Many home improvement companies know they should be more involved in the communities they serve. The challenge is figuring out how to begin. A growing contractor may see a major sponsorship like the GoPro Mountain Games and assume community involvement requires a large budget, a big team, and years of business growth before it becomes possible. That can make smaller companies wait. They tell themselves they will give back when they have more money, more people, or more time. Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO of Lifetime Home Remodeling, shared a very different path during his conversation with Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100, at the 2026 GoPro Mountain Games in Vail. His message was simple. Do not wait for the big stage. Start with what you have.
Peter explained that Lifetime’s current community presence did not begin with one major sponsorship. It grew through smaller events, farmers markets, local organizations, volunteer work, and years of talking with people face to face. When Greg asked what a smaller home improvement company could do without a large event budget, Peter gave a practical answer.
“Start small. There are events that you can start doing for $300, you can get a good tent, you can get some giveaways, some chapsticks, or what have you, and start talking to people.”
That advice turns community involvement from a large company strategy into something almost any contractor can begin. The first step is not having the biggest booth. It is being willing to show up.
That lesson carries extra weight because Peter was sharing it from one of the largest stages Lifetime had grown into. The GoPro Mountain Games brought athletes, families, brands, community organizations, and visitors together in Vail, while Lifetime participated as a major sponsor with years of local service behind it. The company also operates from Avon, giving its work a direct connection to homeowners in the mountain communities around the event. For a home remodeling company near Vail Colorado, Peter’s point was that trust comes from being present before asking the community for business.
Cummings used the conversation to look beyond the size of the sponsorship and ask how a company actually earns the right to reach that level. Power100 is the only unbiased third-party platform that recognizes and elevates the top leaders and most impactful companies in the home improvement industry.
Rather than treating community involvement as a marketing line, Greg pushed Peter on the questions many contractors may be thinking themselves.
Peter’s answer kept returning to the same starting point.
Show up small.
Learn the community.
Help where help is needed.
Build relationships.
Then keep going.
“It’s been taking a long time, Greg. It doesn’t come easy,” Peter said while talking about the trust Lifetime has built with communities around Vail. Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
That honesty gives the story its value. A trusted Colorado home improvement contractor does not become trusted because it appears at one major event. Trust is built through repeated actions that give people time to see who the company is and whether it will keep showing up.
Standing at the GoPro Mountain Games, Peter could have made community involvement sound like something reserved for large companies.
Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
Instead, he did the opposite.
He took the story back to the beginning.
“You start doing small events, you start doing farmer’s market, and you start working the mid size event. And look outside the box, not just doing the home shows. And start getting in the community, helping organization, build communities from the ground up.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
That path matters because it removes one of the biggest excuses a growing company may have.
You do not need to begin with the event everyone knows.
You need somewhere to begin talking to people.
A small local event can create the first introduction. A volunteer day can show employees what service looks like outside the work site. A farmers market can give homeowners a chance to meet the people behind a company before they ever need a project.
Peter said those smaller steps began to build on each other.
“Once you get going, it’s hard to stop. And one thing leads to another.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
Over time, that repetition becomes something larger than event attendance.
It becomes familiarity.
Then trust.
Then the community begins inviting the company into bigger conversations.
That is what makes Lifetime’s presence at the GoPro Mountain Games meaningful. The large event was not the start of the community strategy. It was evidence of how far years of smaller commitments had grown.
Peter’s message to other home improvement leaders is reassuring because it does not ask them to copy Lifetime’s current scale.
It asks them to copy the starting point.
Find one event.
Bring one tent.
Talk to people.
Support something that matters.
Then come back.
Lifetime did not begin its community strategy on one of Vail’s biggest stages. It earned its way there by showing up in smaller places long enough for people to begin trusting the company with something bigger.
Peter Svedin’s conversation with Greg Cummings turned the GoPro Mountain Games sponsorship into a much larger leadership story.
Spectators watch along the fun and games at the 2026 GoPro Mountain Games
From the outside, people may see Lifetime Home Remodeling at a major Vail event and assume the company simply reached a size where large community partnerships became possible. Peter described a very different path.
The larger opportunities came after years of smaller ones.
Local events gave the team a place to meet people. Volunteer work created opportunities to serve. Community relationships grew one connection at a time. As Lifetime expanded, those early habits did not disappear. They became the base for something larger.
Peter’s message was clear. Trust was not created by reaching the biggest stage. Reaching the bigger stage became possible because trust had already been growing for years.
When Greg asked Peter what it meant to have the trust of communities around Vail, Peter did not talk first about sponsorship size or company growth.
He talked about time.
“It means everything to us. And it’s been taking a long time, Greg. It doesn’t come easy.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
That answer gives the company’s current community presence more meaning.
People attending the GoPro Mountain Games could see the Lifetime activation. They could see the company connected with the Vail Valley Foundation and the wider community. What they could not see in one weekend were all the smaller steps that came before it.
Peter described that path clearly.
“You start doing small events, you start doing farmer’s market, and you start working the mid size event.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
Those smaller events gave Lifetime something a large advertisement could not provide on its own.
