Subscribe to the Design/Builders Blog

The Design Builder's Blog

An Adult Daughter’s Thoughts About Growing Up A Contractor's Child

Posted by Shawn McCadden on Sun, Oct 01,2017 @ 05:00 AM

An Adult Daughter’s Thoughts about Growing up a Contractor's Child

Katelyn McCaddenMy dad asked me if I would write an article for him about the value of being raised as a contractor’s daughter, and how that might differ from other people’s experiences. I can’t actually imagine what it might be like to not be a contractor’s daughter. My childhood was filled with the smell of sawdust flying through the air, and classic rock crackling in from a dusty radio. Many of my earliest memories are of playing with my sister at the office around proudly branded displays of windows and shutters, and pretending to be mermaids in the basement storage. It shaped who I am.

 

My ambitious driven father, tempered by my fiery compassionate mother, expertly juggled raising us and running the company. Custom Contracting was as much a home to us as any other; a spot where our family worked together towards earning our place in the world. It made our family unit a team capable of moving mountains.

Growing up as a contractor's childMore than once I watched my father and his brothers build a house or barn. I cannot begin to describe to you the lingering feeling of awe which this type of undertaking inspires. With synchronicity honed their whole lives, they would take a wooded hill and a stack of reclaimed lumber, and create monoliths to my child’s eyes.

Not every moment was filled with awe and inspiration. My sister and I cleaned and helped renovate rental properties, we split hauled and stacked firewood, and we slaved through endless yard work. We hated (nearly) every minute of it. But we took great pride in our accomplishments, and the warmth of our house in the winter. I find that, as a young adult, I am not only more capable than my peers, I also believe myself more capable. I can hammer a nail and fix a sink better than most people I know, male or female. Because I am so confident in my abilities, I never think twice about taking on the world.

Life as a contractor's daughterAs the dust settles on my wild adolescence I have carried with me a foundation of values on which to build my adult life. Now it seems I just can’t shake the need to buy my own house and some dirt to sit it on. I find that less and less of my down time is spent scrolling Facebook, and more and more is spent Googling the cost of putting in a septic system and what contributes to real estate values. As I drive down the street I find myself judging the quality of people’s roofs and cringing at water damage where proper gutter installation is begging to be.

So, I can’t imagine what life must be like for someone who was raised in world without wet paint and sawdust, without a family who builds monoliths and moves mountains, or without pride in the woodstove thawing my frozen fingers. I am defined by so many of these things. Being a contractor’s daughter created a world for me screaming with potential and teeming with possibilities, and a hard earned confidence to succeed at even my wildest dreams.

Subscribe to the Design/Builders Blog

Guest Blogger:  Kate McCadden is the oldest child in the McCadden family.  She’s the one in the family with the creative artistic abilities.  She is working on her career to become a writer and plans to get rich writing a book everyone will want to read. 

Topics: Fun Stuff, Mentoring/Coaching, Guest Blogs, Generation Y

Checklist: What Dealers Need To Do To Get Ready For Gen Y Contractors

Posted by Shawn McCadden on Tue, Apr 01,2014 @ 06:00 AM

Checklist of What LBM Dealers Will Need To Do To Get Ready For Gen Y Contractors

Generation Y Contractor

 

Back in February I did a presentation at the NRLA LBM Expo titled "Will Your LBM Business Be Ready For The Next Generation of Contractors”.  At that seminar I shared my thoughts about what LBM dealers and distributors need to consider about Generation Y members who will soon take over as the next generation of contractors.  I estimate that Gen Y will become the majority of construction business owners within the next ten years.  Although a handful of attendees already had Generation Y contractors on their radar screens, the rest of the attendees admitted they had no idea regarding the significant changes their businesses (or their employers' businesses) would need to make to be ready to sell to and service this new type of contractor.

If like many of the attendees at that event this topic is new to you, check out this blog post titled “Will LBM Dealers Be Ready For The Next Generation of Contractors” for a little more insight before reading the checklist offered below. 

 

Generations of contractors 

 

Checklist: What to do to get your LBM Business ready for Gen Y Contractors

Here are a few pointers for LBM dealers who want to get ahead of the curve and be ready for Generation Y before they are already the majority of construction business owners. 

