and has stayed small on purpose. Like many of the best remodelers, Knutson-Lycholat believes that her business is and should be an extension of her personal goals. “Whatever your business needs, you need to have a budget; you need to understand your lifestyle. That is what we do.”

And if her business is a means to an end, then improving the remodeling industry is one of her personal goals. Like her father, Knutson-Lycholat is on the road many weeks each year on behalf of industry association work. She wants to help raise the level of professionalism in the remodeling industry and to help dispel the perception that remodelers must be viewed with caution. That is why the bulk of her work on behalf of the Remodelors Council at the local, state and national levels has centered on education.

Education Matters

Business accomplishments aside for a moment, Knutson-Lycholat would be among the last people to tell you all that she has done and is doing on behalf of the remodeling industry — in particular on behalf of the industry’s certifications programs.

The month of September is a good example. First she traveled to the NAHB Fall Board of Directors Meetings in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she serves on many committees and is a trustee of the Remodelors Council nationally. In addition, she also serves as vice chair of the council’s Certified Aging in Place (CAPS) Board of Governors. CAPS is the fastest growing designation within the entire NAHB University of Housing and might be the fastest growing professional designation in any industry in the country. This took a full week away from the business.