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via Listing your service for free? Think about this,.
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Renovation Realities TV Show, is it good for Contractors?
HGTV & the DIY Network have a new show on, its been around for a couple of months that I know of, but is it good for contractors. Yes it is.
Why is it great for contractors? We have had show after show over the years since the Bob Villa days showing inexperienced people who are supposed to be “professionals” telling and showing homeowners how to do various projects.
They show you doing a drying wall job in an afternoon and painting the next morning, not the pros doing it with 5 minute mud!
They show a kitchen remodel from gut too finished tile floors done in a weekend not the days of prep, drying time, problems that occur… Not to mention the expense to get work done in that type of time frame, some projects can be done that fast BUT it takes professionals contractors who charge a premium for that type of speed and the materials to perform at that speed cost more also, they don’t tell you that!
And then their are the shows that tell you, you can do it yourself why pay a contractor? When you to can do projects like painting, installing tile, flooring installation, framing or finish carpentry work… and save that money.
What they don’t tell you is, when you go to buy the tools you will need to “save that money” in most cases after buying the tools you need to do the job, it would have been cheaper to hire a professional and you would have had professional results. If you decide to buy the professional contractor grade tools then in all small home improvement cases it would have been cheaper to hire a professional.
All of us contractors have watched these shows and laugh because we know the realities of doing every size project and spent countless hours explaining to homeowners, why their project can’t be done in one weekend like they did it on that show…and yes I know they didn’t show you all of these other things and trades needed to get you the end result you want but these things have to be done…
Finally, and of course their is more to say but they don’t show you all of the hours spent, applying for, paying for and getting your permit. The hours and hours sometimes spent getting your material and the type of trucks it takes to get that material to the job. They don’t make main stream hybrid trucks yet they still cost us a lot in fuel.
Thanks to HGTV & DIY Network they are finally showing the realities of homeowners doing various projects on their own. They show that not every project can be done in one weekend, not every project goes according to plan, not every budget is meet, they show that doing even the smallest of home improvement projects is a real job and not to be shrugged off as “its no big deal”, they show that inexperience can be costly in some cases people have to hire a professional anyway.
Don’t get me wrong, I think do it yourselfers is a good thing but at the same time some things need to be left to the professionals. A show like Renovation Realities I believe shows that some projects are great for DIYers and others need to be left to the professionals. Maybe us contractors can get back a little respect, we have work hard for years getting experience and learning our trades not all contractors are trying to figure out how to rip people off some of us really do care.
If you needed surgery would you try to do it yourself or call a contractor? No, you would call a doctor or surgeon. My point is if its a small scratch put a band-aid on it yourself, if you break a bone see a doctor, if your house needs a little TLC, then do it yourself but if your house is sick or wants to grow, call a professional contractor because in the end YOU will be happy, your house will be happy and your budget will be happy…
A BIG Thanks to HGTV & the DIY Network for Renovation Realities, TV show from MyContractorList.com
Thank You,
MyContractorList.com
A network of Contractors & Their Company Profiles
Advertising or listing your company for free, good or bad? part 2 the example
So is free advertising or free listing good or bad for your business? We have the answer, many who use the free listing sites, do it because they are free without the realization of the cost, (for both homeowner and contractor) habit, not sure where else to go, some just want the cheapest price they can get or just simply just want to have as much control over what is going to happen (for both homeowner and contractor). Can free listings be bad for your business, the answer is YES they can be. Their are various types of listing sites, some sites let you list by category (auto for sale, home improvement, yard sales,…) to be fair some do give a subcategory others have no categories they just simply say “list your service”.
The example: listing sites by category
Lets say you are listed with a free listing site and you are the only experienced contractor with all of the license and insurance listed out of a 100 unlicensed and uninsured “want a be contractors” listed in this free listing site. The homeowner calls 10 contractors from the site and you are one of them, but says your price is much higher than everyone else, your price will always be higher because the homeowner isn’t comparing “apples to apples” but they don’t realize that they just think you are over priced and trying to take advantage of them. Now the homeowners experience with the other 9 contractors has given them the impression for all contractors listed on the “free” listing site. Their impression is it is a great place to find cheap contractors, most with little experienced, most with no insurance or license, but the homeowner wants the cheapest price and they are willing to suffer the agony that can comes with hiring from these “free” listing sites, so they hire one of the other ”want a be contractors” and get what they paid for, most likely.
