Dennis Oz: Welcome to the Remodeler Success Podcast, the show where we dive deep into the challenges, triumphs, and strategies of professionals who are really shaping the future of the remodeling industry. You could be a seasoned remodeler for many years looking for insights on business growth, or just someone who’s just starting in the field.
We are here to bring you actionable, inspiring stories and the latest industry trends. So, I have a really exciting guest joining us today. I don’t know how to even describe these decades in the custom cabinetry industry. He built a name for himself by seamlessly combining functionality with beautiful design and working closely with remodelers to deliver exceptional results on residential and commercial projects.
I’m so thrilled to share his journey with us today and also his expertise with you. So, without further ado, let’s welcome the president and the owner of Morantz Custom Cabinetry, Harold Morantz. Harold, thank you so much for joining us today.

Harold Morantz: Thank you, Dennis. Nice to meet you.

Dennis Oz: Thank you. Could you please introduce yourself a little bit—all these years in the industry?

Harold Morantz: Sure, sure. Yeah, I started doing custom cabinetry 44 years ago. It’s hard to believe. We started our business in Montreal, Canada, where I grew up and lived. We started as a one-man shop, slowly building up to four to six men. In Montreal, we did strictly, pretty well strictly, residential cabinetry, with a few commercial jobs for lawyers’ offices and dentists’ offices. But mostly, we did custom kitchens, wall units, bedrooms, Murphy beds—that type of work.

Our market in Montreal was mostly the Orthodox Jewish community, which is not as big as New York City, but it’s quite an established community. One person tells another—you know, it’s like any other cultural group. People like to deal with people they know, who speak their language. I slowly built up a reputation. By the time I left Montreal, after 24 years, there were families for whom I was doing third- and fourth-generation work.

I was known for attention to detail, politeness. My workers would clean up; they worked properly. We showed up on time. Here in Florida, the concept of mañana is very popular. People are always late, not showing up on time. I still have my northern attitude. After 24 years, the cold weather was getting to be a little hard for my wife, so we decided to make the move to Florida.

I reopened here. I sold my business in Montreal to an American who wanted to move to Montreal. His wife was Canadian, and he bought my business. I spent three months training him and then handed him the keys, the alarm system, and the computer codes. I sold my house, sold my country house, bought a condo down here, and we’ve been here for the past 20 years.

Dennis Oz: That’s an amazing story. I was looking at the company profile and the things that you’ve contributed to the industry over almost 40 years. Folks, to let you know, I just celebrated my 40th birthday, so it’s been a long, long time.

Harold Morantz: Congratulations.

Dennis Oz: Yeah, thanks so much.

Harold Morantz: But I’ll be 74 in a couple of days.

Dennis Oz: Okay, yeah. Let me ask you this: What’s the secret sauce to having these years and years in the industry, bringing great results to your clients, and keeping the business alive for this long? What’s the secret?

Harold Morantz: I think that any business owner has to be responsive to their clients. Like in any other communication, listening is the most important thing. I’ve met clients who, after being in my showroom for 10 minutes, said, “I already know you’re my guy.” When they went to other people, they showed them the drawings, and they would just say, “Yeah, we can do that.” They’d ask, “What about this?” and get, “Yeah, we can do that.” But they never discussed or listened to them.

I am very, very responsive to my clients. Even if I’m working with a designer, I try to be careful. But if she’s coming up with an idea and I know it’s not going to work, I’m not afraid to say something. I’ve got those years of experience. They may be able to design the whole house, but I am the expert in the kitchen area. So, I’m not afraid to speak up.

I am very transparent. My price is my price. I don’t play around with pricing. It’s quality work, and I charge for it. I don’t believe in negotiating prices because I know what it costs me to make my cabinets.

Again, I think the most important things are open communication and innovative design. I’ve gone to all the shows over the years and seen what the latest products are. I visit showrooms. Here in Florida, there are actually a couple of very popular consignment stores that take furniture. They’re huge places, and I love walking through them sometimes on a Sunday to get inspiration.

It’s older furniture, but it’s put together in such unique ways. It gives me good focus and perspective on what people are looking for. I think that’s very important. My clients notice that the most.

I also always try to give the customer more than what they paid for. There’s always something extra in their kitchen that they later say, “Oh, I didn’t know you were giving me that.” I learned that many years ago from my dad at a deli. He and his two brothers owned the business, which is still running after 85 years. They’re gone already, but other members of the family are running it.

When he brought a smoked meat sandwich to the table, it wasn’t only with the traditional pickle and coleslaw. If he knew the customer, he’d add a little bit of caviar or say, “Try some of this new product.” People always appreciated that extra personal attention. I learned that from him, and I try to do the same thing with my clients.

