In case you missed the news because you were out pounding nails, the housing market has started to recover. Sales rose in all four regions for the 3rd time in a row in June, which hasn’t happened since the boom in 2004. Once people start building confidence in the market, they’ll be calling you for the job they’d been putting off. What does this mean for you? You need to stay visible.

Website Awareness

Website presence is a big plus. It will give your company added exposure. Consumers like to see your work. This is the perfect medium to show before and after pictures of past projects. If you don’t want to mess with domains and piecing it together from scratch, try a turnkey website offered through companies like Homestead. It’s an easy way to get your site up and running fast. Get a magnetic sign for your truck’s door and include your website.

Google Search

Getting around Google’s search rankings is another way to reach potential customers when they enter keywords to search for local businesses.

Log into Google and see if you’re listed by typing your business name and town or keywords and your location, e.g. electrical contractors in Sarasota, Fl. The results will show a map and the local businesses will always come first. Are you listed?

If you’re not in the local database, you’re missing out on some free business.

Here are the easy steps to get you in that local directory:

• Go here and submit your company’s information.
• In two weeks, you’ll receive a letter from Google with your pin number. Enter the pin number in the URL they give you.
• Log into your new Google account, where you can enter your company’s contact information, services, special niches, coupons, specials and hours of operation.

Realtor Referral

Right now, I have 5 contractors working on my new (old) home. I’ve got an electrical contractor, painting contractor, a general contractor that’s helping me with a thousand small jobs, and two bathroom contractors who are partners.

Why am I telling you this? Because three of those contractors were highly recommended to me by my realtor – and I didn’t shop around. Stay visible by networking with realtors. Attend their weekly meetings. If you don’t know where and when the meetings are, then call a realtor and ask.

Take a Walk

Canvas neighborhoods. I’m not talking about door-to-door sales because that’s annoying.  But if you have a niche, like roofing, painting, siding, windows, fencing, etc, and you can see from the street that a house desperately needs work in any of those areas, approach the homeowner and say, “I noticed your roof is missing some tiles, which might indicate the roof is nearing its lifespan… lucky for you, I work in this area a lot and specialize in roofing.” Treat the homeowner with concern about their problem and it won’t seem like a sales call. You never know, a harmless conversation about a certain flaw like missing tiles could turn into a big job for you.

Thank You

Don’t forget to write thank you letters!

Besides the quality of work, what separates great contractors from so-so contractors is attitude. The difference between like and love is referrals.

Surrounded by contractors – who will I refer?

Paint contractor – I told him I wanted the entire house painted except for the ceilings. He gave me a flat-rate quote, including paint. He didn’t have a checklist and he didn’t ask me any questions, except for how many colors I wanted. I told him he had two weeks to get the job done because I had bathroom contractors lined up for the following week and hardwood floor installation after that.

Results:

• He took a week to prep.
• He gets to the job site every day around 2:00 p.m. and paints until around 6:00 p.m.
• He rinses painting equipment in my kitchen sink and leaves paint all over the sink and counter. He also rinses equipment on the ground cover in my front yard, leaving paint everywhere.
• In the middle of the job, he left to go work on another house for three days.
• When I saw that he hadn’t sprayed the closets, I asked about it. His response? “You never said anything about painting closets.” Frustrated, I replied, “I told you I wanted the entire house painted.” This is why checklists are a good thing. Communication stunk.
• He’s taken over three weeks and the job is still not done. Now he and the bathroom contractors are bumping into each other. The walls are sprayed, but the touch-up work is not finished.
• He accidentally over-sprayed onto the ceilings in every room.
• He painted over the over-sprayed spots with white satin (my ceiling finish is flat) and the whites don’t match at all. So now, we’re looking at having to paint entire ceilings.
• He asked for an additional $300 because according to him, “At this rate, I’m only making $17 per hour,” and I said, “If you didn’t over-spray and you worked faster, you’d be making $40 per hour.”

Will I refer him? No. No. No. 

General contractor – I gave him a checklist of about twenty items I wanted fixed, changed, taken down or added.

