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Mark Eastman

How to Dream Big in A Small Space

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The Strength of More Than One

A few weeks ago, I wrote about creating realistic expectations for customers and how important it is for the builder to honestly manage those expectations. In that conversation I spoke about Hannah’s project of building her home using grain bins.


This is going to be a dream project for both of us, but it takes planning and working together to make a dream come true. There also needs to be patience and understanding. Too many times people’s dreams become nightmares.


Her most recent floor plan has several changes from the first one. These changes are a normal part of the process (they probably aren’t the last). Some people don’t have the patience for this and plow forward throwing caution to the wind.

On the other hand, some of us tend to plan things to death. No dream is going to be built if there isn’t some action. That’s why it’s important to find the balance of planning and doing.

I think when Hannah’s dream project is finished she will agree that some outside ideas and input helped her project be better than if she hadn’t had any.

All of us have been made to strengthen and support each other. We accomplish more when we work together. In Ecclesiastes 4:12 it says, “…two people can stand back to back to defend each other. And three people are even stronger. They are like a rope that has three parts wrapped together – it is very hard to break”. (ERV)


It’s like the two-horse rule. A single draft horse can pull 8,000 pounds so it would stand to reason that two draft horses could pull 16,000 pounds. But they can actually pull 24,0000 pounds. That is three times as much. Each horse has its purpose and working together can accomplish more.

This is the benefit of collaboration. The working together makes each of us as better as individuals and the dream stronger. Hannah and I are both slower more detailed horses. I think we might need to add a race horse to the team so that we can plow a little faster.

 

Keep following this blog and Hannah’s for more updates as the dream moves closer to reality.

The Value of a Professional Builder

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What’s It Worth to Hire A Professional?

I was talking with my wife, who’s a realtor, earlier this week. She was telling me about an individual that had been trying to sell their house themselves and not having any luck. Reluctantly they are now considering listing their house with a realtor.

Her question was why would someone not list their house with a professional? I have thought about this same thing regarding construction for years.

The ‘Do It Yourself’ philosophy has become an industry on its own. This is not to say that doing things yourself is all bad.


The question should be about value, not about dollars.

To hire or not, is the question. I’m pretty capable with a wide range of skills, but there are some things that are just better done by professionals. I don’t know about you, but I would prefer not to do my own surgery or fill my own cavity.

The number one reason that most people don’t hire a professional is the cost. When the purchase or project is in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars the professional fee is big. Is the money saved by not hiring the professional really a savings? The actual cost in dollars, time and heartache may be a lot more in the end.

The value of hiring a professional can go well beyond the dollars spent.

 

 

  • They have been through the pitfalls and can help you avoid them. It breaks my heart the number of times that I have been asked to come finish a project that someone started and then realized they were in over their head.

 

  • There is a process to everything and construction is no different. If you do things in the wrong order the eventual cost is often more than the professional fees. If the walls are sheetrocked before the electrical wiring is ran it isn’t going to turn out well.

  • Doing all the different things a good professional does takes a lot of time. If you plan to do them and do them well, you need to plan to spend the time. As is the case with most things, looking at something from the outside it looks easier and quicker than it really is. What is your time worth?

Once you’ve decided to hire a professional keep in mind that not all of them are created equal. You need to give some consideration to the hiring process and find the right builder for you. In some situations professional may not be the best term when describing some builders. The wrong builder can be as much of an issue as not having one at all. What is the cost of cheap? Good communication with fixed pricing are both crucial to a good professional experience.

The important thing is for you to give some thought to the question of hiring a professional before moving forward and then regretting it later. In Proverbs 19:2 it says, “Being excited about something is not enough. You must also know what you are doing. Don’t rush into something, or you might do it wrong.”, ERV.

What is the value of a skilled professional’s guidance?

 

 

Honesty Is the Best Policy – I Don’t Care How Hard It Is

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How to Create Realistic Expectations for Customers – Part 2

 

Last week we discussed the importance of communication to creating realistic expectations for customers. This week we will look at three more things that need to be addressed to provide customers with a WOW rather than a woops experience.

 

 

 

• Everything takes longer than you think

There’s a lot of information out there about this. It is a very common problem. The planning fallacy gives some explanation, but I think it is more than this. I think many of us have a desire to help others and in an effort to fulfill expectations we over promise, which leads to under delivery. Especially when doing a construction project with all the pieces that have to fit together. Many of these things are out of my control which makes planning and scheduling more difficult. In an article by Emily Guy Birken she tells of a contractor friend who has come up with “a formula for figuring out a more realistic time frame: Double the number and go to the next unit of time for your estimate. For instance, if you believe your kitchen renovation will take two weeks, according to my friend, it will actually take four months.” This seems a little extreme, but I know everything takes longer than expected.