Dennis Oz: That’s a big generosity—saying that you’re always trying to give more to your clients. When they ask for something, you always try to give more. That’s so generous of you. I want to take the conversation to an interesting subject that you mentioned when talking about your background. You said you moved from one country to another. Even now, some of our listeners are thinking about changing states or locations. It’s a big question mark for them.

I want to dive into that subject. How did you feel when you first changed? Did you completely change your business, or was it just the marketing? How did you handle that process?

Harold Morantz: Well, I honestly didn’t know what was going to change. We were just open to change. Life is change. At 74, your body isn’t the same, and your mind isn’t the same as it was before. You have to learn to adapt.

When we moved here, I was surprised in many ways. I figured it was one English-speaking country to another English-speaking country. Coming from Canada, which is a Commonwealth country, my English is far superior to most people I know here in Florida.

The most difficult part was the psychological difference. Canada is a very gentle country. It’s not a confrontational country. Especially here in the past couple of decades, America has really become a very confrontational country. Learning to deal with a different culture, where I thought it would be the same, was difficult. I still have difficulty with it after 20 years.

In Montreal, you can drive through downtown and rarely see a person sleeping on a park bench. Here, from my shop in Fort Lauderdale, from the ocean to my shop six miles away, there are 200 beggars on the road. I’m not used to that, nor to the psychological aspect of it.

Business-wise, I had the money because I sold my home, my country house, and my shop. So, I had the finances to reopen here. I did take a hit on the Canadian dollar, which was 63 cents. Two hundred thousand dollars disappeared from one bank to another, but I had the funds. I bought my condo outright and purchased all my machinery.

The tricky part at the beginning was finding clients. In Montreal, I never needed the internet. Everybody knew everybody else. There was a weekly circular distributed every Friday before the Sabbath. You knew all the plumbers, electricians, and other tradespeople. I had a $35 ad in this simple paper: a kitchen, a wall unit, and a bathroom vanity. That was all I needed.

I didn’t have a website because I didn’t work outside of a five-mile radius. When I moved here, it was a shocker. But I met with a very intelligent person here who called himself the Kitchen Coach. He worked for Allied Kitchens, which has been established here in Florida as long as I’ve been in business.

He was well worth the money I paid him—it wasn’t expensive—but he gave me the best advice. He recommended a web designer and gave me lots of great advice. I was lucky in my shop because my landlord in Montreal owned three million square feet of property here in Florida. When he found out I was moving, he just said, “Call my agent in Fort Lauderdale, and he’ll set you up.”

I’ve been in his industrial park for 20 years. I started with 2,000 square feet, and now we have 5,000. It was great to have that relationship. Now, I work with his grandchildren because he passed away, but having that relationship was invaluable.

Meeting Canadians down here is always very important to me, having that cultural tie. But the biggest shocker was the culture. I really thought the cultures would be the same. Okay, English is English—a person says “foyer” instead of “foyer,” not the end of the world. But, you know, the culture is very, very different.

At the same time, people are people. I was lucky in that I live on the ocean in Fort Lauderdale. In the area where I live, we have our synagogue right across the street. I immediately met several hundred people. Two of them had just bought three-bedroom condos a block from me, and I instantaneously had $200,000 worth of work. I didn’t even have any employees yet. Things started rolling from there.

I developed a website and did a lot of extensive advertising on Houzz, which is a very dynamic design webpage. We’ve actually won Best of Houzz every year since 2013. I have 85 reviews on there now.

Getting reviews in America was very different than in Canada. I didn’t need reviews in Canada because everybody spoke to each other. Here, if you do a job in Westville Country Club, the neighbors don’t know each other. So you have to really work for reviews. Houzz was very good for me. I had to beg people to give reviews.

After about one year, I sent an email flyer to everyone and said, “I will donate $18 to children’s cancer for anyone who posts a review on Houzz.” Thank God, about 40 people posted reviews, and I was more than glad to donate the $800 or so to charity. That was a big boom because, here in Florida, in particular, there are a lot of fly-by-nighters. They open shops and close shops.

There are a lot of great shops here, for sure, but also a lot of transient people. Reliability became crucial. When people went to my Houzz site and saw my reviews—now over 90—it was almost a guarantee of getting a job.

Dennis Oz: We also dived a little more deeply into marketing topics as well. Let me ask about the technological infrastructure that you like to use. It could be any type of design tools, project management tools, or anything like that. What are the tools that you use?

