Opening new markets is an exciting step for any home improvement company, but keeping those markets successful is a much bigger challenge. As companies expand, they need more salespeople, stronger teams, and managers who can handle greater responsibilities. Without the right leaders, even a company with strong sales and new opportunities can struggle to keep up with its own growth.
This is a challenge that Jeff Gunhus, Co-Founder and CEO of Home Genius Exteriors, knows well. His company, which provides exterior home remodeling services including roofing, siding, windows, and gutters, entered approximately six or seven new markets in 2026 while continuing to grow its existing locations. With successful expansion into markets such as Chicago, Colorado, and South Carolina, Home Genius has shown that there are still great opportunities for companies willing to grow. But Jeff believes the real strength behind that growth is not simply opening more offices or reaching more homeowners. It is developing people who can take charge, build strong teams, and help each location succeed.
As he explained during the interview, “For us, it’s all about how fast can we grow new leaders in the business?”
His message highlights an important lesson for home improvement CEOs: business growth can create new opportunities, but strong leadership is what helps a company make the most of them.
That leadership approach became a central part of a recent PowerChat conversation hosted by Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, where Jeff shared how Home Genius Exteriors is preparing its people to support the company’s continued expansion. Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry.
Through conversations with leaders like Jeff, Power100 highlights the decisions, values, and lessons that help companies grow stronger through leadership, culture, and long-term success. During the interview, Jeff explained how Home Genius is working toward growth targets of 25% to 35% in markets entering their third or fourth year, while aiming for 80% to 90% growth in second-year markets. Yet, even with those ambitious goals, his attention remains on the people responsible for making that growth possible.
For Jeff, the next stage of expansion depends on how well the company identifies future leaders, helps them develop new skills, and prepares them to manage larger teams and greater responsibilities. His growth numbers tell one part of the story. The more important lesson is what Home Genius has been doing to prepare its people for the opportunities those numbers create.
The biggest challenge of rapid business growth is not always finding new customers or entering new markets. It is making sure the people running those markets are ready for greater responsibility. During his PowerChat conversation with Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, Jeff Gunhus, Co-Founder and CEO of Home Genius Exteriors, shared how his company is meeting that challenge through leadership development for home improvement companies, employee training, and a strong focus on people.
Jeff Gunhus, Co-Founder and CEO of Home Genius Exteriors
His experience shows that opening new offices is only the beginning. The real work comes from helping managers lead larger teams, preparing employees for new roles, and creating a culture that can support the business as it grows. For contractors planning their next stage of expansion, Jeff’s approach offers an important lesson: the strength of a growing company depends on the strength of its leaders.
For many home improvement companies, entering a new market is a major sign of progress. It means reaching more homeowners, creating new jobs, and building a larger business. But for Jeff Gunhus, the real test begins after that new office opens. A company must find the right people, build a strong sales team, manage daily operations, and make sure homeowners receive the same level of service they expect from the brand. Without strong leaders, those responsibilities can quickly become difficult to manage.
Home Genius Opens New Corporate Marketing Headquarters
That challenge became especially important for Home Genius Exteriors in 2026. The company entered approximately six or seven new markets while continuing to focus on growing its existing locations. This meant leadership teams were responsible for building new offices while ensuring established ones continued to perform. It was not simply a matter of finding more places to do business. Every new location needed people who could guide employees, solve problems, and build a team capable of producing strong results.
Jeff made his priorities clear during the interview, explaining, “For us, it’s all about how fast can we grow new leaders in the business?”
That statement captures what Jeff believes is one of the most important aspects of growth for an exterior remodeling company. More locations create more opportunities, but those opportunities also bring more responsibility. Every new office needs someone to lead the people who work there. And as those offices grow, the demands placed on their managers increase.
Jeff also shared how Home Genius measures the growth it expects from markets at different stages. For locations entering their third or fourth year, the company aims for approximately 25%-35% growth in same-store sales. For second-year markets, its growth expectations are much higher, reaching approximately 80% to 90%. These targets show how much the company expects its locations to develop as they become established.
However, reaching those goals requires more than a strong marketing plan. A new office must bring in employees, turn new opportunities into sales, deliver quality work, and build trust with local homeowners. As the customer base grows, the team must grow with it. Managers need to understand what is happening across sales, installations, employee performance, and customer service so they can respond when problems arise.
