The Business of this Business

[Jamie H]

Hello,
I have been a subscriber to the publication for awhile and am excited to find the forums.
I have been a building contractor for a little over ten years now. My business has evolved in several ways in that time. I started a formal company in 1998 in commercial and residential remodeling. By 2003 we were building million dollar waterfront properties (Thats expensive where i live) and as of the last couple of years have reverted to the remodeling side of the business with some decks and historical preservation work sprinkled in. After reviewing my profit margins over the last 2 yrs and my life in general, I believe I would like to narrow my scope of work to a more manageable and repetitive set of tasks, ie. no plumbing, elect, hvac, drywall and so on.
So after much consideration I set upon converting to a Deck company.
In my area there are no true "deck" companies and i think from my google analytics info and several conversations with friends in the Landscaping business, there is a definite opportunity to make a go of it.
Long i know.....

Production wise i am already set, I'll have my job manuals done in a couple of weeks and am marketing the new concept to all of my past and current clients

I am looking for info on design software - I have seen deck tools and soft plan but would like to hear from someone who is using it.
Currently I use SU and Autocad for my drawings, again trying to simplify.

Another issue I have is marketing. I would like some insight into what types are most productive. Im the past we were 99% architect referral and I don't believe that will be the case in the future.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Bobby Parks]

Hi Jamie and welcome to the forum. There are benefits to being niche specific and I hope this works out well for you. As far as Deck tools is concerned I like it but have not fully utilized as I should . I'm working on that now. There are others that should read your post and tell you more about this.

As far as marketing is concerned: I believe that working to earn and obtain referrrals should always be the goal. It is amazing to hear at places like the Remodeling Show and the Deck Expo just how large of percentage of the work volume can be obtained thru referrals. In fact you should try to attend the Deck Expo especailly since you're just entering this as your primary business or product offering. Theres a lady that will conduct a class on Marketing and Referralls named Adrian Zoble that I've heard wonderful comments about. There are others as well. Check out the class offerings on the Deck Expo site.

That said, I think you have to market in a way that allows you to generate enough leads and allowing for realistic closing ratios to give your business the chance to hit your targeted sales numbers. The general approach of budgeting 4-5% of planned sales for marketing use in my opinion is the way to go. Over time if referrrals account of r what they should in annual sales then great, you might can afford to back off on spending. It would be better in my opiion to look back at the end of the year and realize that I might could have saved some money on marketing because I ended up with more jobs from referals than to look back and realize I had counted too much on referrals and my business suffered and I can't keep people busy 12 months oput of the year.

I believe it takes a consolidated effort of varying types of marketing to wortk well. One approach only may limit you. Differnt ypes of marketing that works seems to vary in different markets. Many still do Home Shows although I don't. Smaller markets seem to do pretty well with basic things like Yellow Page Listings while large markets see a smaller result of jobs percentage wise. Mid to high end builders probably get pretty good results from customers finding them online thru website or Yellow page.com although I believe the Yellowpage .com will barely pay for itself for me. Direct marketing pieces at a good price per piece targeted into the right demographics ( home values income etc can yield results, Neighborhood Directories and Newsletters can as well. What works for me here may not work the same in other areas but the right combination can. Kudzu.com and Angies list seems to be working for many contractors and there are endless free opportunties that will yield limited results such as being a preferred contractot on Trex , Evergrain and basically product websites. A combination of all the mentioned or what you choose based on affordabilty and budget to me is the way to go. You simply track the lead origins thru the year and tweak next years plan based on the results. I simply paln and note what kind of sales I need to achieve in order to pay for the marketing I commit to. If I see something does not work I'll change or discontiue. I know this is all basic stuff but I think thats pretty much what it comes down to. The bottom line is yopu have to plan and map out a way to hit your numberrs instead of sit back and hope the phone rings .

Bobby

[Bobby Parks]

I can. I watch this forum regularly but try not to be the loud mouth here. Theres alot of good input and talent from others that reply occasionally. I'd like to see more from everyone.
Thanks for the comment.

