|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Home Improvement Construction Project Planning
The first task before hiring a contractor for home remodeling is laying out the details on what exactly you want done. This will ultimately save you time and money, as you will be able to choose the perfect contractor for your construction job, and get the job done correctly the first time. Personally, I have always found that writing out every detail initially will help you think of the task more clearly in your mind. This will also aid in your description of the job to the contractor, and will allow for a better estimate of time and cost, which are coincidentally the two most important things to consumers. Sketches can also prove useful. You do not have to be an artist to amply describe your wants and needs via drawings. Just grab a ruler and a pencil, and draw out the area you want to do work on. If you have a scanner or copy machine, make a few copies of this so you can further draw on this base, and if you entirely mess up, just start over. Often times, I like to use different colors of ink for the construction procedures that I want accomplished. I use red for things I want removed, and green for things I want added. Blue ink I reserve for notes and arrows, of which there are sure plenty. When drawing up your plans, make sure to include every thought you have, even if it seems unimportant at the moment. Remember, the ultimate goal here is complete communication between you and the contractor you're hiring. Put all of your thoughts on paper, and let your contractor decide what is and what is not important to your construction work. If you provide too much information, then you have succeeded. One pitfall that home owners often make is that of assumption. The thought process goes something like this: "The contractor has probably done this type of work dozens of times, I'm sure he knows what I want." While this might be true 90% of the time, you do not want to be in the 10% of construction projects that go wrong. This can cost you thousands of dollars, and you will be right where you started, or worse. Just follow the following steps to a successful construction project, and you will be totally satisfied with your contractor's work. 1. Decide the type of work you want done. Set a goal for this, and always keep the goal in mind. 2. Carefully plan out on paper how you wish to obtain this goal. Be sure to include every thought whether or not it seems necessary at the moment. 3. Start shopping for contractors. Explain every detail to them so they might provide an accurate estimate of time and cost.4. Find at least two qualified contractors who can do the job within your budget and time frame. 5. Upon arrival, reconfirm your expectations of the project. Follow these steps and it is almost certain you will be satisfied with your home construction project. John is a general home improvement contractor who works with ServiceMagic, a construction job site with over 31,000 service professionals listed.
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
6 Changes You Can Make to Increase Business Profits I read once that something like 30 percent of all drinkable water gets wasted on the way to the consumer by leaky pipes. Likewise, your business may be letting potential revenue drip away, to be lost forever, all over the place. Use this checklist to make sure you are taking best advantage of all the opportunities for earnings that would be arriving safely if you only plugged up those holes. Leverage - A Small Step For You /A Big Change For Your Career Cassy was an employee of a nonprofit who had been at her job 5 years. She came to me because she felt that the organization she was working for didn't value her and was upset because others had been promoted but she had not. When Do I Need To Hire A Business Plan Consultant Every new business owner knows that a business plan is critical ? it is drilled into them by potential investors and every banking officer they meet. So why is something that is so important to the launch of a new venture so difficult to write? Good question! In this article I will try to address when you should go out and hire a business plan writer versus taking on the task yourself. First time entrepreneurs often cringe when sitting down to write their business plan. Some spend 6 months agonizing over each period and comma, and even worse others spend 6 months procrastinating and do nothing. So lets break it down and see where / when a business planning company should be brought in: City of Cortez and South Western Colorado Market Survey We have been spending many hours surveying the market for a potential business location in the South Western Region (region # 9) of Colorado. Pouring through data, seeing the tourist sites, and understanding the market there. Meeting with officials, business people and visiting businesses we learned quite a bit about the region and the future prospects there for someone opening a business. The Power of Planning I am surprised how few sales professionals, independent consultants, and small business owners take the time to plan the strategy for their business. Most people spend more time writing out a grocery list or planning a vacation than they do planning the direction or outcome of their business. Many will determine a vague or general idea of what they want to accomplish but very few actually identify the specific action steps they will need to take in order to achieve their goals. I'm not suggesting you create a 25-30 page business plan like a good friend of mine writes every year, but I do recommend that you begin outlining the goals you want to accomplish and how you plan to get there. Ten Steps To A Great Strategic Plan Ask a small business owner about their strategic plan and they'll either laugh or get that stricken look in their eyes. Yet it's well documented that businesses with a strategic plan are more successful. No matter what size business, from solo practitioner to hundreds of employees, a thoughtful strategic plan will help you achieve your dreams. SWOT Analysis Is No Magic 8 Ball Q: A key investor in my business has suggested that I hire a consultant to do a SWOT Analysis to help plan for the future. I try not to argue with my investors, but I'm not so sure I need to have this done. What do you think?