Who We Are: Oakland County Remodeling & Construction Company

Tri-Pups, Inc. was created with the mission of proving that not all construction companies are cut from the same cloth. Our goal is to provide a unique customer experience that focuses on communication and honesty while delivering outstanding results at a reasonable price.

Our founder, Chris Adamski, had worked for several construction companies over many years while attending high school and college. After his dream of acceptance into a University Medical School was crushed, due to circumstances completely beyond his control, it became apparent that his love for construction and maintenance work would become his sole focus.

For several years, Chris worked for uninsured, disreputable construction companies that rarely paid him as promised. So, he set out to create a completely different atmosphere for his new venture.

You may be asking yourself, why the name Tri-Pups? Most construction companies name their businesses after the owner or use an adjective like quality or advanced, or similar ones before the word “construction”. After owning and operating D & C Construction for about a year, Chris set out to do something different when he incorporated the business on February 20, 1997.

Chris learned at an early age that dogs are a human’s best friend. While trying to think of a name for his own construction company, he spent a lot of time with his best friends: Pebbles, Bam Bam, and Blaze. As a tribute to them, he came up with the name Tri-Pups. He thought about how hard they worked to please him all of the time and thus the company slogan “A working dog is a happy dog!” was created.

While we still get people asking if we can groom or train their dogs, our name does tend to open up discussion with people while waiting in a checkout line or chatting on the phone. Once we explain that we are a construction company and why we named the business as we did, many ask for a business card. Actually, the name has become a fantastic marketing tool for us. Like most of our staff, the name is fun and memorable.

During our first year, Chris worked mostly solo — concentrating on power washing and staining and/or painting decks, fences, aluminum siding, block walls, etc. He quickly learned that work dried up completely as the weather changed in the fall. So, as winter approached, he branched out to include interior painting and maintenance services.

In the Spring of 1998, Chris hired his first crew member. In April of 1999, after the construction company had grown to 8 employees and greatly expanded the services offered, Debbie Aliotta, our Vice President, joined the team. Many changes were implemented after her addition to Tri-Pups as she began focusing on scheduling, marketing, and human resource functions in addition to project management and leading a crew.

In order to define us from the rest of the other construction companies in Oakland County, our focus really became educating our staff, developing a more proactive employment approach, and exceeding customer expectations to bring us repeat business. A five-part hiring process was implemented. Our system now consists of reviewing resumes, written testing, interviewing, a thorough background check, and utilizing trial workdays to test skills. The entire staff of Tri-Pups has the opportunity to work with employment candidates during their paid trial days. Whether or not the person is hired is put to vote and only if the candidate is approved by the entire staff does the applicant become a member of the Tri-Pups family.