2012 Top 500 Remodelers Respond
4. The changing conditions have required us to hire additional staff to be able to communicate instantaneously with each client about the status of their project. In many instances, the client is better informed than the company since the onsite project manager or employee hasn’t updated the company from the current days activity. In the past, it was acceptable to respond within 24 hours. Today it is required to communicate within a couple of hours of any call-in. The addition of staff requires additional overhead, which is unfortunately passed on to the client. Going against the grain of lower overhead is startling but necessary to keep with today’s trend of instant gratification. If you have a personal and professional goal of helping others and satisfying your clients, adding staff to accomplish those tasks is a necessary evil to our industry.
5. The changing market conditions always present opportunities for any company that is planning for the next year. We have discovered many new opportunities in the form of great people from different industries that have applied their experience to our industry to make us more efficient and a better value to our clients. By partnering with others who have the same values and beliefs we do, it will not only strengthen our company on the corporate level, but it will bring better service to our clientele.
6. Our company is different as it applies to how we use technology. By attempting to better ourselves through more advanced systems, we can make each project for the homeowner more organized, efficient, and better tracked to ensure their comfort throughout their project. Today we use all web-based contact management and project tracking. This advanced software lessens the stress and paperwork load for our employees, which in-turn makes the remodeling process flow better for our customers. We also use GPS systems in our Technicians and Quality control vehicles to track trends and billable hours. Overall, we feel that taking on new technology is something that reduces our workload and gives us a leg above the rest who choose to not to adapt to those exciting features in their own businesses.
#6
Power Home Remodeling Group
Chester, Pa.
1. While it may not yet show in the numbers, we’ve noticed a positive sentiment growing among consumers and businesses alike that things are starting to turn around. People seem more confident in general, and more willing to spend money on their homes to increase their value. We expect this upward movement to continue, homeowner confidence to grow and that ideally, contractors doing quality work will reap the benefits.
2. The remodelers who have succeeded are those that have stuck with what they know best during difficult economic times and have taken advantage of a slower period of business to focus even more on providing the best possible customer service. Nothing beats quality work and service, and homeowners know that. The businesses who played to their strengths and emphasized their ability to provide solid work are the ones who have thrived over the recent economic downturn. When homeowners are spending their increasingly sparse budget on a project, they want to have a good experience and feel like the money was well spent
3. We haven’t noticed a change, and instead have worked to remain consistent in the quality of work we offer our customers. Sometimes that focus is the most important thing a business can do to stay successful in a down economy.
4. In the past few years, we’ve invested heavily in our IT infrastructure to develop a more efficient, company-wide software program that allows all aspects of our process to be streamlined and helps projects move from sales to installation without a hitch. From the ability to automatically request products from manufacturers to compiling all customer interactions into one place, the new software has improved all parts of the business. It’s been a great addition, thanks to a significant investment in an area that wouldn’t typically be thought of as an urgent need in our industry. We took a leap of faith and it’s already paid off.
5. One of the opportunities we’ve discovered is that while the unemployment rate unfortunately remains high, we’ve actually found better and brighter people as a result. We’ve been lucky enough to recruit so many valuable and talented employees who may not have immediately considered a career in the remodeling industry in a better economic climate. In addition, as I’m sure many others in the industry have noticed, the amount of homeowners who have decided to invest in remodeling their current homes instead of purchasing new ones has increased and in turn, created a lot of opportunity for new business.
