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Features

  • Overworked or Over-Lifed?

    Overworking in the remodeling industry is a familiar story. Although there are no statistics on remodeler burnout and family trouble specifically, Clay Nelson, who has been a business and life coach in the remodeling industry for the past 25 years, says that compared with other industries...

     
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    Elusive Equality

    Rodney Webb isn't your typical home improvement salesman. He boasts a 91% close rate. He has sold $3.6 million of replacement windows and siding in a single year. He's also black, and that sets him apart in the industry almost as much as his varied work history and remarkable accomplishments as a...

     
  • Protective Measures

    Remodeling is by its very nature a contentious process. But there is no magic bullet to protect against run-ins with customers or, worse, with their lawyers. The best protection, many remodelers agree, is as simple as establishing the rules and then making sure everyone follows them.

     
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    Top of Their Game

    Each of these employees has been given a certain amount of autonomy by the company owner; each has backup and support from colleagues; each has had training and experience in his or her field, which can be passed on to others; and each buys into the company's culture and vision.

     

Before + After

Cost vs. Value Report

Other Articles

  • RM051201072L1.jpg(90)

    Elusive Equality

    Rodney Webb isn't your typical home improvement salesman. He boasts a 91% close rate. He has sold $3.6 million of replacement windows and siding in a single year. He's also black, and that sets him apart in the industry almost as much as his varied work history and remarkable accomplishments as a...

     
  • RM051101112L1.jpg(90)

    Top of Their Game

    Each of these employees has been given a certain amount of autonomy by the company owner; each has backup and support from colleagues; each has had training and experience in his or her field, which can be passed on to others; and each buys into the company's culture and vision.

     

View Point

  • Tax Reform Faces Opposition

    Suggested changes in the tax code have those in the housing industry worried.

     
  • Energetic Efforts

    Three governmental agencies have spearheaded an extensive initiative to promote energy efficiency.

     
  • Figure This

     
  • Local Forecast: Neighborhood Watch

    Many communities have a “neighborhood watch” program to ensure the safety of their inhabitants. Michael Staffileno keeps his eye on neighborhoods, too, but for an entirely different reason.

     
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    Consumer Confidence Drops

     
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    Has the Housing Market Peaked?

    Recent financial activity would indicate that tougher times may lie ahead. Hope is not lost, but increased market awareness must be found.

     
  • Well Crafted

    When a bridge over the Arno River designed by Michelangelo was destroyed by bombing in World War II, the Italians rebuilt it. Literally. They didn't recreate it or construct an exact replica. They dredged the river to recover the original materials, and re-laid the entire span, stone by stone.

     
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    Carpentry With Heart

    Carpenters are a complex breed. Most have — or quickly develop — a tough outer image, the better to blend into the locker-room atmosphere found on most jobsites. But beneath that shell, you'll often find the softer side of men who become attached to the materials they use, who care deeply about the...

     
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    You Should Sweat the Small Stuff

    Houses one-mile inland escaped the devastation of Katrina's storm surge, but they still faced an invisible enemy — wind. Where the waves stopped, the wind continued.

     
  • Breathing New Life Into The Building Arts

    Those lamenting the death of the American craftsman will be heartened to hear of the opening of the American College of the Building Arts (ACBA).

     
  • Figure This

     

Commentary

Linda Case

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    Bonus Time

    If you love to shop, this column might not be for you. But if you're like me, you'll do anything to avoid the malls this holiday season — especially when that excuse allows you to honor the really important people in your life.

     
  • Better Than Homegrown

    When you started your business, hiring another employee was a huge step. But you added a carpenter to free you up to sell jobs, order materials, and do the bookkeeping, such as it was. Over the years, you made your daughter-in-law your bookkeeper, your son your salesperson, and you made that first...

     

Mark Richardson

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    Mastering the Sales Game

    There's more to winning at poker than knowing the rank of hands. A great poker player pays close attention to his opponents' behavior. He wins almost regardless of the hand he's holding because he can read his opponents' “tells” — small, almost invisible idiosyncrasies that betray the players'...