Jeff pointed to Chicago, Colorado, and South Carolina as examples of new markets that had performed well. He described these locations as strong parts of the company’s expansion, but he was quick to explain why they were succeeding. He credited the leaders in those markets rather than presenting the results as something that happened simply because the company opened new offices.
That difference matters. A contractor can identify a promising market, invest in a new location, and generate interest among homeowners. Yet the business still needs leaders who can turn that early opportunity into lasting success. Without people who understand how to build teams and run strong operations, expansion can place more pressure on the company than it is ready to handle.
For Jeff, leadership development remains connected to every major growth decision. Home Genius cannot think about new offices without also thinking about the people who will run them. The company must continue preparing employees to take charge, support their teams, and protect the standards that helped build its reputation.
The lesson for home improvement CEOs is clear. Before asking how many new markets their company can enter, they should ask how many leaders they have who are ready to take responsibility for those markets.
Opening an office creates a new opportunity. Building the right leader gives that opportunity a chance to succeed.
As Home Genius continues to enter new markets, Jeff faces another important question: how does the company know which employees are ready to become leaders?
For many contractors, the answer may seem simple. Find the salesperson with the strongest numbers, promote them into management, and expect them to teach others how to succeed. But Jeff believes the decision requires a deeper understanding of the person behind those results.
He explains that being great at a job does not always mean someone wants to manage other people. An employee may enjoy selling, building relationships with homeowners, or working toward personal financial goals without wanting to take responsibility for an entire team. Giving that person a management role may not match what they want from their career.
That is why developing future leaders in home improvement sales teams begins early at Home Genius. During the first two weeks of sales training, the company spends time learning what motivates new employees. The discussions go beyond sales goals and income. Employees talk about their families, their communities, and what they hope to achieve in life.
Jeff also shares his own reasons for working hard. As a father of five, he wants his children to feel proud when they learn about what he does for a living. By sharing that personal goal, he encourages employees to think about what success means to them and how their careers can support the lives they want to build.
These conversations help Home Genius understand who may be interested in leadership and who may be better suited to growing in another role. Instead of treating management as the only path to success, Jeff wants to recognize what each person is working toward.
He reinforced this belief with a simple statement during the interview: “Leadership is a verb, not a noun.”
In other words, someone does not need a management title to begin acting like a leader.
Jeff explained this idea through a lesson from his years coaching his children’s soccer teams. Rather than choosing captains right away, he would watch the first few practices. Before long, the players who naturally encouraged their teammates, helped others, and took responsibility would become clear.
He sees the same thing happen inside Home Genius. In sales and installation teams, certain employees begin helping others, stepping forward when problems arise, and setting an example through their actions. Those behaviors can reveal leadership potential long before a formal promotion takes place.
Home Genius also gives employees opportunities to take on additional responsibilities before moving them into leadership roles. These assignments help managers see how people respond to challenges, work with teammates, and handle decisions when more is expected of them.
For contractors, this approach can change how they think about building their management teams. Strong sales results remain valuable, but they are not the only sign that someone is ready to lead. The ability to support others, take responsibility, and earn trust can be just as important.
By looking for these qualities early, Jeff is helping Home Genius build a group of future leaders who understand that managing people involves more than being good at their own jobs.
And once those people begin to show leadership potential, the next responsibility falls to the company: providing them with the training and support they need to grow.
Recognizing a future leader is only the first step. That employee must continue learning, gaining experience, and preparing for challenges they may not have faced before. For Jeff, this means leadership training cannot be something a company completes once and then moves on to other priorities.
It must remain part of how the business operates.
One of the clearest examples comes during the winter season. Jeff explained that some Home Genius markets can experience roughly 25% lower business volume in winter than in spring. For many contractors, slower months bring pressure to reduce expenses, pause hiring, or cut back on training.
Home Genius takes a different approach. Jeff sees those quieter periods as a chance to prepare the company for the busier months ahead. The business is willing to hire employees early, keep people on the team through slower periods, and use that time to strengthen their skills.
This is an important part of employee training and leadership growth in home remodeling companies. Instead of waiting for demand to increase before preparing its workforce, Home Genius uses the time available to invest in the people responsible for future results.
Jeff also makes leadership training part of his own weekly schedule. Every Friday, from 8:30 to 9:00 in the morning, employees who manage at least one person join him for a leadership session. During these meetings, he shares lessons and helps managers think through the responsibilities that come with leading others.
These sessions take place before the company’s larger national call, which Jeff said brings together approximately 600 people to celebrate business performance and recognize employees.
