00:00:00:00 - 00:00:20:13

This is the part that it took me a little bit to get to. I'm okay with the people that say no because that usually means they're price shopping me, which means they're not my client in the first place. Welcome to the Builder Hacks Podcast, your go to destination for cutting edge strategies, time tested systems, and invaluable insights to revolutionize your construction business and elevate your life.

00:00:20:15 - 00:00:49:10

Join your host, Nate Piper and Keith Mills. Seasoned contractors who are not just in the trenches, but are also pioneering the future of the industry through Concord University and each episode, we dive deep into the minds of the industry's most accomplished building professionals, uncovering their secrets to success, and sharing actionable tips to help you thrive. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or just starting out, our goal is to empower you to build a brighter future for yourself and for America.

00:00:49:13 - 00:01:07:27

Tune in. Level up and let's build a better tomorrow together. This is the Builder Hacks podcast. Build your future. Building America.

00:01:07:29 - 00:01:23:03

This week Nate grabbed a topic and it's something we've mentioned before on another podcast. So and I thought it was a really good thing to be able to go ahead and bring up. And there's actually two pieces to this. So is what it comes down to. You look at it from two different viewpoints. So one from a homeowner viewpoint, which is cool if you're a homeowner.

00:01:23:03 - 00:01:41:27

I mean, most of the people who are going to be listening to this, one of their contractors or whether there's other other people in the industry. So they're most likely homeowners are wanting to be homeowners. so these are good questions for them to be asking. But as a professional in this industry, these questions that we're going to be bringing up right now are questions you should have answers to.

00:01:42:00 - 00:02:00:01

So because when you've got the answers to these, you look like you know what's going on. So you're able to help guide your your homeowners. So to the right choice because that's really what it comes down to whenever you're in a home talking to somebody. So they're figuring out whether they want to go ahead and utilize you. I mean, it all comes down to, you know, trust, credibility.

00:02:00:03 - 00:02:20:24

So your experience, so you rapport that you're able to build with people and these types of questions or some of the questions they'll be asking you and you definitely want to have answers ready for them because it will happen. So I'm going to say let's bounce back and forth on the questions that we've heard before, that we use ourselves, whenever we're going ahead and talking to people.

00:02:20:27 - 00:02:46:27

And let's go ahead and help everybody out to get some of those answers that there are ready to go and move forward on to help them out. Getting future clients. Sounds good. Perfect. Awesome. You want to start? Yeah, I'll start it off. You know, one of the questions that everybody should have is, does your company have a plan for communication throughout the process of the project?

00:02:46:29 - 00:03:05:28

So does your your company have a plan for the process? We do. So, one of the big things that we have and we brand everything, so I really don't I'm not going to go into the branded names right now. One of the big things, and this is something that every contractor I recommend that you do anything that you do put a name to it.

00:03:06:00 - 00:03:23:11

So because here's the here's what it comes down to. Like if you say, hey, we've got a communication process. Well awesome. Every other person that comes in says, hey, we've got a communication process. So in the homeowner's mind that's a box checked is what it comes down to, which means everybody's the same. And the last thing that you ever want to be is a commodity.

00:03:23:14 - 00:03:38:01

Whenever you're talking to a homeowner so you want to differentiate yourself. You want to be the one to take care of them. And it's why like we brand name everything that we do because there's no way to go ahead and compare it. Then there's no one else is going to have the same name of a process that we've got of that process.

00:03:38:11 - 00:03:54:03

and what we end up doing, like for us. So as general, one of the big things that we have is there's always the sales person that meets them, and that's usually the person they're talking to at first. And then they want to know what happens after the salesperson's done well for us, after we go ahead and sign a contract, then we work with our design team.

00:03:54:03 - 00:04:09:10

So there's a project consultant that they work with. So and that project consultant is the person that they're going ahead and making all their design selections with, so that they're going ahead and meet with the cabinet person with so that they're going out to all of the showrooms to make selections from. Oh, and that's that next part of the process.

00:04:09:10 - 00:04:30:04

You hand them off, the salesperson hands them off to that person, and then after that person's done that for the project coordinator or consultant's done. So then it gets handed off to the project managers. So and there's an introduction that's done there. And now they know. All right I want to go from this stage to this stage now and then while we're in construction we have multiple different phases that we go through.

00:04:30:04 - 00:04:49:27

And this is different depending on the project. You got new construction. It's much different than if you're remodeling a bathroom. just because of the number of steps involved in it. There's always key pieces, though, that you want to go ahead and explain. This is how it's going to be one of the biggest challenges for homeowners is that they don't know what they don't know, and that insecurity and not knowing what's coming.

00:04:50:04 - 00:05:06:08

And one of the things that I tell all of the guys that work with us, all of our business partners that work with us and my team, though, is that if you allow them to make up their own story, well, that story is rarely going to be in your favor. Lay out what's going to happen. And that's one of the big pieces for us.

00:05:06:08 - 00:05:24:03

One of the things that homeowners love about us is we have this process. It's organized as we go through it. We let them know this is the next. This is that step that we talked about here. This is the next step that you're going to whenever we finish this up. And they really feel like they're being guided. And that's really what we like to do is be the guide for them through the process.

00:05:24:05 - 00:05:48:17

So what do you guys do, Nate. Or we do something and we're on the same thing. We, put together our communication tools that are easily usable. sometimes we we use a, a software program where they can log in to and see kind of updates and, and, have communication back and forth, like, when are we going to show up, when are we going to be delivering materials?

00:05:49:09 - 00:06:26:10

if there's going to be any change orders, things of that nature. so we're constantly in communication and kind of like what you're talking about. It's just it's so important for the communication piece to be thorough, throughout the whole process, because there's so many moving parts that it's easily, it's easily get lost. And some of the communications that you may have had before the project started while the project's continuously going on, but being upfront with them and let them understand what the communication process is with your customer is the best way to keep everybody on the same page.

00:06:26:12 - 00:06:40:06

No question. You know, one of the things that we do on that communication side of things and that's it's the initial piece that whenever the person that's going out and talking to them originally about what they want to do for the project, we always find out and it's a simple thing and people are like, that's really that's what you do and that makes a difference.

00:06:40:07 - 00:06:57:27

We find out, do you want to be communicated through phone call, through text or through email? I mean, what's your preferred way to be communicated? Because everybody's different. We find that a lot of times some of our older clients would rather have you call them on the phone because that's what they're used to. So they prefer that you get the younger people.

00:06:57:29 - 00:07:12:04

Text is by far the easiest thing for them to go ahead and do. A lot of the professionals. It's the hey, send me an email and I'll get to it, especially if it's not something that's urgent. And a lot of times we've got a combination, you know, if it's not urgent, send me an email. If it's urgent, text me and I know I need to take care of this right now.

00:07:12:07 - 00:07:37:02

And we set that up with them. So then they know what to expect, how to expect us to communicate well. And and now they're not left guessing again. Yeah. That's so crucial. Yep. now, here's one of the big ones that I get all the time. So whenever I'm out there, because of the size of remodels that we do, a lot of times, homeowners ask that question and you want to have an answer for this if you're a contractor and if you're a homeowner, you definitely want to ask this question.

00:07:37:05 - 00:08:14:02

So is does the contractor have any concerns about what we've talked about, what we're planning, what we're thinking about doing? Or do they see any problems that may pop up? So do you get that question off the night? I get that question. And I try to get ahead of that question, to be honest with you. That's one of the things that we talk about, in our daily sales meetings, when we're going out and, and having these conversations because you want to be an authority in this situation, and sometimes you're going through a walkthrough and they're they're having design ideas and concepts, but they don't really know if it's possible.

00:08:14:04 - 00:08:49:20

And part of this is that we can either wait for the homeowner to have concerns, or we can address all the concerns that we're having as the contractor doing the work so that we can start the communication for is this going to be a problem later on the road? For instance, if we're remodeling something and we change to this material, what effect does that have downstream in the next process or the process after that that makes this decision a good decision or bad decision or what have you?

00:08:50:14 - 00:09:18:12

paint colors, tile selection, tile thickness, all of these little bitty minute things, that we brought up and had on the front end. So when the design concept is starting, you can start to lay out a plan for your, your customers so that they understand, hey, if I make this design choice, how is that going to affect the next evolution of the project?

00:09:18:14 - 00:09:38:17

So I mean, there's a couple different things that I, as you were talking about that that popped into my head like some key ones that we get into the flooring piece like you were talking about. I mean, especially because I have homeowners that a lot of times will be changing from a very relatively low profile flooring. So like, say, a laminate or an LVP or something like that, and now they're going to a tile or possibly a travertine, some kind of natural stone.

