Gutvil
Gutvil is an excavation, stonework and construction company based in Summit County, Colorado, run by Luis Fernando Gutierrez. We built its website in English and Spanish, gave it a front desk named Elena that answers the phone and the site chat, and set up its Themis workspace so every job request lands in one inbox.
- Business
- Excavation and stonework contractor
- Where
- Summit County, Colorado
- Live site
- gutvilexcavation.org
- Reading time
- 13 minutes
The result
$120,000 more profit for Gutvil since we started working together.
Results vary. Not everyone will achieve the numbers shown.
About Gutvil
Gutvil is an excavation, stonework and construction company based in Summit County, Colorado, run by its owner, Luis Fernando Gutierrez. Luis has spent 20 years building in Colorado's mountain towns, mostly on the Western Slope, and takes jobs anywhere in the state, from Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne, Dillon, Keystone and Copper Mountain to Granby.
Gutvil does ten trades under one name: excavation, foundations and footings, drainage and waterproofing, water lines, sewer lines, septic leech fields, rock walls and stonework, concrete and stamped concrete, stucco, and painting. The same crew that digs the site can pour the footings, lay the stone wall and put the finish coat on the stucco. It's fully insured on every job, the work is guaranteed, and the site gets cleaned up when the job is done.
Like most contractors up here, it's a small crew with the owner on the machine. Luis bids the jobs, runs the excavator and answers the phone, often all in the same hour.
The problem
You can't answer the phone from an excavator.
Luis spends the day in the cab of a machine or in a trench, and mountain ground only opens up for digging part of the year. A builder or homeowner who calls about a foundation and gets voicemail calls the next contractor, and that job is gone for the season.
Mountain lots are steep and rocky, and the ground is frozen for months at a time. Digging, foundations and utility work all crowd into the warm months, and that's when builders and homeowners are calling to get on a contractor's schedule.
That's also when Luis is least able to pick up. He's in the cab of an excavator, breaking rock or setting footing forms. A builder who calls about a foundation and gets voicemail calls the next excavator on the list, and a job lost in May is gone for the season.
The second leak was that customers didn't know how much Gutvil does. Someone who needed a hole dug had no idea the same company lays stone retaining walls, pours stamped concrete and does stucco, so they lined up three contractors for one job.
And many of the people who call about this kind of work speak Spanish first. A voicemail greeting or a website only in English sends some of them elsewhere before they ever talk to Luis.
What it was costing them
- Calls that rang out while Luis was running a machine, worst in the digging season
- Evening and weekend calls from builders and homeowners that sat until Luis had a free minute
- Customers hiring separate crews for the stone, the concrete and the stucco because they didn't know Gutvil did all of it
- Spanish-speaking customers who couldn't get an answer in Spanish
- Job requests kept in a phone and a notebook, with no follow-up when a bid went quiet
What we set out to do
- 1
Answer every call and message, day or night.
No caller should hear voicemail in the digging season, and no chat should wait until morning. The front desk had to sound like a real person from the mountains, in English or Spanish.
- 2
Get every job to Luis with what he needs to call back.
What the job is, where it is and how to reach the customer, so Luis calls back ready to talk about the work instead of starting from scratch.
- 3
Show everything Gutvil does, in one place.
All ten trades on one page and real job photos, so a customer who calls about one trade knows to ask about the rest.
- 4
Keep every lead in one place, and follow up on all of them.
Every call, chat and form in one inbox, with an instant reply and a follow-up task, so nothing depends on Luis remembering.
How we built it
Step 1
Listening to how the business really runs
We started with how work comes in today: which number customers call, who picks up, what happens to a message left while Luis is on a machine, and what he needs to know before he goes to look at a site. That became the front desk's script and the questions the website answers.
We also wrote down the rules the front desk had to follow: never quote a price, never promise a date, put any caller who asks for Luis straight through to his cell, and be clear that Gutvil doesn't do gas lines.
Step 2
Building the site in two languages
The site is built for a phone first, because that's where builders and homeowners look up a contractor. Every page switches between English and Spanish with one tap. It has a services page with all ten trades, a page of real job photos sorted by the kind of work, a map of where Gutvil works, and a contact page with a job request form.
Step 3
Training Elena, the front desk
Elena answers the business line and the chat on every page. We gave her a calm, friendly voice and Gutvil's own facts: the ten trades, the one thing it doesn't do, where it works, and how Luis likes to get a new job.
Before she went live we called her, chatted with her and texted her, and checked every answer against the rules: she greets callers with their two choices, asks about the job and the location, never quotes a price, and hands a caller to Luis without arguing.
Step 4
Wiring Themis behind everything
Every form, chat and call lands in Gutvil's Themis workspace with the page and source it came from. Themis sends the instant reply and puts a follow-up task on the list, and Luis sees all of it in the Themis app on his phone.
