Episode 21 How much will it cost to paint a room?
just in case you want to know, here is the cost to paint a room in yourhome!
Redlights and Rowboats! the importance of Teamwork and checklists
Today I am sharing the summary of a team meeting we had with two of our guys that work in the field. Do they like working here? Why do they like working for D’franco Painting & Wallpaper? Do they know the process? Are they sure of their job description? We took the time to debrief some jobs and see the common issues we need to fix; meeting customer expectations, better communication, and using paper to write a list so we don’t forget to do things.
Episode 41 Employees want to be Heard, Valued and Empowered
In today’s podcast, we are talking with Chris Hewitt from Hewitt and Sons, out of Des Moines, IA. Chris is great at listening, hearing what you say, teaching how to execute better, and just the best at bringing out the best in others. He has been to our work location and spent some time with us to interview our employees to see where we have gaps in our business, our culture and the wants and needs of our employees which revealed to us how Employees want to be Heard, Valued and Empowered He can be reached at chris@hewittandsons.com, and their website is https://www.hewittandsons.com/
Episode 40 Drifting off course and using Extreme Ownership to correct our course
In today’s podcast we share our review of February as a business in some of the frustrations we have had – or I have. So looking at what we do and how, it was shown thanks to our Business coach Michael Murray from Nolan Consulting on what we need to look at better- ourselves. I mentioned another coaching consultant we use, who is also one of my best friends, Chris Hewitt, from Hewitt and Sons Consulting. Love to hear any feedback you have, ideas etc. Have a great day and God bless.
Episode 39 Rethinking goals from growth mindset
Well here is a podcast, long overdue, where we are going to refocus how we think about our business- Rethinking goals from growth mindset The first thing is to not focus on goals but growth. We need to spend the time on energy to think more about the people we serve and employ vs. the numbers we want to reach. Don’t get me wrong we still have to earn a certain dollar amount, but if we turn the why we do things, and how we do it, I believe the money will follow. So we are now hiring promoting our core values and mission statements. Developing our employees, in 425 homes/business and that we can be found guilty of our core values this year would be a great year indeed.
What to Look for When Hiring a Contractor
Do you know what you should be looking for when you hire a contractor? How much do you know about contractors? If you are listening to our podcasts, this blog post is the conversation I had with Tom Reber of The Contractor Fight. Tom is a former paint contractor from Chicago, now lives in Colorado as a business coach for contractors and former marine who tells it like it is. Read or if you’re too busy, listen to the podcast! Then let us know your thoughts and if you are looking to hiring a contractor! David: Hey, everyone. Welcome to The Paint & Paper podcast. Today I am joined by Tom Reber of The Contractor Fight and Motor Hard. He is a coach for contractors. I’ve known him for several years and wanted to do a podcast with him because I thought he can give some great advice to you as a consumer on how to hire a contractor in your home. Welcome, Tom. How are you doing? Tom: I’m doing great. How you doing, Dave? David: I’m doing great. Glad to have you on the show, finally. Tom: It is. It’s great to make this happen. I appreciate you working all out man. David: In the intro, you’ve got some great insight because you do a lot of coaching with contractors. I actually did some work with you before and you were great with that. I thought it’d be great just to hear your perspective as a consumer because you’re always coaching a contractor what should they be doing. I thought it’d be fun to flip that. Now, you’re the homeowner, consumer, what they should be looking for when they get someone in their house? Tom: Oh, absolutely. I think that’s a great a great topic for today because, as you said in the beginning, I run an organization podcast called The Contractor Fight, and it’s really a movement. I’m leading a movement to truly help the contractors get their heads out of their butts. It’s funny, just about every problem a contractor has in their business whether a customer’s not happy, whether he’s not making money, he can’t find employees, whatever it is. I come from 100% belief that it’s the contractor’s fault, 100% of the time. But until contractors own that, then they’re gonna continue to have problems and not grow a stronger business. I’m giving just some context to you of where I’m coming from because I don’t want anyone confused. My movement is called The Contractor Fight and the fight that I’m telling is that, the fight is not with the consumer, not with HDTV, and all these other bogus platforms that deceive homeowners. What things realistically cost and don’t cost and how long things take. But the fight that I’m asking contractors to fight is to take care of their own camp first. Take care of what’s between your ears. Make sure that you’re delivering an amazing experience to your clients. Setting expectations. All these things are in the hands of the contractor. It’s amazing, I grew from zero to over 300 jobs a year in three years in my painting company years ago that I own, simply because we focused massively on the experience and the average consumer is happy to pay more when they have somebody that they feel that they trust. That’s just the context I wanted to give any consumers that are listening is that I’m fighting for the contractors but I’m actually on the side of just human beings in general. I’m not picking sides or anything. I’m trying to weigh it one way or the other. Does that make sense? David: Makes perfect sense. You kind of framed that out because I know one thing when I’m going in the