00:09:38:20 - 00:09:59:08

Yeah. And if you don't go ahead and bring those challenges up to them ahead of time. So you don't want to face that one year in the construction process because they looked at you as the professional. Yeah. You know, and that's one of the things if you don't go ahead and let them know ahead of time that, hey, if we're going to go ahead and go to travertine, they're going to be mud, sand, the travertine, which means we're going to be raising the flooring up, which means every exterior door that you've got is going to be a challenge now.

00:09:59:11 - 00:10:15:18

So we're going to have to go ahead and do something with that. So or every interior door we have is gonna have to be cut down now to be able to go ahead and flow through those. Now there's yep, baseboards all get effective. typically in mind. We typically yank the baseboards all year to floor. So, the only ones I won't do that with sometimes with LVP and things like that.

00:10:15:18 - 00:10:28:25

If they just want a quick, dirty, get it done, keep the cost down. So then we'll go ahead and either shoot motor cord around it out. So but most of ours we take out the baseboards which takes care of that issue. But it does. Those are all little pieces that a homeowner doesn't think of. They don't think, I've got to rip out my baseboard.

00:10:28:25 - 00:10:52:07

I want to change out my flooring. Yeah, yeah. And it's good. But when you're able to to outline it so that they can have an understanding of like, okay, this design choice, it's going to affect X, y and Z, then it's like, oh, this contractor has done this before. Oh, this contractor is thinking about the next steps, which then they're allowing me to make decisions before we're in the middle of it.

00:10:52:07 - 00:11:09:18

Because the worst thing ever is to be a contractor. You say, oh yeah, that's looks great, no problem. And then you get into it and then you realize, oh man, that messes up this one and it messes up that. And we have to do this. And I wasn't anticipating having to rip out all the baseboards. And now we got to rack all the baseboards out.

00:11:09:18 - 00:11:34:15

So we got to miter along the edges. And then we have the caulk and repaint. And we now have an extra dollar amount that wasn't anticipated on the budget plan. which is which is one of those challenges. There's no question about it, because whether you're running cost plus or fixed cost, whatever you do, your your pricing on your project, running cost plus the homeowner is going to have to go ahead and eat the cost that they weren't expecting, and they're usually not overly happy about that, at least not most of mine.

00:11:34:24 - 00:11:49:10

and then and then if you're running fixed cost, then you're now eating your profit is what you're doing. And that's never a good thing, though. If you told him I was going to be done for this, you know, it's like I have, I have an example, like one of my electricians came to me because he does some subcontractor work for somebody else that he knows as an electrician.

00:11:49:19 - 00:12:09:08

because he's kind of teaching their internal people how to do residential things. And whatever he goes in, he's like one of the things that he's in a project right now where the panel service had to be upgraded because they added so many different circuits. So in the addition and the my electrician went back to the electrician that contract and he's like, why didn't you tell them they're gonna have to go from a two to a 300 it for this.

00:12:09:10 - 00:12:33:02

He's like, I don't do load calcs. And I'm like, what do you mean? He doesn't do load calcs? He's like, he doesn't want the role. He doesn't want the responsibility for that. He's got someone that'll do them. An engineer that does them for them. And I'm like, yeah, but he knows as an electrician that there's no way the inspector's ever going to pass that, which means they're going to tell you during the process, though, that now you've got to upgrade the panel size to be able to accomplish everything and doing that.

00:12:33:09 - 00:12:49:15

So it's depending on what you've got and what you're putting in. So that's a 4 to $6000 upgrade immediately. So and that's electrician cost. That's not builder cost. That's the electricians cost alone to go ahead and do that. And that's one of those pieces that and that's why I said to my electrician I'm like, you know you never deal with me.

00:12:49:15 - 00:13:03:19

He's like, yeah, it's why I figure out load coax whenever I do anything. I'm like, yeah, because I'm never having that conversation with the homeowner. So we did that once and I got on you for not knowing ahead of time that one time that we were going to have to do this. We run low talks before we even get into a project.

00:13:03:19 - 00:13:23:10

Whatever. He's doing his pricing because he wants to know if we've got to do it. I want him to know, too, because I'd rather have my homeowner be prepared. Yeah, that extra cost on the front end. Well, well, that's the whole thing. It's just it's just it's another way to build trust. Well especially going out and telling them something like that off the bat it's like oh they've already like looked at this.

00:13:23:11 - 00:13:41:10

It's going these are the extra things that are going to have to happen for this to be effective now. And it's funny because then one of the things will happen. I've had homeowners that go ahead and obviously they interview multiple contractors a lot of times. And whenever they do that, then they talk to the next person. The next person doesn't mention anything about it, and then the homeowner mentions it to them like, I don't know, we'll see if we don't know what we got to do.

00:13:41:10 - 00:14:06:10

And it's like, we've already let them know you're going to have to go and do this. It elevates your perception to the homeowner is what it does, which is a fantastic piece. Well, that's a great that's a great transition. And then my next question, is yours a bid estimate or a fixed price? But my stuff that I do, and this is one of the differences that I go ahead and talk about with my homeowners.

00:14:06:12 - 00:14:19:07

There's, there's a lot of contractors that'll go out and they'll do an estimate is what they'll do. And like one of my big ones, I was out this past week so and the homeowners had and I love architects for this. So architects go ahead and they send out a set of prints that has the floor plan and the elevations.

00:14:19:07 - 00:14:36:24

You've got no electricals and you've got no, construction documents, no engineering involved at all. And they're like, go ahead and bid this. And I sat down with the homeowners and they had already gotten bids from a couple other contractors. So, I mean, I know lots of contractors will go ahead and bid it off of those pieces, and it's because they can get through it relatively fast, and it's not a hard and fast number.

00:14:36:24 - 00:14:49:29

It's like, hey, this is what the assumptions that we've got, they'll throw allowances in there. What should we do to for finishes if they haven't chosen finishes yet? But one of the things that we do, and this is how we separate ourselves, is I tell my homeowners all the time, I'm like, you may get that price from them.

00:14:49:29 - 00:15:04:15

I said, I will and said my process. I will not even go ahead and give you that price. I said, it's not fair to you. I said, it's an estimate at best. I said, I don't know what your your engineer is going to go out and put on. The architect's going to put on the prints for how we got to go ahead and put this thing together, because it's an addition onto their existing house, you know.

00:15:04:15 - 00:15:22:05

So whenever you've got this, can I make estimate again. So yeah, of course I can. If it was my architect or engineer, I'd have a better idea that it was what was going to happen. But this is not my person, so I've got no idea what they might want to do. And if I go ahead and make that, then all of a sudden I've given you this price and I see those construction documents come back and my price now changes dramatically.

00:15:22:06 - 00:15:37:28

And you're like, well, why didn't you anticipate this? Well, I didn't have enough information. And basically I was giving you a guess as to what this could be. Educated guess, but still a guess. So. So I always tell my homeowners I wait until I have all the information for renovations. I bring my teams out and we do what we call a job preview.

00:15:37:28 - 00:16:03:12

So like my electrician, my plumber, drywall guys, demo guys. So the people that really need to see what's going on, I bring out like my flooring people and stuff like that. They don't need to see it, they just need square footage. So some pictures, there's something odd. So. But anyways, I bring those people out, get all the pricing back, and then I give them a quote and what I always tell them the difference between a quote so and an estimate is my number is a hard number unless you make changes or we find something in the process that was unanticipated.

00:16:03:20 - 00:16:20:12

other than that, this will be your number now and you can bank on it and that's it. Yeah. And that's the part to me that makes a lot of difference in these homeowners. When I explain that, they're like, oh, well, we're a couple weeks away from construction documents, so we'll just wait for the construction documents and get what the actual prices, which is exactly what I want in the first place.

00:16:20:14 - 00:16:43:19

Yeah. Well, you know, it's one of those things, it's like it's a debate inside of our industry of like, how to do it right. And unfortunately, at least I feel or have seen and observed that the customers have been told wrong by so many different fly by night contractors that, they just want a number. Just give me a bit.

00:16:43:22 - 00:17:11:06

Just give me a bit. I don't even care if it's accurate. I just want to know if it's in the ballpark. It's like, what do you mean? Take care of? It's accurate. Right. And and, and I and I have to admit, I, I've been trapped in this in the cycle myself where we're doing a lot of work and they're expecting free estimates and the customer is it it's one of those things where a contractor started giving out free estimates, and then they gave out more free estimates.

00:17:11:06 - 00:17:36:10

Now everybody gives out free estimates, but none of them are detailed oriented enough to be able to, like, give a good idea of what is supposed to be right. And the reason is, is that it costs money to do a solid estimate. It costs money to send out, an architect to really draw it the right way is supposed to be it costs money to get, you know, architectural and, engineered stamp plans.

