I recently received a call from a remodeler who was behind on his estimating. He said he had 16 estimates on his desk waiting to be completed. I was dumbfounded. I asked him if these were small projects that could be done quickly, and he said “no.” His average job size was $40,000, so the 16 estimates waiting on his desk ranged in size from $11,000 to over $140,000, based on his preliminary guesses. I asked him when he was going to find the time to complete these estimates, and he said he was going to have to “burn the midnight oil.”

Sometime this month, Mark Brick and will family will go on vacation to Toronto, Canada, with all expenses paid. He didn’t win this trip. Mark’s lumber company is paying for Mark’s trip to Canada. He got this “free” trip by discovering that his lumber company gave free trips to homebuilders when their annual sales volume exceeded a certain amount. After speaking with a homebuilder to get the facts, he negotiated with his lumber company to get the same benefit. He and his family leave for Toronto in late August.

I have been writing about the importance of organizational systems in your business. You can’t argue against systems-every successful business has them, and you need them to grow. There is another issue that I’ve seldom seen written about, which underlies the effective implementation of effective systems: letting go.

Homeowners, before any major remodeling project, are scared. They are filled with fears-usually unwarranted, frequently emotional, and sometimes irrational. There are many reasons that they feel the way they do, but 5 major reasons are reviewed.

I wanted to send a follow-up note regarding some video segments on working with distressed real estate. I’m highlighting this because while remodeling is a good business, it doesn’t allow business owners to build wealth. This was made abundantly clear several years ago when I was speaking with a very successful remodeling contractor who had begun rehabbing old homes. He had been doing this for years, and I was curious about it.

Referrals are the strongest business leads we can get. When a past customer sings our praises, we can get no better recommendation. In light of this, I want to show you how to transform ordinary business relationships into extraordinary ones. I want to encourage you to create actions that are designed to be so exceptional and different from what is expected that your customers are pleasantly surprised, to say the least. These actions generate such good work-of-mouth advertising that it’s the best form of advertising you can buy regardless of cost.

I had a wonderful breakthrough in my remodeling business when I discovered that I could set project rules that homeowner would agree to follow. Now, I learned from practical experience that I couldn’t set these rules after the project had started. No, any rule setting had to be agreed upon before the project started. I understood that I could do this after I spoke with a psychiatrist who had just completed a 6-month remodeling job. After his project was complete, he told me that “parental transference” takes place on many remodeling projects. In many projects, a good contractor takes on a parenting role to the clients he or she is working with. Interested in reviewing an agreement for House Rules?

I have been writing for several years now about how to be more successful in the remodeling industry. With over half of the nation’s homes being built prior to 1980, there will always be a remodeling industry because homes around the country are aging just like we are. They will continue to need work, love, and attention. Remodeling is a good industry, and anyone reading this will usually share positive stories from their experience while working in this industry. It is fulfilling work, but it doesn’t build wealth.

With business getting harder and harder to find, you should be leveraging every appropriate marketing opportunity you can find. Referrals are always best, but since the market downturn, there are less and less referrals available. Truck signs, jobsite signs, and “pardon my dust” mailing are a great way to expand your exposure in areas where you are working. Internet-based lead referral companies are another way to maximize your exposure with potential customers.

OK, it’s a dumb title. If you’re in the home improvement industry, you either learn how to sell your services, or you go out of business. Here is the key point – some contractors do this better than others. In this market, with all the changes taking place, sales is something you better be good at. John Henry is good at selling himself. He credits Michael Stone’s book entitled “Profitable Sales, A Contractor’s Guide” with giving him the direction he needed. He has learned how to sell. John runs Majestic Fences and Decks just outside Austin, TX. He is staying busy. Very busy. I called him to ask him about his ability to sell so successfully, and here are some things he reviewed with me.