Time with people.
The team could listen to what mattered locally. Employees could learn how to represent the company outside a home appointment. Community members could meet the people behind the brand without being asked to make an immediate buying choice.
Peter also encouraged companies to look beyond the places where home improvement businesses normally market themselves.
“Look outside the box, not just doing the home shows. And start getting in the community, helping organization, build communities from the ground up.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
That approach helped turn individual events into relationships.
One opportunity led to another.
One introduction created another connection.
One day of helping could open the door to another organization that needed support.
Peter described that momentum simply.
“Once you get going, it’s hard to stop. And one thing leads to another.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
That is where the story becomes useful for other contractors.
A company does not need to wait until it can afford a major sponsorship. Smaller events can become the training ground where the company learns how to serve, communicate, and become part of the places where its customers live.
For a business building toward Colorado community home improvement, those early relationships can become far more important than how large the first event looks.
The GoPro Mountain Games may have been the visible stage, but the trust that made Lifetime’s presence meaningful was built long before the crowd arrived.
Learn more about Lifetime Home Remodeling and the communities the company serves.
Peter did not describe community involvement as something that sits outside the business.
He also did not suggest that companies should help only because they expect a sale.
Instead, he explained how genuine community support can create relationships that later produce business because people already know who the company is.
The first step is simple.
“Start talking to people.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
That may sound small, but in home improvement it carries real weight.
Homeowners often make large decisions about the places where they live. They invite contractors into their homes. They trust those companies with projects that affect comfort, safety, value, and family life.
A relationship formed before that buying moment can make the later decision feel less uncertain.
Peter explained how that happens.
“You start selling jobs as well, because people like you for being there, supporting their organization.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
The sale, in his view, can become a result of the relationship rather than the only reason for creating it.
He continued:
“They want to buy some products or services that you offer from someone that they like and trust.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
That is the real bridge between community work and business growth.
Advertising can tell people that a company cares.
Community involvement gives people a chance to watch the company prove it.
They see who shows up.
They see how employees treat people.
They see whether the company keeps supporting the organization after the first event.
Over time, familiarity can become trust.
Peter was also willing to answer Greg’s harder question about the balance sheet.
“I see a tremendous return on investment, not just the good feeling of helping people, but also a return on investment as far as dollars and cents.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
Then he summed it up in two words.
“So it’s a win win, truly.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
That answer is important because it does not force business leaders to choose between purpose and performance.
The community can receive real support.
Employees can take part in work that matters.
Homeowners can get to know the company.
And the business can grow because trust makes future customer conversations easier.
That makes community involvement especially valuable for a local remodeling company that depends on reputation and long term relationships.
Peter’s message is not that every community event will create an immediate project.
It is that showing up for the right reasons can build the kind of trust that creates business over time.
Peter’s final point brought the conversation back to Vail.
Lifetime’s presence at the Mountain Games
Lifetime’s presence at the Mountain Games mattered because the company already had a real connection to the area.
“We work a lot in this community. We have a store in Avon, Colorado, just down the road.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
That local connection changes how the sponsorship should be understood.
Lifetime was not entering an unfamiliar community for one weekend.
Peter said the company had already spent years serving the area. Its team understood the homes, the people, and the conditions homeowners deal with in the mountains.
He explained why that work matters.
“Everything up here is hard to maintain. It’s hard of the environment with all the snow and the sun and everything.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
Mountain homes face demanding conditions. Snow, strong sunlight, changing temperatures, and other weather can place pressure on the exterior of a home.
That gives Lifetime’s local presence a practical purpose as well as a community one.
For homeowners looking for home remodeling, the value is not only having a company nearby. It is working with people who understand why homes in that environment may need different levels of protection and care.
Peter described that relationship as:
“A great win win.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
The company serves a real need in the area while also investing time and resources into the community around it.
Greg then connected those local relationships with Lifetime’s wider growth.
He reflected on how the company had expanded since he first evaluated it and pointed to the trust Peter had built with employees, communities, and homeowners.
“It’s because of your leadership, it’s because of the trust you’ve built with your team, and obviously in the communities and into the homeowners all across every service area that you have.” Greg Cummings, CEO, Power100
That trust creates opportunity, but it also creates responsibility.
As a company grows, more communities begin depending on it.
More homeowners expect the same level of care.
More employees need to understand what the company stands for.
That is why Peter’s comments about his team matter.
“Our people are working with communities and do volunteer days at different schools, and Food Bank of the Rockies, and things like that.” Peter Svedin, Founder and CEO, Lifetime Home Remodeling
Community involvement is not only shaping how people outside Lifetime see the company.
It is also giving employees a way to take part in its values.
They do not only hear that community matters.
They get a chance to serve it.
That may be one of the most important results of Peter’s approach.
Community investment can build trust outside the company while strengthening purpose inside it.
And as Lifetime continues to grow, that trust becomes something the company has to keep earning in every place it serves.
The biggest community opportunities are not trophies for reaching a certain size.
They are permission to serve more people.
