2012 Top 500 Remodelers Respond
#306
Jeff Hund
All Seasons Construction Inc.
Wichita, Kan.
2. We have succeeded by
1) Not believing all the doom & gloom
2) We upped our advertising budget
3) We have stayed in touch with our old customers
4) We do a lot of smaller projects that lead to bigger projects: i.e. small 2 window job that leads to siding job or bath remodel
4. We are doing 0% financing that we thought we would never do.
#346
John Murphy, Owner
Murphy Bros.
Minneapolis, Minn.
6. It feels like we have re-wound to about 1995, shortly after I moved the office out of the house. I am back to sales, design and some project management, which isn’t all bad but I am trying to figure out how to grow smarter by avoiding some pitfalls that I didn’t miss the first time around.
#116
Craig Durosko, founder and chairman
Sun Design
Burke, Va.
I think with any challenge comes an opportunity. It forces you to change to survive. In that change we learn valuable lessons about ourselves and our companies. I am happy to say Sun Design is a stronger company today from these challenges. We had been open book, by adding forward forecasting it has allowed us to make changes as we see them coming and allows employees to have an impact rather than sharing historical numbers and not be able to effect the outcome. Also, measuring the client and employee experience with the Net Promoter score has allowed us to measure the improvements we are making in those areas.
#380
Joseph A. Giorgi, Jr., CKD, President
Giorgi Kitchens & Designs
Wilmington, Del.
2. Presenting clients with good design and pricing the job right has helped us get thru these difficult times. Taking advantage of special offerings by our suppliers and passing them on to the client has been a big advantage in motivating clients to sign.
3. Everyone seems to be looking for a good value or discount the past few years.
5. The market changes made me look at my product offering to better fit our clients’ needs and budgets. As a result of the changes we’ve made it has helped us sign projects we would not have before and also presented us with leads we may not have received without the new products. The key is to make changes that make the most sense for our individual business needs.
#166
Kyle Whalen CGR, President
President BACK Construction Co. Inc.
Lexington, Ky.
1. The industry has absolutely changed. I liken it to the changes in the homebuilding industry the last 25 yrs.
2. It is less about the “big” job remodel and more about sustaining a lead flow of much smaller jobs. It is less about the owner and more about the sales force and management team.
3. Our biggest change is our impetus on marketing to sustain a flow of leads for a growing sales force. It is also about finding new products to compliment the ones we have now.
4. We thought we would never partner with Lowes or any big box, but they are definitely a part of the “new reality”.
5. The changing market has made us a much better company, with better planning, marketing and business practices in general. We have a much more predictable business model and are less reactive to the eb and flow of leads, we now control that flow.
6. We are much more like the replacement contractors that we did not look as favorably toward much less desired to emulate.
#500
Stephanie Bullwinkel, CBD
Imperial Kitchens and Baths, Inc.
Brookfield, Ill.
History is always repeating itself, and we see this as being cyclical just like everything else in this world. There is only one constant and that is change. When we hit the economic downturn, we really thought that recovers were going to be "the thing." People who still needed work done would be looking for ways to economize their money to get more "bang for the buck." But it really wasn't the case, and that surprised us. People were either buying or they were not buying. No one was really looking for a cheaper option.
