Remodelers Tighten Up Labor Costs to Stay Afloat

Don't kid yourself, these won't be popular ideas to implement and they won't be easy, but sometimes we have to make tough decisions.

Remodelers Tighten Up Labor Costs to Stay Afloat - 10/1/2009 - Professional Remodeler: "Remodelers Tighten Up Labor Costs to Stay Afloat
Faced with a shortfall of new business, remodelers have been obliged to make cuts in staff, pay and benefits and bring work in house that used to be outsourced."

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Cell Phone Recycling

While preparing my remodeling office for a move, I stumbled upon our stash of used, out-of-date cell phones. We kept these phones over the years so that we could use parts in our new models. How many times did that happen over the past 20 years of cell phone use? About 2! How many cell phones had we accumulated? 27!!!

Purely by coincidence, I stumbled upon a great use for these phones that benefits our troops overseas. The program is called Cell Phones for Soldiers. Since 2004, teens Brittany & Robbie Bergquist and Cell Phones for Soldiers have raised millions of dollars to help our troops call home. Donated cell phones are recycled and the proceeds are used to purchase prepaid calling cards for American troops.

I hope those 27 phones provide some great talk time for our military families.

Looking for Financing for your Remodeling Business?

I ran across this article today on Remodeling on-line and it gives alot of information about where to go for SBA loans. Check it out:

http://www.remodeling.hw.net/green-policy/lifelines-of-credit.aspx#

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.

Continuity Plans – Not Just for the Swine Flu Outbreak

It’s a great idea to plan ahead in your business so that natural disasters, illness, injuries and family emergencies cause the least disruption possible. That’s the idea behind a Continuity Plan – your business can continue in some way if a future event occurs that would disrupt normal business practices.

Probably the most important thing you can do for yourself and your employees, customers and family in the case of a disaster is to remain calm. Having a contingency plan in place will help you to feel confident should anything untoward happen.

Here are some tips to help you with your own Continuity Plan:

1. Involve other employees in the planning process to ensure a thorough, workable plan. Make sure everyone in your organization knows the plan.
2. Develop an up-dated list of contact information for customers, vendors, subcontractors, and employees that you keep with you at all times.
3. Check to be certain you will have access to any warehouse or office space if you are not the primary occupant or if you sub-lease.
4. If you plan to work from home, test your systems now to be sure your remote access connections work.
5. If you have employees and you plan to allow them to work from home, test their remote access systems, too. Also check their internet access to make sure it is adequate.
6. Make note of all user names and passwords required for programs and web access. Make sure that employees who could be working from home have done the same.
7. Determine which functions are critical for your business and which can be put on the back burner in case your staff is reduced.
8. Cross train your employees so that all necessary jobs can be covered.
9. Test or activate on-line banking.
10. Make arrangements for additional labor if your own labor is unavailable.
11. Make arrangements for your own job functions and those of all key employees should you be unable to work.
    
    

A small business' unique position

As a small business owner, you are in a uniquely powerful situation. You have the ability to implement an idea very quickly. In most cases you are the board of directors, owner, and manager all rolled into one. You make the decisions while larger companies must run those new ideas through the proper channels.

Immediate action can help you turn your company quickly in the proper direction.

Multi-tasking is not your friend!

You’re probably a multi-tasker. I know that I am. I write an e-mail while talking on the phone. I switch from task to task as a thought enters my mind.

I thought I was pretty good at it. And I thought I was getting more done. Turns out, I’m probably not.

Switching rapidly from one task to another creates interruptions and down time. Interruptions cause me to not fully finish the task at hand. And then I put it aside for later. Each time I start a task, there is some up-to-speed time. That’s the time it takes me to re-acquaint myself with the task and get myself back into the mind-set needed to finish that task. So if I add up all those little bursts of time spent, it can be much more than if I completed the task immediately.

Better, say experts, to block out chunks of time (usually 1 – 2 hours) to work through and finish tasks uninterrupted. Then take a short break, 10 – 15 minutes, to recharge. Stretch, get a drink of water, eat a small snack. Use a kitchen timer to help.

I’m still a multi-tasker at heart but I’m trying to finish each task I start before going to the next.

Don't do business without a contract

I hope you have a legal contract that you use for all of your remodeling and home improvement work.

If you don’t, put down your tools and go right to your attorney’s office to get one. Otherwise you may end up there for not using a contract.

A contract protects not only the homeowner but you in case something goes wrong. It sets forth the full specifications of the job as well as what is expected from each party.

And if there is a change to the initial contract, make sure that you do an addendum. This can be a change order or additional work authorization or whatever you want to call it. But you have changed the initial contract and that, too, needs to be in writing, signed by both parties.

Even if you are the owner, you need to track your hours

The reason? Because if you hired someone to do the same work that you do, you would pay them for it. Right? Which means that you need to provide for this time in your job estimates. You won’t know how much to put in your estimates unless you track your time on a regular basis.

It’s easier than you think. You don’t need to go hog wild with it. Start by breaking down your time in ½ hour increments. Using an Excel spreadsheet, divide each day into Production – on the job time; Superintendent – planning and supervising labor and materials time; Sales – meeting with prospects and preparing estimates time; Office – any administrative time; and Owner – working on your company time.

Enter time each day and total on a regular basis – weekly or monthly.

You may even find that you are spending way too much time working in your business rather than on your business. But that’s the subject for another day.

Inspect what you expect

According to many experts, in order to get more accomplished in your day, you have to delegate some of your duties. Which ones? According to Brian Tracy, be ready to delegate anything that you possibly can to anyone who can do the task.

Of course, as Brian points out, delegation is not abdication. You must follow up and make sure that your delegated tasks are being completed on time and correctly. Supervise and schedule time to follow up.