For better or for worse, the large home improvement retailers are changing the face of remodeling. More
When Evelyn Yowell was named to the Big 50 in 1998, she was the chief operating officer at J.J. Swartz. Now, Tom Swartz's "right-hand woman" of 23 years (six as COO), has purchased his 12-employee, Bloomington, Ill., branch office. Yowell will run it as a separate company under the J.J. Swartz name. More
Slippage measures the difference between estimated gross profit and produced gross profit. "You have to be suspicious of an owner who's doing sales, because owners don't package well," says consultant Linda Case of Remodelers Advantage in Fulton, Md. "Bringing production into the sales and estimating process can help, but carpenters are reluctant to complain to their boss about it." As an incentive to produce more detailed estimates, many companies are switching to commissions based on produced gross profit. More
How to accurately estimate small jobs over the phone using a special policy and price book. More
Two remodelers describe how small jobs play a key role in their businesses and what steps they’ve taken to make them profitable. More
This can be a good area for diversification for residential contractors. But first, bone up on margins, cash flow, and bonding. More