homes and give an estimate, I kind of set that bar of, “I don’t care if you hire me or not, I just wanna make sure that you get the best information possible to make the best decision for your house.” Tom: Right. Here’s something that’s gonna freak out most consumers. Dave, by the way, if I make it through a whole podcast today without swearing, it’ll be a first ever. You’re gonna set history here today. You’re gonna make history. We’re gonna do it, man, I feel it. If you’re a consumer and you’re listening to this, I’ve coached hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of companies. Worked with contractors, I’ve been a contractor, the average home improvement contractor does not make any money. I’m gonna say it again, he comes to your house, tells you it’s gonna be $10,000 to hang some paper, paint something, whatever. You’re crapping yourself because you’re like, “$10,000? I thought it was gonna be $2,000.” Well, out of that $10,000, that contractor, if everything goes right, meaning he’d estimated the time properly, there weren’t any crazy conditions, we got the coverage out of the materials that we plan on getting, and all those other things. If everything goes right, the average home improvement contractor makes maybe a 5% profit. This is why I’m pissed off at places like Angie’s List and Home Advisor and HDTV, they’re deceiving you into thinking that we’re a bunch of crooks, that were expensive, and all these garbage. When the reality is the average home improvement contractor, the average guy who owns the business only makes about $55,000 a year. David: What would you attribute as the biggest reason for that? Tom: Because the contractor’s a wuss. He won’t charge more. He won’t take care of his own crap. Because if contractors as a whole took the business side of their business more seriously, they would run a stronger business and more profitable business, a business that would provide a better experience with the client, and in turn he’d make more money for many reasons; a, he’d be able to make more of a profit on each job. Listen, let me put in a perspective. I’d
Top 5 things to improve your home!
take a listen, hope we can help a bit for some easy ways to improve your home!
What is Wallpaper?
From the Paint and paper Podcast- What is wallpaper? If you haven’t heard, we have a podcast! The paint and paper podcast. In our latest episode, we tackle the question: what is wallpaper? Here are the highlights in case you missed the episode. (Check out the link to the show below) Today, we’re going to tackle a word that almost everyone has heard of- The word is wallpaper. We have future guests that will be on our blog and podcast to talk about wallpaper more depth but for now I really kind of want to dive into the subject of wallpaper! Wallpaper 101 Let’s get you some of the lingo, terms, and definitions so as we talk about wallpaper you have a better understanding what we’re talking about. When I say wallpaper- There are only two reactions and it’s either love it or hate it. People will come up to us and say I love how it looks or I love how it feels. But then you have almost as many people will say I hate it. Those reactions are almost always because of a bad experience. Personally-I was never was a fan of it because I used to have to take wallpaper off walls and taking it off was always a horrible job when it wasn’t done right. And that is usually the reason most people don’t like wallpaper. Walls can be ruined due to improper installation. I would encourage you to not think of wallpaper a bad word. Because if you had a bad experience with it it’s usually because it was a bad installation. Just keep that in mind when it comes to wallpaper. So, what is wallpaper? Wallpaper is anything that can stick to a wall. Wallpaper has exploded lately in its use. It’s not limited to your home anymore. So where are people putting it? We see it in kitchens, bathrooms, ceilings, even covering furniture with wallpaper! What kind of wallpapers are out there? You have wallpaper that is actual paper, fabric, silk, cotton, fabrics blends, plastic, vinyl to name a few- but they’re all considered a wallpaper. Commercial vinyl has become very popular. It’s big! 54 inches wide! It’s heavy, washes and stands up to heavy use very well. It is usually the stuff you saw at the doctor’s office. Another type is digital graphics. What people are doing with digital graphics is amazing. Taking photo images and having them printed to put on a wall. There is also paper made from grass- and called grasscloth. It usually comes from overseas and it’s actually reeds of grass that are weaved together and put on your wall. It’s really cool stuff. Aside from types of wallpaper-you have to consider sizes. Usually, it comes in 20 and a half, 27 inches, 30 inches, 36 inches and finally 54 inches. These are the more popular sizes. But depending on where it’s made and who’s making it the size of that can vary. When you are looking at a wallpaper, pay attention to how wide it is- that determines how much you’re going to need. Roll of wallpaper? Yep- wallpaper comes in rolls. The Roll size can get tricky. You have single rolls, Double rolls, metric rolls and you can also buy by the yard. Where you purchase it? Usually, you’re working with a designer. There are local paint stores to purchase, online stores or your local wallpaper installer will work with you to find out where to buy and how much you are going to have to buy. If you’re having a wallpaper installed in your home know who’s doing it how they’re doing it. Make sure they are following the manufacturer instructions. As we provide you information about wallpaper- we are really looking to empower you to make the best decision possible for decorating dollars. We want you excited! You should be happy and want you to want to do this again in five 10 years down the road because you had a good experience with what you chose and the people you had do the work for you. We want you to be happy with the house that you live in. Listen: What is Wallpaper? Podcast Episode 001