• I wanted three posts that housed outdoor lighting removed and electrical cut. He took the posts out and killed the electrical, but left long electrical cords sticking out of the ground. I felt it was sloppy work because he didn’t cut the wires to ground level.
• He keeps telling me that he’s going to make a cover for my fuse box. But he’s already been paid through escrow for this little job and hasn’t fixed the problem yet. It’s been over a month.
• He charged $25 per light fixture to hang exterior lights (on existing boxes) on both sides of my driveway. Since I plan on changing all of my light fixtures inside and out, as well as adding fans, I learned how to do it myself.

Will I refer him? Yes, because he is available for lots of little odd jobs, but I’ll tell my friend that sometimes he doesn’t complete work and that you have to stay on him. I suppose that for the most part, he was a decent contractor.

Bathroom contractors – they asked detailed questions about every aspect of the job and advised me on different solutions. They gave me a flat rate and wrote down all the work that would be done for that rate.

• They show up early in the morning and work hard until 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. every day.
• They call every afternoon to give me updates and their plans for the next day.
• They used their own backer board because they had extra in their trailer at no extra charge.
• They used their own cement at no charge.
• When they tore out the tub, there was a big hole in the sub floor and a missing or damaged joist. They used their own plywood that they had in a shed to fix the sub floor and then fixed the joist for free. One of the contractors had to lie in the crawl space in mud (from the dripping tub when they moved the pipes) and work on his back and they didn’t charge me for labor or materials.
• One of the contractors is an electrical contractor whose advice was badly needed one day. I was disconnecting a light fixture (from a soffit in the family room addition) in order to attach my new fixture. Upon pulling the fixture from the wall, I noticed that the wire looked like an extension cord instead of electrical wires. He said he’d climb through the attic, check it out and fix the wiring if he could get to it. The next day, when I walked into the house, the new light was attached, again at no charge.
• They went shopping with me to help with the vanity dimensions and tile ideas.

The bathroom is still under construction. All that’s left is the tile grout and shower door installation. I took them to lunch yesterday and told them how much I appreciated their hard work and thanked them for the “no charge” work. Their response? “It all comes back full circle.”

Will I refer them? Absolutely. In a heartbeat. No question about it.

Are you getting enough referrals?

The competitive arena in the green building market is rapidly expanding and in order to keep up you need to achieve accreditation under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and become LEED certified.

Finding the time to take classes isn’t always easy. And, if you want your employees to become LEED certified, it can cause job delays and travel expense. So, what can you do?

The most convenient way for you and your employees to become LEED certified is via online classes. There are several LEED educational classes available online, including the LEED AP test prep class. Both the Green Building Council and The Association of Interior Designers offer classes or webinars and LEED AP study guides online.

Earning a LEED AP designation or getting your feet wet with the LEED Green Associate accreditation? You can do it all online.

• As a LEED AP your clients automatically earn an Innovation in Design point when working with them on a LEED Certification project – automatic point. As a General Contractor with a LEED AP designation, you’re able to handle the entire LEED Certification process for your client. This designation also enables you to gain recognition as a LEED AP on the USGBC web site. Their online accredited professional directory is where consumers will go to identify and contact qualified service providers.
• The LEED Green Associate accreditation is a great place to start and provides an excellent platform in which to grow.

For professionals new to green or seeking to go beyond LEED to enrich their knowledge in green techniques and business trends, the USGBC offers The Education Provider Program. Classes range from free to hundreds of dollars:

Brief summary of program:
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1654

Actual courses available:
http://www.greenbuild365.org/coursecatalog.aspx

Online courses and webinars for continuing education:
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1449

Along with study material offered by the USGBC, you can also find an intensive one-day technical overview of LEED (not online) at a variety of cities across the states. Check out their calendar of upcoming LEED Training Workshops: www.usgbc.org

There’s also the LEED Intermediate Workshop that’s a full-day of benefits and strategies of green building design. Here you’ll learn how to use and apply the LEED-NC Green Building Rating System. You’ll find green building resources that you can use in your projects and tools for leveraging green design and LEED into your practice. The workshop gives you knowledge you’ll need to prepare for the LEED Accreditation exam.

