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Ask a group of remodelers what they can learn from trade contractors, and you'll likely get a lot of muttering and more than your fair share of smirks. Trade contractors —more commonly known as subcontractors — are not perfect, of course, but they do some things very well, even better than (gasp!)...
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Could it be any easier for homeowners to find home improvement contractors? Only if the online referral industry maintains its current torrid growth rate. Having emerged in the 1990s and then largely imploded in the dot-com bust, this industry is back and bigger than ever. Hundreds of services...
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Most states require corporations offering design services performed by its own employees to obtain a Certificate of Authority to practice architecture. Without it, the contractor is practicing illegally.
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Control. In a remodeling project, everyone wants it — contractor, client, architect. In the traditional remodeling process, the three-way struggle for control creates instability. For many remodelers, bringing an architect in-house is the best way to achieve balance.
Borrowing a page from the Realtors' marketing book, remodeler Steve Rehder generates leads by way of those ubiquitous “Take One” boxes often posted in front of homes for sale. Only in his case, the boxes contain six-page, four-color marketing brochures for Rehder Construction, Los Gatos, Calif....
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Challenge: A growing percentage of your market speaks little or no English, and your sales staff speaks only English.
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When your next big project begins, introduce yourself to the neighbors. “If you take just a few minutes to tell them what you're doing and how long it's going to take, their body language changes before your eyes,” says Steve Klitsch, who owns Creative Concepts Remodeling in Germantown, Md.
Former professional photographer Terry Dinning visually documents every project for Dinning Builders, East Lansing, Mich. He describes his camera, a Kodak DX 6440 digital, as “a fantastic tool” for many purposes, such as creating estimates, tracking progress, and troubleshooting problems that arise...