Posts Tagged ‘portland oregon remodelers’

Great remodelers are a gold mine

Friday, February 26th, 2010

It may seem as an unlikely source for an opinion, but specialty trade contractors are a likely source to refer some of the best general contractors. Modern Tech Floors is a specialty trade contractor and we have worked with a number of general contractors around Portland. Over the years I have noticed that the following shared traits define the best remodelers:

1) Humble attitude about experience. They won’t tell you how much experience they have or how great they are. However when you ask them very detailed questions about a project they will have an answer or agree to finding an answer for you.

2) They encourage VERY thorough communication between homeowners and all parties to conduct the work. This avoids any chance of failed expectations, which I have seen waste thousands of dollars and countless hours for all parties on a project.

3) They listen intently and allow everyone to speak in turn, as opposed to the general contractor whose phone is about to explode with phone calls and is answering the call while you are talking to them. That is a huge sign of disrespect in my opinion.

4) They have a genuine love of people and that is what drives their process and how they work to help the customer get value out of a project.  They will inform customers where to invest money in a project based on experience so that they are yielded a project with great longevity.

5) They are diligent about paying all parties quickly. This is something so HUGE I cannot explain enough. We will perform much more responsively for a quick paying contractor. We generally avoid working for slow pay contractors because it is just an indicator of other potential problems in their business.

6) They have a team of specialty trade contractors (or “subs” even though I hate that word) who know each other and work like a well oiled machine. A remodeler that has a long time crew of the same subs really doesn’t even need to be at the job too much because the subs should almost be able to run the project amongst themselves.

If you would like a referral for a qualified general contractor in Portland, Oregon please feel free to call. We have a large list for enthusiatic referrals and will help make a good match to your needs.

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Happy Contractors make great projects

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009


I was having a discussion recently with two colleagues I really like, Blair Edmiston and Kent Huffstutter. These two friends of mine have really great energy and enthusiasm for their respective professions and I believe it has a lot to do with their attitudes towards life, which Blair talks about here. One of the amazing virtues of a challenging economy for me has been that it flushes out the true optimistic John F Kennedy types. They’re the people who say, “I am going to become this…” and start to work progressively towards that goal. They learn to open up to new techniques and tips that make their businesses and lives more efficient and consistently implement those things that work.

The great benefit I often observe of the contractors who refuse to participate in the negative hooplah is that serendipitously they actually end up raising their level of service because the extra positive boost that is needed to keep on track. The contractors who have an upbeat attitude are the guys who do the little extras after the job is done and send “Thank You” notes as appreciation. They are the guys who sweep AND vacuum the job because they want to leave a product and service with great value. They’re the guys who show up on time and add back value to their customer’s life by sharing a positive idea instead of grabbing the check and EXPECTING the next referral.

The emotional impact we all have on each other in the world of consumer/contractor has a lot more worth than just a bottom dollar in my opinion. Is it worth to harbor resentment over a final product just to save a few dollars? Sometimes the emotional bank account gets so drained for both parties that I consider it professional blasphemy when the lowest price becomes the number one point of value added service. So everyone cheer up, hire the contractors with a smile on their face and a deep list of happy clients for referrals. You’ll be glad you did and you’ll never look back.

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