FEATURES

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    Creating and effective Web site

    When it comes to remodeling and the Internet, consumers are leading the way. Remodelers may be slow to realize the importance of a Web site to their company's success — about 40% of respondents to this month's Reader Panel survey said they didn't have a Web site — but today's consumers are becoming...

     

  • Procedures that facilitate best remodeling practices

    From financial files to project warranties, a look at procedures that facilitate best remodeling practices.

     

Reader Panel

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    Survey about remodeling businesses on the Web

    This month's Reader Panel shows that remodelers are still on the on-ramp to the information superhighway. Only slightly more than half of respondents who took our e-mailed survey said their company has a Web site.

     

VIEW POINT

FIRST WORD

  • Adapting to Change in Business

    Focusing on a single type of project or client might not work as well in a slower economy. Setting a high minimum target for job size, for example, excludes a portion of the market in small projects that might just serve to pull a company through a downturn. Declining handyman work or referring it...

     

IN PERSON

  • Learn From the Experts

    With more than 80 courses, including CAPS, CGR, workshops, and seminars, offered in this year's Remodeling Show conference program, there are more opportunities than ever for remodelers to learn from the experts.

     

News + Notes

  • Raise the Floor

    FEMA guidelines released in April recommend that houses in New Orleans be built at least three feet off the ground. It was a contentious decision. Some criticized it as being cost-prohibitive, while others pointed out that flood waters reached much higher than that during Katrina.

     
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    New Orleans: One Year Later

    At the end of the month, a year will have passed since Hurricane Katrina hammered the Gulf Coast. Although people have slowly filtered back into the city, the Big Easy is still very much a shell of her former self.

     

MARKET WATCH

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    Local Forecast: No Problems for Houston

    One year after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast, the region is still very much in the early stages of recovery. C. Roy Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, said in early July that just 225,000 of the pre-storm population of 484,000 were currently living in the city.

     

COMMENTARY

GUEST COLUMNIST

  • Practicing Green Remodeling

    Remodeling is inherently a sustainable business: existing homes are repaired, expanded, and upgraded rather than demolished and rebuilt. Reusing structural and finish materials reduces the impact on limited landfills.

     

LINDA CASE

  • Rewarding Your Staff for Good Work

    I apologized for something I did. Word traveled the grapevine, and soon a card arrived in the mail from Craig Durosko of Sun Design Remodeling Specialists, in Burke, Va.

     

MARK RICHARDSON

  • Tips for Being a Great Leader

    As we grow, both as individuals and with respect to our organizations, we move through stages. Early on we pursue what interests us — without much analysis.

     

SHAWN MCCADDEN

  • Taking Control of Your Business

    If you're married to your business, take my advice: Get a divorce. Your business doesn't need a husband; it needs someone to be the boss.

     

YOUR BUSINESS

Sales and Marketing

  • Sales tips for losing leads

    I work in an area with a large Filipino population. I have spoken with several Filipino families about remodeling their homes, and although the conversations always seem to go well, I never hear from them again. What am I missing?

     

  • Using a Showroom to Market

    Of the prospects who visit Cook-Dahl's showroom, between 80% and 90% go on to remodel with the 30-year-old company, of Brockport, N.Y. What's unusual is that the showroom is a working kitchen in owner George Dahl's home, and prospects visit by appointment only, after Dahl has already pre-screened...

     
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    Marketing Workshop

    As companies evolve, their marketing should as well. Ray Wiese has presided over a remodeling company that began on a lark in 1992 and grew to $3.5 million in revenue in 2005, with an average job size of $300,000.

     

BOTTOM LINE

  • Moving Into the Office

    It's an old adage in the industry: Work on the business, not in it. Sounds great, but how to do it when you have six sites to visit and a dozen fires to put out? For Jeff Titus of Titus Built in Wilton, Conn., the answer was to delegate.

     

  • Calculating the cost of employee break time

    One day during break time, remodeler Geoff Martin watched as two members of his crew got into a truck to drive to Dunkin' Donuts for coffee. He determined that they spent 15 minutes driving, 10 minutes at the doughnut shop, 15 minutes driving back, and a few more minutes finishing their coffee.

     

BY DESIGN

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    How to make the most of windows

    Whether it's for a spec remodeling project or a private commission, adding the right emphasis to the windows of a house can be a relatively simple way to add curb appeal, increase resale value, and satisfy your clients.

     

FIELD NOTES

  • Manufacturers provide product specs

    Manufacturers claim their new steam showers, convection ovens, and other high-end appliances are easy to use, but installing and maintaining them can be more complicated than ever.

     
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    Documenting Time Management

    Wasted time accounts for 2% to 3% of annual sales at most remodeling companies. Do the math, and you'll see how poor time management can erode your net profit.

     

GOOD FORM

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    First Contact on the Web

    Here you'll find our Web site primer. In that story, we briefly mention an inquiry form that you can post on your Web site as one way prospective clients can initially contact your company.

     

Tech at Work

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    Ideas for mobile technology in the field

    Today's remodeling industry exists on jobsites and in-home sales calls, doing business from work trucks and home offices. The days of being tethered to a desk computer are over, so get mobile.

     

Ways + Means

  • Getting rid of employees

    You may find that the people who were perfect for your company when you started often aren't the right people today.

     

  • Work + Life: Partner Talks

    The number of hours my business partner puts in appears to be taking a toll on him personally, and is affecting his behavior. How can I bring this up without him taking offense?

     

  • Making Safety Profitable

    D.G. Liu Contractor has found a way to make safety profitable for both the company and its individual employees.

     

  • Code Talkers

    If an inspector fails an item during inspection, he might continue looking for other issues. He also might remember your company the next time it submits plans in his jurisdiction.

     

  • Make It Official

    For the past six years, Jon Vogel, owner of New Outlooks Construction, Robbinsville, N.J., has held his inspectors license, and for two years he was a part-time building inspector.

     

BIG50

CLOSE UP

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    Profile: Jack Anderson

    Diversification keeps Jack Anderson (Big50 1991) busy. To his original company, Insurance Reconstruction Services, he has added Tech Design/Build & Remodeling, which does non-insurance work —kitchens, baths, and additions —and a subsidiary of that called Greenville Kitchens & Baths, a showroom and...

     

SECOND LOOK

SOLUTIONS

KITCHEN AND BATH

DESIGN CLINIC

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    Creating hidable storage for the kitchen

    Cabinetmaker and remodeler Byron Clinkingbeard of Custom Woodworks in Baton Rouge, La., says that although this hidden pantry was not originally his idea, he liked it so much that he now offers this option to clients who prefer not to have a standard interior door in the middle of a line of...

     

PRODUCTS

READERS CHOICE

LAST WORD

Bench Mark

  • Measuring your company against the competition

    To measure one company against others, you must compare apples to apples. One obstacle to that comparison is owner's compensation, because each remodeling company tends to account for it differently.