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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...
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...
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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.
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.
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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?
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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.
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It's a sales strategy as modern as the industrial age and about as energy-efficient, but George Uhlmann swears by it: spot-canvassing.
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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.
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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...
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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...
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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.
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...
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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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?
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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.
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When the folks at J. Francis Co., Pittsburgh, don't win a job, they don't just shrug it off.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.