Qualified Remodeler helps independent remodeling firms to survive, become more professional and more profitable by providing must-have business information, namely best business practices, new product information and timely design ideas.
Issue link: https://qualifiedremodeler.epubxp.com/i/293310
Industry involvement: National Association of the Remodeling Industry, Remodelers Advantage, Certified Green Advantage Community involvement: Rotary Club, Vanderbilt Alumnae Association, Westminster Presbyterian Church When and why did you join Remodelers Advantage? What are the benefits of member- ship? We joined about seven years ago. Undoubtedly, the greatest benefit is working through issues with folks who know your company well and who are dealing with or have dealt with similar issues. You can't put a price on that. Having peers in the industry who are intimately familiar with your busi- ness is just awesome. What has been the most important lesson learned from your peers at Remodelers Advantage? The more you think you have figured out, the more you realize how much you don't know. What have you done recent- ly to improve your compa- ny's performance? We hired Chip Doyle to work with our sales team. Chip is a Sandler Sales Trainer who works with a lot of remod- elers around the country. Having gone through Sandler Training in the past, we knew how important it was to selling. Then when you layer in his tremendous knowledge of our industry, it was a no-brainer for us. It was definitely the best decision of 2013. Can you share a best prac- tice or two that you'll never abandon? Selling our jobs fixed-price. We hate surprises more than our clients. I lose sleep when no one knows the costs upfront. What is the greatest threat t o t h e s u c c e s s o f a remodeler and/or remodeling business? The single-source "retail tradespeople." I call them the big-box plumbers or electricians. Their marketing- intense business models are attempting to shift consumers away from having a contractor administering the care of their house. It is like a patient eliminating his or her primary care physician and deciding which specialists they need to see. It works until you have an orthopedic treating your allergies, which we see happening to houses all the time. The consumers don't realize the pitfalls of "self-administering" the care of their home, and if we remodelers don't help them understand the contrast we are going to suffer greatly. However, I believe that remodelers who can get this message right, and who can help consumers In partnership with understand this, will thrive. That is where our focus is. Where/what are the great- est opportunities in the remodeling market? Smaller updating- type jobs. More people are approaching their home improvements in a more conservative manner than they did a few years ago. They are doing little projects one-at-a-time versus the old way of doing everything at once. Our average remodeling job size has gone down continuously since 2009. The companies that can most efficiently capitalize on those job types will win. If you could change one thing about the remodeling industry, what would it be? I would create higher standards for entry into the remodeling profession. I used to say all you needed was a pickup truck, but you don't even have to have that anymore. Seriously, consumers hire unqualified beginners to remodel their $1 million houses, and all too often get stuck with a mess when the job is done, if it ever gets done. And I hate that. Literally, if everyone had to join Remodelers Advantage before they could start their busi- ness, the industry would be a lot better. QR Clients must know true costs of change orders, says Wendell Harmer of The Wills Co. in Nashville, whose project is below. ForResidentialPros.com QR April 2014 41 Remodelers Advantage Member Profile :PROFITS Wendell Harmer OWNER, GENERAL MANAGER, THE WILLS CO., NASHVILLE, TENN. YEAR FOUNDED: 1991 NUMBER OF TEAM MEMBERS: 17 YEARS AT COMPANY: 21 YEARS IN REMODELING: 21 QUR_41_RAProfile414.indd 41 3/28/14 10:28 AM