00:17:36:12 - 00:17:59:14

It costs money to send your guys out to go look at and bid and work up numbers. It's time. It's money and it cost and it should. And somebody should be willing to pay to have that, that, that detailed estimate quote. That's a hard number that they can make on it. And I, and I kind of blame the, the community for just one.

00:17:59:19 - 00:18:26:05

Just give me a ballpark number. It's going to be close enough. And then they wonder why they have 19 change orders throughout. And while everything keeps changing and everything else. So, I love the self-perpetuating cycle as it comes up. It is. And then we've we've actually gone and done it, like, for all of ours. Now that we do, the people who come to us that haven't talked to somebody else first, unlike these people, already had an architect involved in a designer involved, is whatever.

00:18:26:05 - 00:18:39:21

They come to us first we explain them on the front end, and we actually have gone to that model where they go ahead and obviously they pay for the prints because I won't do prints of my cost. That's never going to happen. So they pay for the blueprints if it's something like an edition. So they pay for the cabinet designer.

00:18:39:21 - 00:18:52:07

So for the time that she's going to go and put in there, and if we're bringing in an actual interior designer, they pay for her time too. And then I bill for our time, too, for the amount of time that it's going to take us to be able to go ahead and create the proposal to do the meetings on site.

00:18:52:14 - 00:19:09:02

So all of those different pieces that go into it, and there's so many, especially Jason's, like, I could never do that. People will say, no. It's like, you know what? I'm okay with it. And this is the part that it took me a little bit to get to. I'm okay with the people that say no, because that usually means they're price shopping me, which means they're not my client in the first place.

00:19:09:04 - 00:19:29:21

Yeah. You know, they're there like you said, Nate, they're they're shopping for a price. That's what. That's all they want. They just want a number from you. They just want a number. And here's the problem. And we do the same thing. We've kind of gotten to that point where I've got two types of clients, right? If they want a ballpark number, I just pull one out of the back pocket and throw it up there and say, hey, I don't know if we're close enough, but that's a number, right?

00:19:29:23 - 00:19:55:21

Right. The other one is that we go down the process of showing them exactly how to get to a solid number. And those are our favorite clients, and we work with them consistently, but they understand the value of what they're getting. Like they're serious about going into a project. There's been so many times that either I've been on the front end or I get I get brought back in on a project that's gone south where they're doing a large part.

00:19:55:21 - 00:20:15:10

All of those. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, that's the those are always the fun ones, right? Where they, they listen to some fly by night contractor. he told them, oh yeah. It's going to be a $100,000 to remodel your entire house. And they go off to the bank, they get a loan for X amount of dollars, and then they screw it all up.

00:20:15:11 - 00:20:33:07

They keep change order, change order, change order. And then the the customer was all upset. And then the next thing you know, the customer wants to fire the general contractor because they've lost faith. And now they got to pick it up and a new general contractor has to come in and figure out the mess in charge to correct the issues.

00:20:33:07 - 00:20:57:00

And then they're over budget and all the things that make all these if you're if you are a homeowner or a property owner and you're doing this, do it on the front end, get get an actual quote. And here's the other great part about that. If you get a solid bid with all the documentation, now you have something that's apples to apples, not apples to oranges, not apples to grapes, apples to apples.

00:20:57:00 - 00:21:14:02

And every contractor can bid on the same thing. And that makes all the difference, like what we do and that like and I think you do this due date or something similar to this piece. Like whenever we do that process that I described, we go ahead and work on All Out. Literally whenever we're done getting all that pricing put together, they own the blueprints.

00:21:14:02 - 00:21:37:09

They own the cabinet design. Yeah, they own the scope of work that I worked out. Which means then you get that apples to apples comparison. Because now whenever, if they talk to another contractor, it's like, this is the level of detail of what's being expected. And now you can actually get it, because if not, you get that guy that comes and goes, I can do this for 100 grand and 175, 100, or, you know, $200,000 job just because they figured, oh, I'll throw it out there and then plus, plus, plus them.

00:21:37:12 - 00:21:50:17

So let's go ahead and get to the point where they, you know, where they need to be. So they just got the job got it in. Once people are involved it's like all right, well they're too far in now. They're going to go ahead and stay with me and it's a horrible, horrible thing to deliver to your homeowners because, you know, it's a horrible business model too.

00:21:50:21 - 00:22:08:09

Yeah. And I'm not going to say I'm going to call them out, but I do frowned upon it. And I'm telling them, you're not going to have customers, you're not going to be in this business long term, because what you're doing is you're burning the thing that you have, which is your reputation every time you do it. Right.

00:22:08:12 - 00:22:28:06

Yep. Agreed. Whoa. Perfect. All right. So the next question would go ahead and ask. So whenever you're talking, if you're a homeowner or, you know, be prepared for if you're a contractor now is how will you let me know when I need to make a decision? Well, and this is any kind of decision as you're going through. So Nate, what you guys process whenever you go ahead and do that.

00:22:28:08 - 00:22:53:17

Well we have touch points. And part of our touch points is that as we're hitting, you know our different processes, right. Like for instance, we're going in the rough the rough and plumbing. And then after that, we're going to be going into the next phase and the next phase and the next. I think we're we're constantly having touch points where we're understanding, hey, here's where we're at, here's what's coming up.

00:22:53:20 - 00:23:19:13

Here's our concerns we don't want we try to get everything on the front end with all the decisions that are being made, but sometimes, sometimes every project, so there's a design difference, right? And we try to get verification as we're hitting and moving from the stuff that's been done to the next phase, and make sure that we're all in alignment.

00:23:19:15 - 00:23:47:10

And I still don't do this perfectly, which we were always striving for to perfection. And actually, this came up, a few meetings back with my team where, we should have had them sign off on a design change that we all thought. We're all on the same page. And it was it, you know, and so us, as the company ended up taking the hit and said, you know what?

00:23:47:10 - 00:24:05:11

We're going to make it right by this customer because we didn't do what we're supposed to do and get get an official signature on the change order plan, the, the design concept. But these are the times in which we offer decisions that need to be made, and we try to do them in advance and not after something happens.

00:24:05:13 - 00:24:28:16

And so, an area of evolution as we're changing into the next phase, we try to have those decisions and those meetings and it's, we do the same things the same exact way. I mean, we have certain ones, I mean, big one for us. Like we always think about electrical, we always do a pre electrical walk, which is when the electricians will go in in our case and they'll go ahead and box out the house, deal with all the electrical outlets, all the switches, all the lights.

00:24:28:24 - 00:24:41:07

So at least for, you know, the word's going to be at before they start running any wire and stuff like that. Then we actually walk with the homeowner and those things like that. We let them know ahead of time, hey, when we get to that phase, because there's so many times like, well, what if I'm going to add things?

00:24:41:07 - 00:24:55:28

I'm like, that's the perfect time at electrical. That's an easy time to add. we can go ahead and put those things and get you pricing out relatively quickly on change orders, to get that taken care of. but that constant communication, like Nate was talking about, like, well, hey, when they're coming into Russ and plumbing. All right.

00:24:55:28 - 00:25:15:23

Awesome. Before go and showers and things like that. How how do you want the showerhead? So where do you want the handheld located now then all of those different things because we need to plan all of those pieces out. And it's a great thing whenever you've got a homeowner who is able to be able to meet you for those, and as a contractor, you've got to be able to communicate that ahead of time enough so that they can get it in their schedule.

00:25:15:23 - 00:25:29:16

If there's someone that's busy, though, because not everybody's going to be right there all the time. You know, you got a lot of couples that are busy working, you know, and taking care of the kids and doing all the extracurricular activities and things like that, that you don't want to hit them up that morning with a, hey, I need you to be here today.

00:25:29:19 - 00:25:58:06

If they're unable to do that, that just creates stress and frustration on their end. You're making guesses on your end. So that's the last thing. so have a process, explain that process to them of how you're going to go ahead and take care of that. Absolutely. All right. What's next question Nate. Let's see here. one of the questions that I get a lot too, either on the first day or somewhere during the first portion of the project is, how are you going to protect my property?

00:25:58:08 - 00:26:12:20

That's and that's a good one. And you're right. Homeowners ask that a lot, and you get that and a couple of different ways. obviously most of the homeowners that we do, I wonder if we do projects, some of them are full gut remodels, which means it's easier. You have to protect some of the outside things is what you have to protect.

00:26:12:20 - 00:26:30:07

And like I always tell my homeowners ahead of time, we always have a dumpster onsite. So or collapsible dumpster bag. One of the two is what we typically have there for anything that we're doing, depending on the size of the project. But it's like we go ahead and we put down plastic first on the driveway, then plywood down for the dumpster to sit on now and then we set our dumpsters on that.