     
  • Three Ways to Grow

    If you ask a remodeler -- or any businessperson, really -- if he or she would like business to grow without having to spend a fortune on more marketing, few will decline. The real question isn't whether or not to grow your business, it's how to do it.

     

Guest Columnist

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    All for One

    For the first week of October, I found myself working shoulder to shoulder with nine of my competitors and hundreds of trade contractors I'd never met. The job? Tear down a house and build a new one in less than five days. It was simultaneously an act of insanity and one of the greatest experiences...

     
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    Teach and Ye Shall Learn

    I started Lauten Construction in 1987, and it has grown steadily into a high-end remodeling company. By industry standards, we have a lot of employees — 20 — for our gross volume, just over $2 million in 2005. I suppose this is at least partly because I enjoy seeing and being involved in the...

     

Your Business

Ways + Means

  • Delegate to Grow

    Delegating work and responsibility to others is one of the most difficult things about growing and managing a business. Most business owners don't like to cede control to others. After all, being in control of your own destiny was one of the reasons you went into business for yourself.

     
  • Process Map

    Wouldn't it be great to be able to track every aspect of a job, whether a work in progress or a potential sale, from the first phone call through the warranty process?

     
  • Welcome Back

    During the past few years, Dwight Sailer says, there has been an influx of remodelers in his town of Fort Collins, Colo. “We've seen them disappear as quickly as they pop up.” To set Hight-Craft Builders apart, Sailer began offering a five-year warranty on workmanship.

     
  • Learning From Losing

    When the folks at J. Francis Co., Pittsburgh, don't win a job, they don't just shrug it off.

     
  • Fresh Feedback

    Once Bill Markt was working in the business, he realized that he didn't have direct interaction with many of the employees of Markt and Company Construction, West Linn, Ore.

     
  • On Their Own

    Many small-business owners feel that they shouldn't have to “baby-sit” their employees. After all, the people that have been hired are all professionals. They know what has to be done. They don't need monitoring. Is this a realistic or an effective point of view?

     
  • By Law: Warranty Wherewithal

    It can be easy to get into problems if your warranty is not in compliance with federal law — even if you are fulfilling customer claims.

     
  • State Your Case

    To impart company culture to everyone at Talmadge Construction, Aptos, Calif., owner Jeff Talmadge came up with what he calls “Quiet C,” a concept that he believes differentiates his company from others.

     
  • Keep Covered

    The insurance/risk management industry, like nature, abhors a void. If someone's not insured, the industry will find a way to fill that hole.

     

Bottom Line

  • Mostly Free Lunch

    Although similar to a retirement plan, a VEBA is really an IRS-tax-exempt trust, to which a business owner can make discretionary contributions of pre-tax dollars, which in turn reduces the company owner's tax burden. A VEBA differs from a retirement plan in that withdrawals for certain benefits...

     
  • Lessons Learned

    New York law requires that contractors place deposits in an escrow account, but Nash says that it's a good idea for any remodeler. He places deposits for jobs in a separate account: “Any deposit we get can only go toward the expenses for that job,” he says. “Don't put that into your working...

     
  • On the Edge

    In 1999, Stephen L. Nash of Upscale Remodeling in Freeville, N.Y., began taking his eight-year-old company to the next level. He moved from his home office into a rented space and hired two salespeople and an office manager.

     

Sales + Marketing

  • Sales School 101: Bonding Over Culture

    You visit the home of a prospect whose culture is relatively unfamiliar to you. How do you understand the role culture might play in their remodeling needs?

     
  • Remodeler Chic

    SawHorse, a 22-person, $6 million design/build company in Atlanta, has always been more fashion-and brand-conscious than your average remodeler. “Every year for 20 years, we've made sure to come out with one unique item of clothing just for our employees,” says president and CEO Jerome Quinn.

     
  • Man on the Street

    It's a sales strategy as modern as the industrial age and about as energy-efficient, but George Uhlmann swears by it: spot-canvassing.

