Many remodelers feel uneasy when they hear the word “safety.” But until recently, there has been little cause for concern that “the man from OSHA” will show up on your jobsite. In fact, unless there was a fatality or a catastrophe on site, a remodeler had better odds of winning the lottery than of...
To diversify and maintain a steady cash flow and profit, our five-person company, which has been doing custom home building and renovations for 18 years, develops and maintains business relationships with architects, interior designers, and other professionals. But for the past five years, about...
Potential clients who think they're being careful stewards of their resources can, in my experience, be enlightened, and even converted into good clients. Here are a few ideas to make that happen.
For the first week of October, I found myself working shoulder to shoulder with nine of my competitors and hundreds of trade contractors I'd never met. The job? Tear down a house and build a new one in less than five days. It was simultaneously an act of insanity and one of the greatest experiences...
I started Lauten Construction in 1987, and it has grown steadily into a high-end remodeling company. By industry standards, we have a lot of employees — 20 — for our gross volume, just over $2 million in 2005. I suppose this is at least partly because I enjoy seeing and being involved in the...
Having a mentor is one of the best learning methods. Recently, I had the opportunity to have a knowledgeable insider view my business and suggest changes that would lead to the longevity and prosperity of my company. Morey Construction is a 23-year-old design/build firm about to go into its second...
Several years ago, after almost 20 years in business, I had begun to actualize a planned succession strategy. In doing so, my day-to-day role changed. An unanticipated result of these changes was an eroding of the passion I had for my work. I couldn't understand how this had happened; this is...
Often, people will go into a home and will really love how it feels, but won't be able to pinpoint why. Many times, it has nothing to do with the size of the house. It has to do with the availability of and accessibility to the outside when they're inside. That's the magic of great architecture;...
If you had a dollar for every hour you have spent preparing bids over the years, would you be a millionaire yet? Well, maybe not a millionaire. But, if you consider the opportunity cost for the hours that bid preparation takes away from other more profitable activities, cranking out numbers in the...
As a woman in our industry, I share with many of my male colleagues the pleasure of a job well done using power tools.