00:26:30:14 - 00:26:45:18

That way it goes ahead and it shows them that we're going to protect it. You know, our floors. We go ahead and put if there is this existing flooring that's staying. So we will protect that in one way, shape or form. You know if it's tile it'll be Ram board. So if it's carpet it'll be the carpet shield that we go ahead and put down.

00:26:45:25 - 00:27:00:02

So over top of it, if it's wood, depending on the type of wood it'll either be Ram board or what we have drop claws. We've got the drop claws, the little rubber grippy things on the bottom that we use for the pathways and things like that. but there's multiple different things if we're ripping into the house.

00:27:00:02 - 00:27:13:11

So there's going to be dust. What are we doing to contain the dust? You know, whenever we're going ahead and adding on to the house, and we've got to cut into the existing house at some point. How are we doing that? Ones that are happening, you know, for us that happens after we after the house is what we call secure.

00:27:13:14 - 00:27:41:09

You know, we've got all the windows and exterior doors in that addition portion. And then we'll go ahead and make the cut in. And we usually do that pre drywall. Just so whenever we're doing finishes the finishes are consistent as we go ahead and run through there. You know. But letting the homeowner know that what your processes are what the things that you're going to do and specifically for their project because you, you know, as you go ahead and do this, no matter what it is, if you're if even one of the other trades, if you're a plumber or an electrician that's coming in and doing something, you know, if you're coming in and

00:27:41:09 - 00:28:00:05

doing something, you know, we go ahead and we're booties. Well, or we go ahead and take our shoes off. Now, whenever we come into a home, those simple little things like that, they make the biggest difference. I literally have a job right now in one of our communities. I have the job because of the fact that I walked in and I put booties on whenever I walked in, and she looked at me and she said, you're the first person to do that.

00:28:00:05 - 00:28:18:23

She said, I have a feeling we're to be working together because I'm OCD about keeping my house clean. and he's clean. It's so important. Huge. Yeah. It's one of those things that we're, you know, as a culture, you build it in to your company, and these are the things that you need to be thinking about because it is their property.

00:28:18:24 - 00:28:39:22

Right? It it's it's their furniture. It's where they live. It's where they start of stuff. It's where they live, their have their family. And so we do kind of like our, our safety training and our, and, and with this kind of fits inside of our safety training kind of component, but it's also our presentation that we give, you know, we don't park in driveways.

00:28:39:25 - 00:29:06:11

We don't, run over the grass or try to walk through the middle of the grass to get there, take the sidewalk, take them around, whatever it is. But don't walk through the middle of the, the landscape. same kind of things. Booties on, shoes, cleanliness, cover and protect. you know, just part of the staple. But hearing it from you to the customer, is the most important thing.

00:29:06:11 - 00:29:26:09

They want to be able to translate over that. Hey, you're going to care about my stuff and my belongings and my home or and what have you. What are the other things that we do, whenever we're having to. Because inherently. So it always ends up that we have manpower to move things. So furniture things are always kind of being in the way.

00:29:26:12 - 00:29:54:06

And, I've had some guys in the past where they just pick things up and move them. And I said, oh, whoa, whoa, that's not your stuff. You don't know if that was $5 or $5 million and what that value is for them. So be courteous, be kind. Ask if you can move a couch or table or lamp or chair or whatever it is, you know, treat it, treat it with respect and ask the owner of the property of the property.

00:29:54:06 - 00:30:16:09

Just be moved, you know, can you move that and and those are the small little details that actually, increase likability and trust ability. And so, I think that when you look at that, you actually use the word Nate. And it's one of the things that we use all the time that kind of differentiates things. So many people, whenever in this industry, they'll talk about people's houses or the project or things like that.

00:30:16:11 - 00:30:33:26

It's never that because you're when you're dealing with residential, it's their home. Yeah. And home means something. Home means emotion. They've got an attachment to it is what it comes down to. And that's what we use. That's our like we literally have a language of certain words that we use as opposed to other words. And there's no give it, there's no give and take in that.

00:30:34:00 - 00:30:52:25

It's always like home is the word. Whenever we talk about that, like a, you hear me say, business partners for my, subcontractors that we work with and things like that. It's a different way of looking at things. And when you use home, it's a psychology, a psychological thing with homeowners, they feel warmer about that. So because they know, again that you respect what they've got there.

00:30:52:25 - 00:31:11:23

It's not just a sterile house. It's not just your next project. So it's their home. Look at it that way all the time. All right. Awesome. so then the next question and we kind of we've said it a couple times, is we're going through here. So let's go ahead and get clear on it. How do you handle change orders?

00:31:11:23 - 00:31:37:02

Nate? there's a question that I get all the time because like you talked about and homeowners, a lot of times they're very self aware that they are going to be changes made as they're going through the project. So how do you answer that question, when do they ask about that? Well, the first thing that I do is that I make sure that, when we're if we're doing a ballpark bid, I let them know on the front end, like, okay, you understand, we did not dive into this project.

00:31:37:03 - 00:32:07:17

We are going to be doing this project in in real time, which means we're not going to be perfect, which means there are going to be additional costs. Let's just be upfront about this. Right. And and part of the being upfront about that is that I put it into our contract on page 13 or 14. It is it is a, an exhibit, I think it's exhibit B or exhibit C, and it is a form that looks like our change order.

00:32:07:19 - 00:32:30:21

And while we're going through the contract, I go to that form and I say, okay, here's what's going to be, here's the headline, here's here is your name, here is, you know, and I'm if they're married couple I make both both people sign the contract and I will write in. Okay. Here's what we're going to put change order as and here's the dollar amount and here's the fees and all this stuff.

00:32:30:23 - 00:32:54:12

But I walk it through them on the front end. So when we do have this arise which if you're doing a ballpark bid, you will have at least one, if not multiple. Yeah. you can go with one. You got lucky. Yeah. You got like I mean, let's just be honest. And I try to I try to absorb as many of those as possible, but right at one point, you just can't absorb all of the extras that are needed.

00:32:55:01 - 00:33:16:24

but it's like as soon as they come up, we have to stop work, we have to address it. We have to go and talk to them, sit down, have a face to face conversation. I, I personally and our company will not take, over the phone text message, change orders. I know a lot of people do.

00:33:16:24 - 00:33:37:25

And I know a lot of people send out, email change orders saying, hey, just give me your approval on an email and send it back to me. We don't do that. We go ahead and and sit down with them personally and say, hey, let's go ahead. And, you know, I want you to understand what this change orders for, why we're having to do it, get your blessing, sign it in person.

00:33:37:25 - 00:34:01:02

If one of the the spouses or homeowners isn't there at that moment in time, then we say, well, get them to sign it either through email or however and get it back to us. But we have to have both signatures and that's typically how we handle it. I don't like change orders. They just complicate the entire process of the bill and forever change order.

00:34:01:02 - 00:34:25:24

You can guarantee it's going to cost you at least three more days of the project, regardless if it's just a five minute thing or what have you. There's always an extension to every change order. So and it's and you're exactly right on those pieces like that change orders even if it's a simple change or, you know, like let's say one of the electrical walk and all of a sudden they added, you know, six outlets, you know, three different switches in other areas to make things three ways and stuff like that.

00:34:25:24 - 00:34:40:25

And, and the they want the sconces that the vanity lights if you're in a bathroom or something like that. Those are all change orders that have to be signed off on before we wire it. And that's like that. One of the biggest things like you were talking about, Nate, is like you stop the process and they've got to go ahead and sign off.

00:34:41:03 - 00:34:59:08

That's the key, because there's so many times where people say, okay, but if you haven't given them the number, yeah, the biggest challenges, once they get the number like, oh no, we don't want to do that. If you've already gone ahead and done the rough and work or whatever that already paid for the materials or yeah, yeah, you're already eating it is what it comes down to now.

00:34:59:08 - 00:35:21:05

There's different ways to go ahead and do it. Like Nate talked about, I do the same written format like you do. So they get a written change order. Now I typically say in the beginning of the process with them, what's the amount that we need to go ahead and have the formal conversation, formal sign off on. So if we're going to go ahead and do something that's a change order, you know, because there will be times where somebody goes ahead and changes something small, like let's say they change the faucet.

00:35:21:08 - 00:35:42:11

So, you know, in a bathroom, it's like, all right, if we can take that one just via, an email and it is, oh, there's something there's some way that I actually kind of written. Yeah. It's not verbal in any way, shape or form, you know. And that's one of the things I'll tell them, even on the big change orders, whenever I send it over, like for waiting for signatures, it's like, all right, if you know, he's good and then just go, we've got to wait till he gets home to sign this tonight.

