SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Every homeowner who has ever sat across the kitchen table from a contractor knows the feeling. Within a few minutes, you can tell whether the person in front of you is listening to your problem or just waiting for the moment to hand you a contract. You may not be able to explain it, but you feel it.
Richard Hotea, Founder and CEO of Performance Remodeling, has built his entire company around that feeling.
“Every homeowner is very perceptive,” Richard Hotea said. “It doesn’t matter if they have degrees, educated or not. They have an awareness of the person in front of them, whether that person has what we call commission breath in the industry, where everything you’re saying is about you and what you need to do, or whether they feel like you’re really trying to help them.”
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 Richard Hotea and Performance Remodeling to show what that belief looks like when a leader turns it into a company. For close to 20 years, Performance Remodeling has helped homeowners across Southeast Michigan and Metro Detroit with replacement windows, roofing, siding, gutters, entry doors, and more. Today the company serves 1,500 to 1,800 homes a year and is pushing toward $20 million in annual revenue. Yet the reason homeowners keep letting Richard Hotea’s team into their homes is not size. It is intent.
“It’s amazing when you do the right thing repeatedly, consistently, over time, what you can make of it,” said Greg Cummings, CEO of Power100. “Richard Hotea is a product of that. He is taking care of homeowners at a fast, efficient, proper level, and by our standard, the customer experience at Performance Remodeling is one of the best in the country.”
The phrase “commission breath” is not polite, and it is not meant to be. It describes something every homeowner has run into at least once: a salesperson whose every sentence, every question, and every “special offer” is really about what that salesperson needs to walk away with.
Richard Hotea uses the phrase because he wants his team to remember how quickly people notice it. His point is simple and a little humbling for anyone in sales. A homeowner does not need a business degree to read the room. Whether a homeowner is a retiree or a first-time buyer, they can tell, often within minutes, whether the person in front of them cares about their home or only cares about the close.
That is why Performance Remodeling does not treat trust as a closing technique. It is something the homeowner gives you after watching how you listen, what you ask, and what you recommend.
For Power100, this is one of the clearest signs of serious leadership in home improvement. Plenty of companies can train a team to sound helpful. Far fewer leaders can build a company where helping is the actual goal, and where the team understands that homeowners will catch the difference every time.
Richard Hotea, Owner of Performance Remodeling
Richard Hotea started in the industry with a hammer, installing siding, but spent more time talking with homeowners than doing the work. A co-worker told him he should get into sales. He took the advice and loved it from the first day.
Like most new salespeople, he got the leftover appointments, the small jobs, and one-window calls. One of those calls changed the way he thought about the business. A homeowner could not get anyone to price a single picture window. Even his own company sent him out mostly so she would stop calling. She needed it done, but she did not have much money.
Richard Hotea took the appointment seriously anyway. He spent time with her and helped her get the picture window replaced. Six or seven months later, she called back. Her situation had changed, and she wanted to finish the rest of the house. That one-window job turned into the rest of her windows, then siding, then roofing. It became one of the largest jobs he sold that year.
“If you put the customer and their needs first, the money comes later,” Richard Hotea said. “If you’re thinking about the money initially, anytime I’ve got caught up and had a difficult time in sales is when I put the money in front. At that point, my own needs were in front as opposed to the needs of the homeowner.”
For Richard Hotea, this lesson and his belief about perceptive homeowners belong together. When he put his own needs first, homeowners felt it, and sales got harder. When he focused on helping, the money took care of itself. That cause and effect is the foundation Performance Remodeling is built on today.
A few years later, as a sales manager, Richard Hotea learned the second half of the lesson. Caring about the homeowner is not enough if you do not have the right answer to offer them.
At the time, his company sold vinyl windows. He met with a couple in their eighties who liked him, liked his price, and promised to call him back. They never did. About two months later, he drove past their house and saw a job sign out front from another company. That company sold fiberglass windows, which were new to the market and often cost double what he had quoted, if not more.
The couple had seemed to struggle with his $8,000 number, so he did something most salespeople would never do. He knocked on their door and asked how they liked their new windows. When Richard Hotea gently asked why a couple in their senior years would choose a window that expensive, the answer stayed with him. The homeowner said he planned to leave the house to his kids, and he wanted to make sure he was doing the right thing.
