Alan Hanbury, Jr., of the House of Hanbury Builders in Newington, Conn., shares how he went from practicing to professional in his 32 years of remodeling.
When employees work overtime, you are obliged to pay them time-and-a-half. That sounds expensive, but OT hours don't really cost 50% more than regular hours. In fact, under normal circumstances, overtime costs about the same as straight time.
Any amount of slippage, if consistent, will quietly and effectively kill your year. Some slippage is just bad luck, but here are eight causes that you can control.
When remodelers fall short of planned margins, it's usually caused by labor overages. Some of the problem can be traced to things like having to replace work that wasn't done right the first time, or employees who take 45 minutes for a 30-minute lunch. But underestimating the cost of labor is the major culprit.
