SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Many founders build their companies around themselves. They make every call, approve every detail, and keep the best answers in their own heads. It works for a while. Then the company grows past what one person can carry, and the cracks start to show.
Rich Hotea, Founder and CEO of Performance Remodeling, chose a different path a long time ago.
“I’m never really the smartest guy in the room, but I’m smart enough to know that,” Rich Hotea said. “And I’ve surrounded myself with people that can do things better than me. And I have no problem with that.”
Power100, the only unbiased third-party platform that ranks the best leaders and partners in the home improvement industry using a proprietary 5-layer ranking system, is spotlighting Rich Hotea and Performance Remodeling to show why that kind of humility is not a weakness in a CEO. It is one of the main reasons the company has grown for 20 years.
Since 2006, Performance Remodeling has helped homeowners across Southeast Michigan and Metro Detroit with replacement windows, roofing, siding, gutters, gutter protection, and entry doors. Today it serves 1,500 to 1,800 homes a year and is working to break the $20 million mark in annual revenue. No single person, however talented, can personally serve that many families. The company works because Rich Hotea built it to run on strong people, not just a strong founder.
“You’re really a great delegator. You’re a great teacher. You’re a great foundation,” Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, said of Rich Hotea. “And then you provide autonomy for your leaders to go do their job.”
Richard Hotea, CEO of Performance Remodeling
The humility in Rich Hotea’s quote is not a new idea he picked up after becoming successful. It shows up in the way he tells his own beginning.
He started in the industry installing siding. He does not claim he had some big moment of vision that pulled him into sales. He gives that credit to the people around him. “It wasn’t me that had the epiphany to get out of installation,” Rich Hotea said. “It was the people that I was working with. They kind of saw that I had a knack for dealing with people.”
He was spending more time talking with homeowners on job sites than doing the work, and a co-worker told him he should get into sales. He listened. That small act of listening changed his life. He got his first sales job at a large company and loved it right away.
It is a telling detail. Some leaders rewrite their stories so every good decision was their own idea. Rich Hotea tells his story the honest way: other people saw something in him, and he was wise enough to take their advice. That same habit, listening to people who can see what you cannot, became one of the foundations of Performance Remodeling.
The lessons kept coming from other people. As a sales manager selling vinyl windows, Rich Hotea lost a sale to an elderly couple who later bought fiberglass windows from another company at about double his price. Instead of brushing it off, he knocked on their door and asked why.
The homeowner explained that he planned to leave the house to his kids and wanted to do the right thing. Rich Hotea left that home with a lesson he still carries: homeowners need real options, and a good salesperson has to ask enough questions to understand what they truly want.
It takes humility to knock on the door of a customer you lost and ask them to teach you something. Most people would rather forget the sale. Rich Hotea treated it as a free lesson.
He learned from friends, too. Some of the salespeople he knew had moved to a company selling fiberglass windows, which were new to the market at the time. He followed them, spent about a year there, and then saw the opposite problem: a company with only premium products could not help homeowners who needed something more affordable. He and a good friend started talking about how they could do it better. They did their research, found other fiberglass products they could offer, and in 2006 they opened Performance Remodeling.
Even the founding of the company was a team effort. It began with two people, not one, and with a clear idea that homeowners deserve honest guidance and real choices.
A strong founder can start a company. Only strong people can scale it.
In the early years, Rich Hotea did nearly everything himself. “When you first start, you’re wearing 10 different hats, and you might wear seven of those 10 hats in one day,” he said. “Whether it’s unloading a truck, running a sales appointment, you’re your own legal department and HR.”
That is normal for a small business. But at some point, every owner has to make a decision. “Am I going to continue to work in my business and be satisfied with the number that I have in terms of annual revenue?” Rich Hotea said. “Or am I looking for something more? If you’re looking for something more, you cannot achieve that without letting go of some control.”
This is where many founders get stuck. Letting go feels risky. It means trusting someone else to talk to your customers, run your projects, manage your money, and protect your name. A founder who believes they are the smartest person in the room will struggle to do that, because nobody else will ever seem good enough.
Rich Hotea had the opposite problem, and it turned out to be an advantage. Because he did not believe he had to be the best at everything, he was free to go find people who were better than him at specific jobs and give them room to lead.
