Starting a remodeling business doesn’t need to be hard… And with the 7 simple steps below, you’ll discover how quickly you can begin getting new clients to start calling you for your remodeling services in no time…
And you’d be wise to start your own remodeling business sooner than later because according to entrepreneur.com “No matter whether the housing industry is hot or cold, people in the remodeling business do well.”
And if you’re looking for any kind of security (trust me, it’s hard to come by as an entrepreneur…) then this path may be your ticket, and could even lead to some serious prosperity…
But before I dive into how to START a remodeling business, let me give you some context for why I know what I’m talking about and why you should pay attention to what I’m about to say…
Before I got into the remodeling business, I was a freelance marketing consultant. During that time, my dad had retired from being a general contractor for the last 25 years… And just as I had assumed, he QUICKLY become bored out of his mind within the first 6 months of retirement…
He had asked me if I could help him build a website and get a few clients just so he could stay busy and generate some extra cash…
And the rest is history…
Our first year in business we did just over $700k with our little remodeling business…
And as of writing this article (currently half way through year 2 of business) we are currently on track to do $1.2-$1.4 million this year. Crazy right?
Well, it has been definitely a roller coaster of a ride with a lot of hurt feelings, happy clients, not so happy clients, and amazing victories…
But we couldn’t have done it without first understanding the foundation that…
1. Starting A Remodeling Business Requires Understanding Who Your Target Audience Is…
When trying to come up with remodeling business ideas, the most important thing that you and every leader/executive in your company needs to understand if what kind of client are you really going after?
Are you targeting the elderly that live in mobile homes?
Are you targeting older neighborhoods that haven’t been remodeled in the last 20-30 years?
Are you targeting modern remodel clients? Or contemporary remodel clients?
The possibilities are endless, but in order for your remodeling business to function AND be profitable, you have to outline who your ideal client is…
Trust me, trying to figure out how to run a remodeling business is hard enough with all of the operational and day to day activities (plus dealing with OVER EMOTIONAL homeowners, my favorite)… Knowing your target audience will make your job that much easier…
2. Starting A Renovation Business Requires Systems…
Now I’m not talking about $.99 cheeseburgers from McDonalds systems, but its gotta be pretty damn close…
With construction and remodeling especially, there will be TONS of variables that come up…
One thing that I learned really quickly is that if I was going to be able to handle all of the variables, I had to begin to delegate the mundane, day-to-day, unchanging tasks that I was constantly finding myself knee deep in, ALL THE WHILE continuing to deal with homeowners changing their minds in the middle of construction, finding mold, etc…
(NOTE: I would have normally switched #3 with #2, but operational systems have truly become very near and dear to my heart, so I wanted to give them priority…)
So hears what I did to make sure I was running our remodeling business as smooth as possible…
1. Hired a receptionist firm to answer our phones (through a free tracking number with Google Voice) and transfer all calls to the appropriate party, i.e. designs, billing, scheduling, construction, etc…
2. Drew out CLEAR lines with all owners and operators of the company to ensure that everyone did their jobs and that there were no blurred lines on job descriptions.
3. Hired an interior designer full time (we didn’t need her in the beginning, but now I couldn’t live without her…)
4. Hired a personal assistant to handle all of the scheduling, following up with email leads, and pretty much being my personal pit bull if anyone tried bothering me with the mundane…
All of these points have allowed me to focus on marketing and business development, which has allowed for increased sales and higher margins of profits…
3. Having A System To Constantly Generate Home Remodeling Leads Day After Day…
So I built a website that has been able to generate 2-3 home remodeling leads per day…
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Now that may not sound like much to some, but if you’re a remodeling contractor, you understand that 2-3 leads a day with no plan of action, no organization and no team will leave your remodeling business to implode on itself…
(Business implosion is no fun…)
But with this kind of volume, and especially if you’re generating YOUR OWN home remodeling leads, the quality of your clientele and the ability to pick and choose who you want to work with is absolutely a breath of fresh air…
(and with your own leads, you don’t have to race to the bottom trying to beat the bid from 3 other contractors that you’re sharing the same lead with…)
4. Every Remodeling Business Plan Should Leave Room For Mastering The Art Of Salemanship…
You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve heard from clients “I had another guy come in here and he was a jerk. He kept telling me what he wanted to do vs listening to what I wanted to do!”
This is the single most killer of sales I’ve ever experienced in the business.
Wanna know how we win customers over other contractors, even if our price is more?
Simple…
We listen… Ask questions… And listen some more…
And then we tailor our solution, or our design to what the client actually wants…
Sounds easy enough?
Well, I guess if it was, more contractors running a remodeling business would be doing the same…
(Now thats a simplified overview of salesmanship, but for a more in depth look at how you can increase closing your leads at a rate of 90%-99%, check out our $7 audio course…) COURSE LINK
5. Using The Right Remodeling Business Software Will Make Your Life So Much Easier…
Let’s face it, we live in the digital age, and pencils with rulers & paper are a thing of the past that makes you look like a contractor that is out of the loop…
One of the first investments we made was in iPads for our team leads…
We also invested in Quickbooks (get the online version) (aff link) and was able to load it on all tablets and smartphones… (this was the biggest shift we made in our billing as we were using Excel spreadsheets before, and it was HORRIBLE for P&L statements, tracking, etc.)
We started using a software called Basecamp (aff link), which is a simple project management software that gives you a birds eye view of all of the jobs happening now, and the remodeling jobs coming up in the future…
The next software we used is Aweber (aff LINK). It’s a web based email auto responder that allows us to quickly and easily automate all of our home remodeling leads, as well as track locations, collect phone numbers, collect emails, etc… This is the “machine” that allows us to generate our high quality leads…
And if you’re looking for the best interior design software, 2020 is hands down the greets design software on the market.
6. Remodeling Business Cards, Flyers, Yellow Pages, Oh My…
Remodeling business cards are one of the first things that contractors like to have in place. It’s as if its essential to their business plan. Yes, they have some merit, but we just got business cards a month ago… Us not having them didn’t break our business one bit…
But if you’re going to get business cards for your business, then you’d be very wise to use a professional template. The stander black or blue text one white card stock is just plain boring and is so 1990.
Here’s a great resource for remodeling business card templates that you can purchase for CHEAP and you can take to any printer for production.
Flyers… Honestly, I would waste my time or money…
Yellow Pages… I don’t know why this is still common practice, but every contractor I’ve ever spoken to that has an ad on YellowPages.com has yet to receive a return on their investment… Again, don’t waste your time…
7. When Starting A Remodeling Business, AVOID Using Yelp… At Least In The Beginning…
Yelp can make, but UTTERLY break your business. You can get great rankings in google with high yelp reviews, but all it takes is one CRAZY client and your ranking is gone… And if all you’re planning on doing is riding the Yelp wave, you’re in for a world of trouble of you get slapped by a negative review…
Now some negative reviews are earned, but other are just unbelievable… Ive gotten to 1 star reviews because WE CHANGED OUR ADDRESS!!!
At that point, I took it down and moved on… I prefer to have total control of my business, and I don’t think its worth you putting your new remodeling business at risk.
And if you’d like more info on starting a remodeling business, or you’d like to to sign up for a free strategy session, simply enter your name and best contact info in the form below…