00:35:42:13 - 00:35:56:21

So then I'll go ahead and start moving some of the pieces to get them in place, which typically for me means scheduling. That was what it comes down to, which hasn't cost me any money usually yet. So I can go ahead and cancel that if I need to. but that's you know, that's definitely some of the key pieces on that.

00:35:56:21 - 00:36:13:05

And keeping track of that and adding the extra time, the extra days, no matter what it is, no matter how simple it is, there's always extra time that gets added on to it. You know, especially if you've got homeowners that you've that you've given a timeframe and or even maybe a specific deadline date. It's these are the dates and that should be in the change order.

00:36:13:05 - 00:36:26:16

This is how many days this is going to add to this. because that way when or if it ever gets the push comes the shelf, it's like, hey, we've got it documented right here. Your signature. Yes. And you were okay with it. I don't have that in there yet, but I'm going to have to put that in there for dates.

00:36:26:19 - 00:36:42:13

Dates that because it's it's a guarantee. And even if it's the faucet. Right. You know, the faucets a three day add on, you know, because what is up happened is that you have to stop all work. You have to get the you have to go get the material, then you have to get it back over there. You got to get it installed.

00:36:42:13 - 00:37:01:21

And then guess what? The people that were supposed to work on Monday are now working on Thursday, right? If you're lucky, if you're if you're like, if you can get them back. Yeah, that's exactly it is part of the challenge is knowing that piece. You know, because if it's if it is if it is the plumber, my plumber, I'm probably not getting back for a week to a week and a half, unless you just happen to have something break free.

00:37:01:21 - 00:37:25:15

And we're doing one thing like that. Hey, the fossil was the other thing. We didn't do all right? I can sneak back in one afternoon and throw that faucet in. Exactly. And so I only know this from personal experience of doing it the wrong way. So, this is something I just realized. Oh, yeah. Personal experience. All right, our next question I've got I've got two parts.

00:37:25:15 - 00:37:48:13

Right. I got to be. So I gotta listen hard is what you're telling me. Yeah. So, how many years has your company been in business? That's usually a good question that everybody gives me. And then they also follow it up with how many in those times that you've been doing this as a as a business owner, as a from the industry, how many of them have been like the exact same project for me, right.

00:37:48:19 - 00:38:13:21

For instance, if you're doing a bathroom remodel, that would be like, well, how many years have you been in business and how many, how many times have you done a bathroom just like mine? Got it. and you're exactly right, Nate. So the question, especially about how long have you been doing this is a typical one, you know, and one of the things that I tend to find more now is that people have done a little bit of research on you before you get there.

00:38:14:05 - 00:38:32:06

and in that case, they may have already seen that if you've got those things on your website or if it's on your social media and things like that, and they've seen that they may already have that question answered, and that should be an easy one for you to answer. When did you go into business? Make sure you know what that is the big one though, and especially as you go ahead and scale, so is those types of projects.

00:38:32:06 - 00:38:51:18

Because in the beginning, if you're the person who's going out and doing the sales calls, like, you know, all the projects that you've done, and whenever they ask that question, you can think of the person that you did this project, how long it took, you know, what surprises popped up that may have happened there. And you're able to go ahead and go into that and you're able to give them that referral as the person to go ahead and call.

00:38:51:18 - 00:39:07:24

If they're looking to go ahead and call referrals, because now they've got someone that's an apples to apples comparison and they can get some real answers on, which is all the homeowners love that one. You've got that. The big challenge comes as you start adding sales team, is getting them to know the types of projects that you've done.

00:39:08:02 - 00:39:21:16

And literally, I think one of the best things, if you're a contractor and you're having people go out and do that, you're having sales team go out and do that is make yourself a master list of the types of projects at least you know, hey, this was a master bathroom remodel. This is a whole bath. This was an addition.

00:39:21:16 - 00:39:45:07

This was a kitchen. This is a full got remodel. This was an exterior, you know, re face on the house like that. Have that and have homeowners names that are on there with a little description of what it is. Because then you're a your salespeople should study that so they actually know, with quick reference. And if not, at least they may have that in their paperwork that they've got there and they can go, well, these are some of the projects that we've done because realize I'm not the only salesperson.

00:39:45:07 - 00:40:00:26

So we do lots of different projects, and it's the easy way to go ahead and get past that. It's not them knowing are out there, but I'm looking at what we've got in the system right now for people, and you can go ahead and then that puts them at ease. but have that for sure. it's it's key, especially on the GC side of things.

00:40:00:26 - 00:40:13:02

Or if you're doing like, say you're a plumber and you're doing a re pipe. Well, and they've got cathedral ceilings or something like that, you know, and it's like in the house, it was originally copper and they want to know, hey, are you able to go ahead and convert this over. How much damage did you do to the house?

00:40:13:02 - 00:40:27:11

You know, who who did you do this for that cathedral ceilings where you didn't have space to go through the attic to be able to go ahead and rerun this stuff. How did you go ahead and make that happen? Who can we talk to? You know, no matter what the trade is. No. You know, if you're an electrician, you had to do an interior panel change out or you had to put in a luma cons.

00:40:27:13 - 00:40:52:21

So because of the type of wiring that's in the panels and things like that, you know, know those projects so that you can go ahead and give those referrals. And that's what homeowners feel better. And and if you if they bring up something that you don't have a direct 1 to 1 comparison on, one of the things I'll have is what's the closest thing that you've got that's very similar to that, you know, because if someone's going ahead and adding on, I'm adding on an office to my house, I've got one of those and one of our projects right now.

00:40:52:25 - 00:41:13:01

Well, I haven't added on office, but I've added on bedrooms and bathrooms. You know, it's the same, essentially same thing, but the same type of addition. Yeah. You know, it's one of those questions. I get it all the time. And obviously I'm not the the driving sales person anymore in our business, but I still like to go out.

00:41:13:04 - 00:41:56:25

Being a part of sales is always my one of my favorite pieces, but I've got two. I got two things, I would add into this is that, first thing is always be authentic, right. And be genuine to what you've done. Do not exaggerate. So if you've done 15 projects, do not say that you've done hundreds. If you've done, you know, five bathrooms, don't say that you've done 500 bathroom like be genuine when with your answer I'm on the other end where I have to be careful in how I answer those questions myself, because now it's at a point where it seems like it's it's too it's too big.

00:41:56:25 - 00:42:17:24

Like it's not truthful, right? Like, I've been doing this for 20 years. I've done what, a thousand plus remodel project. And they're like, well, that's just too big of a number. I can't they can't comprehend. My answer now is I've been doing this for 20 years. I've done more jobs than I can count on both hands of both totes.

00:42:17:27 - 00:42:42:03

Right. Does I? I don't want to scare them with the fact of, like, there's just such a big number out there. I just want to be genuine and convey the message. I know exactly how to do this project. And like he says, I've got a list of projects that I have done over and over and over again that I can go back and show, hey, I did a bathroom just like this.

00:42:42:05 - 00:43:04:25

I did this landscape like this. I did this like that and walk them through those projects that you've done just so that they have comfortability with what you're telling them is true. And that's the key to it, and that it really is. It's at that point that Nate brought up about if you've done a ton of them, so don't give them that number because you can overwhelm them.

00:43:05:02 - 00:43:22:06

Just give them that. Hey, we've been in this industry and you know, and if you're let's say you're the plumber, so you're doing three pipes and you do a repot every week. Well, you know, let them know that, you know, we've been in the plumbing business for 13 years now. So and over the last couple years we do every pipe almost every week along with the other projects that we've got.

00:43:22:06 - 00:43:36:06

So we've got lots of different options or lots of different projects that we've done like that. that'll compare very well to your home. Those when it comes down to, you know, I've got a list of people you can talk to that we've done those for and boom, that goes ahead and takes care of that piece. All right.

00:43:36:09 - 00:44:04:08

Going along with that, because we've already mentioned this piece too then. So whenever they ask about references Nate. So they're like, well, what do you you know, I would like to talk to some people. So what's your answer on that? Well, first off I, I love it when I get referrals from people that they already know because it's already somebody who's used this experience, this love, this reliable, you know, had our had our back references built in already is what it comes already.

00:44:04:10 - 00:44:21:29

But if they have the if they're getting my cold marketing material and they have no idea who I am whatsoever, some of the places that we make sure that they go to is they, they check out our, our website, because on our website we have a, review, page where they can go on there and see reviews.