The point is everyone knows about these sites and all homeowners have the same impressions of the contractors listed on these sites that’s why they get 10 estimates.
Now lets say you are listed with other contractors who are investing in their business by using a paid membership site. A company who invest in their business, cares about their business they want to do good and they know the operating cost of doing business. If a homeowner is looking for a license and insured contractor and they find a site where they can make that distinction, they call you and they most likely will only call two other contractor for an estimate. Now your price won’t seem so high because the homeowner is comparing “apples to apples” and they now have a very professional impression of you and the other contractors.
The example: listing sites with no category
Lets say you are listed with a free listing site with no categories they simply say list your service. You think this is great it cost me nothing and I got to list my good company name and now my new marketing plan is under way.
What you may not know, is your good company name and trade is completely unsearchable after about 4 hours most people will never ever ever ever see your information again.
But even worse, what if lets say, you tell everyone you are marketing yourself on the Internet and this is the “listing site name” where they can look you up. They decide to do just that but they can’t find you in the jumbled mess of other listings from various states and cities jumbled together, they find everything from boats for sale too pyramid schemes. Even worse what if they decide to do a google search for your name an luckily or unluckily google comes back with some results for your name BUT when they go to view your good company name is now attached to and THEY get to view those pyramid schemes, lingerie cleaning, used stuffed animals for sale, lonely person seeking lonely person and that boat for sale ads!!!! You are now attached forever in Internet bliss forever and THEY your clients just found out congratulations.
Whats the answer? www.MyContractorList.com we have developed our site so everyone can compare ”apples to apples”, if a homeowner or consumer wants a license , insured contractor at MyContractorList.com they can search, find and compare a license contractor to a license contractor. If a homeowner or consumer dosn’t want or think they need a license or insured contractor BUT dose want a contractor who cares, who does invest in their company and has been around for sometime they can also find that contractor at MyContractorList.com and compare a unlicensed contractor to a unlicensed contractor. With MyContractorlist.com all consumers can verify how long any contractor has been listed with us by simply looking at their profile, that is complete with date joined, a list of questions about their company and any and all the services they offer, the service areas, they can even include pictures.
With MyContractorList.com you can have your good company name attached with other good contracting company names. When some one goes to our site to do a search for you they will find you & your complete profile, the only other things they will find on our site is other contractors and home improvement, construction, contractor related listings. If THEY do a google search for MyContractorList.com our name shows up in the results the only things attached to our name is our information and on down the page/s you will find other contractor, construction and home improvement related websites. Any place we network or have blogs, the only people we let be our “friend” or link to us MUST be contractor, home-improvement or construction related and we must be able to verify that. With MyContractorList.com you will also be listed with other contractors who are investing in their companies not “want a be contractors” just looking for a free place to list.
With MyContractorList.com we have attempted to solved the many problems we have heard about over the years about referral services and free listing sites from the consumers and contractors point of view.
For homeowners/consumers the ability to decide excatly what you are looking for and get the result instantly. For more information please go to http://mycontractorlist.com/homeowner/index.php
For contractors the ability to let the homeowner know excatly what you do and where for one flat monthly rate. For more information please go to http://mycontractorlist.com/contractor/index.php
, what a great site!
MyContractorList.com what a great site, I guess I am a bit bias but I have noticed in the past week as we have received more members and more activety on our site that we really do have a great service to offer. Don’t get me wrong I have always felt we have a great service to offer everyone from homeowners to the construction industry. But I must admit when you have spent over two and a half years working on a site geared toward home improvement, new construction - residential & commercial a site focused on making the connections between consumer, contractor and their needs, just to have the housing market, the banks, the whole economy go south before completion of your site. It can make you wonder, do I have the right product for this economy? Will people remodel again? Will business expand again? Will shopping centers spring up out of no where again? The answer is YES!
