Benchmark

Last Word: Benchmark

• Indicator of business health

  Can you pick just one number to use as the weather vane of your company's success? The owner of a start-up company worries most about staying busy when the current job ends, so he might choose backlog.

   

• Judging the value of a referral

  Who is the better referral source, a client who sends you 18 leads of which 2 become sales or a customer who sends you 4 leads of which 1 is sold?

   

• Matching budget to revenue goals

  Benchmarks help remodelers evaluate their company's performance. Some benchmarks are averages, some represent reasonable targets, still others set thresholds. The danger, however, is that a benchmark that is meaningful for most companies may not be appropriate for some.

   

• Statistical averages of top performing firms

  Big50 companies complete a questionnaire that includes basic data about their financial performance and company structure. We've compiled the data and computed the averages, then selected the most interesting results to present here. Compare your numbers to see how you stack up against some of the...

   

• Measuring the remodeling experience

  Remodelers are pretty good at properly sequencing a project. We know which products need long lead times and which trade contractors can't work until others have finished. Most of us have learned from experience where all the rough spots are, and we're always ready to go to Plan B.

   

• Slippage in the permit process

  All remodelers are robbery victims. The thief is slippage, which is the amount your profit falls short of plan. The root causes of slippage are often simple — but that doesn't mean they're easy to find. And while some sources, like inconsistent labor productivity or poor change order management...

   

• Assigning production manager costs

  Last fall we began collecting data for our Cost of Doing Business Report, which will appear in our March issue. The NAHB research team collected the data but found that they had to spend a lot of time on follow-up calls to clarify the methods companies used to calculate common financial benchmarks...

   

• Measuring your marketing plan

  Is your marketing program working right? To find out, look back over past projects and, assuming all things being equal, see how many fit the following factors.

   

• The Measuring Stick

   

• Measuring Managers and Employees

  Whether you're starting to think about regular employee performance reviews or want to revamp a casual process with something more formal,