Solution – There are formulas and systems for determining an accurate amount of time needed to do the work. It will take some experimenting to get a realistic projection for the time to do a project. (Even if it is as extreme as the example above.) Be open and honest with yourself and your customer. It would be better to tell them the longer time in the beginning. This goes for the designing and pricing stages as well. Remember that most generally customers aren’t as familiar with the construction process as contractors, and this makes the realistic time gap even wider.

 

 

• Saying yes to too many things

There are so many things that I want to do. So many great wonderful important things. With all these things drawing us to them with overpowering magnetic force we get stuck and can’t move fast enough or far enough to get away from the pull. Mistake #2 of Michael Hyatt’s blog post “The 10 Biggest Mistakes People Make in Setting Goals” is creating too many goals. He quotes the old Chinese proverb, “Man who chases two rabbits catches neither”. I think chasing too many rabbits is what causes us to us to get lost on rabbit trails.

 

Solution – This solution is simple…say NO. This will be the hardest one to do. Those of us that want to help others struggle with this a lot. In 2014 we did the “Best Yes” study by Lysa Terkhurst at church. She said “Whenever you say yes to something, there is less of you for something else. Make sure your yes is worth the less.” We have to find our specific purpose. Then we have to focus on that. We have to be honest with ourselves so that we can create realistic expectations for customers.

 

 

• Details are worth the wait


Another thing that takes time is craftsmanship. I’ve heard people use the saying, “we’re not building a piano” when trying to move a project forward faster. This may have been true, but I believe we should give the same level of intentional care to building someone’s dream as to building a piano. People have different levels of expected quality. Being a recovering perfectionist, I ‘m going to naturally move toward that. Others may not be expecting that level of quality.

 

Solution – Each customer’s expectations need to be determined early in the process so that the length of time can be determined and communicated. This is one of the hardest to determine. Often, they don’t even know what makes one thing quality and another not. It takes time to build a piano or a dream and we need to help them determine what quality of dream they want to build.

 

 

It’s hard to tell people things they don’t want to hear. That a project is going to take longer than they expected is one of those things. Communicate with them. Be honest about the time needed. Say NO if it doesn’t fit your purpose. Quality takes time.

 

If we aren’t honest with ourselves and others then we are creating unrealistic expectations for everyone involved.

Feel free to share examples of unrealistic expectations in the comments below.

How to Create Realistic Expectations for Customers

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Expectations Are My Responsibility, “The Buck Stops Here”

In March of this year I wrote about the home my architect niece is planning to build, using two grain bins. This project has been in the planning stage for several months and the dreaming/idea stage even longer. She and I discussed how we could both blog about this simultaneously from differing perspectives. This project is going be fun on a bunch of different levels.

Hannah posted her first blog at www.un-defined.com earlier this week. In that post she wrote about her reasons for delay in getting started writing.

As I read her post it got me to thinking about the reasons that things often don’t meet our expectations. I’m aware of several projects currently that customers are feeling this way. Some I’m involved in and some not. This sense of disappointment is way too normal, when it should be rare.

We need realistic expectations.

 

Why does this happen?There are several reasons for this issue and some simple solutions, that if done, would make expectations more realistic for everyone involved.

• Lack of or poor communication

I think this is the number one reason for unrealistic expectations. With most projects having so many moving pieces and different people involved it is next to impossible to set and maintain an accurate schedule. When things are proceeding slower than you would like if you were just updated it would help tremendously. This goes both directions – from the service providers and suppliers to the contractor and from the contractor to the customer. It is like waiting for your teenager to get home and they’re late. Your mind begins to go to all kinds of scenarios that rarely are even close to reality. Even though we know this, it doesn’t make us feel any better. Communication makes a huge difference.

Solution –
Be as realistic as possible at the start. Often, the customer expectations are unrealistic in the beginning. Many times, this is their first experience with this kind of project. It is the contractor’s responsibility to be as realistic as possible, even if we know the customer doesn’t want to hear it. When things aren’t meeting the expectations; make the call, go by the job, let all parties know what’s going on. I know that delivering unwanted news isn’t what you want to do. The longer you wait, the worse it will be.

 

There’s a lot of room for improving communication.

Here are some additional posts about this comunication – 

Can Communicating Too Much, Be Too Much?
The Importance of Good Communication
What We’ve Got Here, Is A Failure to Communicate

 

My expectations for this week’s post weren’t realistic. This is a case in point. I thought I could write this in a couple of hours this morning…didn’t happen. With the size of this issue and to cover it properly I kept writing and writing and writing. Finally, I decided it needs to be split into more than one post.

Next week I will post “How To Create Realistic Expectations for Customers – Part 2”

It will cover –

  • Everything taking longer than you think
  • Saying yes to too many things
  • Details are worth the wait

 

Who knows, by next week I might come up with more. If you think of any additional reasons, feel free to share them in the comments.