The couple’s budget was never the real issue. Their goal was. Richard Hotea realized that a salesperson with only one product is always tempted to make the homeowner fit the product, instead of making the product fit the homeowner.
Later, at a company that sold only fiberglass, he saw the same problem from the other side: he could not help homeowners who needed something more economical. That frustration became the push to start his own company. In 2006, he and a good friend took the leap and opened Performance Remodeling, with one clear idea at the center: give homeowners real options and honest guidance, so the recommendation always starts with their needs.
Commission breath often comes from pressure to move one product, one package, or one price point. When a salesperson can only win by pushing a single answer, the homeowner’s real goals get in the way.
Performance Remodeling removes much of that pressure by design. The company offers choices across windows, roofing, siding, gutters, gutter protection, and entry doors, with options for different budgets and financing to match. In roofing, homeowners can choose between package levels instead of being pushed toward a single “best” option. In windows, the company offers premium products such as Infinity from Marvin fiberglass windows while still helping homeowners who need a more economical path.
The company’s promise to homeowners reads like a direct answer to commission breath. Performance Remodeling commits to giving homeowners objective information on the strengths and weaknesses of each option, and to offering as much guidance as the homeowner wants without overwhelming them. The goal is for the homeowner to feel informed, not cornered.
Good intentions can fade as a company grows. Richard Hotea understood that if he wanted his team to avoid commission breath, he could not leave it to chance.
Performance Remodeling operates by six core values:
Read those values next to Richard Hotea’s quote, and the connection is clear. “Listen First” is the cure for a salesperson who talks about himself. “Advocate for the Customer” means the team member’s job is to stand on the homeowner’s side of the table, not across from it. “Our Reputation Matters” reminds everyone that each conversation shapes how the next family hears about the company.
The values give the team a simple test in every appointment: Am I listening, or pitching? Am I advocating for this homeowner, or for my number? That is how Performance Remodeling prepares its people to guide homeowners instead of pressuring them.
A fair question is whether a no-pressure company ever actually asks for the business. Performance Remodeling answers that question openly. The company says it will politely ask for the sale, but it promises not to use high-pressure sales tactics or play “bait-and-switch” pricing games.
Homeowners know the consultation ends with a decision. What they resent is being tricked into one — the “today only” discount, or the inflated first number that drops after a call to the “manager.” Those are the moments when homeowners smell commission breath most clearly.
Performance Remodeling takes a different approach to price as well. The company does not claim to be the cheapest contractor in Michigan, and it does not try to be. Its position is direct: if you look hard enough, you can always find someone willing to sacrifice quality and long-term value for a lower price upfront. The company will not try to match that, because it will not sell and install junk products. But in an apples-to-apples comparison of the same products installed by experts, Performance Remodeling says it will have the best price. That is not a pressure line. It is an invitation to compare.
No CEO can sit at every kitchen table. At 1,500 to 1,800 homes a year, the real test of Richard Hotea’s leadership is not how he behaves in a home. It is how his team behaves when he is not there.
In the early years, Richard Hotea wore every hat, from unloading trucks to running appointments to handling HR. To grow, he knew he had to let go of some control.
“You can’t be everywhere at all times,” Richard Hotea said. “There’s just no way to get past a certain point without delegating the right way. Trust but verify. I trust you, but I’m going to verify it.”
That “trust but verify” approach, a phrase he credits to Ronald Reagan, is how a company keeps commission breath out of its homes: hire people who share your values, give them freedom, and check that the homeowner experience matches the promise.
Richard Hotea is also quick to give credit to the people around him. “I’m never really the smartest guy in the room, but I’m smart enough to know that,” he said. “I’ve surrounded myself with people that can do things better than me, and I have no problem with that.”
That team includes Tonya Hotea, CFO; Jason Sawinski, Director of Sales and Business Development; Jana E., Project Coordinator; Deion A., Product Acquisition Manager; and Scott Hildreth, Human Resources Specialist.
Greg Cummings has seen that leadership style up close. “You’re really a great delegator. You’re a great teacher,” Greg Cummings said of Richard Hotea. “You provide autonomy for your leaders to go do their job.”
The best proof that a company avoids commission breath is not what the company says about itself. It is what homeowners say afterward, when nobody is selling them anything.
