Table of Contents Spring 2006

FEATURES

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  Creating Opportunities

  Jay Simon was concerned with just two things when the construction company he worked for in 1982 was about to go bust: One, he had to ramp up his sideline remodeling business to take on the clients that his former employer would abandon when it closed its doors, and two, he'd have to use his...

   

• Opening the Books

  Open book management, or OBM, is a management style that gives employees access to all the company's financial numbers. When coupled with profit-based bonuses, it's supposed to make everyone more invested in the company's success.

   

• Line Drive

  With half the 120 million homes nationwide having been built before the bicentennial, new-home prices spiking, and built-up equity burning holes in homeowners' pockets, most remodelers have more work than they can handle. Some sit on 18-month-plus backlogs and mentally salivate as they watch their...

   

• The Perfect Handoff

  In a sloppy or rushed handoff, details worked out by the designer and expected by the client can get lost like sand through the boards of a deck. Although a flawless handoff is key to a successful project, the foundations for it are laid long before the pre-construction meeting when the actual...

   
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  Upscale Outdoor Living: Four Projects Climates

  In the beginning, outdoor living was the only option. Early humans then took shelter in caves and huts, and with the progress of civilization retreated to cottages, condos, tract homes, and mansions. Eventually, humans ventured outdoors again, to cook on tin barbecues and nap on aluminum loungers...

   

FINAL TOUCH

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  Material Magic

  Carrara marble dyed black to create dramatic textural elegance. Acid-etched concrete that never requires resealing. Lightweight limestone blends for seamless countertops. These are just some of the material effects that Joe Ginsberg uses in the virtually limitless range of custom furnishings...

   

INSIGHT

• Slippin' & Slidin'

  A hinged door is a wonderful device for separating one room from another, but it's by no means the only one. By including sliding doors and panels into our set of spatial connecting devices, a number of common visual problems can be solved.

   

• Building New Business With Past Customers

  If you can learn about what is happening in your past customers' lives — their “lifestyle changes” — you can anticipate what services they will need from you in the future. Lifestyle changes are all the occurrences that mark shifts in life, such as getting married, buying or selling a house...

   

• Put Your Web Site to Work

  Most upscale remodelers have already embraced the Web site as a promotional tool, but a well-planned Web site can accomplish so much more. It can boost morale, act as your company's institutional memory, serve your clients during and after their project, and even head off prospects who are not a...

   
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  Between the Lines

  Product introductions reveal so much more than an individual manufacturer's agenda. Reading between the lines or, rather, across the lines can help you ascertain design directions and get a handle on the consumer interests and lifestyle needs they are intended to satisfy.

   

INTERVIEW

Ten Minutes With...

• Vickie Abrahamson, co-founder of Iconoculture

  Identity is another key value. Boomers feel that they have a unique identity and a need to maintain it. They want to make choices that are “cool” and that are perceived as being on top of trends.

   

PEOPLE

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  Bring It Home

  "Our tile contractor fired us,” Peggy Fisher says. “He said our work was too difficult.” That was what led Fisher Group, Annandale, Va., a design/build company, to find someone in-house for tile work.

   

• Hire Slow, Fire Fast

  Riggs Construction didn't act quickly enough to terminate a difficult executive and so subjected its entire staff to his toxic attitude for five damaging years. By contrast, a criminal background check that is part of the meticulous hiring process at Rockland Inc. prevented the company from putting...

   

• How to Handle OSHA Citations

  Nobody wants an accident to happen or unsafe conditions to exist on a jobsite, but these circumstances do occur and can result in citations being issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

   

• Marketing with a Green Message

  Whether it's to remember your best customers during the holiday season or to reward a client who has recommended friends and family to your business, there comes a time when you need to express appreciation with a gift. Why not select a gift that does double-duty by delighting your client while...

   

PROCESS

• Nurturing the Talent Stable

  How do you find, mobilize, schedule, and compensate the specialized craftspeople who do such meticulous work?

   

• Referral Reference

  Referral management is not just about data management,” says Terry Parker, marketing and event coordinator for HomeCraft, a Lenexa, Kan., design/build company that derives 90% of its business from referrals. “If we're not managing referrals properly, we're not managing our company properly.” Strong...

   

• Cure for the Latecomer Blues

  A lax policy toward starting time is one of the main causes of late-running meetings.

   

• We Have to Stop Meeting Like This

  Since long before PDAs and PowerPoint presentations became conference room staples, meetings have had a reputation for dragging on, wasting time, and allowing attendees to get away with bad behavior.

   

PRODUCTS

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  Automation & Electronics: TVs, Faucets, Thermostats and more

  Advancements in technology are allowing myriad features in today's home to be automatically and electronically controlled, from audio systems and televisions to lighting and appliances, setting a new benchmark for convenience and comfort.

   

New + Notable

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  New + Notable: Sinks, Faucets, Lighting and more

  Sinks, Faucets, Lighting and more from Wet Style, Waterworks, Bevolo Lights, Expanko, etc.

   

PROFITS

• Making Payroll Pays

  To call upscale remodeling a volatile business understates the case. With cash constantly flowing in and out, one missed draw can cause big problems.

   

• Where Do You Go From Here?

  How do you pinpoint an appropriate growth target? It begins, experts say, with knowing both yourself and your company: Who are your ideal clients? What's an ideal project? Where in the region do you prefer to work?

   

• The Cost of Quality Labor

  Throughout most of the nation, upscale remodelers are struggling with the ever-thinning pool of skilled labor. With fewer quality hands around, it's an employee's market.