In residential...Seems to be a very Different approach to advertising between getting lots of small projects vs a few larger ones. I’ve got the small projects things down, but getting larger projects seems mostly about rubbing elbows and luck...is that mostly correct?
JLC-1
Apr 26, 18 2:08 pm
Yes. but once you get a big one down, and your client is happy, he'll let his friends know.
joseffischer
Apr 27, 18 5:04 pm
In educational and office work now... When I was doing residential, it took about 3 years to transition from small projects to big ones. I had a lot (as in all that I can remember) of call-backs and referrals going something like this: "I really loved Cindy's bathroom/kitchen/deck, do you do other work as well?" Me: "I try to dabble with a number of new and challenging projects each year along with my bread and butter work. I'd love to hear what your hopes are for your home, and I'm always trying to expand my skills. Most likely I have done a few projects similar to yours, so why don't I stop on by this weekend and you and your spouse can show me around." Them: "That sounds lovely, we're trying to add a second floor, we want to remodel our kitchen, our basement leaks and it's only used for our water heater, we'd like to make it into a movie theater, etc" Me: "Oh wow, sounds like you've been thinking about this a while. Maybe you can show me some pictures of what else you've liked and I'll print them out along with some of my own work that is similar for our weekend meetup." Them: "Wonderful, see you then." Eventually I was working on enough larger projects that I had to turn away other stuff. I tried to hire people and have them do the smaller stuff. That didn't work out too well, but probably more because I didn't know how to hire the right people and manage a business than than the employees themselves.
joseffischer
Apr 27, 18 5:08 pm
I never did get to do a house from scratch, though I did quite a few sketchup models and floor plan layouts for developers and owners interested in eventually doing one. When I exited for commercial work, most of my time spent was on "rip off the roof and put a second floor on while redoing the ground floor kitchen/finishes." level. Roughly 4 of those a year. They're VERY popular here in atlanta given the base 1910-1970s 4 square, bungalow, and ranch
houses
In residential...Seems to be a very Different approach to advertising between getting lots of small projects vs a few larger ones. I’ve got the small projects things down, but getting larger projects seems mostly about rubbing elbows and luck...is that mostly correct?
Yes. but once you get a big one down, and your client is happy, he'll let his friends know.
In educational and office work now... When I was doing residential, it took about 3 years to transition from small projects to big ones. I had a lot (as in all that I can remember) of call-backs and referrals going something like this: "I really loved Cindy's bathroom/kitchen/deck, do you do other work as well?" Me: "I try to dabble with a number of new and challenging projects each year along with my bread and butter work. I'd love to hear what your hopes are for your home, and I'm always trying to expand my skills. Most likely I have done a few projects similar to yours, so why don't I stop on by this weekend and you and your spouse can show me around." Them: "That sounds lovely, we're trying to add a second floor, we want to remodel our kitchen, our basement leaks and it's only used for our water heater, we'd like to make it into a movie theater, etc" Me: "Oh wow, sounds like you've been thinking about this a while. Maybe you can show me some pictures of what else you've liked and I'll print them out along with some of my own work that is similar for our weekend meetup." Them: "Wonderful, see you then." Eventually I was working on enough larger projects that I had to turn away other stuff. I tried to hire people and have them do the smaller stuff. That didn't work out too well, but probably more because I didn't know how to hire the right people and manage a business than than the employees themselves.
I never did get to do a house from scratch, though I did quite a few sketchup models and floor plan layouts for developers and owners interested in eventually doing one. When I exited for commercial work, most of my time spent was on "rip off the roof and put a second floor on while redoing the ground floor kitchen/finishes." level. Roughly 4 of those a year. They're VERY popular here in atlanta given the base 1910-1970s 4 square, bungalow, and ranch houses