As the remodeling market picks up, so does the amount of work a business owner must get done. Not only is the number of projects increasing, so is the average project size and, therefore, the number of details to be handled for each project. One of my mentoring clients, Joe Levitch of Levco Builders, in Boise, Idaho, recently told me that it was challenging to get clients to select products and make decisions during the design phase. He was also having an issue finding the time to order products and finalize the many small details that come at the end of a job. This prevented him from completing projects in a timely manner, which prevented him from keeping up with sales and growing his business.
Worrying about getting everything done, Joe said, was getting in the way of his being “fully present” at meetings with clients and prospects. He compared the feeling to spinning plates in the air. He didn’t want to reach the point of dreading new leads and also wanted to best serve existing clients.
Joe listed the skills necessary and the tasks he needed someone to perform to free his time. He used that list to create a job description and then hired the right person to add to his team. Joe reports that he now has time to work on future projects while his new office person works on the current ones. —Shawn McCadden founded, operated, and sold a successful design/build company. A co-founder of the Residential Design/Build Institute, he speaks at industry events and consults with remodelers. [email protected]