 

How to Live A Well-Balanced Life

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Finding and Maintaining the Balance in Everything

 

I initially wrote about Using Core Values as My Life Filter last year. The focus of that post was the importance these CORE VALUES have in providing me with insight to who I am and more importantly, who I aspire to be. In that post I listed these twelve core values and said I would write about each in later posts.


Currently have written about:

• Honoring God in all that I do
• Paying attention to detail
• Spending time wisely
• Never being satisfied with mediocrity
• Taking off the blinders and being more aware
• Intentional action and again

Today’s core value is FINDING AND MAINTAINING THE BALANCE IN EVERYTHING.

I listened to a Story Brand podcast recently in which Tim Arnold’s point was that tension was a better description of this value than balance. He points out that “we tend to be binary thinkers. We assume things have to be one way or the other”. This was his point about the term balance when used in this context. Often the word balance creates the picture of an instrument with two sides used for weighing.

Sometimes there are only two choices. When choosing between right and wrong or good and evil, I believe this is the case. I agree with Tim that too often we tend to stop our thinking at only two choices and miss all of the out of the box opportunities that are out there.

I see balance as something that involves a lot more than two things.

The Merriam-Webster definition of balance is extensive and covers a variety of different areas including people, weight, stability, accounting, mental and emotional. This is more the way I think of balance.

I see BALANCE as large platform sitting centered on top of a small point. Without anything on the platform, it sits level. When one thing is placed on top of the platform near the center, things go pretty well, and it stays relatively level. As more things are put on the platform and things begin to be crowded from the center it starts to get heavier at different areas. This causes the platform to lean. If one heavy thing or too many things are moved too far from the center the platform will tip far enough that things falls off. Keeping things setting on the platform is all about weight and location.

Our lives are like this platform. God has set our platform balance perfectly on this point and given us the responsibility of keeping it there. The difficult part of this obligation is the number of things we get to choose from to put on our platform. The choices are endless. There is spiritual, family, work, friends, fun, community, etc. and each of these areas are full of an endless number of specific things that we can put on our platform. Some things carry more weight than others. As we go through life the things we have setting on our platform will and should change.


FINDING AND MAINTAINING THE BALANCE of our platform is the responsibility given us. Will we be perfect at it…no. Can we learn and get better at it…YES!

Whether you use the word balance, tension or something else to describe this endeavor is less important than being aware of it and actively keeping your platform as level as you can.

How Building Things Is Like Giving Birth

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There’s Something Emotionally Fulfilling About Creating

 

I was having a conversation earlier this week with Cheri at Agora Architecture about a project that we are working on. As we visited about the project we both became excited about the new ideas that were developing. I told her that what we’re doing was like giving birth. I then explained what I meant by that and then decided that I should share it with you.


I’ve had this same discussion multiple times over the years. When talking with someone who understands this, the connection is intense. It really is amazing the similarities there are with building and giving birth.

CONCEPTION – “The forming or devising of a plan or idea.” This is where both creating and birthing start. There is a spark or an idea that begins to grow inside of us. Maybe it’s an idea for a new home, a new business, a new design, a new book, a new painting. There is something that has been planted inside by God and we need to pay attention to and act upon it.

GESTATION – “The development of something over a period of time.” As this little idea grows it will want, no need, to get out. We need to be aware and nurture this creation. As it goes through this process it will change on its way to becoming what it is meant to be. This can be painful as the idea continues to grow and stretches us, but it’s a necessary part of the process.

EXTERNAL HELP – When a mother becomes pregnant there is a need for support and help from spouses, family, doctors, nurses, specialists, etc. the same is true for other creations. To the project that I referred to earlier, it started as the idea for a new and used book store and café of Floyd Enterprises. There have been several people involved to this point and will be many more before it is finished. Currently there has been the Floyd family, Debby the realtor, Timber Creek Construction the contractor, Cheri and Hannah the architects. Giving birth requires help and a lot of it.

MESSY – Just like giving birth has some mess involved so do all creations. The process isn’t going to just happen without some clean up.


EXCITEMENT – This is the comparison that I think is the most pronounced. It’s hard to describe the feelings of holding the newborn for the first time. It’s the same when you have been a part of creating something that wasn’t there before. To see, touch and feel that thing that came from somewhere inside and is now tangible is amazing. There is a part of your DNA that has been transferred to it and it will be there forever.

There is something natural about the act of creating, whatever the creation may be. This is something that was implanted in us at our conception. This is God’s DNA in us. We are created in His image, Genesis 1:26-31. He created the world and everything in it. This desire to create and the joy it gives is a part of who we are.

If you haven’t yet figured out what it is that you were put here to create, keep looking until you find it. When you do you’ll know it, because nothing else feels as satisfying as that.

The History of Labor Day and My Problem with It

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Labor and Work…What’s the Difference?

