Technology

Ep. 136: Using 3D Imaging in Estimating & Production with Ned Trimming

February 1, 2021 00:37:17

While the pandemic situation, we’ve been dealing with for almost a year, has led us to one obstacle after another, it has also opened up the production side of the business to a variety of tech tools we haven’t thought of using until we were forced to.

3D imaging is one of those tools that was mentioned several times during our Production Manager Roundtables sessions last year, and we began looking at it further as we prepared for our Masterclass on Estimating coming up in April. Does it help with estimating to have these images?

We turned to one of the members of our production manager roundtables who was willing to share how they use 3D imaging in their process.

Ned Trimming is the Production Manager at Crescent Builds located in Seattle WA. Ned and his team at Crescent had initially purchased a 3D imaging camera due to the pandemic, minimizing client interactions onsite, but the technology has proven to have many other useful benefits as well.

Tim, Steve and Ned talk more about:

Background on Crescent Builds (size of projects, type of work, etc.).
The benefits of using 3D imaging.
Using 3D imaging in the Estimating process.
The time and cost of using 3D imaging with a client.
Challenges that Crescent ran into and how it has improved their process.
And more…

Peer-Power for your Production Team

Developed and led by our Senior Consultant and “Production Guru”, Tim Faller, this special Roundtables™ Program for Production Managers focuses on all aspects of production management including:

People Management Problem solving and making & keeping commitments.
Technology Discussions on the latest and greatest technology available.
Training Developing personnel improvement plans to increase efficiency.
Customer Service The little things that turn a client from a fan to an apostle.

[Click Here for More Information]

Ep.75: Promoting the Young Guy with Ryan Murphy

October 14, 2019 00:33:55

Finding good employees and managers can be difficult — there just aren’t that many qualified workers out there. Hiring somebody young without much training is an investment, but it can pay off in the long run. If you find the right person.

Ryan Murphy is one of those people. He didn’t know anything about construction until he started working in the field when he was 19. Six years later, he’s a project manager.

In this episode, Ryan talks to Tim and Steve about his experience and growth, and how your company can find great workers and train them to move up within your organization.

Ryan is a project manager at Elite Construction Services Inc. in Santa Cruz, CA. He joined Elite three years ago as a carpenter after gaining two years of experience elsewhere. He worked his way from apprentice to journeyman after his first year. Six months later, Ryan began training to become a project manager, while still doing some carpentry as needed.

You have to have a constant and consistent conversation with everyone you meet to find the right people, he says. Talk to family, friends, and clients even before you have an opening. Ryan talks about his experiences in getting hired, his training on the job, and how you can promote people from within, including:

What to look for
Using a visual workbook
When to let workers go on their own
How to train for growth
Providing a safety net
How to teach the office tasks
Teaching people to answer their own questions
Using technology to run jobs better
And more …

The biggest key to finding and keeping young workers is making them feel like they have a real future in the industry, and especially within your company, Ryan says.

Ep.74: Remodeling in Historic Restoration with Walter Beebe-Center

October 7, 2019 00:38:41

Any remodeling involving a historic building is complicated. You never know exactly what you’ll find hidden and what will have to be replaced. Period details have to be replicated, material that would be tossed out in a standard remodel must be saved, and old-world techniques like window glazing must be done. If the local historical commission gets involved, it can add another level of difficulty.

Remodeling historic structures isn’t for everyone, but Walter Beebe-Center and his company tackle these projects regularly. He says the company’s been lucky to work on houses that were occupied by people like Abigail Adams, John Greenleaf Whittier, Paul Revere, Josiah Quincy, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Alexander Hamilton.

In this episode, Walter talks to Tim and Steve about remodeling historic homes, fixing previous work, and bringing older homes up to modern standards — with new plumbing, electrical work, and more energy efficiency.

Walter is the owner of Essex Restoration in Wilmington, MA. Upon graduating from Columbia College with a B.A. in economics, Walter gained hands-on carpentry experience by working on various building and remodeling projects in eastern Massachusetts. After five years working in the field, he (like many of his employees) attended North Bennett Street School’s two-year, full-time Preservation Carpentry program. In 1994, Walter founded Essex Restoration and began operating as a three-man company. Since then, Essex Restoration has grown to 17 employees and has served hundreds of clients.