00:44:22:01 - 00:44:43:19

We do, we like to do video testimonials where, people have they've completed their projects, they do a little testimonial video and they, they share their experience. So that way that they're getting authentic people, we have them go to like Google and and check out that. But we also make out a list of about 20 customers that have already used this in the past.

00:44:43:19 - 00:45:07:15

Who said, yes, I'd love to be able to be a reference for you guys. And we say, hey, can we have them contact you? and most of them we do through email, because people don't like to get unsolicited phone calls from other people wanting to have, you know, ideas or what have you. So that's how we handle it and we send it out to them.

00:45:07:15 - 00:45:27:24

And we've always had good positive responses from people. Get an email back from past clients that have worked with us in the past. So that's kind of how we handle those. That's I just say, and I know that I do handle it a lot the same way. I mean, we've got the reviews and stuff like that. I know Google is a great place to have it, because those are the ones that you literally have zero control over.

00:45:27:24 - 00:45:44:14

Outside of going ahead and asking your homeowners to go ahead and do Google review, you've got a lot less framing that goes into that. So they're very, they're very it's natural. So it's the truth. So there's no question about there's no actual me going ahead and asking a specific question to get a specific answer. which people like that.

00:45:44:14 - 00:45:58:06

Authenticity. Now, one of the other things that I like, I tell homeowners all the time, though, is your way to go ahead and actually do this, is this to step this up? Because most contractors who do this will have the list, like Nate has, have a list like I have of people that you can go ahead and talk to.

00:45:58:06 - 00:46:22:25

And these are already people that of course, we're not going to go ahead and give you somebody that was upset with us. because that's the last person you're usually going to include on our on a reference list. So was the person that had a challenge. So the piece that I always tell homeowners and be prepared for this so that, you know, and that's why I say this is because outside of the references that I would go ahead and offer up, I always tell my homeowners that ask them for the last three projects that they've done.

00:46:22:27 - 00:46:40:13

I said, because of whatever you do that I said, now, it's not necessarily they're handpicked referrals or references that they've got. You'll get a wider variety of what's going on and it's like, that's one of the funny things that we do when we do our testimonials or we do reviews, that we go out and do video reviews and things like that is we asked the homeowner.

00:46:40:15 - 00:47:00:17

That's one of the questions. Was there anything that was a hiccup in the process? And I will always tell them before we do this, I'm like, I want truthful answers. The whole idea. Absolutely, because it's a construction process, meaning there's lots of steps and there's really a good chance that something's going to happen somewhere along the line that we weren't planning on so that they didn't anticipate whatever the case might be.

00:47:00:19 - 00:47:17:27

And I want that relayed out there to future homeowners to realize that there are things that happen. Yet this is how it was resolved. And that's a key huge piece. And there's so many people like to hide that, that there's challenges in the process. Don't hide it. Like Nate talked about earlier. Just be open about it. So there's nothing wrong with that.

00:47:17:27 - 00:47:31:27

Homeowners realize that they're like, oh, well, hey, if they're open enough to let me know that there's challenges in the process yet it was resolved. It's like whenever I look at anybody's Google reviews, the first thing I look for, I mean, there's all the glowing ones and like, that's right. But most people go to what are the nasty ones?

00:47:31:29 - 00:47:45:22

So what are the ones that that low ratings. And I always go there. I look for for consistency among them. If it's a one off, then hey, it may have been a one off thing and you just never know what it is. But when you look for the consistent challenge overall, all right, then that's a little more concerning when you see the consistent piece like that.

00:47:45:28 - 00:48:00:11

But that's why I have it. And you have some of those where the business will reply back. So with an answer to what ended up happening or what they ended up doing. So and then, in our case, the homeowner may actually reply back and say, yes, they were great. They got this taken care of. So it was all just part of the process.

00:48:00:11 - 00:48:29:04

And we realized that, you know, those are the good things that should be in there whenever that kind of thing happens. So the more the more authentic you are. So it showing all the scars, not necessarily just showing the great stuff. Well, it goes so much further if you Google a company to come out and do the, do a project and they've got 75, five star reviews run because they don't have 75, five star reviews, and if so, they're not good enough to be hating on.

00:48:29:04 - 00:48:52:07
Unknown
And and that's not true. they're cherry picking who they send. Yeah, they're buying it. They're buying the, the Google reviews are not it's not authentic. Because the thing is, every project's going to be a challenge. And it's how many how many of those can you get over? And when we do our video testimonials, it's like, I just want raw, honest truth and where we could improve.

00:48:52:09 - 00:49:14:21

And what did we do? Great. What did we not do? Good. Because it's it's more about when I'm doing those video testimonials. It's like you're talking about it's more about us improving our processes than it is about how great we look. We just want to be real and authentic along the way. Agree. Oh, all right, all right. next question.

00:49:15:25 - 00:49:46:11

is is your company professionally licensed and insured? And this is a typical question. I think and it's it is funny though, because I still only get it about 50% of the time, if even that much. And I think homeowners make that assumption a lot of times that you are licensed and insured because you're doing this. I tell most homeowners you want to know for sure, you can check, like, we've got a website down here that you can actually check to make sure someone's actually a licensed contractor before you have them come in and do our work, because there's a lot of people that'll go out and do things that they're not licensed for,

00:49:46:11 - 00:50:00:08

which like in our state down here, and I think in every state. But I know in our state for sure that's illegal. You know, you've got to have the license to be doing what you're doing. It's actually regulated by one of our, state associations. So one of our state departments. So that goes ahead and takes care of that.

00:50:00:10 - 00:50:19:17

And down here you should have that. And that should be something that's very easy. They can go ahead and search the insurance. They should be able to provide you a copy of the insurance. So for both liability and worker's comp. And I tell my homeowners that's, that's almost your most important one is the worker's comp one. Because there's usually a higher likelihood of something happening and someone getting hurt on the job.

00:50:19:19 - 00:50:34:18

And you want to make sure that you're covered, because if not, they're going to name you in the lawsuit anyways, which is a given. If something happens, you want to make sure that the contractor's got their worker's comp insurance, because then you're going to be able to remove yourself from that lawsuit because they're covered. If they're not covered now, it's on you.

00:50:34:20 - 00:50:53:20

So and you stand a chance of either absorbing a financial loss or possibly losing your home. Unfortunately, and that's the piece that you always want to see that that insurance, that proof of insurance, that's current for right now. And then if it lapses during the project that they've got it renewed during the project, which are things that we do for like all of our business partners, we check that all the time.

00:50:53:22 - 00:51:06:19

And like before we send out checks. So we check to make sure that they've got all of their updated stuff. If they don't, I've got a little bit of leverage. right now I need your updated information so I can send you your check for the work that you've already completed. and we go ahead and keep that coming in that way.

00:51:07:00 - 00:51:19:07

and that's the easiest way to do it. But I would all for any homeowner, I would always ask and know if they need to be licensed because you have certain people that say, oh, we don't need to have a license to be able to do this. There are certain things that you may not need to have a license in your area for.

00:51:19:08 - 00:51:47:12

There are definitely others that you have to have a license. Well, like in the state of Texas, you don't have to have a, a license to be a general contractor. But you do have to have a license if you want to be a plumber or electrician or an Hvac. or if you get kind of get up in the specialty things like structural engineering, architectural, any kind of environmental remediation, any of those pieces, then you have to be licensed.

00:51:47:12 - 00:52:08:10

But it's kind of weird. You don't have to be a licensed general contractor. but that's just the way the state of Texas set it up, and you're not the only state that's that way. So I know you know, Virginia actually. Well, I always laugh because for us down here to get a license, you've got multiple classes that you've got to take a multiple test that you've got to go to and plus experience in the field that has to be verified.

00:52:08:12 - 00:52:23:10

So for you to be able to get it and like I've got I've got contractors that I know that live in Virginia. So and they had to take basically it was a 40 hour training class is what they had online. So and passed that test and they're done. Yeah. And it's like got it. Yeah. It's one of those weird things.

00:52:23:11 - 00:52:52:24

It's like every state's different. Every state's different. So you have to check what state's in there. And you have to know what the laws are. And you have to be able to convey that when this question has been asked. And so, even though I carry a bunch of different licenses, there's not one for general contractor. And so, having to explain that to a customer, you just need to be able to know exactly like, hey, look, I'm not required to have one, but all of the trades that are working are required.

00:52:52:24 - 00:53:13:06

And here's the documentation to prove that they have it. And yes, insurance requirements are done the way that they're supposed to be done. So we do kind of the same thing. All of our, trade partners or, or all the have to have their license and have to have, their worker's comp and vehicle liability and liability. Right.