Step 5
Launch, then tuning
After launch we read Elena's conversations every week and fix anything that didn't sound right or didn't get the job to Luis. When customers keep asking the same question, the answer goes on the site and into what Elena knows.
What we built
- A website in English and Spanish with all ten trades on one services page, from excavation and foundations to stone, stucco and paint
- Elena, the front desk: answers the business line (970) 782-2811 and the site chat at any hour, takes the job and where it is, and gets it to Luis
- A hand-off to Luis's cell the moment a caller asks for him
- A job request form and every call and chat feeding one Themis inbox, with an instant reply and a follow-up task
- A page of real job photos sorted by the kind of work, and a map of where Gutvil works
Elena answers the phone and the chat
Elena is the front desk on (970) 782-2811 and in the chat on every page. She opens with "Hi, you've reached Gutvil. This is Elena, the assistant. Would you like to get an estimate on a job, or get connected with Luis? I'm also happy to answer any questions. Se habla español." She answers in Spanish or English, whichever the caller speaks, and asks one question at a time: what the job is, where it is, and the best way to reach them.
She doesn't quote prices or promise dates, because every job depends on the ground. She takes the details and gets them to Luis, who calls back to set up a look at the site. If someone asks for Luis, she puts the call straight through to his cell.
- Answers at any hour, including while Luis is on a machine
- Speaks English or Spanish, whichever the caller does
- Never quotes a price; Luis prices every job after seeing it
- Hands off to Luis's cell the moment a caller asks for him
Ten trades on one page
The services page groups the work the way a job goes: ground work (excavation, foundations and footings, drainage and waterproofing), utilities (water lines, sewer lines, leech fields), stone and concrete (rock walls, flagstone, stamped concrete), and finishes (stucco and painting). Each one says what is actually done, so a customer can see the whole job from the dig to the finish coat.
It also says plainly what Gutvil doesn't do: gas lines. That saves a wasted call for the customer and for Luis.
Real photos of real jobs
The work page shows photos from Gutvil's own job sites, sorted by the kind of work: rock walls and stonework, excavation and grading, foundations, water and sewer lines, and the equipment. Tiered boulder walls on a hillside and foundation digs on rocky lots show what Gutvil handles better than any description could.
English and Spanish, everywhere
Every page has an English and Spanish switch at the top, and Elena answers in either language on the phone and in the chat. A customer never has to switch languages to hire Gutvil.
Themis, the inbox behind it all
Every call, chat and job request lands in one Themis inbox tagged with where it came from. Themis replies instantly and puts a follow-up on the list. Customers can choose on the form to get a text about their request. Luis runs it from the Themis app on his phone.
- Instant reply and follow-up task on every lead
- The service, the job location and the details on every request
- Where each lead came from, kept with the lead
- A text about the request, for customers who ask for one
Built to be found
Every page tells search engines exactly what Gutvil is: a general contractor in Colorado, the ten trades it knows, and its phone number, in the structured data Google and the AI answer engines read. When someone asks who does excavation or stone walls in Summit County, there's a clear answer to quote.
One inquiry, start to finish
This is how a typical job request moves through the system in the digging season.
Wednesday, 10:40 a.m.
A builder in Silverthorne calls about digging a foundation for a new garage. Luis is in an excavator on a job in Frisco. Elena answers.
10:41 a.m.
Elena asks what the job is, where the lot is and whether it's steep or rocky. The builder asks what it costs; Elena explains that Luis prices every job after he sees the site.
10:43 a.m.
The builder mentions they'll also need a retaining wall. Elena lets them know Gutvil does stone walls and concrete too, and that Luis will call back today.
10:43 a.m.
Themis files the builder as a new lead with the job, the address and the call, sends the instant reply, and puts a follow-up on Luis's list.
12:15 p.m.
Luis climbs out of the cab for lunch, opens the Themis app and sees the new job with everything Elena collected. He calls the builder back.
Friday morning
Luis walks the lot and sends a bid for the foundation and the wall together. If it goes quiet, the follow-up task reminds him to call.
Month by month
The first month after launch looks like the months before it. Then the pieces start working on each other: more answered calls and inquiries, more of the right searches finding the site, and the line bends up.
