Working with long-time subcontracted installation crews, A. Lee Parron installs cabinets on jobs reaching from Manhattan to the Caribbean and South America -- mostly from referrals. He opened a European Living store inside a Kitchen Center showroom in Fort Lauderdale, which should mean more cabinet...
Bill Feinberg of Allied Kitchen & Bath in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., found a great way to exchange leads with his appliance dealer: He put a company display in the dealer's two showrooms. He started with a display in one of their showrooms 10 years ago and recently installed one in the firm's new Ft...
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How can Ikea communicate flawlessly with strangers over great physical and cultural distance while we remodelers have trouble making ourselves clear in our native tongue to subs, employees, and customers we work with every day?
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As full-service appliance distributors create interactive showrooms that help homeowners understand and choose products, they're branching out into all sorts of areas and services previously unheard of.
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Last year, designers Amy Sussek and Jackie Zager launched a Web site called www.askthekitchendesigners.com. We wanted to give homeowners a place to educate themselves about materials and the remodeling process, so that when they start shopping at a showroom, they won't be overwhelmed.
Today's remodeling customers often research products on the Internet before or during their projects. For this reason, remodelers need a retail showroom to satisfy their customers, although for most, a full-scale showroom is not cost effective.
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I had to lease because I couldn't buy a place in the location I wanted. When I decided to lease, the principal thing I researched was the "life," or traffic, in the area.
But Tim Britton of Tim Britton Construction Services of Falls Creek, Pa., has discovered a way to fund a third of his $50,000 advertising budget. Britton, whose construction business and showroom revenues topped $1.4 million last year, has for 15 years used cooperative programs with such companies...
Michael Weitz of DW Development in Willimantic, Conn., says the $17,000-a-month overhead for his Design Center East showroom/retail store is a huge nut, but there are plenty of pluses packed into 1,500 square feet of storefront.
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Ebuild, the interactive product catalog, and Builderfinish, maker of product selections software, have created an online tool for remodelers offering the best of both systems."Although the companies have nearly 75,000 products online--and expect to double that by year's end--remodelers can specify...