    • Learn who Generation Y is, what’s different about them and why they are different.
    • Keep in mind that some Generation Y contractors will be tech savvy, but, more important, most will be tech dependent.
    • Recognize that in addition to being your next contractor customer, they will soon make up the majority of your retail customers and your work force as well.
    • Learn how, and the many reasons why, they will be using technology inside their businesses and will be expecting you to use it as well.
    • Commit to what your LBM business will need to do to get ready for this new generation of customers and paying for the changes.
    • Be realistic about the condition and effectiveness of your current marketing methods, sales methods and service offerings. 
    • Recognize now that your sales methods and maybe even your sales staff will need to be replaced and the related changes will take years to put in place and master.
    • Learn how to interact and communicate with Generation Y in ways they will respond to; using both technology and social media.
    • Figure out what you need to do, physically and emotionally, so contractors can shop, price and buy from you via your web site.

 

Keep in mind this is only a partial list.

How Generation Y Contractors will be differentLBM Dealers and the distributors that supply Gen Y will need to make many changes to their business models and tactics.  In order to successfully complete and support those changes they will need to upgrade both their staff and their technology.  Here are a few quotes from Gen Y contractors that should help motivate both to get going before it’s already too late:

“A lot of the suppliers are represented by older men and most of those people are just not tech-savvy”

“For about three-quarters of our suppliers, we’re using them because of their customer service and account management.  If they’re not into electronic communication, it’s probably not going to work out very well”

“For us technology isn’t a nice thing to have, it’s a necessity.”

 

 

 

Topics: LBM Related Topics, Future of the Remodeling Industry, Generation Y, Shawn's Predictions

Will LBM Dealers Be Ready For The Next Generation of Contractors?

Posted by Shawn McCadden on Tue, Feb 18,2014 @ 08:00 AM

LBM Dealers, Will You Be Ready For The Next Generation of Contractors?

Next generation of contractors

I hate to be the bearer of bad news; I’m really just the messenger.  Servicing and doing business with contractors is about to change dramatically, again.  That’s right, after the home building crash, if as an LBM Dealer you thought you had finally figured out how to get business from the remaining contractors, get ready, things are about to change, again! 

At the upcoming NRLA LBM EXPO in Boston I will be presenting a lunchtime seminar for LBM Dealers on this topic titled “Will Your LBM Business Be Ready for the Next Generation of Contractors?”  This blog will give you an idea of what the seminar will include.  I hope you can attend.

 

Many LBM Dealers struggled to make it through the recession. A good number of them stayed alive by finding better ways to service and sell to remodelers.  Savvy dealers quickly identified the unique differences between remodelers and builders.  Realizing the differences they changed things like their selling methods, pricing strategies and product offerings to capture needed business and revenue.   As a result many remodeling businesses enjoyed much better service and could offer their clients a greater variety of products and price points.  Dealers who did not make the changes, or didn’t make significant enough changes, ended up closing their doors and or were bought up by larger dealers.

 

The mindset of the contractor will be changing

Generation Y contractorsOne thing that remained fairly constant during this evolution was who the contractors were and how they did business.   For decades the majority of contractors operated their businesses as technicians.   They thought of themselves as contractors, not construction business owners.   The joy of building things and advancing their trade skills where the driving factors that made them who they were.   As a result of this mentality, and the fact that there was almost always way more work available than contractors to do it, they could command profitable prices.  And unfortunately, at the same time, they could also get by with poor business practices in the areas of sales, marketing and accounting. 

Now is the time to recognize almost everything in the residential construction industry we could assume to be considered the norm about contractors, the marketplace and doing business will be going away.  A new generation of contractors is rising to the surface.  This next generation won’t accept the old ways of doing things.  Get ready for Generation Y!

 

Here are several factors causing and or contributing to the coming changes

    • About nine of every ten remodeling contractors go out of business within ten years of getting started.  That means the construction industry has a new generation of remodeling business owners about every ten years, regardless of other factors. 
    • Employees who worked at failed firms often start their own businesses.
    • Due to their age and physical abilities, a good number of baby boomer contractors will also be retiring.   Many of these businesses will either be led by the next generation of the family or will simply close up shop.
    • Many “old school” contractors who operated on “low bid” will need to work until they retire, die or their bodies give out due to a lack of retirement savings.
    • Many older contractors will end up working for more savvy younger construction business owners.
    • The next generation of remodeling and construction company owners will come from members of Generation Y. 