Jim Cowdrey needed a new roof and already had a couple of quotes when someone from Performance Remodeling stopped by. “The sales rep was very professional and gave us a detailed plan of what the job would entail,” Jim Cowdrey said. “I will say they were not my lowest quote, but my wife and I felt that the materials and quality of work were the most important thing. The crew did a fantastic job, cleaned up well, and gave me a good walk-through upon completion. I will be using Performance in a year or two for my detached garage roofing.”
John O’Connell described a similar experience with his windows. “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. I highly recommend this company.” Filing rebate paperwork adds nothing to the contract. It is simply what a team does when it is trying to help.
For Laura Van Steenis, the trust started at the very first appointment. “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.”
And for Charles Burt, the relationship has lasted for years. “I have done business with Performance Remodeling since 2016, and I have had a wonderful experience with them,” Charles Burt said. “They respond to any issue you may have, and their workmanship is the best.”
Other homeowners point directly to the man at the top. “I couldn’t be happier with the work that Richard and his team at Performance Remodeling did on my home,” said Tasha M., a Michigan homeowner who replaced her windows and doors. “Richard was very professional and easy to work with throughout the entire process.” Edward Z., another Michigan homeowner, said, “Richard was very professional and always available to answer any questions I had.”
These stories add up to one number that matters more than any ad campaign: Performance Remodeling says one out of every three jobs comes from a repeat customer or a referral. Homeowners do not send their families to a company that made them feel sold.
Commission breath has a close cousin: the contractor who disappears once the check clears.
Performance Remodeling answers that concern with a Lifetime Guarantee. For as long as the homeowner lives in the home, they will not pay for correction or replacement of a defective product the company installed, or for the labor tied to that fix. The company is also clear about the limits. Damage caused by the homeowner and storm-type “Act of God” damage usually covered by homeowner’s insurance are not included, and lower-priced roofing packages carry some restrictions. Those details are explained at the first appointment, not hidden in fine print.
That honesty is the guarantee’s real strength. And when a company must stand behind its work for years, there is no reason to oversell or install the wrong product just to close a deal.
Performance Remodeling backs that promise with a strong public record. The company maintains an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and has spent close to two decades building its reputation one home at a time across Southeast Michigan.
Homeowners are not the only ones who can sense intent. Major brands can too, and they are often even harder to convince.
Richard Hotea chased a partnership with Infinity from Marvin for five to seven years before it happened. Marvin is a family of window brands that builders and architects treat as top of the line, and it is known for being selective about who sells its products. Today, Performance Remodeling is one of only two dealers of the product in its area.
“Being able to pass that vetting process, a lot of scrutiny, that made me feel really good,” Richard Hotea said. “It made me feel like, okay, I’m on the right track.”
The scrutiny did not stop there. Being an Infinity from Marvin dealer does not automatically open the door to the Costco program. Dealers must hit certain parameters and pass certain gates to be considered. Performance Remodeling earned that opportunity, with plans to serve shoppers across as many as 16 Costco warehouses.
Greg Cummings sees these partnerships as powerful 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.”
The numbers behind Performance Remodeling tell the same story from a business angle. The company opened in 2006, survived the 2009 and 2010 housing crisis, came through COVID, and kept growing. It now serves 1,500 to 1,800 homes a year and is working to break the $20 million mark.
Richard Hotea does not credit that growth to aggressive selling. He credits it to steady discipline and a clear view of the market. “There are literally millions of homes here,” Richard Hotea said. “I know that if I go after it, I can grow.”
That outlook matters. A leader who believes opportunity is scarce is more likely to push every homeowner to sign today. A leader who knows there are millions of homes can let homeowners take their time. And a company that is careful with money, as Performance Remodeling is, is never desperate enough to pressure anyone.
If commission breath is about what a salesperson can take, community service is about what a company chooses to give. “Always Give Back to the Community” is not the last of Performance Remodeling’s core values by accident. It completes the picture.
Through its Ramp It Up program, Performance Remodeling provides free accessible ramps to senior citizens in need and to veterans with disabilities. There is no contract, no upsell, and no commission involved. There is only a family or a veteran who can now get in and out of their home safely. The same company that builds ramps for free is the one sitting at the homeowner’s kitchen table.