00:53:13:07 - 00:53:33:18

Liability, all those. So, and it's all keys. Remember that, you know, as a homeowner, this is to protect you as a contractor. If you don't have these things, you want to get these things. because the last thing that you need is, you know, one of your guys going out on the job site and hurting themselves and literally taking down your company because of the fact that you don't have the money to go ahead and pay for that piece.

00:53:33:20 - 00:53:51:04

So and, you know, I hate to say it, I mean, we've had I have had, business partners who have had people that have died on job sites and that kind of thing. And unfortunately, it does happen. and whenever that happens, if you don't have insurance to cover yourself, it will literally bankrupt you as well. Not happening.

00:53:51:07 - 00:54:14:06

Yeah. It's not worth it. Right. All right. Awesome. all right. Here's one that I've gotten recently. So a couple of different times, as we've been talking on the front end because they're bigger projects. and as they're getting done with the project, they're like, what kind of documentation do we get about what's in the house? So what do you mean?

00:54:14:06 - 00:54:39:28

Like, what's in the house? Like like, design selections and or, you know, manufacturers warranties or things along those lines. well, everybody's a little bit different. a couple years back, we started implementing a, closeout folder, which is kind of all of the. So this is such a great question. I love this question. Time for some education.

00:54:40:00 - 00:55:08:18

So let's say you buy an air conditioning unit, right. And I, as a general contractor, hire my Hvac guy. and he goes to the supply house and he purchases the equipment. Then he takes it over and he installs it into the house of the customer. and the customer pay me. I pay the electrician company like person company paid the warehouse company or a supply house to do this.

00:55:08:21 - 00:55:35:03

Well, who owns the warranty for the air conditioning unit? Right. Well, there's a transfer of warranty component that's needed. Well, guess who gets fill that out. That has to come from the Hvac professional who purchased the equipment needs to be able to side fill it out, put the address on and then it comes into a binder and so on and passes it on through.

00:55:35:03 - 00:55:56:05

Or is on a sticker that could be placed on top of the air conditioning unit. Right. A few years back, I didn't realize this process. So go figure. a part where we all learn this one. We all learn this one the hard way. We all it it's just part of it's part of our, it's part of your progress as a contractor.

00:55:56:05 - 00:56:23:10

Yes. And if if this doesn't give you any kind of, positive reinforcement that this is constantly learning, industry. Right. Been doing it for 15 years, and then, boom, I get hit with something, and then I'm figuring something else out. Right? Long story short, turns out that the Hvac guy, couldn't get Ahold of them, so I end up having to contact the manufacturer.

00:56:24:02 - 00:56:50:18

get the serial number and the model and everything else. And they ended up writing a warranty component that went along with it. Long story short, we now put in a process that every time that we're having something that has a has a material that's been installed, whether it's a tankless hot water heater, whether it's, you know, an air conditioning unit or any kind of mechanical device that has a warranty.

00:56:50:21 - 00:57:20:13

Flooring has warranties, different things that warranties all, kind of go into, a back end pamphlet that we gather all that information from all of our trade partners and warehouses and everything, and put it all in there. We also do a, a completion of project sign off sheet, where with the customer at the end of the project, as we're getting our final payment, we're then having a document kind of comes through and just outlines.

00:57:20:15 - 00:57:45:00

This is what we did. Here's what it cost. Here's all of your warranties backed up by by the manufacturers. And here's a documentation saying excuse me saying that we're we're cleaning it or it's, I'm sorry. Not only that, it's completed and they sign it, we sign it, we dated. So on they get a copy of that documentation, we get a copy of documentation, it goes in the folder.

00:57:45:00 - 00:58:02:24

And then we had the folder with period. And that's I mean that's a great process as far as that part goes. And we do something similar to that same piece. I've worked for and just to give you some different processes and things like that, for those of you who are listening, one of the builders that I used to work for and I'd use appliances as an example.

00:58:02:24 - 00:58:19:24

So whenever we were building new houses, all the new appliances came in. All have their booklets, including all their warranty cards, all inside of the appliances. What ends up happening? And it's all the the use and care manual. And you know, if it's the dishwasher, there's soap and stuff. But anyways, we pull all that stuff out of there and we would put it in one drawer in the homeowner's house.

00:58:20:01 - 00:58:37:21

So with the with the warranty card, because there will be a warranty card along with a use and care manual, typically and almost every appliance. So and we would pull the warranty card, we would hold it up outside of the booklet itself. And then whenever we were doing our what we what we call orientation walks, those whenever we do our orientation walk.

00:58:37:21 - 00:58:55:09

So we would go ahead and point out, hey, in this drawer are all of your manuals for use and care? Well, because you've got new appliances, you may not be familiar with them. You do. You want to go ahead and make yourself familiar with them so that you don't create any issues for yourself. With your brand new appliance and all of those cards sticking out of the top, you need to go ahead and fill out and send in because those are your warranty cards.

00:58:55:11 - 00:59:12:29

So to go ahead and take care of that. so there's those types of things that that's I've seen that process done. Also, we'll use a process like you do in one of the things that we do, we've got colored what we call color sheets. So our colors are designed, selection sheets is what they are. And they're broken out by room and by pieces in them.

00:59:13:03 - 00:59:29:05

So, you know, if you're talking, you know, the kitchen, you've got all you've got the faucet, you've got the sink. So in the suppliers, those came from if there's any lighting in there that's something other than recessed lighting. There's those things, the name of the cabinet manufacturer or the colors of the cabinets, in case, God forbid, they've got to go ahead and change the door out or something happens later on that they've got to do same thing for the countertop.

00:59:29:05 - 00:59:50:08

So you list out all of the selections that are in there, and we do that for every room of the house where there are components like that. And then we do the general ones, like, here's your paint list for all the different paint colors that we used in the house. That way they've got that list. We also have it for us because on the warranty side of things, the homeowner's never going to be able to find that whenever you go out there, let you all know right now, so when you get out there, they've got no idea you want to keep a file of that.

00:59:50:14 - 01:00:05:24

That way you can go back and refer to it. my painters are. That's notorious. So for asking those questions of what is that? It's like you, I know you have a record because I know where you buy the paint and the brand of paint they buy. They listed out by the address of the home. You've got every paint that you used in that project.

01:00:05:24 - 01:00:20:15

I know it as long as you bought it at that supplier. and that's those are the types of things that you want to be able to give them, those types of things, because now they know everything that's in their home. and just never know. It's a great thing. Whenever I know I've homeowners that whenever they buy things like I leave a set of the blueprints to.

01:00:20:17 - 01:00:35:24

So whenever we're done, if we're doing something that actually had blueprints done for it that way, hey, if they've got to do something in the future, the next builder, if it's not us, I mean, if they sell the house and then whoever that person is, I to hire somebody. So, they may go ahead and use somebody else, but at least they've got some ideas on what how it should have been put together.

01:00:35:24 - 01:00:50:07

So which makes it easier on their end. And guess what? When you leave those things and they leave those things, guess who's the person they're calling? And I've had multiple of those calls to where people have sold houses like, hey, we bought the whatever the name of the homeowner was now, and we're thinking about doing something to him.

01:00:50:07 - 01:01:07:29

We saw what you love for us, it's a great calling card. So because they're like, this person was detail, they gave us everything. We even know what we've got. and especially things like plumbing, stuff like I think of all the time the shower valves because there's cartridges in the shower valves and then the faucets. So that need to be replaced every once in a while.

01:01:07:29 - 01:01:23:18

If they know exactly what it was, they can go back to that manufacturer. And certain manufacturers have a lifetime warranty on the cartridges. They can literally get a free cartridge from that manufacturer. They just have to put in the legwork to go and get the free cartridge sent to them, that's all. And then they got to pay a plumber, to go ahead and put it in, or unless they're going to DIY it.

01:01:23:21 - 01:01:50:26

But that's like one of the things that you talked about. And so and actually this is something that I'm I'm going to jump into this one though, because I think this is probably one that you have to know is the warranty side of things. Yeah. So we're we're talking about that. And like we have all the warranties that are included in this as far as the paperwork that we give at the end, one of the biggest misconceptions and you want to be like they talked about earlier, being upfront and honest and clear with them is when you've got warranties.

01:01:50:26 - 01:02:05:21

We're talking about, like I was talking about faucets and things like that. Well, those things have a warranty. I pay, they'll send the piece and the part out so they warranty the material. They don't warranty the labor to go ahead and change it. Like and I've got like I had windows, I had a window down here that's got some condensation in between the two pieces of glass.

01:02:05:21 - 01:02:23:23

After the hurricane came through and whatever that happened, you know, the the window manufacturer warranties the glass. That's not an issue. They'll send out a replacement piece of glass yet the window installer. So it still needs to get paid because there wasn't anything that they did wrong. But on that side of things. Right. So that's a part that the homeowners have to go ahead and pick up.