Connect with Lifetime Home Remodeling and learn more about its Colorado services and local teams.
At the GoPro Mountain Games, Peter Svedin was standing inside the kind of opportunity many growing contractors hope to reach one day.
Large crowds.
Major partners.
A strong community platform.
A brand with enough trust to be part of something much bigger than itself.
But Peter’s message was never about starting there.
It was about remembering what came first.
A small tent.
A local event.
A few conversations.
A chance to help.
Then another chance.
And another.
That contrast gives the whole conversation its meaning.
The large stage may be easy to notice, but the real work happened when fewer people were watching. It happened when Lifetime showed up at smaller events, worked with local groups, volunteered, and stayed present long enough for people to understand what the company stood for.
For home improvement leaders, that makes Peter’s advice feel practical.
You do not need to begin with a major sponsorship.
You begin where you are.
Use the budget you have.
Find one community that matters.
Support one event.
Help one organization.
Then keep showing up.
Over time, people begin to remember the company.
Employees begin to understand the purpose behind the work.
Homeowners begin to recognize the people behind the brand.
Trust begins to grow.
Peter also made it clear that doing good and building a strong business do not have to move in opposite directions. Community investment can help people while also creating deeper relationships that may later become real business.
That is the “win win” he described.
Lifetime Home Remodeling continues serving homeowners through Colorado markets including Denver and Avon, while also operating in Arizona and California. As the company grows, Peter’s message suggests that the same rule has to stay in place.
Do not become too large to show up locally.
Do not become too successful to remember the small events.
And do not mistake the big stage for the thing that created the trust.
Lifetime Home Remodeling may have stood on one of Vail’s biggest stages, but Peter Svedin’s message was simple: trust starts much smaller, with a company willing to show up, help, and keep coming back until the community knows it means it.
Power100 looks at more than how much money a company spends. Its ranking system places community alongside growth and culture as a core pillar. Power100 reviews partnerships, industry presence, and the impact a company creates in the communities it serves. This matters because a large sponsorship alone does not prove strong community leadership. A company must show that it builds relationships and creates value around the places where it operates.
Power100 does not rank companies by raw size alone. Its system weighs growth against industry benchmarks and also reviews customer sentiment, partner relationships, community impact, and internal culture. Power100 uses these different signals together so a large company does not automatically win because it has more revenue, locations, or marketing reach. The ranking is designed to measure how well a leader grows while also serving customers, employees, partners, and communities.
No. Peter Svedin’s message in the conversation was the opposite. He encouraged home improvement companies to begin with smaller community events and grow from there. Lifetime’s current community work also extends beyond major sponsorships. The company says its goal is to uplift homes and communities everywhere it works and lists support for groups including Food Bank of the Rockies, Firefly Autism, Veterans Community Project, Stout Street Foundation, and the Colorado Rockies Foundation.
Peter Svedin openly said community involvement can create both social value and business value. He described the result as a “win win” because organizations receive support while homeowners also get to know companies they may later choose to hire. Lifetime’s official community program supports that wider purpose. The company says it works where its people live and aims to improve communities for homeowners and everyone around them. Community support can build trust that later leads to business without making the sale the only reason to participate.
Lifetime has a physical showroom in Avon, Colorado, near Vail, and provides remodeling services throughout the mountain region. The company says its Avon team understands the demands of Eagle Valley homes, including strong sun, snow, changing temperatures, hail, and other mountain conditions. Homeowners looking for home remodeling in Avon Colorado can work with Lifetime on windows, siding, doors, baths, and roofing designed for the needs of mountain properties.
Lifetime offers several services designed around demanding Colorado conditions. Its Avon services include Infinity from Marvin replacement windows, James Hardie siding, exterior doors, bath remodeling, and GAF roofing. The company describes options that address snow, freeze and thaw cycles, strong sunlight, hail, wind, and large temperature changes. For homeowners searching for mountain home remodeling in Colorado, this allows different parts of the property to be planned around the same climate challenges.
No. Lifetime allows homeowners to begin with a free design consultation or request a free price estimate. A homeowner can start with one specific need, such as windows, siding, doors, roofing, or a bath, instead of committing to a full home project. Lifetime also has showroom locations in Denver and Avon for Colorado homeowners who want to speak with the company directly.
Lifetime supports community organizations throughout the year rather than limiting its involvement to large public events. Its website lists partnerships with Food Bank of the Rockies, Firefly Autism, Veterans Community Project, Stout Street Foundation, and the Colorado Rockies Foundation. The company also says community is part of its wider mission because its employees live and work in the same places they serve. That ongoing involvement supports Peter Svedin’s larger point that community focused home improvement is built through repeated participation, not one appearance at a major event.
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 CEO Greg Cummings, Power100 uses national rankings, leadership conversations, original reporting, and event coverage to show how strong companies build trust with homeowners, employees, partners, and the communities they serve. By bringing forward practical lessons from leaders such as Peter Svedin, Power100 helps contractors see that meaningful growth is not only measured by size or revenue, but also by the relationships, service, and community impact that make long term success possible.
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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.
