While walking the aisles at the International Builders’ Show in Orlando last month, I ran into a lot of remodelers as they were checking out the thousands of products on display. Having all those experts at hand naturally made me curious as to what they had spotted as new or noteworthy. I expected them to mention the technology advances, such as the smoke detector that can tell when your oven is overheating and then order it to shut down. Or perhaps they’d report on new color trends. But to my surprise, several remodelers brought up two items that I, a comparative amateur, would have overlooked: hinges and handles.

For these remodelers, Orlando’s big reward was the discovery of new hardware that enabled refrigerator doors to open without crunching the adjacent molding. They spotted minimalist handles that maintained the sleek lines of modern windows. And they noted how clever hinges sported new finishes.

Remodelers understand that small details make big ideas possible and that attention to fit and finish matters, even if the customer doesn’t appreciate the effort. Sadly, too few pros pay the same attention to the details required to build their own business. Instead, they apply slapdash, temporary solutions to a problem, then unknowingly see that solution ossify into an established practice that ultimately hurts the company. Inefficiencies reign, and working longer hours ends up being the only viable response to every challenge.

It’s for those reasons that we're offering you this month a map to help you chart a way out of your dilemma. Judith Miller’s “Five Stages of Remodeling Growth” draws from both business school thinking and remodelers’ real-life experiences to help you build a plan for personal and professional success. Stay tuned for when it goes live on this website.

The journey won’t be comfortable, because the start and end of every stage require that you change how you’re doing things to accommodate your shifting needs and goals. But at least now you’ll have a sense of what your business needs if you hope to become one of those remodelers who works 35 hours a week, draws a hefty paycheck, and still is putting aside money for retirement.

And here’s another reason why this is a good time to start working on your business: Economic conditions are bright. Remodeling’s sister company Metrostudy and virtually all the other major forecasting firms predict steady growth in repair and remodeling expenditures in 2017. For instance, the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University says you can expect 6.7% growth in spending this year, only slightly behind 2016’s 6.9% rise.

With that kind of steady tailwind, you can afford to concentrate on the details—the fit and finish—of how your company is built. It’s one of the most important things you can do to assure you’ll spend your career in a business that’s as professional as the work you do. Your business needs to be as well-built as the work you do.