Recruiting + Compensation

  • Thoughts for Structuring Remodeling Sales Commissions

    In a less-than-robust market, remodelers could benefit from different sales-compensation plans.

     
  • Not all salespeople are comfortable with traditional compensation

    Not all full-line remodeling and design/build salespeople are comfortable with traditional compensation.

     
  • Compensation packages keep salespeople cranking

    Here's how four high-end remodelers have solved the sales commission problem.

     
  • Defining a key employee

    How an employer values an employee is reflected in the latter's salary, responsibilities, and authority. But what criteria should a company use to determine which employees get what compensation? And how can an employer compare the value of two employees with entirely different job descriptions?

     
  • Pay Yourself What You're Worth

    How much money can a company owner expect to earn from a remodeling business? And how many hours should an owner have to work to earn that amount of money?

     
  • Owner's compensation at greatest risk when business grows or shrinks

    A recent Benchmark column prompted an e-mail response from Bob Hanbury, CGR, of House of Hanbury Builders in Newington, Ct. Hanbury points out that the relationship between risk and owner's compensation isn't static and is affected by any change in a company's normal course of business. More...

     
  • Risk Quotient: Measure the Risk of Growth

    One measurement is what Les Cunningham of Business Networks calls the "risk quotient." "It's a lot easier to go upside down with a company that's too big than with a company that's small," says Cunningham.

     
  • Benchmark: Fair Compensation

    In the March 2001 issue, we set the benchmark for owner salary at 10% of gross revenue. Fortunately there are lots of other perfectly legal ways for company owners to compensate themselves.

     
  • Paying to win sales

    A few spend all their work time selling, while many more combine selling with estimating, designing, and production management. Compensation schemes vary, too -- salary, commission, staged commissions, salary plus profit sharing, among others. Another pays an extra 4% on total job revenue.