Walter explains the differences in working in preservation, replication, and renovation. Working with homeowners in historic homes requires compromises, in budget and function. He talks about the particular challenges and rewards of working in historic buildings, and how to preserve the charm of the old while building in modern conveniences and energy efficiency, including:

Figuring out how and where to add electricity and plumbing
Why drafts kept old houses healthy
How remodeling differs from “re-muddling”
Welding window glass
Working with the historical commission
Tunneling under an old foundation to pour new footings
Repairing a leaking roof without removing interior plaster
What a drift pin is, and how to use it
How to structure contracts
Keeping control of the budget
Setting a fixed markup percentage
Emptying a full dumpster to find an antique detail
The stories old buildings tell
And more …

If you’re interested in gaining the skills and knowledge necessary to work on historic homes, Walter advises to pair formal training with on-the-job experience.

Ep.61: A Half Century in Construction with David Gerstel

July 8, 2019 00:31:00

There have been a lot of changes in the remodeling industry — technological advances, new products and materials, building requirements, the labor shortage. But some things remain the same — you’re still pouring foundations, shingling roofs, driving nails, and working with clients.

In this episode, David Gerstel talks about the changes he’s seen over the last 50 years in construction and remodeling with Tim and Steve. He talks about what he’s learned and how to prepare for the future.

David Gerstel of Kensington, CA, has been a builder for more than 40 years, and is the author of several respected books on construction company management, including the recently published Nail Your Numbers: A Path to Skilled Construction Estimating and Bidding. His construction operation emphasizes respect for, and profit sharing with, employees, bullet-proof construction, efficiency in the field and the office, and rigorous control of overhead. David moved beyond bidding for free a few years after becoming a general contractor, and initiated a nationwide movement away from competitive bidding and toward working in collaboration with clients and designers through the use of what is variously known as cost-planning services, pre-construction consulting, and other terms. David continues to build and write for the sheer joy and satisfaction of it.

After leaving college, David wanted to work with his hands. He pursued carpentry, and loved working for himself. He has pioneered many of the business practices that have become standard in the industry. He talks about the changes he’s seen, and what has remained the same, including:

Building a company that can handle a downturn
Keeping overhead low and where to invest profits
How he got away from free estimates
The organic evolution of business and businesses
The developer model vs. the traditional model
The joyful way to build
The best changes he’s seen
Why the cost-planning model encourages collaboration
How construction is a predictable, beautiful story that unfolds
And more …

Including why he loves and hates nail guns, what tasks you should use them for, and why.

Ep.59: New Energy Opportunities with Jacob Corvidae

June 24, 2019 00:33:53

“Going green” has been a part of the remodeling and building industries for a while. But much of the eco-conscious activity has been reactive. There’s real movement now to be proactive, and that’s especially true in the energy industry. It’s undergoing a massive disruption — and that has big implications for remodelers and builders.

In this episode, Jacob Corvidae talks about what’s coming in the energy industry, and what it will mean for your business, with Tim and Steve.

Jacob is a principal in the Buildings Program at Rocky Mountain Institute, where he leads the Residential Energy+ initiative. After nearly two decades of work in sustainable community development in Michigan, he now works from RMI’s Boulder, CO, office. He’s also a co-author of The Carbon-Free City Handbook, and The Carbon-Free Regions Handbook, two guides to help local governments around the world take action faster, and reports to support contractors and builders.