     
  • Scoring the Lead Sheet

    Ten questions, 20 minutes, and a 1-to-5-point “scoring system” help Winans Construction, Oakland, Calif., identify its best prospects, weed out weak leads, and get the sales process underway.

     
  • Know Your Prospect's Motives

    Salespeople often attempt to prescribe the solution to a prospect's needs before really understanding those needs. For example, a prospect says they want a bigger, brighter, more modern kitchen. Your inclination is to discuss the job from the physical perspective — how big it could be, what...

     
  • Put Your Newsletter to Work

    A quality newsletter, sent regularly, is one of the best ways to present yourself as a trusted professional. It helps you develop and maintain relationships, say thanks for referrals, make announcements, publish testimonials, and notify clients of home tours. Three elements make a successful...

     
  • Marketing Workshop

    A strong marketing program consists of many elements that deliver a consistent message. Ruth Lozner, an associate professor of design and marketing at the University of Maryland, reviews Bridge Street's Web site.

     

Field Notes

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    The On-the-Job Guarantee

    Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but not when it's the remodeler who's absent from the jobsite. Edward Rudloff promises clients that either he or his brother, Stephen, his partner and fellow lead carpenter at Rudloff Custom Builders, West Chester, Pa., will be on site every day of the project...

     
  • Andy Hannan: Educating the Future

    Education is a bare necessity in today's remodeling market. Yet with public schools phasing out shop classes, colleges dropping the construction discipline, and vocational schools focusing on high-tech training, the educational system is failing our industry.

     
  • Customer Service: The Punch List

    What makes a great client grumpy? The never-ending punch list. Remodelers tend to think that the problem is the client who keeps adding to the list. I believe the problem is usually us. By never really completing the punch list, remodelers create distrust.

     
  • Due Diligence on Day Laborers

    Remodelers around the country are wrestling with a dilemma that could be either an answer to their labor woes or a potential employment nightmare: day laborers. Many contractors see these workers, who gather on sidewalks and street corners to solicit jobs from passers-by, as an inexpensive and...

     

By Design

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    A Good Mixer

    Designer and remodeler Fu-Tung Cheng wouldn't quibble with the use of Corian, granite, or Silestone in a kitchen, but he's wary of the way the kitchen and bath industry has stuck to those materials to drive design.

     

Tech@Work

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    Easy Excel Estimators

    Almost every remodeler I've run into dislikes estimating, especially if it takes time away from the family to make some demanding tire-kicker happy.

     
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    Whiteboard Wow

    When Denny Conner wants to impress his customers, he uses an LCD projector to project slide show images onto a screen. When he really wants to wow them, he projects the images onto an interactive whiteboard. But there's more to this electronic toy than just impressing a client. Using TeamBoard...

     
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    Working With Digital Images

    For remodelers, digital photography has less to do with cameras and more to do with communication. Using a digital camera and the Internet, issues that used to take days or weeks to resolve with meetings and site visits can now be handled in minutes.

     

Good Form

  • Feedback Form

    All remodelers lose jobs from time to time. J. Francis Co., in Pittsburgh, uses these lost contracts as an opportunity for self-evaluation

     

Big50

Close Up

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    Profile: Mark Sass

    After running Sass Construction for 25 years, Mark Sass (Big50 2002) decided that he needed to create better balance between his work and his life.

     
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    Second Look: Robyn and Michael Muscardini

    After 27 years in business, Robyn and Michael Muscardini (Big50 1991) decided to sell their Oakland, Calif., company, Creative Spaces, to Dan Cohen, an employee who has been with the company since its start. The couple now resides in Sonoma and devotes time to other interests.

     
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    Profile: John McCloskey

    Sky-high housing prices have pushed home ownership beyond the reach of millions of workers, including many in the remodeling field. “These people are in the business of renovating all day long,” says John McCloskey (Big50 2005), who owns J. Francis Co., Pittsburgh. “For them not to own their house...

