Industry Overview

As we all know, this industry has been feast or famine for a long time. When times are good, it's great and when times are bad it's miserable. This decade has validated that statement. In 2008 it's a "Famine" market! Home builders are challenged to more than ever, even the remodeling and replacement segment is struggling and they were supposed to improve when the construction market softened. Major issues from declining property values, lack of available credit, lagging consumer confidence and energy prices skyrocketing are just a few of the biggest issueswe face. This has trickled down to affect all the specialty trades and suppliers as well.

As a construction company owner, a colleague of mine (who came from another industry and whom I respect as a good businessman) once said to me, "This is the most fragmented industry IÕve ever seen." That was ten years ago and how true it is today in a lot of ways. Not much has changed within the industry.

Everyone is scrambling, owners are bogged down with all the key decisions, afraid or unsure how to empower their employees to make decisions. Everyone sets out to grow their business, but usually don't have a systematic way of doing things. As the business gets bigger the progress gets bogged down because the owner has to be involved in so many facets. There's not much training, so the employees are doing what they think they should be doing, which creates redundancy in some areas while other areas are totally neglected. Hiring is done randomly and without much thought other than to fill an immediate need. There are no real operating systems, long range growth plans or business plans to prepare for the right pace of growth, financing or cash flow. There's also no contingency plans for market slowdowns.

The owners I meet are way overworked, underpaid and stressed out. I hear the same things "Business sucks, I can't find good help, nobody cares, I can't get paid." It doesn't have to be that way. I believe almost everyone wants freedom, including Financial freedom but you have to be willing to change the way you think and act. That's where we come in: to get you from here to there.