Why because we are Americans, we may get knocked down, but we always get back up, we never say quit, we never give up and we all have dreams of a nice car setting in front of our nice looking well maintained home and we never give up those dreams even if we have to pass them onto our children, we never give up! So the answer is YES we do have a great site at one time or another everyone will benefit who needs a contractor or subcontractor or construction employee or supplier of construction materials and products or remodeling advice or simply just need to refresh their memory of how to do something, MyContractorlist.com will be there.
We have added a section to our talk forum called Tutorials = How To / Refresh Your Memory, Quick Reminders we are excited about this new area of our site, our goal is that it will be beneficial to everyone. This maybe part of our talk forum area but we only allowed factual postings, helpful information explained in a way you may not find elsewhere (explained in the simples terms we can think of). If you have some valuable factual information that others could benefit from, (construction industry related) please post it in this area. We welcome all home improvement, construction industry related information. No self promoting is allowed this is for the benefit of educating.
“Glimmers of hope” where the words used to describe the economy, a glimmer of hope on the economy, I will take it! All we need is a little bit of hope, some positive thinking and soon real soon I believe this year most of the country will be getting back on its financial feet, so get out those old dreams of room additions, decks, architect designed yards and mini mansions because the economy is showing “Glimmers of hope” and many, many in the construction industry are ready to make your dreams come true.
If you are a contractor, subcontractor, construction company, employee or supplier when the time is right for your area to rebound and you are ready to be part of a great contractor list remember our name MyContractorlist.com. Design by contractors, built by contractors for contractors.
What a great site!!!
Thank You,
MyContractorList.com
A network of Contractors & Their Company Profiles
What’s next for remodeling contractors?
Remodeling
Kitchen and baths sell homes, but now that nobody is buying, what now?
Kitchens and baths for the past few years have been the big focus because everyone has been looking for the big sale. Now that the big sale is in the past for a little while for most Americans, it is my opinion that remodeling contractors need to focus on that, remodeling.
Most homeowners are going to go back to viewing their house as a home again instead of a fast cash investment. So be prepared for some very personal touches on the home remodeling front. Contractors get educated on the latest and greatest products on the market right now. Homeowners are going to be looking for a better quality product. What I mean by that is for a while there some homeowners didn’t care about quality of product, just price. Now that we are in these economic times homeowners are going to “dig-in” and stay in their homes longer, as a result they will be requesting a better product for a great price so contractors, get to know your product quality, cost, warranty. Homeowners will want to feel at home again, knowing they are going to be their for a while, they will want the best.
Instead of your sale pitch being about price, and how fast you can complete the project, your sales pitch will need to include price, product quality, warranty, references, how the economy being slower gives your company the ability for even better quality control, and if your willing to work in stages or phases for small projects. For volume or steady work you may have to do smaller projects and be willing to work based on homeowners budget abilities. In short, you will need to be more flexible that before, I’m not saying work for nothing just be more flexible in your willingness to work with them.
One call does it all, these companies may-be a thing of the past for a while, especially in home remodeling. With the slowing economy and homeowners being more cautious about how they spend their money. Most homeowners, will take the time to get quotes from every trade they know they need as a result, little need for a company that has all of the connections and homeowners don’t want to pay for those connections in these economic times.
A few reasons why, in the past homeowners would make various calls for different trades and not get a return phone call but now they know chances are good their calls will be returned.
In the past some contractors if they returned the calls, would come look what needs to be done and never return an estimate but now they know chance are good they will.
In the past time was an issues, but now people will wait for the right price.
In the past homeowners where willing to pay even on small projects a contact fee, percentage fee, or additional fees to a contractor, who could actually get the other trades on site but now why pay the fees when they can get the trades on site themselves.
Who will be in demand?
Painters, drywall repair, flooring, custom trim/moldings, window treatments, windows & doors, handyman services, anyone/company who has the ability to help make a house into a home and yes kitchen & bath remodeling companies will be in big demand again real soon, so get ready.
Contractors looking to get listed with MyContractorList.com go here: http://mycontractorlist.com/contractor/index.php
Homeowners looking for that tradesman you need? go here:
http://mycontractorlist.com/homeowner/index.php
or go to www.MyContractorList.com
TGIF,
Remembering Friday’s
This morning I woke up and my first thought even before I awoke was TGIF- Thank GOD Its Friday.
I don’t know why, I haven’t thought of Fridays being that big of a deal in a long time but here I am with all of these Friday stories bouncing around in my head before, I have even had my first cup of coffee.
