When you move to a new town, you find a new doctor. With a new house, you also need to build your home support team. It’s far easier to find your home professionals before an emergency, including an electrician, plumber, HVAC contractor and handyman.

When searching for a home pro, it’s hard knowing who to pick. Until you step back and identify the best qualities you need and appreciate in your favorite contractors, the process of interviewing and selecting home professionals will remain challenging. READ MORE

When customers shop around for the lowest price, they think they’re saving money and sometimes that is true. It’s also true that you get what you pay for and quality work with good customer service seldom comes at the lowest price.

Small businesses focus on great customer service, especially when the owner is involved in the business. It is one of the ways in which small businesses can compete against large companies and corporations.

Last week was Thanksgiving (see July 4th emergency) but emergencies aren’t scheduled. Let me share with you … READ MORE

A handyman helps homeowners with almost any type of problem. While you might typically think it’s time to call a handyman when the job is too messy (drywall mud) or you don’t have the tools (tile wet saw) to get the job done quickly, the fact is they bring more knowledge to the job.

A house is made up of many interconnected systems that must all work together to keep you safe and comfy. Many homeowners call my handyman business asking for help with a problem when in fact, they may really only know the visible symptom of the problem. An important rule for any home repair is to back track until you find the source of the problem and fix that first. There is little point to repairing sheet rock if the water leak isn’t fixed. You also need to understand how the water traveled to the ceiling stain because often, and especially when water is involved, there is hidden damage that must also be corrected. READ MORE

In theory a garage is for your car but very few people have room in their garage as they use it to store things and for activity centers that don’t fit in the house. You might have a ping pong table like my home in California where we don’t have basements. A homeowner handyman is likely to have their workshop in the garage or maybe a gardening center for tools and getting seeds started in the spring.

When you’re storing lots of stuff in the garage, you want to be sure everything is safe so a drain might be needed if you occasionally get water in the garage. This article outlines several drain covers available for a garage floor (most drain covers are for bathrooms or industrial/commercial applications), so here is what I was able to find for one of my handyman customers. READ MORE

Everyone has unique expectations of what good customer service entails. Maybe your parents own a business or your employer gives outstanding customer service. In Japan I found customer service beyond anything I’ve experienced elsewhere, stemming from a culture that works hard to never cause someone to lose face (read more).

At the same time, most homeowners have heard a horror story about contractors, the opposite of great customer service. The reality is most people deliver customer service based on their personal experience and the role models in their lives.  Your challenge is finding people and companies that offer the level of customer service you want. READ MORE

Remodeling can get complicated, especially when multiple teams are involved. One condo renovation on a very aggressive schedule, required close coordination of  calendars so everyone knew exactly what they needed to complete, week-by-week.

With our interior decorator making most purchases on behalf of the client, this was especially challenging. We got very creative in how we reviewed recommendations with the customer. Sometimes we took photos of products at the condo and posted them online for the customer, who traveled extensively, to review and make the final decision. Once we met at the customer’s office. He approved the counter top and faucet, which then went to the job site for installation the same day. READ MORE

Some people are better listeners than others and when you’re not a good listener, you have to work hard at listening (that’s me). When your goal as a home professional is to build a long-term relationship with your customers, it’s critical that you get to know them and their preferences.

When you listen to your clients and deliver what they want, you earn their trust and the opportunity to keep working for them year after year. This story illustrates a long-term customer relationship. It also demonstrates the win-win that comes from a long-term relationship which grows into a partnership where my customer was open to suggestions as we walked through his new condo. READ MORE