Servando Varela III - Sr. Estimator

What began as small handyman projects and odd jobs for friends and family, Servando Varela III developed into a thriving business in south Austin.

Mainly self-taught in his discipline, Servando learned a lot from his grandfather and simply through experience. In 2004, after several handyman favors here and there for friends and family, Servando started charging for his excellent craftsmanship and expertise and Anything Around the House was born.

While he didn’t plan to be a CEO, Anything Around the House has grown to 10 full-time employees who pride themselves on their quality of workmanship, reliability, and professionalism.

Anything Around the House provides a wide range of home repair services, maintenance, remodeling and home improvements to the Austin, TX area. “We have a staff that is fully committed and invested,” says Servando, and it shows. Featured on HGTV’s show “House Hunters: Renovation,” you can truly see their high-quality innovation and creative prowess in action.

Anything Arouns the House Kitchen Remodel Austin TX

You can also see their excellent quality and craftsmanship by viewing examples of previous projects on their website gallery. From bathroom remodeling to gutters, they do it all. Servando’s favorite projects? The bath and kitchen remodels. The kitchen is a true gathering place where so much is shared, and many memories are made. Servando says, “the bath and kitchen remodels really make a difference in the home and you can tell the homeowners truly appreciate the improvements.”

For a hands-on type of business, you’d be surprised at how much technology plays a role. From scheduling to bookkeeping, to finding materials, preparing statements, and sending invoices, the whole process starts and ends with technology.

Knowing how communication has evolved thanks to technology, you’d be hard-pressed to find a company that works well without reaching Clients through technological means. A lot of Clients have an easier time staying in touch via email. It’s easier to make decisions, get updates, and communicate over the course of the project. This also gives Clients the time they need to make decisions, giving them more control, and helps everyone to easily visualize the project as it progresses, its final goals, and outcomes.

Since November of 2011, Anything Around the House has had CTTS manage their business technology. Servando says he’s stayed with CTTS for several reasons but especially because of the value he finds in the recommendations to improve his business’s technology. The rapid response to problems and concerns is also very reassuring. Servando says, “CTTS is very responsive to our needs. We can call them anytime and have issues resolved immediately.”

Anything Around the House bathroom remodel sinks austin TXAnything Around the House Bathroom remodel shower Austin Being a managed services Client, Anything Around the House has SentinelOne endpoint security and Cisco Umbrella - which means they are protected from threats like ransomware and other data breaches with real-time forensics and proactive notifications.

Having recently transitioned to Microsoft 365, Servando says he already notices that things flow better, communication has improved, and email flows more suitably to their needs.

Microsoft 365 keeps them up to date on the latest software upgrades and patches to ensure security and business continuity. Before this transition, they were using another, more expensive hosted email provider.

Now, with the Microsoft 365 email migration and device management using Azure Active Directory, the cloud service helps CTTS to keep a more granular control on their machine management. This allows for easy policy implementation and other remote management capabilities.

With Datto Workplace and Backupify, their business-critical data and email is professionally managed and backed up. This means that in the event of a disaster situation, whether it be due to human error, natural disaster, or cybercriminal related, they can restore from one of the several save points that perform this business saving service behind the scenes.

They are also ready for the looming Windows 7 end of life phase coming up on January 14, 2020. When we moved Anything Around the House to Microsoft 365, we also updated every computer to the Windows 10 operating system, so they have no worries about the upcoming deadline, nor about software insecurities due to out-of-date machines.

In the future, we may see if there is an industry-specific CRM to help them manage their ever-growing customer base, but for now, Excel does the job and with Microsoft 365, their software is automatically updated regularly with the latest and greatest features, security patches, and updates.

If you’d like to learn more about Anything Around the House or get an estimate for your next home remodeling or repair project, you can visit their website at www.anythingaroundthehouse.com/ or give them a call at (512) 577-9228.