Making product selections can be a frustrating part of the reduction deadlines. Remodelers often use forms to stay up to date on modeling process — for both clients and contractors. It products. About 73% of the remodelers who answered this survey takes a lot of coordination to lead clients through the maze have an in-house form to track product selections, and 40% provide of product choices and have the selections ready in time to meet pro-clients with a selection sheet/schedule.

Which person in your company is responsible for tracking product selections? (choose all that apply)

Do you have a showroom? If you do not have a showroom, do you have a selections or samples area in your office? For your selections area, how often do you update your displays or product samples? How often do you update product binders and specification information? Do manufacturers help with the cost of updating displays or product samples? Do you send your clients to showrooms to choose products or accompany them on their shopping trip? If you accompany a client to showrooms, how much time do you spend per client on these visits? Do you insist that all products are selected before the project begins? Do you offer a client incentive to speed the selections process? If you do not select products before the project begins, which are most often not yet selected by the start of construction? In general, which product category experiences the most delays during product selection? Which are most often changed after the initial selection? What are your reasons for accompanying clients to select products?

“To help them stay in budget and not select something that would be inappropriate, either because of the lead time or design.” Joan Stephens, Stronghold Construction, Boise, Idaho

“To be available to answer questions, help with selections, and evaluate the service they (or we) receive from the supplier. To offer alternative selections should major changes need to be made for budget considerations, and to help regarding any major upgrades they may consider.” Gary Line, Custom Finish Carpentry, Crystal Lake, Ill.

“Many of them will not go on their own! It's the only way to get an answer. It is, however, a large waste of my time.” Adam Pollock, Kaplan-Pollock Investments, Atlanta

What are your reasons for asking clients to choose products before the project begins?

“To give an accurate job estimate and also to ensure we can stick to our schedule.” Scott Dornbusch, A&K Construction, North Branch, Minn.

“Having the products selected prior to the beginning of the project puts the client in a committed situation to undertake their project and eliminates clients who just want to ‘kick the tire' to see how much their project will cost or how long it will take.” John King, Blue Line Building Systems, Bristol, Conn.

“So we can be precise on our proposals and avoid change orders.” Charles Brant, Brant Contracting, Monroe, N.Y.