Blogs

Determining how you pay employees can play a huge role in how your employees work and your company's overall financial performance. in any industry. So it’s important that you understand all the benefits and drawbacks to both options first.

Project managers are integral to any residential construction project. Without them, contractors spend much more time putting out fires, and far less time growing their business. But what happens when a project manager seems like the right fit on paper but not once they’re on the job?

As professional general contractors, we've all been there: you're somewhere in the middle of a remodeling project's life cycle, and the homeowners email or text you, asking, "Can we have a meeting?" And now you're worried that trouble is brewing. Navigating those situations requires patience and a willingness to listen.

Building or remodeling homes are big projects that require a collaborative effort between homeowners, architects, designers, and builders. Doing that effectively requires open communication and collaboration between all stakeholders. But sometimes those lines get blurred and if not handled properly, it can pose financial risk for residential contractors.

Asking clients how they are funding a remodeling project is an uncomfortable and off-putting question when you're trying to close a sale. So many contractors choose not to broach that subject. But not knowing where the money is coming from – and when can expose your residential construction business to great financial risk.

No two remodeling or custom home building projects are the same, and because of that, you can’t apply a “one size fits all” approach to estimating them or compare their costs to other similar projects. Which is why estimating a project using square foot pricing is never a reliable method for ensuring a profitable job and successful client outcome.

We know that hiring a construction company based on price and not their expertise or quality of work is a disaster waiting to happen for homeowners. But convincing potential clients that they should be choosing a builder based on knowledge and experience instead of the lowest price is an uphill battle.

As a busy remodeler, you spend most of your days battling fires instead of helping it grow. And more often than not, you've uttered the words, "I need a system for this, so I don't have to do it." But figuring out how to implement those processes can be difficult because you’re wondering where to start and what caused that situation in the first place.

Every year, as summertime rolls around, I get asked whether it's a good idea to operate a residential construction business on a four-day workweek instead of five. But before you make "Tuesday the new Monday," there are some important things to consider about how it will impact your business.

Construction estimating is one of the most important tasks for any construction company because it directly affects your ability to be profitable. A poorly written estimate can negatively affect your profit margins. Yet many contractors still view them as a time-consuming task they don't want to do.

As a professional remodeler or custom builder, you know that forging connections with architects and designers can open doors to exciting high-end projects that will enhance your portfolio. However, breaking the ice with them can be challenging because we often think we aren’t operating at the same level.

Every team member you hire is an investment in your company’s future. One which you need to maximize to be successful. Instead of making it an ad-hoc decision, take the time to create a comprehensive compensation plan that encourages their development to ensure you’re attracting and retaining top talent.

Successful residential construction business owners rely on a solid financial plan to help ensure they are making the most informed decisions for their companies. That means creating an annual budget to plot their business's performance from the ten-thousand-foot view and tracking it monthly to ensure they are staying on target.

Your employees work hard for you all year putting their best effort into their work to help grow your business and your bottom line. Rewarding them with a well-planned bonus program shows you value them and the work they do, which helps keep them motivated to continue to perform at that level.

As a professional remodeling contractor, you spend a great deal of time accurately estimating remodeling projects, which is why you charge for your pre-construction process. But you need to explain that value to architects, designers, and clients to ensure your input is included early to create a successful outcome for clients.

Presenting an estimate in person is your chance to walk clients through it so they understand how you arrived at that price and start to foster a good client/builder relationship at the onset of a project. Otherwise you’re risking the chance they will just take the final number off the page and use it to shop around for a “better price.”

Running a remodeling business means juggling multiple priorities at once. Your trade partners have that same struggle. So it’s important to use purchase orders when you hire them to ensure they are aligned on project details and understand the expectations you have for them on the jobsite.

Building and maintaining solid working relationships with your trade partners can be difficult because you want to foster collaborative environments with them, but you also need to ensure those relationships align with your company values and adhere to your company policies. That means putting processes in place to keep everyone on the same page and avoid any issues before they start.

As a residential contractor, blogging provides a way for you to share information about the construction industry, renovations, or custom home building and answer questions from homeowners about the process in general or specifically how you work. When done right, it’s a great way to be found by potential new clients.

Taking over a rescue project – a renovation or custom home build that’s been started by another contractor but the client has chosen to part ways with can be a great way to add work to your pipeline, provided you know what to look out for. Learn how to identify potential hazards and how to evaluate whether or not to take the job.

Residential construction work is a complex process with many moving parts, which means there are many opportunities for errors to occur. Errors that can result in costly rework leading to delays. So, how do you prevent repeatable mistakes in your construction projects? Use checklists.

Using social media effectively in your residential construction business means figuring out the best tools to work with and putting a system in place so it becomes automatic. Otherwise, it's just another headache in your already overcrowded day and a constant source of frustration for you.

We live in a world where construction projects are often started before all the final costs for materials and labor are included. But you still need to provide the client with as close to accurate an estimate as possible and minimize your risk from cost overages. That's where construction allowances come in.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, 168 hours a week, and 8736 hours a year, which means we need to use schedules to ensure we're using those hours as efficiently as possible. Since you can't add hours to the day, a construction project schedule helps you use the time you have to maximize productivity.

Construction change orders happen for a multitude of reasons. And all these situations can impact the original contract price and, in turn, your bottom line if you're not managing them properly. That means using change orders to capture project changes and add them to the overall project cost.

Remodelers often tell me they rely on “word-of-mouth” referrals to get new business, so they don’t need social media. But using word-of-mouth referrals alone isn't a predictable method of filling your pipeline, which is why you should be using social media as a part of your overall marketing strategy to reach new clients.

Aligning the work in your pipeline with the internal team you have on hand is a balancing act that's tricky to manage because the answer depends on so many factors. So how do you determine whether to hire more full-time staff – and assume that overhead burden, or subcontract out work to trade partners?

Running a profitable remodeling or custom home-building business means taking the right jobs at the right price and not selling yourself (or your company) short by engaging in competitive bidding. Learn to charge the right amount for all your work based on your years of knowledge and experience.

Unexpected things will always happen in any building project, no matter how much planning you do upfront. And that often results in additional project time and costs. Figuring out where the money comes from to fund those costs – and explaining them to clients can be a tricky conversation.

Giving (or receiving) constructive feedback doesn't come naturally to many of us, and it's not something we've been taught to do correctly. But if you're looking to foster a positive growth environment and enhance team performance, you need to rethink everything you know about performance reviews.