-- Laurie B. Your Business: Will It Have A Happy Ending? "Begin with the end in mind," says Stephen Covey in his book Seven Habits of Successful Living. Those who have created a successful business know it does not happen without planning, hard work, and a little luck. Yet most have no plans for leaving their business, ever. Offense: Beat the Odds When in doubt, cut that out! Yeah, yea, doubting Thomas may have had a point in his day, and life may not be what you want it to be, but if you constantly doubt yourself, how can you accomplish anything? The Importance of Value Mix ( * - the word 'product' can be substituted to mean 'service' too; and vice versa ) The Magic Of Exponential Business Growth Is there a 'magical' way to exponentially grow your business? Seasonality: Whats the Big Deal? Do you work in or own a business that's affected by seasonal cycles? Do you live in a community whose population changes significantly during the year (e.g., tourist influx, students returning to college)? Do you ever feel stressed out or frustrated by the seemingly constant changes or the extreme highs and lows of your life or your business? 8 Ways to Earn More Without Working Harder Conventional wisdom has it that there are only three ways to grow your business: find new customers, increase the amount of each sale to existing customers or get customers to buy more frequently. But I've seen business owners go blank when presented with those three options. So here is a more useful list of ways to increase your total revenues without in most cases having to put in more hours at the office. Take A Systems View To Ensure Your Business Stays Healthy How are you feeling today? Good, not so good, great? Let me ask the same question in a different way: How is your gastro-intestinal system functioning today? What about your lymphatic system? How's the old circulatory system flowing along? Are all your bodily systems aligned, in sync, and cranking at peak performance? Writing Your Business Plan is Actually Storytelling Storytelling and writing a business plan actually go hand in hand. The same ingredients used in telling a story are also used in writing a business plan. Let's use the Executive Summary as an example. Defining Go for It Business Goals Many business start-up kits or consultants will tell you one of the first steps to starting a business is to define your business goals. Your goals may differ from the goals of another individual, for example; some people want freedom to do what they want to do, whenever they want, and without having to report to someone else. For others, the goal might be financial security. For another, flexibility or creativity might be their goal. Balanced Scorecard Strategy Map With the help of balanced scorecard strategy map, it is very easy to design the organization goals and build business strategies. Balance scorecard and strategy map are interrelated with each other. Strategies map is the foundation to design business strategies or perspective. Using strategy map, you can design the strategies and using balanced scorecards you can build business models. Executive Summary for Business Plans of Franchisees Writing a business plan for a franchised outlet of a larger company to get funding or find investors is difficult because the franchisor already has a plan which is working, but until you are privy to it upon purchase you actually know relatively few details. The franchisor must keep this information proprietary to insure competitors do not steal the information, but the franchise buyer needs the information to prepare a business plan to get a loan from a bank. Thus a catch 22 exists and is further exacerbated by the fact there are laws against some types of disclosures, which many franchisors due to the litigious nature of franchising do not wish to disclose based on advice from their attorneys. So what do you do? Well, you do the best you can using the UFOC, uniform franchise offering circular or ask the franchisor to send in a business plan directly to your banker who, signs a waiver of non-disclosure and you cannot see it until purchase. Site Selection and Demographic Tips for Establishing Outlets Many cities have home pages on the Internet. Many of these cities use these sites to promote their town. They use it to attract large corporations who will provide jobs and large retailers who will provide sales tax revenue dollars for city budgets. The first thing you need to do when surveying a town for a likely candidate for a company outlet is to visit their website and that you can do from where you are sitting right now. Websites can be great sources for general and statistical data. Here is some of the information you will find at these Internet sites: Upcoming City Events; Job Opportunities; Library Hours; How To Pay Water Bills; Statistical Data; Basic City Information; Etc. Mining Market Data With a heightened awareness of opportunity, ideas can often be generated by market research. The National Women's Business Center (NWBC) defines market research as "a systematic, objective collection and analysis of data about your target market, competition, and/or environment with the goal being increased understanding. Through the market research process, you can take data?a variety of related or non-related facts?and create useful information to guide your business decisions.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