Jacob’s focus is on practical methods to get to a cleaner, more prosperous energy future. The discussion ranges from macro to micro topics — from the global impacts to why residential gas stoves can cause asthma attacks. Find out what changes in energy production and infrastructure will mean to the building and remodeling industries, including:

What the dropping price of solar may mean for you
Changes in utility rates
How energy-efficient building will save, and possibly, earn money
Solar on homes as part of a community “farm”
The economics of clean energy
Infrastructure challenges and solutions
The rise of the all-electric house
Enforcement of energy-efficiency through local standards and codes
Staying ahead of the curve to become a local market leader
Educating your customers
The sales opportunities for you
Getting a strategy together
Reaching out to manufacturers
And more …

Including where to go for more information and education. To start, Jacob recommends his own organization and additional resources:

Ep.56: The Ins and Outs of Off-Site Construction with David Cooper

June 3, 2019 00:32:40

Remodelers and custom-home builders are used to being on a job site, building from the outside in, whatever the weather. Modular or prefab homes are built in a controlled factory environment, from the inside out, and have made strides in quality, architectural complexity, and production processes.

In this episode, David Cooper talks to Tim and Steve about modular homes, their history, what the future holds, and some of the misconceptions about prefab homes.

David is the managing director of Connecticut Valley Homes of East Lyme, CT, with design studios in Fairfield and Westerly, CT. David is an award-winning modular home expert. CVH has been in business for 40 years, building more than 1,600 custom homes, and specializes in teardowns, rebuilds, and coastal construction.

Modular home building is a growing industry, spurred by technology — especially AutoCAD — which allows modular builders to create custom homes. Modular builders can construct essentially the same homes as on-site and stick-built homes. They build to the same codes using the same materials, but the process is different. David says his company can have a homeowner move in 120 days (or less) from the time they put the house on the foundation, and he talks about other facets of off-site construction, including:

How they compete on quality
The five types of modular homes
Building in a controlled environment
Energy benefits of modular construction
Sustainable building processes
Having lower liability on site
What the building process looks like
Using robots to frame walls
Getting all the clients’ decisions up front
The differences in inspections
The ballet of coordination in the factory and on site
How the money works out
The beauty of no change orders
And more …

It’s an insightful look at another part of the home building business and the different production processes they use.

Super Early Bird Discount for The 2019 Production Conference Ends Friday, June 7th

PRODUCTION CONFERENCE ’19: BIGGER & BETTER!
After two outstanding years, we are excited to host the 3rd Annual Production Conference, held alongside the 2019 Remodelers Summit at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Florida. In addition to hosting the event in the same hotel as the Summit, we’ve made even easier to register for BOTH events at the same time!

Ep.50: Choosing Estimating Software with Jef Forward

April 8, 2019 00:37:20

Estimating accurately is critical to the success of any remodeling business. As you grow your business or hand off estimating to an employee, having the right system in place is paramount. It can feel like an overwhelming decision — there’s so much software available. The wrong decision will cost you lost revenue, but even worse — lost time.

Fortunately, there’s a simple strategy to help you navigate this very important decision.

In this episode, Jef Forward talks about estimating software with Tim and Steve. He’s worked with several estimating software packages and systems over the years, and shares what he’s learned.

Jef Forward is the founder — and co-owner with his wife Monica — of Forward Design Build Remodel in Ann Arbor, MI. For more than 20 years, Jef has performed every role within the company, including designer, laborer, carpenter, bookkeeper and estimator — you name it, he’s done it. Now with 24 employees, Jef has two full-time estimators.

Start your decision-making by looking at two factors — getting the estimate itself right and how the program’s output will be presented to someone other than the estimator — especially your clients. The first step is to not look at any software, Jef says. You can get distracted by all the bells and whistles of new programs and miss whether it will really work for you. He talks about the vetting process, what it can do for your estimating, and some of his favorite software choices, including:

How to create a Process & Needs document
Integrations with other programs
Deciding on must-haves and nice-to-haves
Mixing and matching vs. all-inclusive systems
Not looking for quick fixes
Evaluating and testing
Who to involve in making choices
The fine art of guessing
What to do by hand vs. what’s automatic
Slicing and dicing information
Client presentations and reports
And more …

Choosing the right estimating software for your company depends on many factors, but the work done up front will ensure you’re not saddled with a system that doesn’t fit. Taking the time and involving the team will help you make the right pick.

Tell Us More!

Do you have a suggestion for a topic or guest for an upcoming episode? Send Tim an email: tim@remodelersadvantage.com.