The weekly schedule sends an important message. Leadership development is not simply a task handed to another department. It is something Jeff believes deserves his personal attention.
Home Genius supports this work with book discussions, leadership lessons, and a training program designed to help managers continue improving. As employees move into larger roles, they are encouraged to keep learning rather than assume their first promotion means they already know how to lead.
Jeff believes this mindset is necessary because even a company with strong growth can have areas for improvement. During the conversation, he acknowledged that leadership development is one of Home Genius’s strengths, but also an area where the company still has an opportunity to improve.
He summed up that belief with a memorable statement: “Knowing is the enemy of learning.”
The message is simple. When leaders believe they already have all the answers, they can stop looking for better ways to do their jobs. And when an organization stops learning, it may struggle to keep up with the changes that come with growth.
For contractors, Jeff’s approach offers a different way to think about slower seasons and leadership training. A quiet month does not have to be wasted time. It can become a period when future managers gain the knowledge and confidence they will need when business picks up again.
A company that keeps developing its people is also building more choices for its future. When a new market opens, or an existing office needs stronger leadership, there may already be someone inside the business who has been preparing for that opportunity.
But as Home Genius has learned, even strong leaders can face new challenges when the size of the business they manage changes.
One of the biggest challenges in rapid expansion is that a leader’s responsibilities can grow much faster than their experience.
Someone who was once responsible for a single location may suddenly find themselves managing several offices. Instead of guiding a small group of employees, they may be overseeing larger teams, handling more decisions, and helping drive millions of dollars in additional business.
Jeff shared an example of how quickly this can happen at Home Genius. He described a regional leader who, three years earlier, may have been responsible for approximately $25 million in business but is now overseeing $150 million to $200 million.
That is a major change in responsibility, and it brings a different set of challenges.
A manager who once had time to work closely with every employee may now need to rely on other managers to lead individual teams. Problems that were once easy to spot can become harder to see across several offices. Decisions may affect more people, more customers, and a much larger part of the company.
For Jeff, this makes scaling leadership teams for multi-location home improvement businesses a critical part of expansion. He explains that Home Genius must continue to monitor how its regional leaders handle growing responsibilities and whether signs of pressure are emerging.
He uses a simple example to describe the challenge: a carnival performer spinning plates on sticks. By the time the performer reaches the last plate, the first one may already be slowing down. The performer must keep moving back and forth to prevent anything from falling.
Running a growing company can feel much the same way. One office may need support while another is performing well. A new market may be building momentum while an established location needs attention. Managers must know where to focus their time and how to respond before small issues become larger problems.
Home Genius uses systems and processes to help keep its operations organized, but Jeff is clear that those tools cannot replace people who know how to lead.
As he explained, “Great leadership makes a difference.”
That belief also helped shape the company’s approach to building its executive team. Jeff shared that roughly two years earlier, Home Genius needed to add more experience at the top of the organization. He began looking for executives with what he calls “billion-dollar DNA,” meaning people who had worked inside companies operating at a much larger scale.
The goal was to bring in people who understood the demands of running a large business and could help Home Genius prepare for such growth.
One example is the company’s process for choosing new markets. Jeff explained that an executive with experience at LeafFilter helped develop a system that considers approximately 25 factors before deciding where to expand. These include household income, local population data, and comparisons with markets where Home Genius has already operated.
This process gives the company more information to support important decisions. Instead of entering a market solely because it seems exciting or because a location looks promising, leadership can study how that market compares with markets where the company already has experience.
The connection between these decisions is important. Bringing experienced people into the business helps Home Genius make better expansion plans. At the same time, developing existing managers helps the company carry out those plans across its growing network.
For CEOs, Jeff’s experience raises an important question: are the people leading the business today being prepared for the size of the business they may need to lead tomorrow?
Growth can create new opportunities for employees, but it can also place greater pressure on them. Strong companies must be prepared to provide the systems, experience, and support their leaders need to handle that change.
And as those responsibilities grow, Jeff believes the company must never lose sight of the people who trusted it enough to help build its future.
Behind every new office, growth target, and leadership promotion are employees who have chosen to build their careers with the company.
Jeff believes that decision creates a responsibility for the people leading the business.
During the PowerChat conversation, he explained that Home Genius has made commitments to its employees. The company asks people to work hard, give their time, and sometimes make personal sacrifices to help the business succeed. In return, leadership must work to create the opportunities that make those efforts worthwhile.
