Table of Contents February 2008

Features

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  Business Interrupted

  As these remodelers show, shifting focus away from the business for a time to deal with traumatic personal events doesn't have to derail your company.

   
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  Back on Track

  Remodelers who lament the challenges of attracting new people to the profession often point to external factors — the demise of vocational education, the aging workforce, slackened work ethics — as the causes of their plight.

   
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  Open Up

  As varied as remodeling company owners are, they share several personality traits. Most are independent-minded and strong-willed, and they tend to keep their cards very close to their vests. But some are finding that open-book management has made their company more profitable and their employees...

   

Reader Panel

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  Better Bidding

  This month's Reader Panel survey is a continuation of our June 2007 survey, Balancing Act, which examined the successes and frustrations of remodelers entrenched in the bidding game.

   

Other Articles

• 

  Business Interrupted

  As these remodelers show, shifting focus away from the business for a time to deal with traumatic personal events doesn't have to derail your company.

   
• 

  Back on Track

  Remodelers who lament the challenges of attracting new people to the profession often point to external factors — the demise of vocational education, the aging workforce, slackened work ethics — as the causes of their plight.

   
• 

  Open Up

  As varied as remodeling company owners are, they share several personality traits. Most are independent-minded and strong-willed, and they tend to keep their cards very close to their vests. But some are finding that open-book management has made their company more profitable and their employees...

   

View Point

• Deck Déjà Vu

  While building a deck at his own house, REMODELING's editorial director reflects on his past as a builder and remodeler, and on what the future holds for the industry.

   

• Web Extra: PPE Comprehensive List

  The announced regulations on personal protective equipment (PPE) don't just apply to remodeling. The following is a list of PPE that is exempt from the employer payment requirement.

   

• Local Forecast: Taking It Slow

  Like many across the country, the once-booming Northern Virginia remodeling market has hit a rough patch. And though Bob Benedict, president of Northwood Construction, in Sterling, says he hasn't had any potential clients back out of their scheduled projects, he has noticed that they seem to be in...

   
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  One Small Step in the Right Direction

  The Remodeling Market Index (RMI) brought something unfamiliar to the industry in 2007: good news. The current conditions portion of the index jumped from 44.8 to 46.2 in the third quarter of 2007.

   
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  Employers Must Pay for Most Personal Protective Equipment

  This month, new regulations regarding personal protective equipment (PPE) go into effect. The rule, promulgated by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) in late 2007, clarifies what PPE employers are required to provide at no cost to their employees.

   

Commentary

Linda Case

• Owning Success

  Ideally, you have a plan for maximizing your company's success in 2008. Ideally, your staff helped you create the plan, put it on paper, and roll it out in an all-company meeting

   

Mark Richardson

• Conditioning for Improvement

  Most people make New Year's resolutions, and most people fail to keep them. The failure to follow through is not because the resolution was stupid or unrealistic. So what happened?

   

Shawn McCadden

• The Only Game in Town

  Jerry Garcia, guitarist for the Grateful Dead, once said, “You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only one who does what you do.” Smart remodelers looking to distinguish themselves within their marketplace might want to heed Garcia's advice.

   

Your Business

Ways + Means

• People + Skills: Market to Motivation

  As the market softened in the second half of 2007, Jerry Liu, president of D.G. Liu Contractor, in Dickerson, Md., saw the company's leads slow dramatically. Liu knew the company had to change its marketing approach to pump up the lead flow, which would feed production needs.

   

• Knowing Prospects

  As a self-proclaimed “service-oriented person,” Jeff Talmadge, owner of Talmadge Construction, in Aptos, Calif., feels that the best part of the remodeling industry is “all the people I get to have contact with.” He enjoys the process, not just the product.

   

• Counselors at Large

  After building his vacation home, Tom Mitchell, owner of Mitchell Construction, in Medfield, Mass., wanted to take a month off and still be able to return to a thriving business.

   

• Hidden Treasure

  The odds of a contractor finding a half-million dollars of currency behind a client's wall are slim, unless you're Bob Kitts of Cleveland, who did just that this past December. Unfortunately, that story looks like it will end in a legal battle between contractor and client.

   
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  Sneak-Preview Interviews

  Job candidates with upbeat expectations: good. Candidates with unrealistic expectations about flying up the ladder, making a ton of money, and soon owning a remodeling company, maybe yours: not so good.

   

Bottom Line

• Choosing a Business Focus

  Business consultant Peter Bruu uses three segments — Expert, Experience, and Efficiency — to categorize small businesses.

   
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  Shifting Positions

  Bob Weickgenannt's goal for Starcom Design Build is to grow 20% each year. To achieve this for his Columbia, Md., company, he reviews positions and changes job descriptions as needed.

