NAHB: Millennials Want Both Shower Stalls and Tubs in Bathrooms
More than three-quarters of millennials desire primary bathrooms with both shower stalls and bathtubs, according to the National Association of Home Builders'...
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Recent Blog Posts
What's Next for the Home Improvement Industry?
Fall is a time to look ahead and prepare for the year to come. In the home improvement industry, this manifests in numerous ways: Businesses begin to plan for...
Twenty Years of Learning and Facilitating
In 2000, I was asked by Linda Case and Victoria Downing to be a facilitator of Remodelers Advantage Roundtable Meetings. Each Roundtables group consists of...
Contractor Jobsite Trailer Ideas
Having the right tool for the job can make all the difference in the world -- especially in the contracting business. Furthermore, having the right place to...
Survey: Most Homeowners Want to Upgrade Their Homes
A majority of U.S. homeowners expect to make improvements on their homes in the next year to build up their home's value, the Chase Home Lending survey finds....
Find Extra Days, Get One More Job per Year
We talk a lot about process improvement. How can we make our processes easier, better, faster and ultimately cheaper. And most of the remodeling companies I...
Do's and Don'ts for Managing Subcontractor Installers
Subcontractor installers can be your best friend or your most recent nightmare. It’s all in the expectations set and the manner in which you follow through....
Got a Problem? Get a Process
Systems, processes, manuals, standards: The Holy Grail of the mythical smooth-running business. With none of the above in place, every day your company is open...
Use this 12-Step Guide to Hire the Right Manager for Your Growing Business
Your company has grown. You used to do everything. Now you feel it is time to shed some of the responsibilities, to hire a key manager to take them on. What...
The Right Steps to Effective Contractor Safety Management
For owners of a contracting business, safety management is every bit as important as quality of work and customer satisfaction. In fact, effective contractor...
EPA and HUD Announce New Lead Dust Standards for Floors and Window Sills
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced new, tighter standards for lead in dust on...
Where To Start When Building A Deck From Scratch
Building a deck from scratch is one of the toughest DIY projects one can take on. Think about it..it’s just some wood and a bunch of screws right? Thinking to...
Pay for Results, Not Possibilities
A design-build company makes money building projects that it has designed and specified. The big checks come only after a contract gets signed for turning what...
Turn Old Decks Into New Decks
Last spring a customer who Dennis Schaefer had built a cedar deck for during the '90s called to say he'd noticed some rot and thought that maybe the deck...
Customers Love Companies That Deliver the Personal Touch. Make Sure You're One of Them.
I travel quite a bit. My wife Nina and I are looking to see more of the world each year. Facilitating, consulting, and speaking take me all over the place. As...
Selling and Installing the Difficult Roof
The job was a three-story Victorian with “a very large turret, and a mansard,” recalls Kevin Phillips, co-owner of Full Service Roofing & Remodeling in Quincy,...
Navigating: The Crucial Middle Step in Design/Build
"Design/Build" is a business model many remodelers have adopted. For a client, the convenience of dealing with one firm for designing and building their...
Staying Safe On A Ladder
Many of the home and garden ideas that you find on these blogs or other places on the internet require use of a ladder. While these serve as a very important...
Choosing Caulks and Sealants
When choosing the right caulk and sealants for your next job, it’s important to take into account a product’s specific qualities: flexibility, adhesion,...
How to Respond to Clients Who Now Want More Than They Once Did
In a previous blog I wrote about how to deal with a client’s hard stop regarding budget when the best solution might cost more. A reader asked the...
Why 55-Plus Housing Design Matters
Despite the hurdles we face, the housing industry is ripe with opportunity. It’s no secret anymore that the 55-plus market is among the most lucrative. This...
Why You Should Go Slow When You're Making a Sale
When do you make the sale? Is it when you present the proposal? I believe not. More often than not, your prospect has already made his decision before you...
To Make a Marketing Difference, Focus Less on What to Do and More on Doing It
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you don’t lack marketing ideas. You attend educational sessions, webinars, talk to colleagues, receive countless...
Attract Better Hires by Employing These Three Tips for Writing Want Ads
With a shrinking workforce and generational transition, being able to write an effective want ad has never been more important. Here are three recommendations...
Sell More Jobs by Getting the Most Out of Your Just-Finished Work
Ask any remodeler to tell you the best source for their leads and the answer is always “referrals” and “word of mouth.” A referral is a proactive suggestion...