The cost of the intermediate workshop ranges from $325 to $475, depending on when you register and whether or not you’re a member. Cost includes online access to the LEED-NC Version 2.0 and 2.1 reference guides, the LEED-NC Version 2.1 reference package at a discount price, a one-year access to the LEED Credit Interpretation rulings on the LEED website, breakfast, lunch and break snacks.

Some Insight into the Exam

There are no prerequisites for registering for the LEED AP Exam. You are expected to know your stuff, however. It’s recommended that you have tenure in the building trade, whether it’s design, construction, facilities staff, or building business professional. It’s also recommended that you attend a LEED training workshop, read the Exam Study Guide, which includes sample test questions and exam details, and review the LEED Reference Guide.

The USGBC website has a list showing areas of expertise and knowledge that’s tested on the exam.

Prometric is a third party administer that offers the exam electronically. The exam ranges from the mid $200’s to mid $300’s (member vs. non-member pricing.) The exam can be taken six days a week year round.

Resources:
http://hvacreducationtechtips.blogspot.com/2009/05/going-green-with-online-education.html
http://www.greencontractors.us/how/

1. Confidence. Of course the way in which you carry yourself is important. Many homeowners are already tentative about new remodeling projects, so the last thing they want is a contractor is unsure of himself.
2. Knowledge. There’s no need to know everything, but homeowners will have a lot of questions and those contractors who can adequately answer them on the spot will move to the front of the line.
3. References. Any blog similar to this one, but geared toward homeowners, would have references very high on a list of 10 things to look for in a contractor…and for good reason. In an age of high competitiveness as we have now, getting some sense of a contractor’s past performance is key.
4. History. That leads us to history. If you had a choice between the new kid and the contractor who’d been in the business for 30 years, who would you choose? This is not meant to discourage new contractors. By no means, even the youngest remodeling contractors have likely had several years of experience under the tutelage of a tested predecessor; you just may have to sell yourself on other counts. For time-tested remodelers, having a long history shows endurance and commitment.
5. Thinking on your feet. With budgets and time frames often tight in remodeling, a contractor who remains calm and composed under pressure and can address problems accurately as they arise will garner a second look from homeowners.
6. Reasonable Price. Oh yes, and we can’t forget that giant number (no matter how small you write it) that is the price on a bid sheet. Just remember that price is only one of these 10 things homeowners are looking for. Of course you must be cost competitive, but homeowners who have done their research will know better than to rely simply on the bottom line.
7. Honesty and to some extent, transparency, is also a key. Because homeowners cannot know for sure how honest someone’s words are on first meeting, they’ll rely more on feeling. At the same time the best way to convey a sense of honesty is to be honest. This means not getting yourself in over your head by claiming abilities you don’t have or promising time frames you cannot keep. This is how contractors get bad references and lose money.
8. Resources. A tape measure, pencil, and a pretty face do not a good contractor make. Be ready to field questions about tools and manpower to complete the work on time and with quality and professional performance.
9. Organization and Cleanliness. During the interview and bidding process a show of organization will make a positive impression. After the job is underway, maintaining a clean job site will make that impression last and go a long way toward getting your name spread around to other prospective clients.
10. Energy Efficiency. Remodeling in the near future will likely have a heavy focus on energy efficiency. Tax credits and the stimulus package are pushing the green envelope even further. Therefore knowledge of energy efficiency upgrades and even available tax credits for different projects.

This may be one of the scariest New Years on record for business owners. The downward trend in housing and retail continues and even the President admits that it will likely get worse before getting any better. While times aren’t looking too dark for remodeling contractors, it may be time to cinch the proverbial belt a bit.

That may translate into a reassessment of company goals. Setting goals is essential to a successful business, especially in the hardest of times. Simply set feasible goals.

If your goal is to top last year’s sales or profits, you must ask yourself if that really is the wisest goal in the midst of an economic slump that has spread well beyond the housing industry alone. Instead, calculate what money you need to make, what items you can do without or must have, and a few reasonable perks you want to give yourself or your employees. Then figure out how you go about getting those things, whether it be a dollar amount or a certain number of contracts or whatever. But make this your goal and then head out there to achieve it.

