Meadowview
Construction's
Fan Mail Pick of the Month
Yet
another note of many, this one is to answer your question from
yesterday and to praise you rather than to ask another silly question,
which I must say, I am impressed because so far you have answered
all my questions without laughing at me.
You asked
your customers what you should do to your web site to make it
more appealing. Here is my two cents (I do expect it deducted
from my final bill).
When I
started this process a while back and I started interviewing contractors,
all I heard where horror stories from friends and family that
had been through this process. Actually not a single person came
up with a positive thing to say. At several points of hunting
for the right contractor my wife and I started hunting for houses
too, because we felt it might actually be easier to move rather
than to do our project.
After talking
in depth to several contractors, not to mention the uncountable
people we had “quick” chats with. We were acquiring
a lot of knowledge of who not to hire rather than whom to hire.
The reasons were numerous some as basic as; they were one or two
man teams; they had spent the last five years doing commercial
work; they were to busy and would be by at the earliest in the
spring of 2004; and my all time favorite response of “I
am so busy, the only way we can get to your project is if I overcharge
you”.
It came
to me that about 10 years ago I had done some minor renovations,
and it came to me that maybe I could either use the same contractor
or at the very least someone that he recommended. After searching
high and low I was able to get in contact with him who instantly
put me in touch with you. Please note, by now I was getting tired
of the project and we hadn’t even broken ground. I was ready
to shelve my architectural plans and call it a day.
I must
say, from the first meeting I was impressed. You came by on time,
you had a portfolio of work with you that you showed me and you
took notes. At our second meeting you took more notes and brought
one of your team leaders, Dan. I was very impressed with his knowledge
and more importantly you interacted in a way that gave me confidence.
He came back a few days later and actually measured things out.
Quite the shock to me first time anyone wanted to measure the
project.
By the
third meeting you asked me to block of a substantial amount of
my day, something that surprised me. So far most meetings had
been a few hours long. However, during that afternoon you managed
to parade past me your plumbers, your electricians, HVAC people,
excavating and landscaping people and several others. They all
did a thorough job. Within two weeks I got a price from you, an
exact price. There was no; “It’s this much give or
take $100,000”. I mention all of this because the experience
has been good so far.
Anyway,
to cut a long story short and to answer your question, you need
to show on your web site and to your potential future customers,
“your process”,
Believe
it or not, of the many times we have talked about things you seem
to think all contractors are like you. They aren’t.
If I was
you I would show how you do things from start to finish, “this
is how we price out our projects, these people are involved so
we can get an accurate price…” I presume you are not
in the business of over charging your customers or you wouldn’t
be here. You want to make a profit and you also want to leave
happy clients behind. So pricing is critical both for you and
for us your clients. Explain who is involved in the pricing.
After you
have a price, the next step or section on your web page should
be how you breakdown a project. What I the client is getting for
that price and what it entails. For example, when you showed me
the price I felt that it was a little high. I went along because
winter was setting in and I wanted the project done, plus I trusted
Duffy. However, over the last few weeks, I have started to see
where the money is going. You actually spent time pricing out
the job to the point of getting it done well and not “lets
give him a low bid and then lets cut corners to meet the quote
or ask for more later…”
If you
had given me an idea of what the project entailed from your side
of the pricing and maybe put it on a calendar or a schedule it
might have alleviated some of my stress. “As your contractor
this is the kind of schedule you should expect…”
All joking
aside, I want the project to look good, but I want it to be structurally
sound too. I don’t want problems down the road. You might
want to give an example of what you include in your process. E.g.
I never really understood why you wanted to redo the upstairs
long hall. After it was done it made all the sense in the world,
and now it looks great.
The next
section should be a little about your crews. You have great guys
working for you. Do you remember the torrential down pour we had
in early December? We had leaks in the area the addition met the
old part of the house. Not surprising as it was in the infancy
stage. I called you on a Saturday afternoon to tell you that.
By the time I got on the second floor and started to swing a hammer,
two of your crew where there escorting me away before I did irreplaceable
damage to the project and myself. They took care of it in no time.
Now that’s commitment. I mean, lets be realistic, its not
like the rain at that stage could had done serious damage, most
of the areas that got wet were later demolished or are about to
be demolished, but the guys were there to ease my concerns more
than anything else.
Don’t
forget to talk about your foremen, Marty and your crew of workers
I must say have been outstanding. From showing up at 7am every
morning to the Friday afternoon clean up.
They have
impressed me with their workmanship, and more importantly with
their interaction with my wife and I. Marty is invaluable he has
been ready to explain everything and he has been ready to help
me understand the process and why certain things have to happen.
My wife keeps mentioning what a great crew you have. You have
a knack of hiring good people that too is unique. As you know
we have three young children and my daughters feel it’s
their God given right to dictate how they want things done by
your crew. I appreciate them humoring them and I have never seen
so many grown men jump to attention when the youngest starts nagging
and ordering them around
Finally,
before and after pictures, if you can sort them out by project,
i.e. kitchens, bathrooms, minor projects, major projects it would
make the potential clients life easier. Then throw in tons of
pictures. You do a good job, be proud to advertise it. Make sure
the pictures expand, nothing more annoying than looking at small
pictures. So if you can, have them do that “click and expand”
thing.
Here is
another interesting issue. I called a lot of people on your referral
list. Not a single one said a bad thing. They were all very complimentary
of you. How about getting some of them to quote or write a little
note that you could attach. That’s always nice to be able
to read what other people say. I think that’s it so far.
I am sure I could come up with more things given time.
Tel:
978-887-2587