Cati O'Keefe

Cati O'Keefe's Posts

• How to manage customer backlogs

  by Cati O'Keefe

  With half the 120 million homes nationwide having been built before the bicentennial, new-home prices spiking, and built-up equity burning holes in homeowners' pockets, most remodelers have more work than they can handle. Some sit on 18-month-plus backlogs and mentally salivate as they watch their slice of the remodeling market's $199 billion pie fatten.

• Final-touch services makes client satisfaction complete

  by Cati O'Keefe

  Upscale remodels must be picture-perfect the day clients move back into their space. Anything sub-par ófrom landscaping to lighting ó will downgrade client satisfaction and endanger the possibility of repeat business. “If an owner gets a bad landscape job, it's the last thing they remember about the whole project,” says Mark Peterson, president of M/A Peterson.

• Tract Teachers

  by Cati O'Keefe

  To even the playing field, remodelers should look at the things new-home builders do well. Here are four areas where they have something to teach:

• Lack of professional liability insurance for remodelers

  by Cati O'Keefe

  When it comes to insurance, remodelers have fewer options than ever before. Insurance companies that haven't withdrawn from the market have hiked their premiums across the board.

• Commission Control

  by Cati O'Keefe

  Here's how four high-end remodelers have solved the sales commission problem.