Consider gathering your employees for a company meeting. Lay out the goals in front of them. Create an incentive that goes something like this: If we can reach this level, we all get this bonus. If we reach this different level, we all get this. And so on. Hard times are good times for pooling resources. And remember that just as sure as you want to make money, your employees want to keep their jobs.

Just as important as setting goals are the means by which you achieve them. Taking small steps such as getting to know clients and your community can make a big difference. Homeowners will be on the lookout for contractors overselling their projects; perhaps now is the time for a more straightforward approach. The free-for-alls of yesteryear may be gone, but homeowners still want to remodel, we just have to convince them it’s worth their while.

Whether the goal is to make record profits or just to break even, every contractor is going to have to work hard to do it. But it’s a new year and a new administration (which could mean any number of things for small businesses) and traditionally a time for optimism and looking forward. This year is no different in that regard.

Despite the crippling cold coursing through the country right now, summer and the remodeling season will be here before we know it.

Following are some tips to help you write an effective company bio:

1. Who is reading it? It is not just homeowners and clients that will read your company bio. Depending on your business, you may want to target possible investors. Your bio should also stand out to local media outlets who may be looking to profile unique local businesses (i.e., free advertising!). You bio should be engaging to a wide spectrum of readers.
2. Useful information that is easily understood. A slew of industry jargon may be fascinating to other contractors, but they are your competition. Instead try to provide useful information, explaining what your company does and how you do it better than the rest, in layman’s terms that anyone can understand. Be clear and concise, if there is any confusion about what exactly you do, readers will most likely move on to some other company’s website.
3. Personality. In addition to describing what, exactly, your company does, try to convey an idea of the company’s personality or culture. That is, exemplify company traits such as community involvement, your mission, values, etc. A focus on the human side of your company will help readers relate and grab their attention.
4. Stand Out. Let the reader know what your company does that makes you different from the competition, including what you do and, more importantly perhaps, how you do it. This could include any awards or honors your company may have received. Also include aspects of your unique company history, such as the company’s rank-and-file beginnings or family legacy.

Your company bio may be the most important piece of literature you ever write, so be sure to take your time and do it up right. Pass it around to employees, family, friends, repeatedly asking the question: “Would you choose my business based on this profile?” Don’t be afraid to check out the competition and look for things that you do — or ways in which you do the same jobs — that is different and stands alone in your community.

Tell me about your book and who it’s written for.

“I started my real estate career in 1987 with CB Richard Ellis Commercial Real Estate. They taught a very specialized system to brokers. The system was based on product and geographic specialization. The system worked in every market. In 2000 I started investing in Real Estate and added a design/build business. I got into decorative concrete and coatings as an inexpensive curb appeal solution to rehabbing properties. I found that most contractors just took business where they got it, with no business plan. The book is written for any trade within Real Estate. I use Case Studies in The Guide of decorative concrete applicators, but it’s written for every contractor. I’m considering writing a version for Real Estate brokers.”

How did you gather your research?

“What inspired me to finally write The Guide was a marketing project (I’ve evolved to the Internet as well) I did for a company with a new coating. They developed a product for resurfacing concrete. Excellent product for floors over 1,500 square feet. The product is a one-day application, which is fine for small floors. They based their business on the one-day application. Problem is, small floors lose money. They never did the financial analysis to determine profitability. I realized they were doomed to failure because they were targeting the wrong market. Once I saw this I realized that the market needs The Guide.

“Here’s a company with a superior product and tremendous knowledge. They have exactly what it takes to be extremely successful, but they are targeting the wrong market. This is why I wrote The Guide. 99% of all contractors have the ability to be financially successful but don’t know how to go about it. The 99% of contractors who break even or fail have just as much talent as the successful 1% and work just as hard breaking even as the 1% who succeed.”

Tell me about the system for success that you describe in The Guide.

“The system is based on being the expert in a market. Let’s say a contractor identifies 75 Grocery anchored shopping centers. Now there are a few different kinds of shopping centers. I’m choosing Grocery anchored for a reason. Every successful investor specializes. So when it comes to Grocery anchored centers, there might be only 15-20 owners of the 75 targeted properties.

