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Feeling Uncertain? Here's the Prescription...

Bruce Case

Bruce Case started his career with Case in 1996, and is a second-generation member of the Case family to serve on the senior management team. Bruce is President of Case Design/Remodeling, Inc., a leading full-service home improvement organization that includes CaseInstituteofRemodeling.com, an online knowledge database.

Uncertainty runs deep. With our country, our political system, our economy, our businesses, and our future. Add to that the typical winter challenges (personal stress, client stress, backlogs tightening, etc.). I don't know about you, but often my first reaction in the face of all this is to scramble. What should we be doing that we aren't? What new things should we try? Should we jump into a new business entirely?
 
 
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On Sale! Cheap!!!

Ed Voytovich

Ed Voytovich, a 40-year remodeling veteran, is BPI-certified, a HERS Rater, a licensed home inspector in N.Y. state, and has a Ph.D. in English literature. Most recently he has served as the executive director of the Building Performance Contractors Association of NYS and as a consulting adviser to Building Efficiency Resources. He now works with Home Energy Performance by Halco, in central New York. Reach him at ed@TheBER.com.

No one can doubt that cheap sells; all we need to do is to walk into a Big Box retailer, the destination of choice for screw-it-up-yourselfers and low-bid contractors. "Cheap" corrodes the system, puts the providers of good products and technology at a disadvantage, and often drives them out of business.
 
 
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Responsibility and Your Relationship to It

Paul Winans

Paul Winans' career runs parallel to the changes in the remodeling industry over the last 40 years. From beginnings as a carpenter who didn't want to run a business, Paul teamed with his wife, Nina, to build a highly successful remodeling company. After almost three decades, Paul and Nina sold the business to someone outside the company, a rare event in the industry.

There are many remodeling businesses where there is a crazy entrepreneur who thinks the business is a great idea and a supporting spouse who wanted nothing to do with running a business doing a lot of the support work. Listen to one another. Both spouses need to own any major decision.
 
 
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Media Coverage of EPA's Lead Rule Performance

Shawn McCadden

Shawn McCadden founded, operated, and sold a successful design/build company. A co-founder of the Residential Design/Build Institute and former director of education for a national K&B remodeling franchise, Shawn speaks at industry events and consults with remodeling companies.

At a RRP workshop I attended last week, sponsored by the Lead and Environmental Hazards Association (LEHA), several renovators complained to Mike Wilson of EPA about EPA's handling of the RRP rule. Renovators complying with the RRP rule have been asking for two specific actions from EPA to help level the playing field: consumer awareness and adequate enforcement.
 
 
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Rejecting Mr. Potato Head Mentality

Kathy Shertzer

Kathy Shertzer has been the officer manager/gatekeeper for eight years for DuKate Fine Remodeling, a design/build firm in Franklin, Ind.

Why are we intimidated by truth? It is a common problem for a lot of us, even for those who consider themselves to be honest and forthright. But the truth is, we are more often than not just like Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story. You know the part I mean, where Mr. Potato Head removes his lips and proceeds to kiss his bottom with them. We say polite things that are not true.
 
 
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A Matter of Trust—and Leadership

Greg Antonioli

Greg Antonioli founded Out of the Woods Construction & Cabinetry Inc. in 1992. Greg is also a long-time member of Remodelers Advantage Roundtables, vice president of a NARI chapter, and a Sandler Sales trainee. He is also an avid reader of business books & periodicals, a regular magazine contributor, and (some have said) a twisted thinker and believes that his company’s #1 obligation is to its construction clients. Greg is a native of California’s Silicon Valley area and a graduate of Santa Clara University. He and his wife have three daughters and live in Acton, Mass.

I trust my employees to "play hurt" if they can. It's what team players do. They understand their role in executing the company's plan and how it affects their teammates. For the most part, if they don't show up, their responsibilities don't just evaporate. They either need to make up the work at some point or feel an obligation to make it up to the teammate who covered for them.
 
 
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The Face of Your Company

Steve Gray

Steve Gray is the owner of Steve Gray Renovations in Indianapolis. Steve’s vision is to bring professionalism to the home renovation industry. He works with homeowners to turn their renovation dreams into reality using a process that creates long-term relationships through four core tenets: honesty, integrity, quality and craftsmanship.

I have worked in this industry for over 20 years. I think remodeling industry employees don’t typically hit the two decade mark. Part of the reason for short tenures is the lack of professionalism in some remodeling businesses with regard to the culture they create for their employees.
 
 

Fundamentals of Construction Engineering, Thursday Edition: Cantilevers

Ted Cushman's Remodeling Blog

Ted Cushman attended Harvard College in Cambridge, Mass., served for 4 years as a U.S. Army paratrooper, and worked as a frame and finish carpenter for 7 years before joining the staff of The Journal of Light Construction (JLC), where he anchored the news desk for 4 years and edited technical and business feature articles. In his 15-year career as a construction photo-journalist, Ted has earned a national reputation for insightful, accurate, and practical coverage of homebuilding techniques, building science, and housing economics.

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In the Neighborhood

Tim Nagle

Tim Nagle is the president of Remodel Buddy, a business organization specializing in coaching and peer roundtables. Tim is active as a speaker in the industry on building a culture of success in remodeling and home improvement businesses and how to develop a marketing system. He was also in a partnership for 15 years which evolved into a large, national home improvement company. You can reach him at tim@RemodelBuddy.com

How many of you have tried postcard mailings, had very little response, and then given up? I’ve talked to a few remodeling business owners that tried direct mail once and due to the low response rate, decided not to spend money on that type of marketing again.
 
 
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Market Lessons...from my son

Michael Anschel

Michael Anschel is the owner and principal of Otogawa-Anschel Design Build, a nationally recognized and award-wining design and build firm and a committed leader to the green building movement in Minnesota. Among other professional affiliations, Michael is vice-chair of the board of directors of Minnesota GreenStar and CEO of Verified Green, Inc., which consults with builders, remodelers, architects, and state and city officials on green building. Visit his Web sites at www.otogawa-anschel.com and www.verifiedgreen.org.

How well do you market? Seriously, how well do you know your audience? Do you even know who your audience is? What is your ideal client or customer? Can you describe them? What commonalities do they share? Have you found your ideal client yet or are they like the great white buffalo? (yes, that was a “Hot Tub Time Machine” reference.)
 
 
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