Table of Contents September 2004

VIEW POINT

FIRST WORD

• 

  Take Off

  I spent 20 years as a remodeler and never once during that time took a proper vacation. But those of you reading this still have a chance to turn yourselves around. Here are some simple but critical rules.

   

News + Notes

• DNC Fine Levied

  In late June, Hayward, Calif., replacement contractor American Home Craft settled its lawsuit with the California attorney general.

   

• Turning the Tables

  Anyone with an Internet connection can log on and see for themselves the customer service record of most remodelers. And there's nothing wrong with that. But what happens when the remodeler needs protection from the homeowner?

   

• Tip a Canoe

  The 17th Annual National Concrete Canoe Competition, conducted jointly by the American Society of Civil Engineers and concrete supplier Master Builders, was held in Reston, Va.

   

• Materials Costs Spur Price Volatility

  Despite a recovering economy and other positive economic indicators like continually low interest rates, now is not the easiest time to be a remodeler. Several factors are contributing to job pricing volatility, making life difficult for contractors already struggling to sell prices to homeowners who are often unprepared for what their project is going to cost.

   

COMMENTARY

LINDA CASE

• Culture Clubs

  “What, we have to make our own beds?” I said as Ann and I surveyed our rustic accommodations. It was the beginning of an immersion that clearly signified we would be taken care of but not pampered. We did the bed thing and hurried over to the opening orientation with 130 other eager students who were taking classes in everything from blacksmithing to making kaleidoscopes to constructing intricate chocolate boxes.

   

MARK RICHARDSON

• Ten Keys to Leadership

  What makes for strong leadership? We all know it when we see it; the trick is to articulate what the key ingredients are. Here are 10 key elements that I believe form the common denominator among successful leaders in any industry.

   

WALT STOEPPELWERTH

• Return to Never Never Land

  Years ago, I suggested that bursting through the $500,000 to $750,000 volume range was one of the most difficult periods for company owners. I called that middle ground Never Never Land. If you were trapped there, you'd never grow.

   

GUEST COLUMNIST

• 

  Master a Disaster

  Hurricane Isabel cut a swath through several states in late September 2003, causing millions of dollars in property damage. As a general contractor and a professional in disaster response, I was deployed to southern Maryland as a disaster housing inspector under contract to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. My primary area of responsibility was St. Mary's County, which is near the Potomac and Patuxent rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. Most residents of the area weren't prepared for what occurred.

   

YOUR BUSINESS

Ways + Means

• By Law: Understanding Financing

  This first in a two-part series defines open-end credit and direct closed-end credit.

   

• Employee Takeover

  In the fall of 2003, Chris Repp was ill. His doctors, uncertain of what he had, nevertheless put him on medication to ease his discomfort. The combination of the medication and stress resulted in a man who, in his own words, was “inconsistent and frustrated everyone in the office.” Not good skills for the president of a $1.5-million remodeling firm.

   

• By the Book

  According to Lynda Ford, president of the Ford Group in Rome, N.Y., you need an employee manual if any of the following apply to you.

   

BOTTOM LINE

• Tax Deductible Travel

  Remodeling company owners can claim an income tax deduction for food, lodging, and travel expenses they and their employees incur attending trade shows and conventions.

   

• Historic Tax Credits

  In addition to renovating their older homes, remodeler C. Mason Hearn helps his clients get money out of them. Under Richmond's tax abatement program for historic properties, homeowner taxes are calculated on the pre-renovation appraisal for 15 years. At the end of the 15 years, they are taxed based on the value of the renovated structure.

   

Sales & Marketing

• Mystery Shopping

  Is your office clean and professional? Are there weeds outside, or litter? Are office windows clean? Are signs broken? (All these things could indicate sloppy service.) What do offices look like in off hours? Are the lights working? Are materials left about?

   
• 

  Not Rinky Dink

  A picture of your latest project may be worth a thousand words, but a rink CD delivers volumes. John Caletti of Caletti Construction, in San Francisco, began using the business card–sized (shaped like a hockey rink) CD as a marketing tool about six months ago.

   

• Flex Your Systems

  Do your sales processes work together like a well-oiled machine? Having systems boosts sales, but rigidity can prevent additional deals. You may have to unlock from normal sales disciplines to make sales.