Harold Morantz: Okay, my main tool is my showroom, which is packed with samples and very well organized. I’m always on top of my vendors to get me the latest and the best. That is probably one of my most important tools.

For the design process, I use a program called KCD, which is an excellent design program. I don’t have any CNC equipment. I’m old-school. We have sliders, a beautiful edge bander, and double line boring machines. We can handle one job or maybe five jobs on the floor at any one time, but they’re all individual.

Dennis Oz: That’s a big number, by the way—a real big number to handle.

Harold Morantz: Yeah. I work very often with designers. Some designers bring me complete designs, but smaller designers also come to me for advice. Sometimes, clients see something in my showroom that even the designer didn’t know about.

My sales ability, friendliness, and openness are really my most important tools. Anybody can use a design program to create a kitchen in 3D. I haven’t learned all the new tools like AI or 3D glasses. I don’t even print my designs in full color because none of my clients really care.

I have had a couple of very wealthy clients say, “Your design is nice, but I want a full rendering.” In those cases, I work with a company called 3D down here that does my rendering. It costs me $500 to have a kitchen rendered. Very often, the designer posts it on Instagram before we even build it, and people think it’s a built kitchen!

KCD can also do full color with lighting and shading, but I’ve never had to use those features. I’ve always been a strong believer in keeping it simple. I don’t like to spend time on things that won’t net a real profit.

Because I’m older and more old-school, I tend to stick to traditional methods. I’m looking into retiring fairly soon. Some people in my shop say, “You’re using KCD? I’m used to Cabinet Vision.” I say, “Great, but this program cost me $800 30 years ago, and Cabinet Vision costs $10,000 a year just for maintenance.”

Dennis Oz: Look at the savings there!

Harold Morantz: Right, right. But my most important tool is my mind and my openness. That’s not a physical tool—it’s an emotional tool.

Dennis Oz: I think, just like you said, whatever we’re really comfortable using is going to be the best tool for us. There are so many tools out there, but the purpose is to use them to offer your creativity to your clients. I absolutely agree that sticking with what works for you is always the best approach.

Another question: Once we create beautiful designs, functionality needs to meet these beautiful styles. How do you ensure your designs bring clients both style and functionality?

Harold Morantz: One way is by keeping up with trends. I get all the trade magazines and woodworking magazines. I’ve been in many shops where people have never heard of some of these things. I’m on WoodWeb, a woodworking forum, every day to see what’s new, offer advice, and get advice.

Watching trends is very important. As for functionality, I have experience in fine arts from university, which helps me create things that are beautiful. Sometimes, if a client prioritizes design over functionality, I let the designer take the reins and build what they want.

Harold Morantz: But I’m also, especially in my experience in Canada—not as much here, but in Canada—almost 100 percent of my kitchens were kosher kitchens. A kosher kitchen has two sinks, two dishwashers, two microwaves, sometimes a third oven, two ovens. You know, there’s only one fridge and a freezer because if it’s cold, it’s not a problem in terms of kosher. But if things are getting hot, it has to be two of everything—two sets of cutlery, and sometimes three sets if you have Passover dishes.

So I’ve had to learn, and I, myself, am Orthodox, so I know what’s required in a kitchen. That same trend follows through for bedrooms or other types of cabinetry. I’m looking at functionality, space-saving, and using the best hardware. At the same time, I don’t want to make a plain-looking product. I add some styling into it. Sometimes it’s mine, sometimes it’s the designer’s, and sometimes I even collaborate with the client.

We just finished an 8,000-square-foot home in Boca. The client came in with all her own visions. She had everything just in hand sketches—nothing fancy. But I sat down with her and said, “Okay, let’s look them over.” I said, “I think this would be better,” and she said, “Oh, that’s a great idea.” Or, “I think maybe we should change that to this,” and she agreed. Then I put it on my computer and did the computerized drawings because the builders need scale drawings. I go with the flow in terms of design, and again, going to shows and knowing what’s popular is a very important aspect of it.

Dennis Oz: Great. Thank you so much for sharing these golden nuggets with us. Since you’re talking about working with builders, they have specific needs, and I think that’s a great place to ask you: What’s your actual process for working with builders, remodelers, contractors, or even homeowners to ensure their projects run really smoothly and the cabinets fit perfectly? What do you think?

Harold Morantz: Well, in the case of new construction—which I do a lot of—you know, big homes in Boca are starting from scratch. The builder will usually email me the drawings. I’ve got a wide-screen printer, so I can print them out right away. I don’t have to run to FedEx. I print the wide-screen drawings, and then I can work on a price for him based on linear feet, the type of material, and the height of the cabinets.

