Business Advisor

In my last blog, I recommended that we builders should try to build our office team much like we build our construction team. We should move as quickly as possible from doing all the work ourselves to hiring specialty employees and professional partners. (In the field we call them trade contractors).

On residential job sites, the polymath is virtually extinct. A variety of factors have conspired to make the jack-of-all-trades an endangered species, including greater competition, higher consumer expectations, increased technological sophistication in virtually every product category, tougher warranties, third-party inspections, more stringent codes and regulations, greater liability, and manufacturers’ requirements for training.

I’ve been thinking more than usual this Labor Day weekend about putting Americans to work while solving our energy crises. If our goals are to reduce unemployment, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and improve all the buildings that are bleeding energy into the night sky, we need a better way to sell and finance home energy weatherization contracts.

The problem: how we sell weatherization work

Offering your client small upgrades that have tangible green benefits for them (and profit opportunities for you) always makes sense. And when your business is not as strong as you would like, it becomes even more imperative that you not let these opportunities slip away.

Here are two of my favorite easy-to-sell small upgrades that can improve the performance of your home and make you extra money to boot.

I have three favorite electrical enhancements I love to sell homeowners. There's also a fourth option that can be a little bit tricky. All these options provide the client with value, and all are more cost-effective in new construction than they would be in a remodel.

You know every little bit helps. Whether you are helping a customer select a higher quality bath exhaust fan or you are making more money on the fans you sell, it all adds up, benefiting you and your customer. So don’t ignore the following opportunity to affect positive change with a small but important product — and make a couple of extra dollars along the way.

With the economic downturn, I've been looking for ways to get better value for overhead dollars, and one thing that really stands out is the cost of our company-paid health care insurance.

Before I move onto the topic du jour, How to Sell Energy Audits, I want to remind my readers of the context of this series. Remember, when I talk of selling various green options, they are always sold in the context of the house we are building or remodeling.

If you do not already include tankless water heaters as part of the signature features in your homes and remodels, you should at least understand why so many folks are in love with the benefits. The reasons just may surprise you — and hopefully motivate you to learn how to sell more of them and how to better satisfy your clients.

When I sell tankless water heaters, I do not sell them based on their perceived water efficiency or that they provide instant hot water. In fact those are myths that I usually have to dispel first before talking about their benefits.

It’s time to sell some green upgrades this year, and this blog series is going to show you several ways I have “sold” them in the past. I put “sell” in quotes because I prefer to look at it like I show folks their options and they “buy” the one that’s right for them. So, this series will include, but not be limited to, selling attic ventilation, insulation, tankless water heaters, PEXCross-linked polyethylene. Specialized type of polyethylene plastic that is strengthened by chemical bonds formed in addition to the usual bonds in the polymerization process. PEX is used primarily as tubing for hot- and cold-water distribution and radiant-floor heating. plumbing, WaterSenseProgram developed and administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to promote and label water-efficient plumbing fixtures. plumbing fixtures, and radiant barrier roof decking. When not spec’d, all are options we have offered as part of building a new home or remodeling an existing home.