That responsibility is something Jeff takes personally.
“The stress for me comes from not wanting to disappoint the people that we have in the business,” he shared.
His words reveal another side of rapid expansion. Growth is not only about meeting financial goals. It is also about protecting the trust of employees who believe their careers and futures can improve as the company becomes stronger.
One way Home Genius supports that trust is through transparency.
Jeff explained that the company shares business results during its weekly Fired Up Friday calls. Employees learn how much the organization sold during the previous week and what installation work was completed. They receive a clearer picture of how the company is performing and what their collective efforts are helping accomplish.
This approach gives employees a greater connection to the business. Instead of seeing only their individual tasks, they can better understand how their work fits into the company’s wider goals.
But Jeff’s focus on employee retention in exterior remodeling companies goes beyond sharing performance numbers. He also recognizes that keeping experienced employees is necessary for the company to serve homeowners effectively.
At Home Genius, new sales representatives do not begin by selling every service the company offers. They start with roofing and gutters before progressing to siding and, later, windows. Learning the full range of services takes time, training, and experience.
When employees leave before completing that development, the business loses more than the money spent recruiting and training them. It also loses people who could have grown into representatives capable of helping homeowners with more of their exterior remodeling needs.
For a company entering new markets while growing existing locations, that loss can affect how quickly teams become fully prepared to serve customers.
Jeff also believes employees need a strong connection to the purpose behind their work. Through Home Genius Cares, the company provides team members with opportunities to support their local communities and participate in causes that matter to them.
Each office organizes volunteer activities every quarter. Employees can suggest causes they want to support, and their families are encouraged to join community events.
The company also puts a portion of revenue from each job into a fund for larger community projects. Jeff highlighted its participation in the Owens Corning Roof Deployment Project, which provides free roofs for veterans in need. He estimated that Home Genius helped provide approximately 15 to 20 roofs for veterans during the previous year.
These activities have become an important part of the employee experience.
Jeff explained that when the company asks team members what they value most about working at Home Genius, the community service program is often one of the first things they mention. Employees share their experiences with their families, talk about the projects they support, and suggest other ways the company can help.
For Jeff, that connection matters because he wants people to be proud of the work they do and the organization they represent.
As Home Genius grows, he wants its ability to help local communities to grow as well. More offices can mean more employees participating in volunteer projects and more families seeing the positive work their loved ones are helping to accomplish.
This is where Jeff’s leadership philosophy connects back to the company’s expansion.
Developing strong leaders helps Home Genius enter new markets. Investing in employees helps those markets build experienced teams. Being open about the company’s performance helps people understand what they are working toward. And giving employees opportunities to serve their communities helps create a shared purpose that goes beyond individual sales results.
Together, these efforts support a company where people can see reasons to keep learning, take on greater responsibility, and build long-term careers.
For home improvement CEOs, Jeff’s message is an important reminder that growing a company also means growing the opportunities available to its people.
The next generation of leaders may already be working inside the business. But whether they stay, develop, and eventually take charge will depend, in part, on the support and opportunities the company provides them today.
That is what makes Jeff’s approach to expansion different from simply opening more offices. He is focused on building an organization where the people responsible for tomorrow’s growth are being developed, supported, and given reasons to believe in the company’s future.
As the home improvement industry prepares for 2027, companies face an important choice about how they want to grow. New markets will continue to bring opportunities, but those opportunities will also test the strength of the people responsible for making them successful. For Jeff Gunhus, Co-Founder and CEO of Home Genius Exteriors, the lesson is clear. A company’s future depends not only on the opportunities it can find, but also on the people it prepares to lead them.
Home Genius Exteriors team
That belief offers an important reminder for CEOs who feel pressure to keep moving faster. Growth does not always mean taking the next big step right away. Sometimes, it means giving someone the time to learn, helping a manager become more confident, or making sure a team has the support it needs before taking on greater responsibility. These decisions may not always bring immediate results, but they help build a company that can handle new challenges without losing the values that made it successful.
Jeff’s approach also shows why leadership development must begin long before a company needs another manager. The people who will lead tomorrow’s offices may already be working on today’s sales teams, helping their coworkers, solving problems, and showing that they care about the business. Recognizing those people and giving them room to grow creates opportunities for both the employee and the company. It also helps build a culture where people can see a future worth working toward.