01:02:23:23 - 01:02:43:17

And there's those. So many times homeowners are under that misconception that whenever they hear that this is warranted, well, and the parts are warranted by the manufacturer, the labor is rarely warranted. I think I know, I know of one company, so that actually pays for that. And that's I'm whether you use them or not Nate. But opener. So as far as plumbing they have plumbing pipes.

01:02:43:24 - 01:03:02:27

So they actually have a 25 year warranty to their their pieces leak. If any of their plumbing leaks. So and it was installed by a certified installer. They will pay for everything every bit of labor, anything that looks good in the house. So it's like one of the products that I actually highly recommend putting in my homes because of that warranty, but they're one of the few that I know that.

01:03:02:29 - 01:03:24:21

Yeah, that's the only one I've heard of the like I you hear all the time that they'll they'll cover the, the part, but not the labor to either uninstall or install reinstall. they kind of look at it like hands off. I can't see how, they would cover it if it is a certified person, who installed it.

01:03:24:23 - 01:03:47:10

Sometimes roofing material kind of gets into that realm, but, it's not guaranteed, right? so warranties. Yeah. Man, I, we had that kind of conversation with them on the front end, like materials covered. Labor is not. And, I always get that side I look like. Right. Well, you installed it. Why aren't you warranty what you install?

01:03:47:13 - 01:04:06:15

Well, we didn't install it improperly. It was just the defect. And that defect needs to be covered by, you know, the manufacturer, not the person installed it. We didn't have anything to do with it, but, like, we can go out there and say yes. Give me a list of all of your defective materials because I want to put those at every customer.

01:04:06:18 - 01:04:20:22

Yeah, we can't QA everything before it comes in to make sure that there's no defects that may show up at some point in time, so it's just not possible. You know? But that's like for us. And one of the big things like whenever you talk warranties, the guys that do this all the time, like Nate, what's your what's your warranty for homes?

01:04:20:22 - 01:04:45:01

Whenever you go ahead, if you do an addition or new construction, what's your warranty that you give the homeowner? So we give a one year may of, one year tradesmen warranty, and then whatever is added on to, the material warranty that's given into it will give them a discount on labor. it's kind of that's what I chose, which is like a 25% discount on labor.

01:04:45:27 - 01:05:08:24

just because I have money off of them. Right. You know, we got to cover our costs, right? And so giving a 25% discount, doesn't make us whole, but it it doesn't make us go into the the negative coffers either. Right. We were breaking even on and sometimes even taking losses on having someone go out there and install a product or reinstall something.

01:05:09:06 - 01:05:29:19

but it's a fair way of saying like, look, we're not pushing this all off. When you were involved with you were engaged with you. But we want to understand, like, this isn't really our fault, but we're going to work with you on cost. And so and I know, like for us, we've got to have outside of what you talked about for that that one year tradesman warranty which we do the same thing.

01:05:30:00 - 01:05:47:22

we also have a ten year structural warranty that we have to provide. So on the state of Florida, it's required. And in tier two in Texas, is it okay? so those are the types of things that, you know, the I name those all the time whenever homeowners go and I'm like, you need to ask anyone else that you're interviewing if they are unable to answer that question quickly.

01:05:47:24 - 01:06:05:00

So get concerned. So because that's that literally should be ingrained in their head so that it's, you know, one year, ten year. So some of them go to year. So as far as that part goes well here's a ton of things. Yeah. Here's the state of Texas. We do so for new construction not for remodels but for new construction.

01:06:05:18 - 01:06:41:17

it's ten year, structural warranty, two year mechanical, which means basically very Tracy, your plumbing, your, you know, any kind of mechanical device. And then one year, trade they work basically. Yeah. But they put it in the right way. Yeah, yeah. And that's literally what, you know, but those things you should know. And if they don't have an answer to that question, then, you know, that's something to pay attention to that separates your professionals from the people who are your fly by night contractors, there's no question about it, is being able to answer that question effectively and being able to explain the difference, like, well, we were just talking about between what

01:06:41:17 - 01:06:59:24

the manufacturer will pay for and what they'll still be responsible for, you know, and again, be upfront with the conversation. So much easier to be that way, you know, because then they know, that they respect that. And you think there's so many people who get out there and they get nervous about going ahead and telling us like, oh, no, that's going to go ahead and make them make a different decision.

01:06:59:27 - 01:07:15:01

If it does, then hey, that's then number one, you need to probably reframe the way you're going ahead. And presenting that, though, is what I would say. And number two, most people are actually appreciate that fact that you're upfront and honest like that and that you're going to let them know the way it is because it's the same way for everybody else.

01:07:15:03 - 01:07:34:19

Well, they just the other person may not have said or they may not have asked that person that question. It's all about building trust. you know, people want to buy from people that they trust, right? And and if you're being, a car salesman, which I have nothing against car salesmen. I've got another good salesman. I like sales.

01:07:34:19 - 01:08:09:02

I think sales is probably one of the greatest things in the world. But there's a difference between selling somebody bad goods and and informing them so that they can make a decision. That's really how I see sales. Right? And if I'm informing a customer to make a good decision, then I did my job as a sale. If I am selling them on things that don't matter, that that's bad for them, that I'm being a poor sales and they're really they're one of the two and that's it.

01:08:09:04 - 01:08:31:13

And I just like I like informed buyers. Right. Well and it's the more they know the better it is. And like I've said before, if they know it then they don't have to assume it or attempt to guess it because most people, if they don't have enough information of knowledge, they'll start filling in the blanks. And the blanks very rarely work out in your benefit whenever they're filling it in with not with incorrect information or a lack of information.

01:08:31:21 - 01:08:59:22

so give them the information just easier that way. I agree with you, Nate. Whenever it comes to the sales now all you should be presenting options and why it's good for them because of your solving the needs that they've expressed. So whenever you're going ahead and doing something that that you're doing because it's you're in your best interest and not in their best interest, that's the used car salesman that Nate's referring to so that they don't care what's going on with the in our case, our homeowner, they're they're more worried about putting money in their pocket and that their commission and.

01:08:59:24 - 01:09:15:00

Yeah, that's the last thing we want in this industry. We have enough of those people. So be the people who are the they do things the right way. They look to help the homeowner out, looked at, solve whatever challenges the homeowner has. So and solve that challenge alone and or anything else that you know might happen based on that challenge.

01:09:15:07 - 01:09:33:12

So don't go ahead and sell them everything in the world that you might have just because you could sell them everything in the world and make them afraid of doing that. I've seen too many people do that, and that's just it gives it everybody a bad name is what it does. Well, it's one of those things I think I've gotten more referral business, based upon two things.

01:09:33:12 - 01:10:00:25

One, I give them so much information and let them make decisions which is best for them. And number two is that we do what we say we're going to do it. And we would think that these two things are really hard and complicated. But those are the two things that are the key to success. Because without those two things, people are left over here in that void that you're talking about, where they're making, choices, decisions in the void.

01:10:00:27 - 01:10:20:04

Right? Whether then in the inform. And so take it as you want it. But that's how it goes, you know, and it's the it's the piece that we always talk about. And people always ask. And I'm trying to you get this question I'm sure Nate, from people that you meet there like how do you go ahead and create that success that you've created with your business and things like that, like that little piece right there?

01:10:20:04 - 01:10:36:01

That last piece that Nate said is doing what you say you're going to do. So we'll create success. No matter what the industry is that you're in, whether it's any one of the trades that are here in construction, whether you own a different type of business, that is key. When you deliver, you already separate yourself because there's so many people.

01:10:36:01 - 01:10:53:19

And I'll tell you something that don't hit that well and realize that just do what you say you're going to do. Simple. Easy. Well, awesome. I think that's everything that I've got. Question. Why do you have any other questions that you, that homeowners should be asking or that you typically hear in the other contractors should be aware of?

01:10:53:21 - 01:11:07:27

Probably, but I don't have them at the forefront of my mind right now. So that's going to be on the next podcast. There we go whenever we get the next set of questions. So and if you had like if you're a contractor and you're getting other questions outside of these, throw them in the comments. So we would love to have them.

01:11:07:27 - 01:11:21:12

We'll go ahead and we'll do another one of these is what we end up doing. So put those comments in there. like with all the episodes, one of the biggest things you can do to help us out is share this, with people that you know, that are in the industry or possibly think about getting in the industry.

01:11:21:26 - 01:11:33:27

if you're thinking about getting in the industry and want to know more about Concord University. So I know in the show notes there'll be a link to go ahead and do that. So definitely reach out and do that. Share this on social media. So thank you for listening. We look forward to seeing you on the next one.