Power100 ranks Richard 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 is not a reward for a slogan. It reflects a pattern that shows up again and again across Performance Remodeling.
It shows up in a one-window lesson, a company built around real options, and six values that make listening part of everyone’s job. It shows up in honest pricing, a clear Lifetime Guarantee, an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, a one-in-three repeat and referral rate, and partnerships with brands as selective as Infinity from Marvin and Costco.
Most of all, it shows up in a leader who is still in the seat. “You are always looking. It’s always on your mind how to get better,” Greg Cummings said of Richard Hotea. “You’re one of the people that is leading the charge, doing everything the right way and staying ahead of the curve.”
For Power100, that is what makes Performance Remodeling a great company. And it is why Richard Hotea is the kind of leader who makes it one.
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, the lesson is practical. When you invite a contractor into your home, trust your instincts. Notice whether the person in front of you asks about your goals or rushes to a price.
Richard Hotea built Performance Remodeling for homeowners who pay attention to those things. Whether the project is replacement windows, a new roof, siding, gutters, or entry doors, the company’s aim is the same: listen first, explain honestly, recommend what fits, and stand behind the work for as long as the homeowner lives in the home.
As Richard Hotea put it, “When I am trying to help somebody, the money is never a problem. That’s what we’re here to do. Just be there for a homeowner, to meet their needs, and the rest is easy.”
Because the claim is backed by behavior homeowners can check. Performance Remodeling puts its values in writing, promises no high-pressure tactics or bait-and-switch pricing, explains the limits of its Lifetime Guarantee upfront, and says one in three of its jobs comes from repeat customers or referrals. Words are easy to copy. A long record of repeat business is not.
No. Commission breath is about intent, not price. Performance Remodeling openly says it will not match contractors who cut corners on products or installation, but it invites homeowners to compare the same products installed by experts. It also offers options for different budgets and financing, so the homeowner chooses the level that fits their goals. A homeowner who picks quality after an honest comparison has been informed, not pressured.
No company can remove the fact that a sale is part of the visit. What a leader can do is make sure the homeowner’s needs drive the recommendation. Richard Hotea does this through values like “Listen First” and “Advocate for the Customer,” through a wide range of product options so team members are not stuck pushing one answer, and through a “trust but verify” approach to managing his people.
Yes, and Performance Remodeling is upfront about it. The company says it will politely ask for the sale. The difference is how: no fake “today only” deals, no inflated first prices, and freedom to decide on the homeowner’s own timeline.
Size only hurts the experience when a company grows faster than its culture. Richard Hotea grew Performance Remodeling by hiring strong leaders, giving them clear values and real freedom, and checking the results. Homeowners such as Laura Van Steenis and John O’Connell describe clear communication and careful crews, which suggests the personal touch has grown with the company.
The terms are clear, and that is the point. For as long as the homeowner lives in the home, they will not pay for correcting or replacing a defective product Performance Remodeling installed, or for the labor tied to that fix. Damage caused by the homeowner and storm-type damage usually covered by homeowner’s insurance are excluded, and lower-priced roofing packages carry some restrictions. All of this is explained at the first appointment.
Power100 is an unbiased third-party platform that ranks leaders using a proprietary 5-layer ranking system, drawn from a database of more than 7,600 CEOs. Richard Hotea’s #37 national ranking lines up with signals homeowners and partners can see on their own: an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, a strong repeat and referral rate, a selective Infinity from Marvin dealership, and an opportunity with Costco that dealers must qualify for.
Problems can happen on any home project. What matters is the response. Homeowners such as Charles Burt say the company responds to any issue, and the Lifetime Guarantee covers defective products and the labor to fix them for as long as the homeowner lives in the home.
Because the values were not added for marketing. They came from real lessons — the one-window homeowner who later trusted Richard Hotea with her whole house, and the elderly couple who taught him why homeowners need real options. Selective partners like Infinity from Marvin and Costco expect those standards to continue. The company’s growth has always followed trust, and Richard Hotea remains in the seat every day making sure it stays that way.
Performance Remodeling is a Southeast Michigan exterior home improvement company founded in 2006 by Richard 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 known for honest, no-pressure guidance, real options for every budget, an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, and 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 that are setting the standard for trust, performance, and long-term value.
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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.