Remembering Friday’s, when I was young and new in construction I couldn’t wait for Friday. For the most obvious reasons, everybody went out on the weekends. Friday was payday, the beginning of the weekend, party time as if the weekend was the only time to party. When I look back at those days, it seems all I did was work to party and I know I am not alone because I work with and have employees many different young construction workers. We all think the same thing I got a good check coming on Friday. Then Friday gets here and its party time, Saturday morning, sometimes Sunday morning but always by Monday morning, you start thinking OK I just got to make it until Friday. The week always begins with you feeling like crap, borrowing cigarettes off of the older guys having to listen to them tell you to save your money or at least go and buy a carton of cigarettes to get you through the week. But I wouldn’t listen or if I had bought a carton of cigarettes they where gone by Monday anyway.
When I was 13 to 17 the only bills I had was $35.00 to $50.00 a week in a rent at a boarding house. Saving money was not top on my list besides I had Friday’s, payday. Its is funny how the older you get things change I remember when I was around 19 I had bought a car now I had a couple of bills, rent and gas. Insurance, taxes and registration for the car where not bills they only came once a year and by this time I had started viewing bills as to what I could afford to pay for in one check. You think after all of those years of starving until Friday, I would have learned to save some money but no, I just learn how to do without until Friday.
In my early 20′s I was working full time in construction remodeling and starting to do “side jobs” I really was making to much money or at least I thought at the time I was, I was always a hard worker and would stay until the job was complete and if their was money to be made I was their. I had very little bills and all of this disposal income not a good combination for someone who raised themselves and my motto was spend it, so what I got a good paycheck coming on Friday.
I have worked with and seen construction workers like me bank everything on Friday. Everything from lets go to this great concert and I will pay the electric bill next Friday, or I have this hott date and I will pay the rent next Friday.
Making payroll for some contractors in the beginning of their business can be tough on Fridays. I like many new contractors learn the hard way to save my money or get the job completed on time to get paid by Friday. All through the week you can have your best friends working for you, but on Friday they want their money. I have seen and been in fights on Friday over pay. From wanting my paycheck to having to tell my “friends” they will have to wait until next Friday, nobody ever wants to here next Friday. I have had other contractors when I was a subcontractor, with employees to pay give me checks that where not signed, checks on closed accounts, checks at 4:55 when the banks closed at 5:00 and some homeowners are no different they have given me checks with the wrong amount wrote in them, bad checks with the excuse my husband forgot to transfer the funds to Oh I thought you wanted me to mail the check to you, its in the mail.
Yes, Fridays can be good, even sometimes great, but for a contractor they can also mean a trip to the pawn shop if you are not smart.
Over the years, I have employed many young men with the same motto as mine when I was young, “I got a good paycheck coming next Friday” like the older guys would try to tell me to save my money, I to would do the same just to have my words fall on deaf ears, but that’s part of being young I guess.
The joy of Friday, sitting here thinking about it I am a little sad, when your young Friday is everything, when you or at least myself when I was a younger contractor Fridays where stressful, (are we going to have payroll?). Then you learn to save, put your money in the bank, have a profitable contracting business, after you quit hiring all of your friends. Start making payroll and the bill with no problems, you don’t even notice Fridays anymore.
And now,
when money is tight like the economy is now, Friday is just bill time.
What happen to Fridays?
Good luck everyone and have a great Friday!!!!!!
go to www.mycontractorlist.com to join our network of contractors.
I was recently asked to describe MyContractorList.com in just a few words, our goals and where did I see us in the future since we want to be viewed as more than just another place for homeowners to find a contractor. It didn’t take me to long to answer, since I have had most of this laid out from the beginning. The real challenge was to put it a few words.
The description
We provide a place for companies in the construction & remodeling industry from contractors, subcontractors, construction employees and suppliers where they can provide the public with a very detailed profile of themselves, detailed listing of their various trades performed, states & cities they perform services in, with a complete insurance profile, and they have the ability to manage & update their own profiles. Everyone can search for a contractor, post for advice and we have many more available services for our members and visitors.
The goals:
To be the place the public goes, with confidence,
To find a contractor or construction company for their residential, commercial or government projects.
