I am fortunate enough to have friends in high places. As a gesture of kindness, a new friend I made at my Sunrise Rotary Club, Dennis Robinson invited me (at my insistence) to lunch and a guided tour of his business CM Construction. I wanted to see what commercial construction looks like behind the curtain.

I approached the visit with some trepidation. What if commercial construction is nothing like what I am doing? What if all these years they had tools that I had not dreamed up yet?

It started by being treated to a wonderful lunch and a casual conversation with Steve Merrill, too. Turns out that there is only a degree of separation between the two companies.

Here is what I found

• They have developed a loyal following of clients
• They have a program that works much like our client portal
• They must pay very close attention to detail
• They use project managers
• They do scheduling and deal with all the same issues we deal with
• They do take offs and estimates just like us
  
• They have essentially the same components that we have in place only on a larger scale.

What a relief

Armed with my newfound knowledge, I relaxed and felt quite at home. The crispy clean building and calm professional staff were refreshing. After I left, a few things dawned on me. Despite the differences in magnitude of the projects the two companies work on, we have it much harder in many ways.

We work in people’s homes

Working in people’s homes makes our job so much harder than commercial work, when you are creating new spaces. My people must be so much more respectful, observant, diligent, and intentional about their every move. Things like dust protection, communicating the inevitable schedule changes, and changes in the scope are far more personal.

We see these challenges as hurdles to overcome.

1. Keeping everyone in the loop.
2. Reasonable delays do not always translate well to clients.
3. Practice putting ourselves in our clients’ shoes.

As a company that strives to always improve, we see these similarities and differences as opportunities to out-perform our industry. Anything we can do improve service to our clients builds our reputation. As a secondary benefit, we make ourselves a better fit for those not shopping for remodeling as a commodity. All in all it was a wonderful experience that left me with a newfound appreciation for what my friends and I do for a living.

Your comments are welcome. To ask questions or get more information about remodeling, click here to email me directly, or call 208-947-7261

If you or someone you know is considering remodeling or just wants to speak to a trustworthy remodeling contractor please contact me, you’ll be glad you did.

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