General Discussion

The Real Way to Hire A Contractor

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There’s a lot of articles about “How to hire a Contractor” on the Internet told by individuals who are the end consumers of the contractor’s services, or are writers for various publications. Most of the advice they give is simply rehashed stuff they have read or formed an opinion of — whether good or bad.  [...]

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Craigslist Follies: Investor looking for Contractors who finance

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I noticed this ad today in Metro Detroit Craigslist: Investor looking for Contractors who finance (East & West Detroit) Date: 2011-08-01, 4:18PM EDT Reply to: see below [Errors when replying to ads?] I am an investor. I just purchased 60 properties and will be purchasing more, I am seeking a professional construction company that can [...]

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Customer Wants a Full Price Breakdown…

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I took a sales call to do work on a home in a nearby residence.  The guy I went to see owns the home in a beautiful neighborhood 15 miles away.  He wants me to fix some drywall from a busted pipe that burst during the winter, install a new high-efficient toilet in the bathroom [...]

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Concrete Canvass Shelter: A Tent That Turns Into A Building

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Watch this pretty cool product: From a contractor’s standpoint, concrete canvass could have many uses in our industry. It could possibly have uses in flat commercial roofing, and perhaps an easy to lay walkway, retaining walls, pipe protection, and whatever else you could think would benefit.  Perhaps outbuilding tool storage, lol. There’s a 4 part [...]

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Contractors Are Buying Supplies And Then Returning Them

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Here’s the deal: some contractors are buying extra supplies on jobs and returning them for gift cards. But, I have to say that this news reporter is reporting a story with only half the information.  They need to track down the contractor and get his version of the story.  Then these videos can be looked [...]

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A Face-to-Face Meeting Gets a Contract Signed

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I just put together a bid for a potential customer.  He found me through my website, which is cool because that lets me know local people are finding us on the internet.  That’s huge. So I went out to the prospect’s condo a few days ago.  This guy is not a referral, so I don’t [...]

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Are You Making Your Clients Feel Warm & Fuzzy?

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Do the people who’s homes you work in feel just as excited about their project as you feel about working there for them? Do they look forward to seeing your crew show up on time in the morning? Do the homeowners appear giddy with glee when you explain the procedures for the next work day? [...]

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Radical Marketing Tactics

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We all know that getting referrals is by far the best way of attracting new clients.  You know referrals, right? — one of your clients is so impressed and satisfied with your work that they tell everyone within ear shot of how great your remodeling company is.  But what about getting new customers from scratch? [...]

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Review: CustomInk T-Shirts

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I decided it was time for new t-shirts for my home repair company, Handyservices.  I did a Google search for “custom t-shirts” and up came a bunch of websites that specialize in them.  The first page and first line was a company called, “Custom Ink”.  I clicked the link because “Design your own t-shirts online, [...]

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Slow Down…

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So, I got the contract signed with the homeowner and they are spending big mucho-lottah.  I sold my last job fully prepared and knowledgeable; clients love this kind of stuff!  Photo: tell.fll.purdue.edu I fully tailored their contract to hashed out agreements and ideas with them; they are on-board for a project start date: Monday.  Today [...]

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