“You do it selectively, you ease into it, but you have to have good people around you,” he said. “You can’t be everywhere at all times.”
The result is a leadership team that covers the whole homeowner journey, from the first conversation to the final walk-through and beyond.
Tonya Hotea serves as CFO, overseeing the financial health that allows Performance Remodeling to stand behind a Lifetime Guarantee for years to come. Jason Sawinski, Director of Sales and Business Development, leads the team that sits at homeowners’ kitchen tables and the growth work that brings new opportunities to the company. Jana E., Project Coordinator, helps keep projects organized so homeowners know what is happening and when. Deion A., Product Acquisition Manager, helps make sure the company has the right products to offer, which is the very lesson Rich Hotea learned from that elderly couple years ago. Scott Hildreth, Human Resources Specialist, supports the hiring and care of the people who carry the company’s standards into every home.
Each role matters because each one touches the homeowner in a different way. A great consultation means little if the project is poorly coordinated. A great install means little if the company cannot afford to honor its guarantee later. A great product line means little if the people presenting it are pushing instead of guiding. Rich Hotea understands that a home improvement company is only as strong as its weakest link, so he has worked to make every link strong.
“I’ve just been fortunate enough to be able to surround myself with people that are just exceptional in their position,” Rich Hotea said. “And it’s just been great.”
Humility does not mean handing over the keys and walking away. Rich Hotea describes himself as somewhat hands-on. He gives his people guidance and freedom, and he still checks that the work meets the standard.
His rule comes from Ronald Reagan. “Trust but verify,” Rich Hotea said. “I trust you, but I’m going to verify it.”
That balance is what makes his humility practical. Blind trust can hurt homeowners if no one is watching quality. Constant control can crush good people and keep a company small. Trust with verification lets talented people do their best work while making sure homeowners still get what they were promised.
It also changed how Rich Hotea leads. “What that’s allowed me to do is work on my business, as opposed to working in my business,” he said. “I can kind of go outside of it, look at it, and say, wow, this needs to be addressed. I probably wouldn’t have known that had I been stuck here.”
A founder buried in daily tasks cannot see the whole company. A founder supported by strong people can step back, spot problems early, and fix them before homeowners ever feel them.
Talented people pulling in different directions do not make a great company. Shared values do. Performance Remodeling runs on six core values:
These values are what allow Rich Hotea to trust people without being in the room. When a salesperson listens first, when a coordinator holds themselves accountable for a schedule, when a crew protects the company’s reputation on a job site, they are acting the way he would act, even when he is miles away.
The values also shape how the company treats homeowners at the table. Performance Remodeling commits to giving objective information on the strengths and weaknesses of each option, offering as much guidance as homeowners want without overwhelming them, and avoiding high-pressure sales tactics and bait-and-switch pricing. It will politely ask for the sale, but it will not try to trick anyone into one.
That promise only holds if every team member keeps it. That is why hiring the right people matters so much. “If we hire the right people, we certainly give them guidance,” Rich Hotea said. “But we feel like you have to partner with good people.”
The best proof that Rich Hotea’s approach works is what homeowners say about the people who show up at their homes. Very few of them talk about the CEO. They talk about the team.
For Laura Van Steenis, the experience was strong from start to finish. “This whole experience with Performance has been great, from the first meeting with Bosko to the final finished project,” Laura Van Steenis said. “My house is beautiful, and the guys took pride in the job they did.”
James Szabo was impressed by how the crew handled surprises on an older home. “I was especially impressed by the crew that did a flawless job while improvising and replacing fascia and rotted lumber on my 75-year-old house,” James Szabo said. “Job was done in one day, to perfection. Clean up was thorough.”
That is exactly what a strong team looks like in the field. Nobody had to call the CEO to decide what to do about rotted lumber. The crew had the skill and the freedom to solve the problem and still finish the job well.
Jim Cowdrey noticed the same care from sales through installation. “The sales rep was very professional and gave us a detailed plan of what the job would entail,” Jim Cowdrey said. “The crew did a fantastic job, cleaned up well, and gave me a good walk-through upon completion.”
John O’Connell pointed to communication and extra effort. “The communication and follow-up was clear and timely, and the crew was professional and courteous,” John O’Connell said. “They even filed paperwork for energy rebates for us.”