Looking ahead, the strongest home improvement companies may not simply be those that enter the most markets. They may be the ones that know how to grow without leaving their people behind. For Home Genius Exteriors, that means continuing to build a business where leaders are prepared for greater responsibility, employees have opportunities to advance, and every new location has the support needed to succeed.
As Jeff shared during the conversation, the company’s mission is to “develop passionate leaders eager to revolutionize and improve the industry.” That purpose places people at the center of its future plans and offers a valuable lesson for other CEOs preparing for their next stage of growth.
Because the real measure of expansion is not simply how far a company can reach. It is how strong the organization becomes along the way.
For Jeff Gunhus, the question is no longer just how quickly Home Genius Exteriors can grow. It is how many great leaders the company can develop to carry that growth forward.
No. Power100 states that companies cannot buy their way into its national rankings. The platform uses a five-layer ranking system that reviews business data, company performance, industry feedback, and leadership quality. Its process includes AI scoring, human review, and feedback from customers, employees, and partners. This approach helps Power100 recognize home improvement CEOs based on their leadership and business impact rather than their ability to pay for recognition.
Yes. Power100 evaluates leaders using three main pillars: Growth, Community, and Culture. Its ranking system looks beyond revenue and business size to examine how CEOs develop employees, build strong teams, and support the communities they serve. The platform places particular importance on company culture because strong leadership involves taking care of the people behind a company’s success. Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, supports this approach by highlighting leadership practices that help home improvement companies grow stronger over time.
Jeff Gunhus, Co-Founder and CEO of Home Genius Exteriors, described 80% to 90% as the company’s growth expectation for markets in their second year, not a confirmed result for every location. He also shared that the company targets approximately 25%-35% growth in markets entering their third or fourth year. Jeff reported strong performance in several new markets but did not provide verified results for every office. His main point was that achieving ambitious growth goals depends on developing leaders who can manage larger teams and more complex operations.
Home Genius Exteriors focuses on building strong local leadership teams while expanding its roofing, siding, windows, and gutter services. During the PowerChat interview, Jeff explained that the company entered approximately six or seven new markets in 2026 while continuing to pursue growth in established locations. He identified Chicago, Colorado, and South Carolina as strong examples of its expansion. Rather than relying solely on new sales opportunities, the company develops managers who can guide employees, support daily operations, and help each office succeed.
No. Jeff believes strong sales results do not automatically mean an employee wants to become a manager or has the skills to lead others. Home Genius Exteriors begins identifying future leaders during its first two weeks of sales training by learning about employees’ personal goals, motivations, and interests. The company also monitors how employees support their teammates and assigns additional responsibilities before considering formal leadership positions. Jeff believes leadership starts with action, not a job title.
Home Genius Exteriors invests in regular home improvement leadership training through weekly coaching, book discussions, and opportunities for managers to develop new skills. Every Friday, Jeff personally leads a 30-minute session for employees who manage at least one person. The company also uses slower winter periods to strengthen employees’ skills rather than focusing solely on cutting costs. This approach helps prepare regional leaders for greater responsibility, including managing business operations that can grow from $25 million to $150 million or $200 million.
Home Genius Exteriors trains sales representatives in stages so they can build their knowledge before offering more services. Jeff explained that new employees first learn roofing and gutters, then move on to siding, and later receive training in windows. This process helps employees gain experience before handling more types of homeowner projects. It also makes employee retention important because the company needs experienced representatives who understand its full range of services. Homeowners can explore available services and check their local service area through the Home Genius Exteriors website.
Home Genius Exteriors supports communities through its Home Genius Cares program, which includes volunteer activities, charitable projects, and support for veterans. Jeff explained that each office organizes volunteer opportunities every quarter and encourages employees to involve their families. Through the Owens Corning Roof Deployment Project, the company also helps provide free roofs for veterans in need. Jeff estimated that Home Genius completed approximately 15 to 20 veteran roofing projects in the previous year. These efforts give employees opportunities to support the communities where they work while helping the company build a culture centered on service and shared purpose.
Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry. Led by Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, the platform gives outstanding home improvement leaders the recognition, visibility, and support they deserve while helping raise standards across the industry. Through its focus on Growth, Community, and Culture, Power100 highlights CEOs who build strong businesses, invest in their employees, deliver great customer experiences, and make a positive difference in the communities they serve. Through leadership interviews, industry insights, and national recognition, Power100 helps contractors and business leaders learn from proven leadership practices while encouraging a future where great companies continue to grow, earn trust, and create lasting value for homeowners.
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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.
