It is not surprising that Kyle Harris enjoys working with his hands. He's been using his hands for productive hard work for as long as he can remember.
"I grew up in Virginia, where my grandmother left to us a house that was one room on a concrete slab with a side room. I was into renovation work and construction long before I was old enough to think about having a career. Alongside my father, I worked on that house all my life, digging footings, building roofs, seeing things happen slowly over time. It's where I learned to focus on the details. Doing it with our own hands and seeing a project take shape has helped me establish a lot of confidence in working with my hands.
Following in my father's footsteps, I set off to become an electrician in a journeyman's program straight out of high school," Kyle says.
Although Kyle had achieved his goal of becoming an electrician, he had dreams that would likely not happen within that career. Sizing-up his options, he made a big life-changing move.
"I saw it as an opportunity," he says about enlisting in the Army.
"I went into the military when I was a little older, knowing that it could provide a career and pay for my education. I was looking for an opportunity to serve my country. I thought it would give me something professionally that would align with my chosen career in the trades and I really wanted to travel. Enlisting would give me two to three different opportunities in one decision, so I raised my right hand," says Kyle.
In the Army, Kyle thrived on his job's variety and mobile nature as a Human Resource Specialist and Combat Engineer. He utilized a mobile desk to provide support in the field. He finds similarities in his army occupation and as the owner and general contractor of Maryland Property Renovations.
"I got a lot from my experience in the military. Running around providing support in the field and being mobile is something I enjoyed, and that translates to my current business," Kyle explains, "I learned it is a pleasure to serve. I developed an ingrained understanding of how to look past the politics of working with people, which helped me create an unbiased way of looking at people, making it easy for me to work with anyone. And I like being in the position to help the customers get what they want from the company and the other way around."
Not only is Kyle handy with tools and ground-penetrating radar, but he is adamant when it comes to keeping his word. As a child, Kyle wrote to service members to support and encourage them. Despite never having received a response, he persisted. As an enlisted man in the Army, Kyle recalled the experience and how it felt never to receive a reply so, he adopted a classroom in Connecticut and purposed to respond to all letters sent his way.
"I had these kids write to me, and I wrote all of them back. When I got home, I went to Connecticut and surprised them at their school for this big pizza party. It was amazing. These kids were so great. They wrote to me the whole year- 22 letters, and I wrote them back each time. When I went there, they were so surprised. It was a wonderful celebration," Kyle recalls fondly. He remained committed to the second-grade class and returned as the commencement speaker for their sixth grade graduation.
Kyle prides himself on being the face of MPR. He takes full responsibility for communicating with customers and ensuring that all expectations are understood and met.
Speaking with conviction, Kyle says, "My approach to working with customers is first in, first out. I am the first person they interface with, and I am the last person to meet with them. I do that, so the customer knows I take responsibility for all work done," he continues, "I am an old school, face to face, handshake kind of person. I want to revive that feeling of doing business with good people who are locals and want to make sure the customer has a personal experience superior to others. We focus on the details and can do projects from small to large."
Although Kyle is more than qualified, he is aware that he does not want to do it alone. He has wisely surrounded himself with the right professional people so that when a client calls, "I know that I have the right designer for them. I have the right supplier for them and I have an entire network that I can rely upon so that we can make their project dreams come true," he says. MPRReno.com.