     

Second Look

Solutions

Other Articles

K+B

Design Clinic

  • Design Tips

     
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    Task Master

     
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    More Than Just Mud

    Though they are referred to as mudrooms, if designed correctly, these small spaces can serve multiple purposes. Architect George Myers says that any family with children knows how coats and toys and books can accumulate throughout the house.

     
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    Angled Solution

    When Konstantin Romenskii's clients approached him to remodel two adjacent bathrooms, they were thinking of just updating the finishes. But once his crew had demolished both rooms, Romenskii had an inspiration: If he redesigned the floor plan and added an angled wall between the rooms, he could add...

     

Management

  • Class in Session

    Three years ago Vailes Brothers built a new showroom that included a working kitchen and an open room in the back for future expansion. When Robert Vailes, owner of the Fishersville, Va., remodeling company was approached by a former client who worked at a local community college about using the...

     
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    Show Stopper

    When remodeler Tracey Bail began to renovate a building for his new showroom, he knew he wanted something that would grab the attention of passersby and instantly communicate the work of Bail Home Services & Construction.

     
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    Referral-Only Showroom

    A New York supplier is responding to the demand for kitchen and bath products and design with a sleek, expansive showroom.

     

Spec Book

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    Toilets

    From industrial-chic to updated traditional styles, manufacturers have been busy introducing stylish components for the modern, personalized bathroom. Dual-flush options offer flexibility for conservation-minded consumers, while enhanced bowl designs make for easy cleaning and maintenance.

     
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    Bath Lighting

    Fashion meets function in this season's array of bath lighting options. Matching fixture finishes is no longer a problem with the variety of nickels, steels, pewters, and bronzes available. Unique glass designs can add pizzazz to a new bath.

     

Replacement

Roofing

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    What Lies Beneath

    Every re-roof requires a close inspection of the substrate. Incidental roof leaks, particularly ones that go unnoticed, can delaminate plywood sheathing or cause OSB to swell. The worst cases result in patches of rot.

     

Windows

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    Preserving Old Windows

    In an old house with single-glass panes in rattling wooden sash, there's usually just one obvious choice —replace these sad sash windows with secure, tight, energy-efficient units that have operable screens, tilt-out options for cleaning, and maintenance-free exteriors.

     

Products

Trends

  • Heavy Hitters

     
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    Added Detail

     
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    New Products Pavilion Winners

    The second annual New Products Pavilion was a big hit at the 2005 Remodeling Show in Baltimore. A batch of new and innovative products — 37 in all — had a showcase all to itself on the show floor, where attendees could browse and vote on their favorites.

     
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    Good Taste

    It's easy enough to get filtered or purified water these days. If you don't want to deal with a bottled water service, you can buy pitchers that will filter your tap water, or go one step further and add a purification system to your faucets.

     
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    Secret Agents

    Germ paranoia among consumers seems to have reached an all-time high. That makes the home-improvement market a perfect breeding ground for products that promise to shield homeowners from ever-present microbes.

     
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    Inspired Views

    Decorative windows and art glass are bringing a new sparkle to the window industry.

     

In Focus

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    Safety Equipment

     
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    Green Products

     
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    Trucks & Accessories

    The latest specialty work trucks go beyond just transport and tool-box. With hefty payload capacity and plenty of towing power these trucks also feature four-wheel drive, super-cargo capacity, extended cabs, and GPS navigation — not to mention interior comfort.

     
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    Gypsum, Underlayment, & Backerboard

     
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    Rough Hardware

     
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    Tools

    Tools just keep getting better. Power tools are making the most of technology, while hand tools are employing user-friendly ergonomic designs. Here are some of the latest and best.

     

Other Articles

  • Headline for article without SEO

    To replace a poorly built deck with a timber-screened, enclosed room able to accommodate up to 20 guests.

     
  • Getting Backlog Just Right

    Backlog is essential to a healthy company, but it needs to be predictable and dependable. Too little and you'll spend all your time focused on selling the next job; too much and you risk making clients on the wait list unhappy. The trick is determining the amount of backlog that is “just right” for...

     
  • What If…

    With all the uncertainty about the economy, now is the perfect time to play “What if” with your business.

     
 
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