An Adult Daughter’s Thoughts about Growing up a Contractor's Child
My 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.
More 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.
As 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.
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.
LBM 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:
One 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. 
Respect. 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.
Building 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.
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 
Recently Shawn published some of my ideas and suggestions for contractors working with Gen Y employees in an article titled: 
And 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. 
If 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.
“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? 
Gen 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.