   

Sales + Marketing

• Time and Technology Top Sales Trends

  Every industry and profession goes through changes, and the sales profession is no different. Just because a certain sales technique or mind-set worked in the past doesn't mean it will work today.

   
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  Award-Winning Marketing

  With award season coming to a close, it's time to turn those accolades into high-powered marketing vehicles. Adding the words “award-winning” to brochures, newsletters, and business cards adds “credibility to the work we do,” says Mark Audino, president of Audino Construction in Austin, Texas.

   

Field Notes

• Tim Faller: Better Benchmarks

  How much volume should your project leads produce? I'm always reluctant to give a general answer because of the endless variables within companies, markets, and projects.

   
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  Pocket Cops

  It's getting easier to verify where your crews are and when they got there. And, more to the point, whether they're on the job when they say they are. Devices combining the Global Positioning System, electronic time sheets, and cell phones may remind crews and trade contractors of Big Brother, but...

   

By Design

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  Lights Out?

  In the beginning, there was light, and that is how it should be. “Lighting design shouldn't be an afterthought,” says Kathy Presciano, a lighting specialist with GE Consumer & Industrial, and a former commercial interior designer.

   

Tech@Work

• Online Photo Services

  Remodelers are always looking for ways to say “thank you” to clients while at the same time promoting their own services. The current crop of online photo services offers a perfect solution.

   
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  UDA ConstructionSuite 2007

  Before implementing UDA ConstructionSuite 2007 late last year, Jayson Miller, of TN Miller Remodeling, in Grapeview, Wash., was using separate pieces of software for estimating, scheduling, and accounting.

   

Good Form

• Final Score

  Jeff Talmadge of Talmadge Construction, in Aptos, Calif., created this form, which uses a point system to qualify leads.

   

Big50

Close Up

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  Profile: Tom, Trish, and Andrew Schroeder

  When Tom and Trish Schroeder were named Big50 in 1994, their company was called T.J. Schroeder Construction Co. But after adopting design/build in the mid-'90s, they realized that the name didn't reflect the services they provided or the direction the company was headed.

   

Second Look

• Second Look: Adam Helfman

  Weekend radio, long the domain of home-improvement do-it-yourself shows, is now airing the other side of the story.

   

Solutions

• Q + A: Making It Right

  Some of the Big50 answer questions about client e-mails.

   

K+B

Design Clinic

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  Serenity Now

  This bathroom is one of two that were gutted and remodeled as part of a larger whole-house project by Tibma Design/Build in Needham, Mass. Operations and marketing director Mary Tibma says the homeowners purchased the 1970s house because it had an open layout and a living area on one level, which...

   

Spec Book

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  Kitchen Lighting

  Light up just the right places in your next kitchen design with these stylish fixtures.

   

Sustainability

Green Speak

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  Home Diagnosis

  Stephen Robinson, owner of R.E. Construction, in Newcastle, Ind., uses his experience and training to market himself as an energy auditor.

   
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  New Green Remodeling Guidelines

  The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Foundation and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) have partnered to create the first nationwide green residential remodeling guidelines for existing homes. The guidelines, composed of best practices using a “whole-house” approach, will be...

   

Green Spec

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  Efficiency Boosters

  Solatube, Johns Manville, EcoStar, Heat Transfer.

   

Products

Trends

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  A Little Bubbly

  Rather than tossing delicates into a rough-and-tumble washing machine, jetted laundry sinks eliminate agitators, cleaning hand-knits, laces, and other fragile garments with bubbles in the style of an air bath.

   
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  Vertical Horizons

  Popular countertop materials are finding themselves in new orientations of late. Departing from their usual horizontal kitchen and bath applications, solid-surfacing materials are creeping up adjacent walls to serve as backsplashes, shower walls, fireplace surrounds, and more.

   

In Focus

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  In Focus: Worker Gear

  Products from Dunham, Mechanix, Blaklader, and Klein.

   
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  In Focus: Caulks, Sealants, and Adhesives

  Henkel, DAP, Red Devil, Benjamin Obdyke, Research Plastic.

   
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  In Focus: Roofing Shingles and Tiles, and more

  Decra Roofing Systems, Hitachi Power Tools, Owens Corning, MFM Building Products.

   

First Look

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  A First Look at 2008 IBS Products

  Find these new products on the show floor at IBS 2008.

   

Other Articles

• Labor Pains

  Tracking direct costs looks easy, but labor presents some sticking points. What, for instance, is to be done with labor costs for a production manager who spends part of each day on more than one jobsite?

   

• Totally Gross

  We write a lot about gross profit in this magazine, but judging from some of our survey results, a lot of readers are still fuzzy on the concept. The calculation is simple — gross profit equals revenue minus direct costs — but as with so many other financial concepts, the devil is in the details.