Next generation of contractors

 

They are tech savvy and ready to take on the world 

At about 80 million strong, Generation Y is hell-bent on changing the world and is totally impatient with outdated business models.   How they will do business and how they will buy what they need from LBM dealers will be dramatically different than what dealers have experienced from all previous generations of contractors. Use of technology, theirs and yours, will be the biggest factor.

Dealers and their staff will first need to recognize that this change is coming and that it will be significant.  Then they will need to learn about these new contractors and embrace the changes needed if they want to be ready for Generation Y as they arrive.   If not ready for Gen Y, like the “old school” contractors, LBM businesses will eventually end up closing their doors, seeking new leadership to survive, or be swallowed up by dealers who were the early adopters of new ways of doing business.

 

 

 

Topics: LBM Related Topics, LBM Dealer Topics, Future of the Remodeling Industry, Generation Y, Shawn's Predictions

Mentor Me, Please - Gen Y Busines Owner Offers Peers Advise

Posted by Shawn McCadden on Thu, Mar 21,2013 @ 06:00 AM

Justin Jones

 

Guest Blogger: Justin Jones is a licensed General Contractor, Roofing Contractor, and Plumbing Contractor based out of Palm Harbor, FL. Justin is also a writer and speaker on topics including Contractor Sales, Marketing, and Leadership. At 32 years old, he is a member of Generation Y.

 

Mentor Me, Please - Gen Y Business Owner Offers Peers Advise on How to Learn From Craftsmen

Dealing with older tradesman can be tricky at times. In my own business, I've been dealing with this interesting arrangement for the past seven years. Through the ups and downs, I have managed to form some great relationships with older tradesman.

At first, I expected them to complete tasks with incredible haste, but ultimately, I realized that there was no harm in taking things a bit slower. I set out to establish a mentor-mentee relationship with these older, more experienced tradesmen.

 

Start With Respect

Respecting older craftsmenRespect. From those first meetings with prospective employees, I've always been careful to offer the utmost respect, particularly when it came to older craftsmen. I respected them based on their many years of experience.  I took the time to listen to stories about the good ole' days and how things were done differently.  I'd smile and nod my head as I listened. Many of the stories were well-told and well-crafted, providing me with wonderful insights and lessons. I never questioned the knowledge of my senior tradesmen.  And if questions ever did arise, I was always careful to ask in a tactful manner.

Communication.  As I'm in the process of hiring a new individual, I always inquire about their communication preferences. For years, most individuals would indicate their preference for phone calls. But more recently, individuals have expressed a preference for emails and texts. Quick and concise “yes” and “no” communications amongst my team members have served to maintain an open dialogue platform. These open lines of communications have made my employees feel comfortable to call at any time if they need direction or they're second-guessing a decision. I feel this is an extremely important part of our business.

Questions. From job to job, I take the time to lend a helping hand, whether it's loading materials or inspecting trade tools. These interactions provide a perfect opportunity for asking questions. Many tools had the appearance of museum artifacts, but every once in a while, I got a chance to see these relic tools in action; my skepticism was squashed after viewing their quick time-saving functions. I got to return the favor as the building codes have changed several times over the past four years. I'd receive calls from tradesmen, who were wondering if there had been a code change. Sharing back my knowledge has proved to be a great opportunity to build rapport and return the favor.

Gen Y Bussines OwnerBuilding Rapport. Last week, I approached my team – consisting of several individuals in their late 40s and 50s. I had the opportunity to get their feedback on what they enjoyed most about working on my team.  Their answers were all based around rapport. They liked the fact I support their decisions and they were grateful for my willingness to step in and help without being asked. As the leader, I've always been quick to step in and get the project back on track if issues arise. In addition, I've learned that communication with these team members must be clear, concise and written. Accommodating them in this way has led to much better productivity and the strong rapport makes for a healthier work environment.

 

Learn to be humble

I turn 32 this year and I'm willing to admit to my team that I don’t know everything and on occasion, I need help. Many individuals in my generation believe they know everything, but Google won’t teach you how to work as team, nor will it teach you how to maintain your focus on accomplishing a goal.

Respect for older craftsmen

We work as a team as we complete tasks and gather referrals.  This team approach has created a wonderful synergy between me and my team members. We have built a relationship based upon trust and open communication.

My advice, what do you think?

Approach older tradesman and offer them the respect they deserve. Be willing to learn from these more experienced individuals. Adopt a mentor-mentee relationship and you may be surprised by how much you can learn from these older tradesmen.  Anything you would like to add?

