|
This summer has been very busy for remodeling
contractors. The number of calls to remodeler's offices have been
very high. People have projects that they have deferred for
several years. Some are weather-related and needed to be done before
the summer was over.
Now fall is upon us. Leaves are falling from the trees. There is
a crisp bite to the air. The onset of winter is anticipated.
While it may be too late to be working on your home this year this
is a great time to be thinking about what needs to be done to be
able to remodel next year. Who do you need on your team to create
a winning project?
The fall classic of baseball, the World Series, is here. Two great
teams, meeting in a seven game series, to determine the best team
in the land. What makes it possible for a team to be able to get
to the World Series?
Let's look at the two questions mentioned above
and see if there are any common answers.
All the team members need to know their
roles. In baseball the team has an owner, who is makes the
key decision about who will be the general manager and the manager.
The general manager, who locates and secures the appropriate players,
and the manager, who uses the players on his team in the best combination
on a day-by-day basis, work with the players, all with different
strengths and weaknesses.
The success of the team is dependent on how all these individuals
work with one another to be able to accomplish a clear goal, win
the World Series. To be able to do that a player cannot be interfering
with the manager's role or the general manager cannot come out on
the field and take the place of a player. It just won't work. Everybody
needs to be know their role and do their best to fulfill it.
To be able to realize a successful remodeling
project you need a team working with you to get all the needed tasks
done. You might look at yourself like the owner of the team.
You are the person who is going to make the big decision about who
is going to be on your team.
This is a big responsibility. Pick the right person and your project
is a success. Pick the wrong person and your life will be miserable.
The most important person on your team is
the remodeling contractor. You will be working with the remodeling
contractor to get your project designed and built over many months.
The remodeling contractor is like the general manager and the manager
of a baseball team. He will make the many different decisions involved
in putting together the right group of people for your project.
He will choose all the players.
Who will these players be? Some of
them might be structural engineer, soil engineer and other consultants
who will enhance the design information. The rest will be people
such as the remodeling contractor's own employees and his subcontractors
and suppliers, a bewildering array of people all of whom need to
be able to work together to get your project built correctly.
Each of the team members needs to know their role and execute it
well. That will make the team more likely to succeed.
Start before the season to put your team
together. Imagine how hard it would be to put a baseball
team together in the middle of the season? Everybody is already
committed and they are going to be asking for a higher salary than
before the season starts.
The team which is already in place has the advantage of having
played together for months, if not years, so they know what they
can expect of one another. There are so many assumptions that have
been made know by the routine of playing together that the team
works in what appears to be a seamless way, a way that is beautiful
to watch.
In remodeling you as the owner can start now to find a remodeling
contractor who can help you build your winning project not now,
but next spring. You recognize that the good remodeling teams are
busy fulfilling current obligations and cannot be expected to be
able to take on new jobs in the middle of their current busy season.
You are looking now to find a remodeling contractor who can help
you with planning your project and bringing an experienced team
to work with you to get that project built right the first time.
This is not a simple task; you know that it will take time and you
are going to do it right.
Ask the tough questions. The owner
of the baseball team needs to know how his team will perform before
the season starts. It is such a big investment! But there is no
way to predict the future. How can he learn what he wants to know?
Like the baseball team owner you want to find out how all will
work out in the long run, in a way that is impossible to know until
you have lived through the project.
There are some good questions to ask when you speak to people for
whom your remodeling contractor has worked with in the past. Here
are some:
|