   

• Knights Every Day

  Swords and shields don't have much place in modern business — or do they? Byrne Brothers Construction in Allentown, N.J., wants to bring that Old World ethic to today's work environment.

   

FIELD NOTES

• Mentoring, Part 2

  For mentoring to work, everyone at the company must get into the act. Here are several tips for setting up the mentors.

   

• Ladder Safety

  Unsafe ladder practices can lead to serious injuries. Here are some guidelines for proper use.

   

• Construction Guide

  THE JOURNAL OF LIGHT CONSTRUCTION offers a new book that is an invaluable jobsite tool. JLC's Field Guide to Residential Construction is designed as a quick reference with emphasis on visual presentation of critical construction details.

   

BY DESIGN

• Dressing Up Beaded Wainscot

  A classic beaded wainscot is easy to build and can add depth, visual interest, and durability to walls in homes of various styles. But it's important to trim the wainscot.

   

Tech@Work

• Cable Your Dongles

  In the time it takes to read this, all your critical computer files could be riding down the road on the key ring of that lead carpenter you just fired. Yes, it's important to protect your computer data from hackers, spyware, viruses, and other network attacks, but it's even more important to think about the physical security of your data.

   

• S Video-TV Combo Helps Sell

  The salespeople at Kirk Development Co. carry S-video cables in their briefcases to connect laptops to client televisions on second and third sales calls.

   
• 

  Hot Item

  When Chad Gohm wanted to get ahead of the competition he decided to pack heat. A heat sensor, that is.

   

GOOD FORM

• Set Expectations

  If you don't start off communicating well with a client, things never go right,” says Karen Dowd, co-owner, with husband Chad Carpenter, of Potomac Builders, in Alexandria, Va.

   

FEATURES

• Inside-the-Head Manuals

  What makes Mazmanian, a certified professional behavior analyst, so certain of the qualities of his client's employees is a combination of experience and tools. He has been working with contractors for 15 years and uses the DiSC, a behavioral profiling tool used since 1945 on about 20 million people, and the PIAV, a 20-year-old personal interests, attitudes, and values assessment that measures why people act the way they do and what drives them.

   

• Twice as Nice

  Go it alone or team up? The rewards and perils of partnership.

   

REMODELING SHOW SUPPLEMENT

• 

  Your Kind of Town

  Chicago awes first-time visitors. They've come expecting a grimy rust-belt metropolis, Carl Sandburg's “Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.” Instead, they're met with broad boulevards, pristine parks, and wide-as-an-ocean Lake Michigan sparkling at the east edge of downtown.

   

BIG50

• Shows of Appreciation

  We have something we call our Cooperative Marketing Program. Basically, if you're a past customer of ours and you refer someone to us, we'll pay you 2% of the job's purchase price.

   

CLOSE UP

• 

  Profile: Michael B. Klein and Seymour Turner

  When Mike Klein, his late father, Burt, and Seymour Turner were named Big50 in 1989, their Chicago-area company, Airoom Inc., had been in business for 31 years. Its 25 office staff and subcontracted field crew completed $6 million in business.

   

SECOND LOOK

• 

  Second Look: Danny Lipford

  The remodeling industry has just a few faces that are recognizable to outsiders. The smiling, handsome mug of Danny Lipford certainly is one of them.

   

FACE OFF

• Face Off: Should my company offer financing?

  One advantage to the homeowner is the added peace of mind that comes from knowing we have the financial strength and stability to implement their project's entire financing process.

   

Live + Learn

• Hard Knocks: America's Most Wanted?

  When Jim Sasko (Big50 2002) of Teakwood Builders returned to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., from a business/pleasure trip to Mexico, he learned a client, a health practitioner, had been charged with double billing patients.

   

• Reading List: September 2004

  Big50 remodelers recommend their favorite business books.

   

KITCHEN + BATH

Management

• 

  Retail Experience

  Good things may come in small packages, but two remodeling companies have found that good designers come from big boxes.

   

• The Selling Cycle

  There are seven steps to selling that every salesperson should master: prospecting, the initial contact, qualifying the client, presentation, meeting objections and concerns, closing the sale, and referrals. Here's a look at the first three.