 


Topics: New Business Realities, Recruting, Team Building, Guest Blogs, Opinions from Contractors, Generation Y, Culture

If You Won’t Offer Gen Y Prospects What They Want They Will Go Away

Posted by Shawn McCadden on Tue, Mar 05,2013 @ 06:00 AM

If You Don’t Or Won’t Offer Generation Y Prospects What They Want They Will Go Away

gen Y remodeling prospects Generation Y is getting older, they’re buying homes and they are now starting to improve and remodel the homes they own.  As more and more of them grow older the number of Gen Y homeowners will quickly grow. Therefore, they will quickly become a major share of the potential prospects for remodelers and other contractors.  In an earlier blog about prequalifying and selling to Generation Y, I discussed the fact that members of Gen Y are used to getting information instantly and for free using key word Google searches to find internet content.   Technology and the internet have definitely defined how Generation Y does all their research and makes their remodeling or home improvement buying decisions. Having a contractor web site and what is put on it for information will make or break whether Gen Y prospects will be doing business with a remodeling contractor or not.

There are two ways to think about the title of this blog

First, if you don’t have a web site, or if your site doesn’t offer the information Gen Y is looking for, they won’t bother with your business if another remodeler’s business does.  Second, if your web site doesn’t explain how you do business as well as the kind of projects your willing to do, internet savvy gen Y remodeling prospects will move on. Remember, they’re probably not going to call you to find these things out. They’ll just go back to the Google search page and find another contractor’s site that does. So, if you want them to attract them and you want to motivate them to do business with your remodeling company you better make sure they find what they are looking for when they find your contractor web site.

selling to Generation Y

“Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.

Wisdom is not using it in a fruit salad.”

 

What if you want them to go away?

Yes, you read that right. Not all Gen Y prospects will be right for a remodeler’s business. Their motivations to buy and what will be important to them may not be a match with what you offer, who you have on staff or how you do business. Working with the wrong customers can also compromise profits and might not be very satisfying for the business owner or employees. If you want to maintain a defined business process, and remain in control as you do business and produce your projects, you need to avoid working with customers who would probably be better off working with some other remodeling contractor.

To help Gen Y prospects prequalify themselves before they contact you (or for that matter prospects from any generation) make sure the content you put on your site has been strategically decided and written to serve this purpose. For example, if you charge for design services make that clear on your site. Or, if you won’t allow customers to provide any of their own materials make sure you discuss this fact on your web site. Conversely, to attract the right prospects, explain why you charge for design or won’t allow them to provide the materials.  Blogging is a great way to accomplish these goals.  Who knows, your logic might just discourage some prospects from wanting to provide their own materials or go with a contractor who offers free design!

Work towards getting them to stay

remodeling web site visitors

 

The point here is that if your web site visitors like your offerings and your logic you will attract them as prospects. If they don’t like your offerings and or your logic, they will go away and search for another remodeling contractor. Just be careful about how and what you write about. I’ll discuss that consideration in a future blog titled “Qualify, don’t disqualify your remodeling prospects”.


 

Related topics

Advice For Contractors When Working With Home Buyers Considering Renovations
Advice For Contractors On How To Work With Generation Y From One Of Them
25 Sample Questions Contractors Can Use For Prequalifying Prospects

 

Topics: Success Strategies, Marketing, Marketing Ideas, Web Site Related, Generation Y

Gen Y Member's Advice To Peers: How To Develop A Good Work Ethic

Posted by Shawn McCadden on Thu, Feb 28,2013 @ 06:00 AM

Mark Brown

 

Guest Blogger: Mark Brown is a student at BYU-Idaho where he studies Construction Management. He currently lives in Spokane, WA, working as a carpenter and studying online while his wife finishes her Bachelor’s degree in nursing. In this article Mark offers advice to his Generation Y peers based on what he learned from the commenters who shared their thoughts about Mark's first guest blog where he shared advice for contractor trying to work with Generation Y employees.

 

Gen Y Member Offers Advice to His Peers: How To Develop A Good Work Ethic That Will Make You Stand Out

Advice for Generation YRecently Shawn published some of my ideas and suggestions for contractors working with Gen Y employees in an article titled: “Contractors: How to work with Generation Y from one of them.” It became obvious shortly after the article went live that this subject is something many people have strong opinions about. I’ve sifted through over 8,000 words of commentary (over 15 pages!) left by readers of that article to try and find some common threads that I can tie into a follow up article for Gen Y’ers that shows them firsthand what industry professionals are looking for today and how they can stand out.