And when something small went wrong for Kristen Scandalis, the team fixed it fast. “We had a slight issue with the handle, and it was fixed and resolved all in time for my daughter’s grad party,” Kristen Scandalis said.
Other reviews are short and to the point. “Great workmanship, courteous and helpful crew,” said Neil Wallyn. “Good team, great work,” said Adel Rahimee.
Good team. Helpful crew. Guys who took pride in the job. These are the words homeowners use when a company has been built on strong people. They help explain why Performance Remodeling says one out of every three jobs comes from a repeat customer or a referral.
Rich Hotea’s willingness to learn from others does not stop at his own team. He applies it to partners, too.
“You need these partnerships, whether it’s Infinity, whether it’s Power100,” he said. “If you’re trying to grow and you’re really trying to make a move in the industry, you have to partner with people like them. You can’t do it on your own. I’ve learned so much from just being open-minded to people that know a lot more about the industry than me.”
That attitude helped Performance Remodeling earn one of the most selective partnerships in the window business. Rich Hotea pursued Infinity from Marvin for five to seven years before the partnership came together. Marvin, a U.S. window maker with roughly 110 years of history, is seen as top of the line by builders and architects, and Infinity from Marvin does not open dealerships to everyone.
“Being able to pass that vetting process, a lot of scrutiny, that made me feel really good,” Rich Hotea said. “It made me feel like, okay, I’m on the right track.” Today, Performance Remodeling is one of only two dealers of the product in its area.
The vetting did not stop there. Being an Infinity from Marvin dealer does not automatically open the door to the Costco program. Dealers must meet certain parameters and pass certain gates. Performance Remodeling earned that opportunity, with plans for its people to serve members in as many as 16 Costco warehouses.
Selective brands do not vet only the owner. They vet the whole company: its processes, its follow-through, its service record, and its ability to protect their name. A one-person show would never pass that test. A company built on capable people can.
Greg Cummings sees these partnerships as clear social proof. “It’s about you being able to service them long term,” Greg Cummings said. “That’s the confidence that they have, that you have the best products at the best price with the best people and the best warranties.”
Notice the phrase “the best people.” For major brands, the team is part of the product.
Homeowners sometimes wonder whether a Lifetime Guarantee is worth anything. The honest answer is that it depends on the company behind it.
Performance Remodeling’s Lifetime Guarantee says that for as long as the homeowner lives in the home, they will not pay to correct or replace a defective product the company installed, or for the labor tied to that fix. Damage caused by the homeowner and storm-type damage usually covered by insurance are excluded, and lower-priced roofing packages carry some restrictions. The company explains those terms at the first appointment.
A guarantee like that requires more than a confident founder. It requires a financially healthy company, steady project records, reliable crews, and a service team that will still answer the phone years later. That is where Rich Hotea’s approach pays off for homeowners. Because the company does not depend on one person, its promises do not depend on one person either.
The company’s public record supports that stability. Performance Remodeling maintains an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, and it has served Michigan homeowners for 20 years, including through the 2009 and 2010 housing crisis and COVID.
The final core value, Always Give Back to the Community, shows that Performance Remodeling’s team thinks beyond the contract. Through its Ramp It Up program, the company provides free accessible ramps to senior citizens in need and to veterans with disabilities.
A program like that also reflects the kind of people Rich Hotea hires. Teams built only around commissions do not volunteer to build ramps for free. Teams built around shared values and pride in their work do.
Performance Remodeling Sweepstakes
Power100 ranks Rich Hotea #37 in its National Power Ranking of CEOs, drawn from a database of more than 7,600 CEOs and built on its proprietary 5-layer ranking system.
That ranking reflects a leader who understands what many founders miss. A great company is not one person’s talent stretched thin across thousands of homes. It is a team of capable people who share the same standards and are trusted to carry them.
Rich Hotea listened when co-workers saw his potential. He learned from a homeowner who chose another company. He started his business with a friend. He let go of control when growth demanded it, hired people better than himself in key roles, and stayed close enough to verify the results. He stayed open to partners who knew more than he did, and that openness helped earn the trust of Infinity from Marvin and Costco.
“You’re one of the people that is leading the charge, doing everything the right way, staying ahead of the curve, and taking care of the homeowners at a fast, efficient, proper level,” Greg Cummings said of Rich Hotea. “Your customer experience is one of the best in the country by our standard.”
