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To Your Success,
Annette
On The Level Consulting

Positive economic news continues for remodeling industry

In the latest Key Indicator Alert from Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, the slightly positive economic news continues for the remodeling and home improvement industries.

Both new and existing home prices continue to rise slightly. Existing home sales rose but new home sales fell slightly. Mortgage rates are continuing to creep up, too. Those factors are making possible buyers re-think their wait and see strategies. It may be time to jump into the market.

And inventories of both new and existing homes are continuing to go down. That means we are working through the foreclosed homes (although slowly) and there are less homes available.

So what happens when there is less supply and more demand? Prices go up. Everyone wants what they can’t have. And the housing industry heats up again.


Check out more business advice for your remodeling or construction business.

Here’s a no cost way to get work for your remodeling business

Today, I had an appointment for a bathroom estimate in the next town over from my remodeling company’s office. It’s about 15 minutes away, tops.

A past customer lives right around the corner from my appointment. This past customer had called in last week with a concern about a water leak. They thought they had a crack in their foundation. Now we don’t do any type of foundation work but, since they are a great customer and I was in the area, I thought I’d stop by and give it a look. Maybe I could pinpoint the leak for them and refer them to a contractor who could help them.

Turns out, the water is leaking from a broken washing machine hose. We scheduled some handyman work and we’ll take care of it for them right away.

If I had not taken the time to stop and help them out, I would have missed out on some additional work. I know changing a washing machine hose is not a big deal. But once we are in there, many times customers find more projects for us to do.

Giving your past customers some personal attention can bring additional work to your doorstep. Just a quick stop when you’re in the area and a hello can get your past customers thinking about more remodeling work and keep you and your remodeling business at the top of their mind.

Continuing the Positive Economic News

The Hanley Wood Market Intelligence Key Indicator Alert is out for the week. It’s more positive news, although slightly so. At least it’s not negative. The stock market did pull back some from its run. But that’s to be expected with investors wanting to take their profits when they can.

You may have heard in the news that housing starts jumped in May by 17%. That’s true but . . . it’s mostly multi-family housing. Single family housing rose only by 3%.

Housing continues to move ever-so-slightly up. New home starts are up and inventories are low – about 10 months. That’s the lowest the new homes inventory has been since over a year ago. And the median new home prices continue to rise ever so slightly. Of course, they are still down drastically from where they were just a year ago.

Existing home sales also rose but are down from where they were one year ago. And more slightly good news is that the median existing home prices are inching upward.

Mortgage rates continue to rise and fall. Last week they fell again.

So the good news is that things are moving in the right direction, although very slowly. That’s probably for the best right now. We don’t need any huge spikes and we certainly don’t need the economy to go into over-drive overnight. Slow and steady.

If you’d like to learn how to discover trends in your own market, check out my article How to Become Your Own Economist – Reliably Predict Your Construction or Remodeling Market.

Do You Know Who Your Buyers Are?

Demographics are the characteristics of populations. You’ve probably heard that word thrown around a lot. Maybe your yellow pages rep came in and asked you what the demographics are for your remodeling or construction company’s market. Or you might have read an article that talked about your market’s demographics.

The truth is it’s an extremely important statistic for you to know. And if you don’t know who your customers are, chances are you are wasting an awful lot of time and money trying to get customers for your remodeling or construction business.

Because once you know who is most likely to buy your remodeling or construction services, the easier it is for you to find them.

Now your demographics are not the same as ABC Construction down the street or XYZ Remodelers up the block. Every business is different.

Find the demographics for the jobs that are in your sweet spot. The ones that are produced on time, on budget and with the least amount of problems. The ones where your company makes the highest gross profit.

So what do you need to know? Here are some items to get you started:

Where do they live?
Are they male or female?
Are they married, single, divorced?
What is their economic status?
What problem are they trying to solve?
Or what pleasure are they trying to gain?

Add to your list.

To Your Success,
Annette

Saving Money is a Beautiful Thing!