One of the biggest grievances about Gen Y is that they just don’t care. They have no respect. They’re too absorbed in themselves and the here and now of social media to be interested in learning a skill or craft. If you are guilty of this sin, it is time to change. Find something you enjoy doing, be it construction related or not, and STUDY it. Find books, magazines, museums, websites, blogs, Facebook pages, Pinterest boards, even actual human beings who enjoy the same thing. If you find yourself awake in the wee morning hours, let’s say reading blacksmithing books or something, you’re probably headed in the right direction. Learn to love and have passion for something real. Bring this enthusiasm to the job and apply it to learning a new skill. You will work harder, learn faster, and grow to truly love what you are doing. I think as Gen Y’ers we should all take a page out of this guy’s book…

 

 

Put your technology away and work.

If your girlfriend can’t wait, she might cost you more than dinner and a movie. Stay focused if you work on a computer all day. Get up and walk or get a drink to take a break rather than check your Facebook. We all know long winded personal calls and texts on the jobsite are unwanted. Learn to go without your phone in your hand for 8 hours a day and you will see better work, more focus, and I swear the day goes by twice as fast when you’re not constantly thinking about what “she” is doing (or “he” for that matter).

Put technology to work at work

At the same time, be the guy who remembers what your technology can do for your work. Bring up how to articles, diagrams, photos, and references from all that studying you’ve been doing. When questions or confusions arise on the job, be the one who remembers you can access plans, scopes of work, calculators, and change orders from a phone. Just remember to avert your eyes from tempting texts.

Finally, learn to work.

Hiring Gen Y workers for constructionAnd I mean, like, the bury the guy who’s been doing this for as long as you’ve been alive kind of work. Show up on time. Be “present” mentally and physically. If you’re in the field, watch and learn the old guy’s tricks. Your fresh knees and elbows are worth their weight in gold. Don’t be afraid to stay late and show up early to organize, plan, and prepare. If you’re in the office, stay on top of technologies that relate to your industry or can be used to better it. Make suggestions, study the costs, and take initiative to show off things that can make the business better and more profitable.  

 

In summary

These are three simple suggestions that come not really from me at all, but from people across the nation who have spent decades learning what they do. By adopting these ideas to both your professional and personal life, you will be happier, fulfilled, and far more valuable than most. I encourage you to share them with your friends and family in hopes that Gen Y can learn how to contribute more effectively to the industry and the world.

 

Topics: Careers in Construction, Recruting, Guest Blogs, Generation Y

How Should Remodelers Be Prequalifying and Selling To Gen Y?

Posted by Shawn McCadden on Tue, Feb 26,2013 @ 07:41 AM

How Should Remodelers Be Prequalifying and Selling To Generation Y?

Gen Y Sales Process

 

A recent guest blog posted here at the Design Builders Blog was written by a Generation Y member.   The author, Mark Brown, offered some advice for contractors on how to work with Gen Y employees.   His blog created quite a discussion with over 38 thoughtful comments as of posting this blog from contractors and employees from all generations.   One contractor praised the blog and the discussion but also brought up another very valid consideration for contractors and remodelers: How to sell to Gen Y clients?  The answer to that question is probably a very big conversation and a very involved one as well. 

One thing is for sure.  Trying to force Gen Y to buy remodeling (or anything) the way you have always sold to other generations isn’t going to work.  That said how about bringing the answer down to a few simple but big picture considerations to help get the conversation started and offer some direction.  With a new direction in mind, you can then seek out and get the remodeling sales training you will need to sell to this new customer type.

If you can’t beat Generation Y, why not join them

The members of Gen Y are used to getting information instantly and for free.   Almost every one of them has a smart phone and can Google any subject or topic to find instant answers or information, all at no cost to them.   And they can get that information at any time of the day or night they want it.  That desire and internet content available about anything you can think of has definitely defined how Gen Y does their research and makes their remodeling or home improvement buying decisions. 

For contractors who have always sold to the generations born prior to Gen Y, the idea of providing instant and free information about a remodeling project for some young kid who isn’t ready to buy or make a decision without first checking you and your suggestions out online using social media throws a monkey wrench into any veteran contractor’s long standing selling process.  Those changes probably also all but kill a contractor’s sales closes rates when it comes to Gen Y remodeling and home improvement prospects.