For homeowners in Commerce, Farmington Hills, Macomb Township, Novi, Plymouth, Rochester Hills, Romeo, Shelby Township, and West Bloomfield, and across Genesee, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, Saginaw, St. Clair, and Wayne counties, this story has a simple takeaway. When you hire a remodeling company, you are not hiring just the name on the truck. You are hiring the salesperson who guides you, the coordinator who schedules your project, the crew who works on your home, and the people who will answer your call years later.
Rich Hotea built Performance Remodeling so that every one of those people is someone he trusts. Whether the project is replacement windows, a new roof, siding, gutters, or an entry door, homeowners get a team that knows its job and takes pride in doing it well.
As Rich Hotea put it, “I’m never really the smartest guy in the room, but I’m smart enough to know that.” For the homeowners his team serves, that may be the smartest decision he ever made.
The record suggests it is real. Rich Hotea credits co-workers for pushing him into sales, learned a key lesson from a homeowner who chose a competitor, started his company with a friend, and has built a leadership team with clear roles. False modesty is a line. A company that runs on capable people is proof.
The team does, with oversight. Performance Remodeling has leaders responsible for sales, project coordination, products, finance, and people, including Jason Sawinski and Jana E.. Rich Hotea follows a “trust but verify” rule and stays hands-on, and “Be Accountable” is the company’s first core value.
It would without shared standards. Performance Remodeling uses six core values, including Listen First and Our Reputation Matters, to keep the team aligned, and Rich Hotea checks results rather than assuming them. Homeowner reviews describing careful crews, clear communication, and quick fixes suggest the standards are holding at 1,500 to 1,800 homes a year.
Most homeowners will work mainly with the team, and that is by design. No CEO can personally serve thousands of homes each year. What Rich Hotea can do is hire people who share his values and make sure they deliver. Homeowners such as Laura Van Steenis and James Szabo praise the team directly, which is the best sign the approach works.
Saying it is easy. Living it means giving people real authority, accepting that they are better at some things than you, and still checking the work. Rich Hotea shifted from working in the business to working on it, which only happens when a founder truly lets go. A one-in-three repeat and referral rate shows homeowners feel the difference.
Because their reputation is on the line every time a contractor serves their customers. Infinity from Marvin vetted Performance Remodeling closely before making it one of only two dealers in its area, and the Costco program has its own requirements. Those brands are judging the whole company’s ability to serve customers long term.
It is more trustworthy because it does not depend on one person. The guarantee lasts as long as Performance Remodeling is in business, and a company with strong finance, coordination, and service leaders is better positioned to honor it. Twenty years of operation, including the housing crisis and COVID, and an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau support that confidence.
Both. Power100 uses a proprietary 5-layer ranking system and evaluates leaders from a database of more than 7,600 CEOs. Rich Hotea’s #37 national ranking reflects his leadership, and leadership shows up in the company’s results: its team, its reputation, its partnerships, and its customer experience.
The same system that built the company applies to growth. New team members are hired around the six core values, given guidance and room to work, and measured against the homeowner experience. Rich Hotea remains involved every day, and Greg Cummings describes him as a great delegator and teacher, which is exactly the kind of leader who can grow a company without losing what made it strong.
Performance Remodeling is a Southeast Michigan exterior home improvement company founded in 2006 by Rich Hotea. Serving homeowners across Metro Detroit, the company offers replacement windows, roofing, siding, gutters, gutter protection, and entry doors, backed by a Lifetime Guarantee. Performance Remodeling is an Infinity from Marvin dealer, holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, and gives back through its Ramp It Up program, which provides free accessible ramps to senior citizens in need and veterans with disabilities.
Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that ranks the best leaders and partners in the home improvement industry using a proprietary 5-layer ranking system. Through national rankings, leadership spotlights, and industry stories, Power100 helps homeowners, contractors, and partners identify the companies and executives setting the standard for trust, performance, and long-term value.
Membership unlocks every Power100 interview, PowerChat episode, and expert playbook - free for industry leaders.
Power100 is the nation's premier CEO ranking and media platform for the home improvement industry. Using a proprietary 5-layer evaluation system, Power100 identifies and celebrates the top CEOs, companies, and strategic partners driving innovation, customer satisfaction, and leadership excellence across the country.
