Business Advisor

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.

My wife’s a raw vegan (vegetarian plus no dairy, plus no cooked food). She is committed to her diet for, well, dietary reasons. In green building terms, she’s like an extreme NZE (net zero energy) home builder! Not for everybody, but you have to admire the commitment!

Being surrounding in the pages of GBAGreenBuildingAdvisor.com by a lot of folks whose credentials make mine pale in comparison, I have to be sure never to wander too far from home. And the perspective I am privileged to represent here is one of “Business Advisor,” which means you won’t see me straying too far afield into Building Science, Sustainable Design, or God knows else I would like to pontificate on but that may be outside my purview.

Custom high-performance certified green homes? Been there, done that.

Ever have prospective clients ask you for a ballpark price on their home that “they won’t hold you to” during your first sales call? Even after they have shown you a plan view of the project or home without elevations? Maybe they have elevations but no engineering? Perhaps they have made no selections but say they just want “normal, nice fixtures like everyone else that are not too expensive”? You know — just a rough idea of how much per square foot. They want regular tile in the bathrooms but do not know the difference between ceramic, porcelain, and natural stone.