At a recent seminar I did, one of the young guys came up to me after class and said, “I can’t markup my work as much as you say I should, no one would buy from me.”
I asked what his markup was and he said “Cost times 1.2″ and added the famous old line, “That [...]
Recently I’ve been made painfully aware of a problem some contractors have that they may not even realize. That problem is focusing on themselves and their business, instead of the customer.
I was made aware of it by my own recent experience. I hired someone to do some work for us. I thought I’d found the [...]
I had an interesting phone call the other day. A contractor who works in a coastal community told me he had a realtor call and practically beg him to come out and do some work on her home. The realtor told him she called a number of “contractors” and not one of them returned her [...]
How are you doing on your estimates? Are they accurate, on time, and dependable? Or, are you having problems? Slow to get done, items missing, estimated labor hours way off?
I am doing some research on estimating and could really use your input. Would you be willing to drop me a note and tell me the [...]
I had an interesting conversation with a contractor recently. He told me he takes leads from anyone that calls in. He does qualify them before he jumps on his horse and rides off to rescue or repair, but he is willing to look at most jobs that folks call him about.
Now, you might say, “That’s [...]
A reader sent us a question –
We recently took on an insurance job for a good repeat customer. His water heater leaked in the attic while out of town and caused much damage in his home. After providing him a thorough proposal and beginning the work, the insurance company began the process of telling [...]
We’ve talked a lot recently about the importance of using current technology in your marketing, especially having a good webpage and incorporating video in your advertising. We recently received a great newsletter from Haines Contracting, Inc., in Doylestown, PA, with a video testimonial included. You can view the video on YouTube.
Dave Haines created a great [...]
Got a note in from a landscape contractor. He is wondering how to deal with folks that talk with each other, spreading rumors that he is high priced. Here, in part, is what he said:
We are a full service landscape contractor and we do a lot of work in high end residential golf communities. Everyone [...]
