In 1990, I remember making a transition from a full employee company to hiring independent workers. I did it because at that time, the workflow had tremendous highs and lows, and I found I could concentrate on sales and administration more if there were responsible tradesmen in the field.

There are MANY responsible employees out there, but I was referring to having field personnel (sub-contractors) that were totally responsible for: keeping the schedule, material procurement, quality of the assembly, satisfying MY clients, as well as their weekly budget needs.

Now,,,, having said that,,,,,this really raises the bar in the way that you package a project. You had better comb through the details and make sure that everything is in there, or word your specs and contracts such that it is the workers responsibility to bring up un-specified items before the estimate is presented to the client. A package includes good/pertinent project pictures, accurate scaled floor plans and adequate elevations, and most of all specifications that tie your project together.

What a concept! It really works, and your clients like their total package and the trades like what they are using for a basis for their bids.

In closing,,,if you are going to enlarge your labor pool with the use of experienced professionals, do check references, and put them into their first project with you where your established people can report back on how they fit. Be as careful about a new trade sub coming into your mix, as you would be hiring a new W-2 employee. Just make sure that your stay legal and require that they work for at least 2 other contractors.  Also, that the majority of your workforce moves towards independent tradesmen, as you grow the size of your business.  Otherwise they might be viewed as employees under the law.

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Too many remodelers that use outside contractors get only one bid per trade.   It is my belief that while your “favorite sub” probably provides great service, you could be paying more than you need to, or you could get better service from someone else.   It might surprise you to know that there are other subs out there,  that have as good of workmanship, yet are 10-30% less expensive??   Could this be costing you work?  Could your service improve with more timely estimates?  Would you possibly get better pricing if you told your sub of 10 years that he was about 20% higher than another bidder?

How will you ever know until you try.  I remember as I was 10 years into the business, a mature contractor offered to share his subs with me.  He knew they were professional and would help my business grow.  But boy, I will have to admit, I was totally scared!  New people?  How could I have 2 or 3 plumbers and electricians?

Having run a remodeling company for 38 years, I fully understand how our sub-contractors can play off of a secure relationship.  It is the same with your suppliers.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I value loyal tradesmen and suppliers, but we all have businesses to run and part of a successful business is keeping our costs low so we can markup our projects, make a profit, yet still get/win the business!

If you are suspect that your subs might be getting the best of you,  it might be worth a listen about a system for setting up projects with “fool proof pricing”.

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I believe that our work developing the WHAT question is the most important, and needs to be revealed.(after all, isn’t that what our trades need to know?) WHAT are you capable of doing? WHAT are you proposing you do? WHAT grade level of fixtures are you proposing? Isn’t this important information that our potential customers need to have?

Once we, as professionals, begin answering the HOW too early on, aren’t we really solving their remodeling challenges? When our engineer sees our proposed opening, asks us a couple of questions about what’s above and says “you will need approximately a 30# beam” over the opening, based on his experience, that to me seems to be the WHAT. When he gives us a worksheet, calculations, and HOW to fasten the wood to the steel, we definitely should be sending in a check.

It seems no different when we are writing specs, doing simple drafting, and annotating our pictures for review. Aren’t we just telling them WHAT they need to know? We know HOW, and that confidence should show through, so that our clients will move ahead with us.[NARI-CT]

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Prior to showing your client plans, or any information that is costly (and should be a line item in the bid), find out if they are truly interested in doing business with you by having them review your specs. Specifications are really important in nailing down the details. A homeowner that avoids reading your specs will probably not do business with you. This is a tell-tail sign of their interest.

So, next time you have a feeling that you are giving your prospect valuable information, realize that this information is the trust-building glue that will hold your relationship together should something pop-up during construction. It is the most important part of the planning package and the sooner they see it, the sooner they will gain trust that you are the right contractor for their project.***[P/R,NARI]

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MOBILT™ is a bid system that allows you and your customers, trades and suppliers ONE place to go for any information on the project. Since’s it’s a cloud-based software application, it doesn’t take up room on your computer, you don’t have to update it, or have an IT degree to make it work. That also means it works on every device: smartphone, tablet, laptop, and desktop.

The Project Coordinator part of the system keeps all your correspondence:

• Messages
• Announcements
• Documents

MOBILT™ keeps your bidding organized and under your control:

• It takes bids only from tradesman who have registered and been given permission to bid.
• It only shares documents and information with those who need to know. Everything else stays hidden so you don’t have to worry.

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• Top Features Help You Avoid a Bidding Time Crunch!
  
• Communication module allows for a wider net to be cast to available tradesmen.
• Cloud-based so accessible on any device 24/7 including mobile.
• Includes preset permission levels for the clients, tradesmen, supervisors, coordinators, managers, and administrator.
• Document storage available at all times and assignments sent to project members
• All document assignments are accessed inside of the project under password security.
• Documents are stored off-site and available from any internet connection.
• MOBILT™, with Project Coordinator, populates team members with screens that match given permission levels.
• MOBILT™ Bid system allows for Online Bids from only the project’s tradesmen.

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• Communication Module improves a company’s use of time and available resources by reaching out to a wider group of tradesmen in an effort to cherry-pick those that express interest and the best value to the project. This results in more competitive bids with a shorter turn-a-round time.
• Preset permission levels for the clients, tradesmen, supervisors, coordinators, managers, and administrator assure tight controls of the flow of information to the correct project members. It also allows for proper monitoring of projects for maximizing workforce resources.

• Managers can easily determine which project members are assigned to the document and how they are notified of the assignment.
• All members see the flow of the project and help in designing specifications that match published plans. This keeps everyone, including the client, looking at the same bid documentation so that the trade estimates are apples to apples comparisons. All selections are tracked in one convenient location so that the models and descriptions are viewed by all team members.
• Keeps project pricing data organized for quick review and tradesman and supplier selection. Since the trades are bidding to the specs developed, once 100% of the items are included in trade bids, then the proposal can be given to the client. This keeps the costs of the projects stable and avoids spec creep!

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