   
• 

  Contractor Aid

  Reico Kitchen & Bath is a kitchen and bath supplier that has expanded its scope to aid contractors and homeowners. The flexible East Coast distributor provides expert staff for design services and beautiful showrooms for product selection services.

   

SPEC BOOK

• 

  Faucets All the Rage at 2004 Kitchen and Bath Show

  At the 2004 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Chicago, pullout faucets were all the rage. Every manufacturer had a different take on them: Some went for the minimalist industrial look, right at home in the still-popular stainless steel kitchen; while others went in the opposite direction, presenting faucets with curves and twists and tulip-shaped sprayheads. As for the rest of this year's faucet offerings, the wealth of styles means there should be something for every taste.

   

REPLACEMENT

SIDING

• First Time's The Charm

  Is the one-call close still feasible in selling replacement products?

   

• Fiber-Cement Market Update

  Introduced more than 20 years ago in Europe and Australia, fiber-cement siding has become a popular upsell in the U.S. remodeling market. With limited warranties of up to 50 years, it's considered a premium option, offering low maintenance compared with wood siding products for about the same installed costs, and a higher-quality appearance and more durability than vinyl for a 35% to 50% higher cost.

   

Windows

• 

  Installing Owner-Supplied Windows

  It's a familiar scenario: Your clients have just returned from Lowe's or The Home Depot, and they've decided they can save money buying replacement windows “for less” than they appear on your job estimate.

   

PRODUCTS

TRENDS

• 

  Icebox Redux

  Call it retro. Call it kitsch. Call it a harkening back to simpler times. Whatever you call it, 1950s style refrigerators are hitting the kitchen scene in all their ice cream–colored glory. The difference between these reproductions and their antique counterparts is that now you don't have to settle for limited space and the hassle of defrosting.

   
• 

  Laundry Boom

  Laundry rooms are moving out of a forgotten corner and into the heart of the home. A number of companies are finding that homeowners are no longer satisfied with a utility closet for their washer and dryer. They want a peaceful, efficient work space that looks as nice as any other room.

   
• 

  Franchise Rights

  One franchise option growing in popularity is the Owens Corning Basement Finishing System (BFS). Introduced in 1998, sales reached $55 million in 2003. Chuck Stein, president of Owens Corning Remodeling, says that signing on with the BFS concept is “a unique opportunity [for remodelers] to expand their existing business.”

   

Reader's Choice

• 

  Reader's Choice: Drill Team

  Swiss Shade Security, in Tucson, Ariz., specializes in security windows and doors custom made in Germany to client's exact specifications. The company does installation projects all over the world. Because of this, crews need to tools that are easy to transport and replaceable if left behind, but still powerful enough to use in heavy-duty security windows and doors. Franz Brun found everything the company need in Ryobi cordless drills.

   
• 

  Reader's Choice: Right Angles

  For contractor Mike Kilpatrick, the ProSite Protractor from Starrett means finishing jobs faster and making clients happier. He has Marc Shapiro, fellow contractor and inventor of the ProSite Protractor, to thank. Shapiro introduced the product to Kilpatrick in 2003.

   

ON THE JOB

• 

  Avoiding Electrocution

  Serious injuries and death can occur from using a power tool improperly, or by exposing yourself to unsafe electrical conditions on your jobsite. In order to avoid electrocution, it is important that you and your crew members understand the safety issues related to electricity.

   

IN FOCUS

• 

  In Focus: Engineered Lumber

   
• 

  Paints and Stains

  employs Scotchgard for stain protection. The acrylic flat latex paint can be washed with soap and water and resists mildew and oily stains. It requires only one coat for complete application and carries the company's lifetime warranty.

   
• 

  In Focus: Ceramic Tile

  Ceramic tile is one of the most versatile decorative elements around. The variety of color, texture, shape, and layout available with tile makes it possible to create almost any mood or environment.

   

FIRST LOOK

• 

  First Look: Post Caps; Cabinet Knobs; and more

   

LAST WORD

Benchmark

• Fee for Service

  Charging for design and other preconstruction services is growing more common among remodeling companies, but the design/build concept is rarely executed the same way twice. Design expertise is valuable. Get paid for it.