Invest In Your Remodeling Business Now, Or Pay Forever
The New Year is here again. For many it’s a time to plan and make commitments for the changes and improvements needed to make the coming year better than the last. Then there are the remodelers who say they and their companies are too busy working to take the time to remodel their own businesses. What they may not know is that if they don’t invest now to either train employees or restructure their businesses, they will be paying for not doing so for a long time to come.
What am I referring to?
- I'm talking about proactively taking a look at how efficiently you run your company in order to get better returns on your investment of time, money and focus.
- I am talking about assessing your company's cost effectiveness and taking into account if employees are properly trained to do their jobs so you don’t have to micromanage them.
- I’m also talking about creating the ability to actually be “present” when you sit down to have dinner with your family or attend your child’s soccer game.
You can invest now to train managers or employees and to rework structural shortcomings within your business. Or you can pay forever by running a shoddy show that won't give you the financial returns that it takes to stay in business and retire before your body eventually gives out.
If you don't do it now, how much profit will you possibly lose until you do set a plan into action? If you don’t do it now how much will your procrastination cost you over the coming years you are in business; including the compounded interest you could have earned each year towards your eventual retirement?
I know many remodelers who have no retirement funds at all. How about you?
Don’t forget about lost opportunities
By sticking with the status quo many business owners are also missing out on opportunities they could have concentrated on if they were not constantly dealing with and fixing the same problems over and over again. For example, at a recent workshop for remodeling business owners I broke the attendees out into several groups and asked them to assess their business’ current status. One group of eight remodelers agreed their production slippage problems hurt them financially at a cost of at least 10% of total volume each year.
I then asked them to reference that in the point of view of being a $1 million/year company. They agreed this 10 percent production slippage loss would equal a $100,000 deficit each year. Would you want that to happen or keep happening at your business?
Here is a tough question to ponder
Does your spouse or significant other know you have such opportunities to make and keep more money? Or, are you hiding that fact from them and others so you don’t have to recognize and address the shortcomings of your business and or your business acumen?
It's up to you. You can pay now, or you can pay forever.
I had to add up all the numbers with a calculator multiple times before having enough confidence to give it to my prospects because I didn’t always get the same number!
Eventually, after a lot of experimenting using the yellow pad I eventually incorporated what I had learned into an Excel Estimating spreadsheet I created on my own. Doing so definitely improved the speed and accuracy of my estimating methods. The end result also provided the majority of information the production team needed so they could build the job without me around, leaving me time to sell more work.
My experience has shown me that those business owners who think of themselves as contractors will typically be the ones who experience most if not all of these challenges as they grow their produced volume of work. Rather than do things differently they just try to keep up with the growth by doing more hours themselves and hiring more people who will need to be supervised. On the other hand those contractors who seek to become what I refer to as “construction business owners” will be adding to and improving their business systems so they and their team members can share responsibility, work smarter and work together more efficiently.
Why I created the list of article links listed below
Examples of nonproductive time for carpenters
Then, in a 
A Hearing on the Rate Filing will be held at 10:00AM on Thursday, January 30, 2014 at the Division of Insurance, 1000 Washington Street, Boston, MA. For more information you can refer to 
I want to thank fellow EMNARI Member 
A communicator -someone who can exchange ideas, and be open to other’s solutions in addition to being able to clearly articulate their ideas through verbal and written channels in a timely and responsive manner.
Try to get your clients to make their selections during the design phase.
The press release alleges that the violations occurred while James J. Welch & Co., Inc. was acting as the general contractor performing renovations on a project at the former Frisbee School in Kittery, Maine. At the time of the renovation the Kittery site was a child-occupied facility and therefore was subject to Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule. 
In Feb. 2012, after receiving the anonymous tip, the EPA and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection performed an inspection of the site. Based on the inspection, EPA determined that the general contractor did not ensure that a company hired as a subcontractor to replace windows at the school, New Hampshire Glass, was complying with the required work practices required under the RRP Rule. 
The nightmare both of these businesses are going through should serve as a warning for other business owners. Both general contractors and sub contractors need to know each other’s responsibilities when it comes to compliance with the RRP Rule. By understanding the rule the GC and the sub can then come to an agreement about who will do what and when they will do it to make sure that both of them are in compliance while doing the work, as well as creating and maintaining all required paperwork and documentation. If you do not already have these things under control at your business I suggest you read my September 3, 2010 RRPedia blog titled: 
Tim is one of my coaching/mentoring clients. We have been working together to help Tim grow his business and put a plan in place so he can slowly reduce his day to day involvement by empowering current and new employees as his business evolves. Tim shared the email below with me after sending it to his employees. In the email Tim shares a challenge he had with a painting contractor doing work at his own home as a way to help his employees understand how GreatHouse wants to build and protect its brand. With his permission I am sharing it with you.