“The reality to recognize is that Gen Y isn’t going to change.   So, contractors need to change how they both market to and sell to Generation Y if they want to do business with them.”

 

Save yourself a lot of time, give them what they want

How Gen Y makes Remodeling DecisionsIf your construction or remodeling business doesn’t have a web site, stop reading right now or recognize and commit to the fact that you better get one up right away if you want to sell to Gen Y.  Done right, and it must be done right, a contractor’s web site  offers a place to give Generation Y, and any other generation for that matter,  the information they need to work through their decision making process and prequalify your business as a good option for them to consider.  If you’re strategic and you put the right information on your site, you won’t need to waste your time doing live sales calls with someone who would never have bought from you anyway and or who isn't far enough along yet in their decision making process to make any commitments that will include money.

 

What Information Should a Contractor’s website have on it?

Good question.  It has a lot to do with how Generation Y makes remodeling decisions.  I’ll offer some advice and suggestions on that topic in a follow up blog to be titled “If you don’t or won’t offer Generation Y Prospects what they want they will go away”

 

Topics: Sales, Success Strategies, Sales Considerations, Differentiating your Business, Social Media for Contractors, Building Relationships, Generation Y, Shawn's Predictions

Contractors: How To Work With Generation Y From One Of Them

Posted by Shawn McCadden on Sun, Feb 17,2013 @ 06:00 AM

Mark Brown

 

Guest Blogger: Mark Brown is a student at BYU-Idaho where he studies Construction Management. He currently lives in Spokane, WA, working as a carpenter and studying online while his wife finishes her Bachelor’s degree in nursing. This article is a shortened version of an essay titled “Is Generation Y learning how to learn?” written by Mark for a research writing class. It has been revised to help contractors working with Gen Y employees.

 

Advice For Contractors On How To Work With Generation Y From One Of Them

Generation Y in construction“Things just aren’t the way they used to be” is a lament often heard from aging generations. However nostalgic and skeptical this observation may be, it is definitely true. Generation Y (those born between 1980 and 2000) is growing up in a world completely different than their parents. Today we are surrounded throughout our waking hours by new technologies and devices that feed us steady and seemingly infinite flows of information, providing us with instant connection to knowledge that used to be much more difficult to acquire. Obviously, things are not the way they used to be. One can’t help but wonder; how do these changes affect our daily lives?  The way we work?  Our relationships with others?  The way we see ourselves?  How we learn?  

Contractors today face an especially daunting task trying to teach the business to a generation that learns completely different than the average hard-knocks PhD. Understanding these differences is essential to utilizing the huge talent Gen Y possesses and snuffing your own doubts of any hope for the future. 

The way Gen Y learns is fundamentally different than their parents.

Hiring Generation Y

 

They process information about ten times faster, they expect free and instant access to all this information, and they wonder what everyone else thinks about it all. Most have grown up learning on a computer from the time they were in grade school. Google is their main professor and they’ve learned to research as fast and efficient as possible. Capitalize on this. Gen Y can sail through tasks you find yourself poring over for hours like learning new scheduling software, Google Sketchup, or computer networking. They love to share what they’ve learned and can help you learn faster.

 

 

They can learn fast and perform consistently

Like a Southern California piece-work carpenter, Gen Y loves to have their work lined out and ready to tackle. This may be frustrating to those who value someone who can see what needs to be done and figure out how to do it, but think of the value of someone who can learn fast and perform consistently. Gen Y is also extremely adaptable, so they can learn how to be the leader who takes charge. They just need a better reason than, “Because that’s how it’s done you idiot!”

Can, will you give them what they want?

Contractors hiring generation YGen Y has often been accused of wanting everything right now that their parents spent 25 years earning. However fair the accusation may be, it definitely reveals something about Gen Y. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more ambitious bunch. If they know that you can give them something they really want, they will follow whatever path you draw for them to get it. You can build them in ways that you never could with a burnt out 50 year old carpenter who’s been swinging a hammer the same way since he was 18.

The construction industry has seen some dismal days as of lately and those who have spent nearly a lifetime in it may not wish others the same. But, I hope they can see the promise that exists in the younger generation and take some time to be coaches and mentors to those who are ready and more than capable of taking the industry to the next level.

 

Topics: Hiring and Firing, Success Strategies, Worker Training, Careers in Construction, Recruting, Mentoring/Coaching, Guest Blogs, Opinions from Contractors, Generation Y