I stopped in my local Verizon store yesterday to upgrade a phone on our remodeling company’s account.

That trip will save me over $2000 this coming year!

When I walked in, I was intent only on purchasing the new phone (as cheaply as possible) and getting out of there (as quickly as possible). The salesperson, Michelle, told me that she wanted to check our current plan first. When she returned, she said she could save us some money. Yeah, right, I thought.

But Michelle and I started crunching the numbers and the new plan should save us about $180 a month. That is substantial!

Lesson for today: Periodically (maybe every 6 months to 1 year), contact all vendors with whom I have monthly contracts to ask if there are any new plans that would work better for my business.

It was a sad day at our remodeling company’s office

Today our administrative assistant’s father passed away unexpectedly. Our hearts ache for the family as they deal with their grief.

I thought about our small group and how we have come together in the past to help each other deal with grief and pain. And we’ve been there to help with the celebrations, too.

I’d never really thought about it too much before, but our group has been through much together. We’ve cried together at 4 funerals, celebrated together at 2 weddings, rejoiced over 3 grandbabies, and commemorated 3 of our children as they graduated high school. I’m happy that we’ve had no divorces.

Today we again vow to help our friend bear her pain. We’ll fill in for her while she is away. We’ll comfort her when she returns. And, hopefully, we’ll help her ease into a new normal. Because that’s what friends do.

More positive economic news trickling in

The Hanley Wood Market Intelligence Key Indicator Alert is out for this week. And there is more positive news about the economy.

First both new and existing home sales are up slightly, making the third straight month of increases for both indicators, while median home prices for both new and existing homes have increased, too. These indicators could be pointing toward a stabilization in the housing markets, one of the key requirements for a true economic recovery to take place.

In addition, consumer confidence soared in May to its highest level since last September. Also significant is that this is the third straight month that the consumer confidence index has increased.

Personal incomes have increased slightly for the first time since last September. But consumer spending is down. So what are people doing with their money? Paying down debt and putting it into savings. Could this be an indication that consumers will be ready to buy once they know that the economy is out of recession?

If you have been watching the stock markets, you’ll notice a steady rise. Regular market increases and pull-backs have been the norm lately. And more money is moving back into those equity markets.

This all sounds like great news, doesn’t it? Don’t get excited too quickly, though. We’ve still got a huge albatross. It’s called the auto industry. With both GM and Chrysler in bankruptcy, look for effects on employment and consumer spending in the near future.

And then there is . . . inflation. But we won’t go there yet.

If you’d like to learn more about your own market (a micro-economy) by following three economic indicators each month, check out my article How To Become Your Own Economist: Reliably Predict Your Market With Just 3 Easy-to-Find Economic Indicators.

June Is National Safety Month

For those of us in the remodeling and construction industries, June is a great month to re-commit ourselves to the safety of our workers. Requiring safe practices on the job is not only good business, it’s the right thing to do for our workers and their families.

A safety program is the first step to ensuring that your company is a safe place to work. Your insurance agent or insurance underwriter can help you with a safety program. Or check on-line for a ready-made program.

Training is the next step. Make sure that your employees know the safety rules and why those rules are important. Enforcement is probably the hardest step. Owners, managers and fellow workers must be able to speak up when they see unsafe behavior. After all, one accident can affect the entire company in many ways.

Take the time this month to put a safety plan in place or dust off the one you already have. Safety at work is a top priority in our industry.

A body in motion stays in motion

The universal law of physics applies to both the body and mind. Once an activity is started, it’s easier to maintain momentum.

So how do you get started on a project or activity? Especially one you’ve been putting off?

Start by creating an action plan. Break the project down into smaller tasks. But the real secret is to include easy, less demanding tasks at the start of the project to make it easier to begin. Once the project is started, the tasks become more demanding. By that time, momentum has begun and the law of physics kicks in.

Need to start a project and just haven’t yet been able? Strive to be the body in motion. Start with small tasks and take advantage of the momentum you create.