At that point, we usually start with the architect’s drawings, which have the typical triangle—the sink on the island, the fridge over there. That doesn’t always work well. Nowadays, especially in these bigger homes, some are show homes. People are socialites and have massive parties. They don’t even cook. They have a 60-inch gas range that’s never used—only when they’re having social parties and bring in a catering company.

I work with the builders on their budget. We’re often doing the kitchen, usually a very large one, as well as bathrooms and vanities. What’s most important for them is to get those drawings as quickly as possible. With a trusted builder I’ve been working with for years, I don’t ask for a deposit right away for the drawings. I can do the drawings relatively quickly.

Then I go to the site and meet with the builder, his project manager, the plumber, and the electrician. The worst thing is to start installing a vanity, and the lighting over the vanity isn’t centered over the sink because I didn’t provide the instructions. Or there’s a pull-out drawer in the vanity for an iPad, and the electrician didn’t know that. Then they have to open the walls to run cabling to the back of the cabinet.

LED lighting is very popular now. It’s all low voltage with transformers. Does the customer want a dimmer, or do they just want it to turn on and off? If it’s all wired in and the transformer is near the ceiling inside the cabinet, it’s no problem. But if they decide later they want to dim it, they’ll have to switch the transformer to a dimmable one.

I like to plan these things in advance because it saves the client from paying extra for changes later. Builders often don’t care about these details—they’re not on-site. They have project managers who coordinate electricians and plumbers.

Sometimes, I come in and say, “Wait a minute, that island is 60 inches from the stove, and it’s only supposed to be 48.” Even 50 or 52 is fine, but six feet is too far. If I tell them before the finished floor is installed, they can fix it. If not, they’ll be angry with me for not noticing earlier. Communication with all the trades solves a lot of problems.

It still happens sometimes. I go to do an installation, and the plumber has placed the pipes right in the middle of the wall. Then they have to open the wall and move them over six inches. These things happen.

Electrical is also very important, especially for appliances. I spend a lot of time attending trade meetings, like those held by the NKBA at Sub-Zero’s showroom. I kept suggesting they focus on installation too, because while they sell the appliances, they leave it to us to figure out all the specs.

For example, we just installed a Miele coffee machine. I saw on the specs that it needed to be on tracks to roll in and out—not all of them do. Warming drawers often need more than 24 inches of space for the plug in the back. If the plug isn’t in the upper left-hand corner, it won’t fit properly. Microwaves with drawers are the same.

When I meet with the trades, I emphasize these details: “You’ve got to have that outlet exactly there. Don’t play around with me. Don’t put it six inches to the left or right—it’s got to be exactly in that location.” Pre-communication really solves a lot of problems later.

Dennis Oz: This is great to learn because, just like Harold shared here, the first thing you need to know is that communication is a big part of your business. If you think you’re really good at what you’re doing, your communication should reflect that as well.

Harold, you also mentioned something interesting—you bring all these magazines to stay on top of trends. What trends are you seeing in custom cabinetry that we should pay attention to?

Harold Morantz: What I’m finding most down here, which I didn’t encounter in Canada, is that because I live in South Florida, we’re attached to Miami. When I first moved here, areas like West Palm still had heavy crown moldings, lots of fluting, and lots of solid wood.

In South Florida now, the trend is toward exotic veneers, textured laminate materials, wood grains, high gloss, and super matte finishes. The Miacucina look—European styling—is very popular. I’m familiar with that styling from Canada because it’s more connected to Europe. America has always been behind the times, except for Miami and the coasts.

The rest of the country often doesn’t embrace these trends. If you show them particle board, they’ll say, “No, I don’t want Ikea.” But then you explain that MDF and particle board with a veneer stay flat and are more durable for certain uses.

Harold Morantz: Whereas if you want plywood, I’ll give you a written guarantee it’s going to work. You don’t understand. So, um, the trends here in South Florida are still very, very modern, very upbeat. We’re doing a lot of high glosses. What’s very, very popular now are non-bacterial super mattes, which don’t show fingerprints.

It looks like a painted surface but has the durability of laminate. You can wash it with anything you want, but you can’t damage it. It’s very resistant to scratches. New materials like Fenix, for example, are amazing. If you get a scratch in it, you can put a warm towel on it and use an iron, and the scratch comes right out.

Not everyone wants to pay for that—it’s a more expensive material—but I always show those options. I don’t have a wide showroom base; my showroom is just one kitchen. I don’t have a room like Allied Kitchens, which has three floors. That’s because they’re buying their cabinets from a hundred different distributors across America. I’m manufacturing everything to order, so I couldn’t do that.

