Inspiring Conversations with Dustin & Ashton Godfrey of Estancia Assisted Living

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dustin & Ashton Godfrey. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Estancia Assisted Living started as an idea when one of the owners, Ashton, saw a need in the healthcare industry to have nice homes with good quality care at a reasonable price. As more baby boomers retire, the demand for a quality assisted living homes will rise. Ashton believed he could make a difference in the industry so he shared his idea with Dustin, Cameron, and Tyler who now makes up the four owners of Estancia Assisted Living. In order to further understand more about this specific healthcare industry, Ashton reached out to his aunt, Marilyn who at the time was running her own home. With her help and knowledge together with the support of the owners, Ashton and Dustin opened their home that was called Estancia Assisted Living at Marbella Vineyards in February 2017. Opening their home was a challenge as they had to learn all the rules and regulations to run an assisted living home while also upgrading and expanding the home. The Director of Operations, Dustin had to work at home on his own for 3 months straight before they could find another caregiver to work. Within 6 months to a year since the home opened, Dustin worked alongside the other caregiver until they were able to find more consistent staff. In 2018, they had the opportunity to open another home called Estancia Assisted Living at Discovery Park. For that home, they had to do all the build and add on 7 bedrooms while managing the first home. In 2019, they were finished with the build-out and were able to open their new home.

This time around it was a more smooth transition. In 2020 when COVID hit, the owners were forced to think of another way to manage their operations. After making many changes and being creative on how caregivers’ shifts worked they found that they could continue to expand under this new model. In 2020, they also found a joint venture partner that would manage the build-out for the homes. With this support, they were able to open a third home called Estancia Assisted Living at Elgin Ranch in October 2021. They also hired a full-time office staff to help them manage the operations. Today, Estancia has grown to have a consistent caregiver team that gives quality care to residents and a supportive office staff that is consistently improving processes through updated technology and enhanced training for caregivers to ensure that they go above and beyond the state requirements. Estancia’s plan is to continue growth and expand our impact on the healthcare industry in Arizona by opening a new home in Mesa called “Estancia Assisted Living at heart prints” This opening is scheduled for April of 2023. Another home, “Estancia Assisted Living at Sunnydale” will be opening in Chandler and is scheduled to open in early 2024.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Some of the challenges that the Estancia team has faced include caregivers not showing up to their shifts, inflation, insurance costs, and work and family life balance.

Prior to COVID, Estancia had shifts broken down into the morning and night shifts. Having multiple shifts proved difficult as caregivers would not show up at times. The owners decided to change the shift durations to three and half days on and three and a half days off with a “floating” caregiver that moves between the homes and helps out each home. Not only did this change allow them to have a more consistent team, but they were also able to give better care to the residents as the residents always see the same two faces every week.

As with any business for the first few years, the owners had to sacrifice their family and free time in order to keep the operations running smoothly. One of the owners nearly missed the birth of his child due to a caregiver not showing up.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Estancia’s top priority is the health, happiness, and comfort of our residents. Everything about our home, from the well-lit visiting and sitting rooms to our accessible backyard with up-to-date landscaping and seating areas, to our well-thought-out food menus, ensures Estancia residents have what they need to enjoy their time at home. Our experienced and kind staff provide personal care and administer medications to ensure the comfort and safety of each individual in our care.

Estancia covers all areas of assisted living needs. Specific homes cover specific specialties from low-care activities of daily living to higher levels of care and end-of-life care. Our specialty is providing our residents with a happy, comfortable, and beautiful environment no matter what level of care they need.

Estancia strives to keep its prices low for the services received. A lot of that is accomplished through scaling the operations and adding more homes as well as keeping caregiver turnover low while sticking to high standards in care and cleanliness.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
1. Don’t expect it to go the way you plan.

2. Be prepared to work harder than you ever thought you would have to.

3. Be prepared to sacrifice time, money, and family.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://seniorcaregilbert.com/
• Instagram: @estancia_assisted_living
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/assistedliving3517/

Image Credit: Amanda Lynne Salon (picture of the lady cutting one of our residents hair)