Welcome! Today we have Melissa Hryszko, the award-winning design brain behind Veranda Estate Homes Inc., join us on the show. For the past eighteen years, Melissa and her husband, Rob, have owned and operated one of Calgary's most successful and versatile luxury home building companies. Today, Melissa shares some of her best tips for growing her firm's Instagram following to an incredible 80 000 followers, and she also explains that she and Rob are crystal clear about who they will work with, and about the kinds of projects that they will do and will not do. Listen in today, to find out what it takes to consistently build between seven and ten custom homes per year, from the ground up.

Melissa's formal education is in graphic design and advertising and yet it's really clear that she belongs in the world of interior design. She brings a meticulous level of detail to each and every project that Veranda is involved in, and she does all her designs by hand. Melissa also tackles each project on an individual basis to ensure that each one is unique and representing the Veranda brand. Tune in today to find out more.

Show highlights:

• Melissa talks about Veranda's unique business model.
• Melissa is involved with every single home.
• How Veranda has the edge.
• Learning from past mistakes.
• Working with the best architect.
• Veranda only works from word-of-mouth advertising.
• Talking budget with clients.
• Working out ball-park prices.
• How Melissa's firm works with the different trades on each project.
• What it takes for a project to get off the ground.
• They have only five people on their team!
• About the weekly site meetings that happen every Tuesday morning.
• They use a program called Buildertrend to coordinate projects.
• Melissa shares some good practices for growing your Instagram following.
• Melissa spends more than two hours per day on Instagram.
• Instagram is about building relationships.
• Melissa tells us all about her podcast, Modern Design Minds.

Links and resources:

Melissa's Podcast: Modern Design Minds with her co-host Amy Kearns (from the Boston area).

Amy Lynn Interiors

Veranda Estate Homes

Instagram: Veranda Interior

Facebook: Veranda Estate Homes

Modern Design Minds on Instagram: modern design minds

Buildertrend: Builder Trend

Modern Craftsman Podcast

amylynn_interiors

Visual Comfort

Currey & Co

Wingnut Social Podcast

Modern Design Minds Podcast

Previous guests mentioned in this episode:

Circle Design #380

Judith Neary - Design Biz Live #170, #264, #326, #399, #410

Shea McGee #236, #270

Additional episodes about building your IG:

Amber Lewis #184

Shea McGee #236, 270

Mr. Inkredible# 417

Mark McDonough #110

Darla Powell #203 and #330

More episodes about doing full design and build:

Circle Design Studio with husband and wife team John and Theresa Dorlini #380

Angela Rasmussen of H2H Design+Build #181