Selling to remodelers requires a different sales approach than selling to new home builders. Think of selling medicine to a hospital – with high volume, low margins, winning over 1 key decision maker, etc. – verses selling medicine to each individual doctor. To sell to each individual doctor – or to each remodeler – takes a grass roots, committed and consistent focus. The good news is that the pressure on margins created by the high volume purchases of new home builders is not as pervasive. The bad news is that selling to remodelers is a bit like hurding cats.

We buy from manufacturers, suppliers and subcontractors that:
1. Make it easy to spec, price, purchase and to obtain their products or services: We buy one or two items at a time, and we are on a tight timeline (in both the sales and production process) so we need it when we need it. Think through the holistic process for a remodeler – not just your one segment – to see if you are making it easy for the remodeler. You might have a great product, that is easy to price but if your suppliers aren’t getting it to the remodeler on time, the entire chain breaks down.
2. Relationships sell. I believe any sale is truly made on trust and relations. This is no different in selling to remodelers. A promotion from headquarters that is not bolstered by “boots on the ground” relations won’t work in today’s world. But how do you create relations with the myriad of remodelers spread in every corner of the country? Get involved in their issues (NARI, NAHB, etc.), sponsor events they love (fishing, hunting, events for their team, community, etc.), have a beer with them.

Remodeling can be very rewarding but it is not an easy entry business/quick sale for the manufacturers, suppliers or subcontractors trying to crack into it. The good news is that it can provide needed stability and risk mitigation to your revenue streams.

Beginning January 1, 2009 there are up to $500 in federal tax credits for homeowners making improvements to insulation, replacement windows, non-solar water heaters, and certain high efficiency heating and cooling equipment. For more details and forms needed go to http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits.

The plant is hearty to live (at least partially) through the cold stretch…but it also has heart. Not that different than the balance we all strive for in the current environment. We need to be hearty to live through the “cold stretch” but we also need to have heart. We need to remember each and every second that we are dealing with people’s lives – the lives of our employees, the lives of our clients, the lives of our subcontractors. The good news is that we aren’t truly in the line of fire such as those in our armed forces, firemen, policemen and other heroic endeavors. But we need to find the right balance of being “hearty” while also having “heart.”

On second thought, maybe the two are one in the same?

PRE-SALE: All projects/estimates are reviewed before they are sold. If a missed item is caught at this stage, we put it back in the estimate/price

POST SALE/BUT EARLY IN PROJECT: We do pre-construction walkthroughs and other “early project” steps to ensure the project starts off on the right foot. If we catch something at this stage, we look holistically at the project to see how we can make up for it – in other areas, sub vs. in-house labor, etc, etc. But we do not go back to the client unless it is something that we could not have known about (i.e. stack running where medicine cabinet was going to be recessed, etc.). We have a “concealed condition” clause in our contract that allows us to charge for such items.

END OF PROJECT: This is on us – at this point we have missed all the gates pre-sale and early in the project….so we have to use it as a “learning experience” to ensure we don’t do it again.

Hope this helps and good hunting!