There is a good chance that the same property managers run the properties, the same architects, electricians, plumbers and frequently tenants. Many of the tenants are frequently local instead of national, so it’s easy to get to the owner. Now if a contractor stays focused and turns away all business other than the 75 properties, they will capture a large market share. They become much more efficient, they don’t have to travel far, they will control their expenses and manage their books easier because they have a specialized business.

Consider that 75 Grocery anchored centers have 20 tenants minimum per center, that’s 1,500 stores. 7% annual vacancy yields 100 new stores every year. You can see the program can work for architects, general contractors, flooring applicators, electricians. That’s how a contractor controls business. Another basic is that ‘people do business with those they like and trust.’
By specializing, contractors can charge a premium and still get the business because they have developed a relationship. Without a targeted plan every project is like the first. This strategy applies to every trade and market.

Specialization is a science and an art. It’s not hard when you know how but you have to know the process. It starts with the economics of a trade or specialty, then the target market like Grocery anchored centers or office buildings or single family homes. Learning to use the proper marketing tools properly, like newsletters, blogs, and websites to pre-sell services. Presentation packages, contracts, communication logs. They all work as one. This is how a quality profitable business is built. I might point out that this is how a contractor brands their business and gets lots of Word Of Mouth Business. Word of Mouth will lead to other like kind business.

Our natural inclination in times like this is to look for ways to cut costs. One way to do this is to target unnecessary or unproductive programs or services. Even though green-related ventures may not yet be your top producers, don’t give them the boot quite yet. Your company can benefit from more eco-friendly practices in more ways than you might imagine.

First of all, if you are looking for ways to cut expenditures, how about recycling and reusing wherever possible? Look for ways to reduce the amount of materials used; in other words, conserve and reuse. Not only can instilling some more eco-friendly practices into your daily routines help your bottom line, but offering green building to your customers may potentially help your business to grow.

There is an emerging trend amongst younger homebuyers that consider green living of the utmost importance to them, and they need a builder who is knowledgeable about and able to accomplish LEED standards.

So, not only can you save money by implementing more eco-friendly practices within your business, but you can tap into a growing market and have the potential to grow your business, recession or not. Sustainability could very well be your best defense against this recession.

Well, you have two options right now. You can either sit there and wait out the storm and possibly go under as many of your competitors are, or take advantage of a slower time to revamp your business.

I spoke with a few construction companies recently. Operating in California, they are struggling with the new laws that require all plans to be inspected by an architect. One family company decided to send one of the younger brothers to college to become an architect. Another company is using this time to branch out and to explore new avenues. They invested in heavy equipment and training for some crew members so that they can now offer excavation services. One older construction owner made the decision to take this opportunity to scale back his operation and pursue a lifelong dream to build custom furniture and cabinetry. He enrolled in the appropriate classes to learn the trade, and is now happily remodeling his shop to accommodate his new direction.

The point is, don’t just sit there. Use this slower pace to do the things that you’ve been too busy to address in years past. As a friend who was dying from cancer said of his enthusiastic outlook, “surround yourself with those you love and always have something to look forward to.” This economic storm will end, and a bright future will emerge. Those who will survive and prosper will be the companies that take the appropriate action now.

So, with that in mind, Kitchen & Bath Pro has launched in a bold attempt to bring this largely overlooked demographic to page one. The magazine offers a variety of information, including trade news, product information, and blogs (via the online version). It is a trade magazine exclusively for those involved in the kitchen and bath industry.

So for kitchen and bath contractors, here is a resource that not only caters to you, but is available only to you. Look for information on a wide range of designs and materials (mostly high end) that reflect the needs and wants of K&B contractors. Many members of the magazine’s staff, from editors to writers, are veterans of other relevant trade magazines. Kitchen & Bath Pro, so it seems, is itself a concerted effort to merge other, more exclusive trade magazines into one and, to take it even further, hone all that information so that it benefits contractors specifically.

Kitchen & Bath Pro is a new magazine. It will be published three times in 2008 and represents a new and convenient source for contractors. Check it out!