I am always interested in finding inexpensive and simple ways to improve the customer experience. I noticed Builders and Remodelers often give their clients a scaled copy of their floor plan after the contract has been signed. That is a value-add for the customer. They use the plans to help them finalize details for other parts of the project. As a value add, at our plans and specs meetings, in addition to the plans, I would provide customers with a furniture template. The generic furniture on the...

3-D modeling, impressive looking timelines and e-books with pages you can flip, zoom or print; use these software technologies individually or combine them for even greater impact! Here is a short review of three free software products with a link to a presentation that combines all of them. 3-D modeling SketchUp (Make) is free program that provides a lot of functionality to facilitate all kinds of designing. SketchUp can help create many different types of 3-D models. I have used it to create 3-D models of construction...

For years I worked with some sort of paper construction/production schedule. Most of them, were not all that sophisticated. The rub with this type (paper) of construction schedule for many builders/contractors is that by the time they are copied/printed they are already inaccurate and obsolete. This leads to frustration and a general feeling of “why bother?” on the part of those who were intended to use them. ” In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”...

Sure, we all say we are part of the [state your company name] team. But are we really part of a team, or are we just a group of employees who work together? What’s the difference? If we are in fact a team, are we a winning team? The reality is, a winning team is not formed by accident, hiring the “right” people, nor is it the by-product of singing Kumbaya  around the campfire at a retreat. A winning team is the result of conscious effort on the part of team members. It is a process. …I...

Like a broken record, you’ve told customers many routine maintenances are a homeowner’s responsibility. Where does that get you? Instead of leaving them with nothing, why not provide your customers with something helpful? Try: Do-it-yourself videos. I’ve done this and it was always successful; call-backs for routine maintenance items virtually stopped! Here’s how to get started: Make a list of the top 10 maintenance issues you have to “encourage” homeowners to do themselves....

One of your customers just made one simple change… How much time is spent: Processing and track the change order? Updating the office file? Updating the budget? Updating the field file? Updating the contractor/vendor? Example: The site superintendent knows Mrs. Jones, the customer job ABC-123, had mentioned  she might add hardwood floors in the family room.  He/she checks the field file and doesn’t see a change order. How much time is spent: By the supervisor double checking with the office? Revising...

One of your customers just made one simple change… How much time is spent: Processing and track the change order? Updating the office file? Updating the budget? Updating the field file? Updating the contractor/vendor? Example: The site superintendent knows Mrs. Jones, the customer job ABC-123, had mentioned  she might add hardwood floors in the family room.  He/she checks the field file and doesn’t see a change order. How much time is spent: By the supervisor double checking with the office? Revising...

Click to enlarge form Converting traditional paper forms to digital forms is easy, saves time and provides increased functionality. I’ve created digital forms for 30 day customer meetings, material orders, selection sheets, site safety evaluations and more. I like digital forms because they are always neat and have a professional appearance. And best of all; no one has to figure out my handwriting!   Consider the Final Inspection form: (above) The table below compares the paper version to an electronic version.  Final...

 So what is the “box” anyway? I’ve heard the “box” described like this: Think of a single dot as a bit of information in the brain’s knowledge base. When a problem is encountered, the brain recalls these bits of information and starts connecting dots, it uses these connections between the multiple bits of information retained in its knowledge base to solve the problem. After solving the same problem a number of times, the connections become automatic. So, when faced with the same problem again, the...

Perception is reality. If it looks good, it is good. These statements are false, of course. But when it comes to showing what we’ve got to offer, we need to put our best efforts forward. The photo at the left is the actual “selection center” at a builders model. When my daughter, living in another state,  was looking to buy a townhome I went to check out the quality.  I arranged to meet with the builder to get a look at units under construction. I was impressed with how neat things were inside...