The website the contractors go to find a subcontractor.
The place construction employees can find employers.
Keeping big companies to the one man operations up to date with the latest industry news.
Making necessary but hard to find information available at just a click.
Making every menu link on our website a valuable tool or get rid of it.
The future
We aspire to be the AAA of the contracting, remodeling and construction industry.
A place the public goes to, find the “pulse” of the contractor and construction world.
Our goal is to know the what, where, why & how each area of the country is affecting our industry, not just how it is affecting the corporate construction companies but also the one man operations.
and then I explain
I am just a contractor, who had an idea for a website, now that it has became a reality, I now have many other areas of responsibility,
Marketing, Advertising, Site Maintenance, Websites future development, Blogging, and many others, not to mention work, yes I still have to work in construction to pay the bills, the economy is slow, like he didn’t know that but in part because of the slow economy, I am giving away free memberships for all of the tools memberships. I also explained that we where not going to give it away forever, I do want to make some money off of this we have a lot invested in it. We also want to offer sponsors the ability to do promotions with us and it have some value. Hopefully as we become more and more popular, we will attract some advertiser. That will help pay for some of the bills and help us be able to extend promotions. I was ask if we would consider lowering our membership fees to attract more paying members. The answer is no, we have our membership fees set at or below market rate already. When you consider all we offer our members the ability to do our rates are a little low.
I set the rates this way I explained, One flat rate
If you just want to be listed and let everyone come to you, then you have a fair market price.
If you want to be listed, view and use the posting boards, the contractor classified ads, the talk forum and the many other options, then you have got the deal of the century.
I know we could charge more and some say we should our rate could hurt our creditability, when we field tested the site for monthly price value or ask the question how much would you pay per month to be a member of this site? Remember this was a year and a half a go, mainly in the Charlotte NC market, we had price ranges on average from $50.00 to $300.00 per month. Yes, $50.00 to $300.00 per month that was the most common range some more some less. We found out the reason for these numbers was most of the contractors being survey where already paying some form of monthly fees in these price ranges and where already comfortable with those numbers even if they felt dissatisfied with the service they where receiving.
I am a contractor myself, I have paid for various type of membership fess, listing fees, commission fees and on and on. I never like NOT knowing how much my monthly bill was going to be and that is why I set it up as 1 flat fee. Being a contractor, knowing my goals for all contractors, subcontractors and employees to have a place on the web and join, I was going to need a fair rate or we would leave many behind. Many in the construction business from one man company’s to a fleet of employees, view paying to much of a month fee is a waste of money, even if they are going to get a $10,000.00 off of their $500.00 a month membership. Some look at it as, what if I don’t get that kind of job next month or after the job is done they think, I really didn’t make the profit I was hoping for after, I take out all of the expense and the $500.00 monthly fee.
Beside I have always believed in making money on volume and not the philosophy of trying to retiring on one client.
Today we have a new president.
Yea, we need one, we need something the economy is terrible, President Obama has promise us a lot and I pray he is successful in half of the promises.
When I started out to build MyContractorList.com the economy was great, people where spending money like they had money trees in the back yard & some people charged some high dollars $$$$ for their homes like they had money trees in the back yard that came with the home. But now you can’t hardly give a house away the money trees had died and the economy is a mess, all in a couple of years.
I started building my website back in 2006 well I’m not going to get off track I will start from the beginning in another blog, today I just want to say GOOD LUCK & I WILL PRAY FOR YOUR SUCCESS President Obama you got my support we need some change. Change we can believe in, some change for the better, some change for the people, and some change for business we are all in this together.
I got to go I am getting “mooshe” after all I am a republican.
This TV concept was my idea of a way we could keep people informed of any changes, site or industry news for the people who don’t have a need to come to our site on a daily basis and want to stayed informed. They can post it to their website or forum and we will update as things change. This isn’t a form of advertising for our members we have ad space for that. I in-vision this as a tool we can really use to help keep all who have a website or forum up to date with the latest information, in our on way = without newsletters, mass emails, RSS feeds… don’t get me wrong I think all are great but I just wanted something unique for us to be remembered by and a lot of us contractors too construction employees are visual or at least like to watch TV.