Bobby Parks

Peachtree Decks and Porches LLC

[Bob Bulick]

It's been hard to get back into this site due to the constant spamming. It looks like they cleaned it up again. I'll try to help you carry the load. Lets hope they found a way to stop the spammers.

[edmontoncustomdecks]

You both sound very intelligent. I am currently ramping up my advertising for spring of 09'. I am doing the basics such as website, signage etc. One suggestion, is contact the decking manufacturers to become "certified" installer. Some offer incentives such as website accessability, tools, advertising, truck decal. I am currently right in the middle of doing exactly that.

I am a painfully honest person with a concsience and I beleive, if you let these qualities bleed into your work and interaction with people, the work will be plentiful.

That is my niche so to speak. There are very few honest and reputable builders anymore. Personally, I can not sleep unless I know I have done a good job and earned my money.

[MikeJansen]

Do you have a website? If not, get going on that. We've been in business for 20 years strictly building decks (15 years @ 100% new construction, 3 years 50/50 new & existing, the last 2 almost 100% existing residential replacing decks) and have found in the last 2 years we are getting more from internet searches and being listed as "preferred" contractor on deck product websites. The web is the way of the future! Not getting many professional trade referrals (builders) any more...our past builders are now our competitors!

[ONE DAY DECKS]

Hello,
I have been a subscriber to the publication for awhile and am excited to find the forums.
I have been a building contractor for a little over ten years now. My business has evolved in several ways in that time. I started a formal company in 1998 in commercial and residential remodeling. By 2003 we were building million dollar waterfront properties (Thats expensive where i live) and as of the last couple of years have reverted to the remodeling side of the business with some decks and historical preservation work sprinkled in. After reviewing my profit margins over the last 2 yrs and my life in general, I believe I would like to narrow my scope of work to a more manageable and repetitive set of tasks, ie. no plumbing, elect, hvac, drywall and so on.
So after much consideration I set upon converting to a Deck company.
In my area there are no true "deck" companies and i think from my google analytics info and several conversations with friends in the Landscaping business, there is a definite opportunity to make a go of it.
Long i know.....

Production wise i am already set, I'll have my job manuals done in a couple of weeks and am marketing the new concept to all of my past and current clients

I am looking for info on design software - I have seen deck tools and soft plan but would like to hear from someone who is using it.
Currently I use SU and Autocad for my drawings, again trying to simplify.

Another issue I have is marketing. I would like some insight into what types are most productive. Im the past we were 99% architect referral and I don't believe that will be the case in the future.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated


Word of mouth and quality work will be your best bet for advertising. This should be easy since you already have samples of your work. You should be able to shift your current advertising and marketing plan to your new line of business. Stay with architect referrals. Start some kind of customer referral program. Get business cards also, and leave them every where. A telephone no. or e-mail address would be helpful also. Though it would be nice, I don’t think you would need a web site right away. You don’t want to bring in business from three states over. I would think you would already have one from your last business.

Hope this helps

[thedeckbarn]

grass roots advertising is the best. i just don't understand this phrase spamming. are you referring to people who have a product to sell and are trying to bring it to market???????????? that's what deck builders do all day, you leave signs here, signs there, business cards here and there. its just commerce. who does more damage guys who leave there signs on lawns all over the place, put there business cards here and there or someone who leaves an electronic message. it cost nothing to look at the message and its a lot easier to hit the delete button than to have others get your signs out of the way. how nuch junk mail do you get from the post office? or do you believe that the only good advertising is paid for and regulated through the federal government. makes me wonder. or maybe i am not sure of the term spam. would this be spam to you if i said: go to my website and save a lot of money on powdercoated aluminum spindles and you did. would you fell hurt and indignant that there are real people who have a good message to send or is it that you don't have a meassge to send and the rest is just spam..............
steve scholl
killerdecks
thedeckbarn.com

[thedeckbarn]

any ways this is just to jamie h the originator of this line of questions. if you send me an e-mail to killerdecks@att.net i will tell you a sure fire no cost. to get leads. i won't post it on the internet because i don't want the
people in detroit to know how i do it or they will do the same. no gimmicks and when you get the answer from me don't post it to the spam haters
steve scholl
killerdecks
thedeckbarn.com