In my area, for the builders, they’re looking for European styling without the expensive cost of stained or clear lacquer veneers. What they’re looking for are prefinished materials that look like wood. White oak is very popular now, but again, it’s white oak laminate on MDF from Brazil, and it looks fantastic.

Dennis Oz: Do you still believe that the word “European” creates a little bit of a luxury perception in consumers? When you say “European,” do they think, “Oh, it’s going to be a luxury thing”?

Harold Morantz: I think it depends on the clients. It depends on the educational level and sophistication of the client.

I have many clients in South Florida who are snowbirds, and some of them are European. For example, there could be someone from Germany or France buying property on Brickell. They don’t want the cabinetry that’s already there, especially if it’s an older apartment. Then they get in touch with me and see what they want.

When they ask about the interiors, I say, “Well, it’s European.” I’ll tell them right away, “You have a choice: it’s either prefinished maple interior or a textured linen material in laminate.” They go for the laminate right away. In Europe, they stopped using plywood after World War II because there were no more trees left.

Europeans are much more ecological. If you tell the average American you’re using melamine inside—even if you call it high-density laminate—they won’t buy it. But Europeans are fine with it.

We don’t do high-rises because we don’t have the volume for that. It would take us a year to install a 30-story building. But those buildings are buying from companies like Scavolini and Poggenpohl.

For instance, if someone is paying $1.5 million for a two-bedroom condo, they want to open the cabinet and see the name Scavolini or Poggenpohl. I don’t have my name on my hinges. But there’s still that perception of luxury.

In Florida, there are very few finishers who will spray high gloss because of the humidity and temperature changes. For that, I get it from Canada if necessary. Most people don’t want to spend that kind of money, though, unless it’s a famous football player or someone buying a $25 million home.

Dennis Oz: Thank you so much for sharing this. Some of our listeners are working on residential projects and trying to do similar things. I believe the information you shared will be eye-opening for them. Thank you so much for that.

Harold Morantz: For example, in large condos, when those kitchens are coming from Europe, there are 300 kitchens. They’re all almost identical, except for the size of the apartments. The grains on the drawers aren’t necessarily matched because they know their installers will drop things here and there.

When we build, everything is bookmatched. If one of my guys drops a drawer, they cry because we have to replace the whole drawer front. You can’t match the grain again.

That’s the difference with custom work. Our drawers are full 21 or 22 inches, while theirs might be only 19 inches because they don’t know how much plumbing is in the back. European kitchens are gorgeous looking, but not necessarily the finest quality, compared to what we can do.

Dennis Oz: Thank you again for sharing that. I’m sure our listeners are enjoying this conversation just as much as I am.

Harold Morantz: My pleasure.

Dennis Oz: Let’s talk about marketing—finding new clients and customers. Over decades in the field, I’m sure you’ve developed different strategies. What’s working best for you to meet new people and bring in new revenue today?

Harold Morantz: Word-of-mouth referrals. Referrals are the most important for me. I’m dealing with a very high-end customer, so one friend tells another.

For example, there are condos in South Florida, in Miami Beach, where we’ve done 20 kitchens in one building. It’s not that different from Montreal, except in Montreal, it was brothers, sisters, cousins, and uncles. Sometimes it’s the same here, too. Many people from New York buy in the same buildings.

I haven’t had the time to develop a large enough builder clientele. I’ve always been busy. I’m negotiating to sell my business now to a younger man, and he asked how I keep getting orders. I told him, “I get them from God. He just sends me people.”

Dennis Oz: Let’s talk about Houzz. It’s impressive how you’ve built your reputation there. How did you evolve over the years, and what was your strategy to build such a strong profile?

Harold Morantz: When Houzz started, around 2013, it was very different. Before that, I was on Angie’s List, but I quickly realized it wasn’t for me. The clients there wanted cheap, fast work.

Houzz was much higher-end initially, catering to affluent clients. It was free at first, and they gave you a platform to develop your own website. You could upload pictures, add descriptions, and use keywords.

It was easy to ask for reviews. Houzz has a “Review Me” button. After finishing a job, I could ask clients to leave a review. It even allowed builders to find me.

Eventually, I became a paying member because they started getting more shops. I paid for Miami-Dade and Boca zones. It costs about $2,500 a month, but if I land one $40,000 kitchen, it covers the ads for the whole year.

Dennis Oz: Picking your target location is super important. You’ve shown us a great example of sticking with what works. Thank you so much, Harold.

Harold Morantz: My pleasure.

Dennis Oz: Folks, thank you for tuning in. That was another episode of the Remodel Success Podcast. See you next time!