- Profit per month, before the new site
- $9,000
- Profit per month, Sep 2026
- $33,500
- Added since launch
- $120,000
Profit per month
Sep 2026 $33,500
Job requests
Sep 2026 35
Jobs booked
Sep 2026 14
| Month | Profit | Requests | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | $11,000 | 8 | 3 |
| Oct 2025 | $9,000 | 7 | 3 |
| Nov 2025 | $7,000 | 6 | 2 |
| Dec 2025New site live | $9,500 | 7 | 3 |
| Jan 2026 | $9,000 | 7 | 3 |
| Feb 2026 | $10,000 | 9 | 4 |
| Mar 2026 | $11,500 | 12 | 5 |
| Apr 2026 | $16,000 | 18 | 8 |
| May 2026 | $23,000 | 26 | 11 |
| Jun 2026 | $29,000 | 32 | 13 |
| Jul 2026 | $33,500 | 36 | 15 |
| Aug 2026 | $35,000 | 38 | 16 |
| Sep 2026 | $33,500 | 35 | 14 |
| Before, a month | After, a month | Sep 2026 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | $9,000 | $21,000 | $33,500 | +272% |
| Requests | 7 | 22 | 35 | +400% |
| Jobs | 3 | 9 | 14 | +425% |
Change compares Sep 2026 with the average month before the new site.
Added profit, running total
Sep 2026 $120,000
Each bar is the profit added since we started, above the $9,000 average month from before. Winter barely moves because the ground is frozen; the steep part is the digging season, when every answered call and every second trade on a job is adding up.
How it built up
December 2025
We start working with Gutvil. The ground is frozen, so winter work is inside: stucco and painting. Profit holds steady instead of dropping off like it did in the fall.
March
Builders start planning the summer. Calls about foundations and drainage get answered and passed to Luis instead of going to voicemail.
April to May
The ground thaws and digging season opens. Job requests go from 12 in March to 26 in May.
June to July
Customers who call about a dig also book the stone walls and concrete. Profit passes $30,000 a month for the first time.
August to September
The schedule is full through the season. Profit holds near $34,000 a month, more than three times the $9,000 a month it averaged before.
How it makes Gutvil more money
Every call gets answered, even mid-dig.
Elena picks up while Luis is running a machine, asks what the job is and where, and has it waiting for him in Themis. A foundation bid that would have gone to voicemail gets a call back the same day.
One call covers the whole job.
The site shows all ten trades together, so a customer who calls about digging learns Gutvil also does the concrete, the stone walls and the stucco. One customer turns into a bigger job instead of three different contractors.
Spanish-speaking customers are answered in Spanish.
The site switches to Spanish with one tap, and Elena answers in whichever language the caller speaks. Crews and homeowners who would have struggled through an English voicemail get a real answer.
The work sells itself.
Real photos of retaining walls, foundation digs and finished homes show what Gutvil does on steep mountain lots, so the customer who calls already wants Gutvil.
How the owner sees it working
Every call, chat and form lands in Themis tagged with where it came from, so Luis can see how many job requests the site and Elena brought in each week, and which of them turned into work.
What another contractor can take from this
The calls you miss are in your busiest months.
The digging season is when you're on a machine and when the phone rings most. Whatever answers the phone has to work hardest exactly when you can't.
Show every trade you do.
Customers hire for the job in front of them. If they can see you also do the wall, the concrete and the stucco, one call becomes a bigger job.
Answer in the customer's language.
A lot of the people who need this work speak Spanish first. A site and a front desk that answer in Spanish win the jobs an English-only voicemail loses.
Photos of your own work beat any description.
A boulder wall on a steep lot says more about what you can do than a paragraph. Real job photos make the customer want you before they call.
Expect a slow winter.
When the ground is frozen there's only so much digging to win. The growth comes when the season opens and everything is already in place to answer it.
What happens every month now
- Every front desk conversation is read each week, and anything that didn't sound right gets fixed
- New questions customers ask become answers on the site and in Elena's knowledge
- New job photos are added to the work page as jobs finish
- Search Console and the site's search checks are reviewed regularly
Questions about this project
What did Altitude Mountain Scaling build for Gutvil?
A website in English and Spanish with all ten of Gutvil's trades and real job photos, a front desk named Elena that answers the business line and the site chat at any hour, and a Themis workspace where every call, chat and job request lands with an instant reply and a follow-up.
Who is Elena?
Elena is Gutvil's virtual front desk. She answers (970) 782-2811 and the chat on gutvilexcavation.org in English or Spanish, takes the details of the job, gets them to Luis, and puts a caller through to Luis whenever they ask for him.
Does Elena quote prices?
No. Every excavation and stone job depends on the ground, so Luis prices each one after he sees the site. Elena takes the details and Luis calls back.
What does Gutvil do?
Excavation, foundations and footings, drainage and waterproofing, water lines, sewer lines, septic leech fields, rock walls and stonework, concrete and stamped concrete, stucco and painting. It doesn't do gas lines.
Where does Gutvil work?
It's based in Summit County, Colorado, and takes jobs anywhere in the state. Most of its work is in the mountain towns of the Western Slope, from Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne, Dillon, Keystone and Copper Mountain to Granby.
Can Altitude build the same thing for my business?
Yes. We build the website, the front desk and the Themis workspace for businesses in mountain towns across the US. Book a free walkthrough and we'll show you where your calls and inquiries go today.