Many of our past clients have been asking me how the economy has affected us. The response to this question can be challenging. The reason I opened the business is because I enjoy troubleshooting and love the challenges each house give me. But with this tough economy it has given me different perspective on how to run the business and how to help my clients.
If I look a year back, I still had good projects that we did from downtown Chicago, to Winnetka to Arlington Heights. We had 2 house renovations, multiple custom carpentry jobs. 10 bathrooms, 5 basements,3 kitchens many hardwood flooring and re-tiling jobs. I can go on and on the jobs that we did and their numbers but what was really different in those jobs compare to previous years. I will explain below.
First, clients are more cautious about the material they use. They want medium to higher grade material to save the cost for later days. (Why spend money twice when you can get it right the first time) People want to save money in the long run by getting better windows and doors and insulation. The tax credit was helpful to pick better materials.
Second, since there are many companies that either closed their doors or are about to, the first things they do are to cut down on insurance. We kept the same high premium of liability insurance and worker’s compensation. We also kept our memberships in all the organization. Even though we weren’t that busy it was the best time to educate our staff. Since many clients got burned by bad customer service by a previous contractor, I won the jobs due to my reliability records and always coming back to fix any errors. Communication is a big key for us.
At the same time, I spend more time with my vendors and subcontractor and asked them to lower their prices in order for us to lower our prices and give you better rates. Many of you work many hours, so we made it easy for you by helping you buy the materials through us with nearly zero markups. We think that helping clients in bad time will boomerang to us with referrals and future work in your home.
If your bill is high, you won’t like us throughout the project. The stress level will be felt by both parties.
According to Remodeling Magazine the most popular job for next year is entry doors since its inexpensive job that will save you energy and the face of the house. Door’s replacement can get you tax credit as well.
Did you know we are an Authorized remodeler by Wellborn cabinets? We also sell Alside windows and siding.
We work very closely with the biggest and best fabricator of countertop in Illinois. Name any materials and we can fabricate it. However, we don’t do laminate countertop since it doesn’t add value to your home. We come across that many clients like quartz countertop. Quarts is gaining more and more market share and it is great material and maintenance free.