 

Labor Day is one of my three favorite holidays each year. Christmas being my favorite, which is no big surprise. Labor Day and New Year’s Day are tied for the second spot. These two are not typically ranked in most people’s top three.

 

My extended family celebrates both holidays in an almost identical way. They start with parades in the morning and conclude by spending the rest of the day, into the evening, playing games, eating and enjoying time with family. This doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy all the other holidays, because I do. These three are just my favorites.

 

As I was looking forward to the upcoming Labor Day I began thinking about the reason behind the celebration. Labor Day was started as a way to show appreciation for the hard-working labor force in America in the late 1800s. We often forget the reasons behind holidays. We need to remember the reason for this and all holidays and not just look at it as another reason to barbeque with friends or go to the lake.

The problem I have with Labor Day comes from the perception that there is a separation between labor and management / employees and business owners.

There’s no doubt a difference in the roles of these two groups, but too often it is seen as a confrontational battle between the two. It is a mindset of our side against theirs. There certainly have been and still are situations where this is true.

It doesn’t have to be this way. This attitude is a problem for both groups. It’s a view that there is a limited amount and if I don’t get my piece of the pie, there may not be any left. This scarcity thinking in a world of abundance isn’t beneficial to either side. God will provide enough for everybody.

If we would quit viewing labor and management as two competing entities and instead look at both as on the same team working together, both would benefit.

 

Having been on both sides of the employee/owner relationship I can tell you that both work hard to achieve success. If all involved work hard together toward the same goal everybody wins. It is easy to look at other people and think they have it easy, but rarely is that the case.

The definition of labor focuses mainly on the physical while work (link) refers to both physical and mental actions. Work seems less divisive than labor. We can and should work together toward the same goal.

On the first Monday of September this year I’m going to celebrate WORK instead of labor.

How Do I Know If I Need A Storm Door?

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Reasons for and Against Storm Doors

 

I’ve had the storm door conversation several times recently. It’s a common discussion I’ve had many times. I always ask the why question, when customers are considering the installation of storm doors. Most people assume that having a storm door is just a given…I mean shouldn’t everybody have a storm door?

Historically storm doors were installed like storm windows. Both were an effective added layer of protection for old drafty doors and single pane windows. With the changes that have been made to doors, windows, weather stripping, sealants and finishes the need for storm doors or windows has become somewhat of a moot point.

 

Start by asking WHY before blindly moving forward and installing a storm door.

 

Why do I want/need a storm door? Is it for protection against the elements, visibility, ventilation, security, appearance or do I just want one.

 

Reasons for:

  • Protection against the elements – If you have an older draftier entry door, then a storm door can be simple way to get an added layer of protection against the rain, snow and wind.

 

  • Visibility – If you like opening the entry door to see outside. There are a variety of storm door styles, full view, ¾ and ½ glass that allow you to see out and get natural light in.

 

  • Ventilation – If you like opening the entry door to get fresh air in without bugs. Here again there are different ways to get storm doors for this purpose. Some the glass and screen are exchanged. One common style has a half screen and one pane of glass slides up and down. A newer style has a screen that rolls up out of the way until you slide the glass.

 

  • Security – It adds an additional layer that someone would have to get past to get in. Keep in mind that storm doors are not designed as a security system.

 

  • Appearance – There are some storm doors that offer decorative glass that can enhance the way the house looks.

 

Reasons against:

  • Wind catchers – Storm doors are notorious for being caught by the wind and getting sprung or twisted and the closers being bent and/or pulled out of the jamb.

  • Adjustment – Storm doors are difficult to get adjusted from the beginning. When the entry door is shut and the storm door closes and latches properly then the storm door will slam when the entry door is open. If the storm door is adjusted to shut and catch when the entry door is closed, then the storm door won’t latch when the entry door is closed. This is caused by the building up of air pressure between the two doors.

 

  • Inconvenient – Opening a storm door and holding it while opening the entry door when carrying things can be difficult.

 

  • Damaging the finish of the entry door – This seems contradictory to protection against the elements. When the entry door is located where there is exposure to direct sunlight (especially the east and west sides) the glass in the storm door works like as magnifying glass and can cook the finish of the entry door. This is especially true with stained fiberglass doors.

 

Things usually start out being done for a specific reason and over time that reason gets lost in the normalcy of whatever that thing is. Installing a storm door without thinking through the reasons for and against is one of those things.

So, how do I know if I need a storm door? Ultimately this is a question only you can answer, but I hope this week’s solution helps.

 

If you have questions about storm doors or other construction projects that you would like answered, contact us in the comment section below.

Why Me…Why Not Me?

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What Can I Do to Improve My Self-confidence?

 

Why is it that so many people struggle with low self-esteem or the lack of self-confidence? I know that different people deal with it in varying degrees, but I think everyone deals with it. People who appear confident have just figured out how to deal with it better.

The huge amount of self-help books, speeches, programs, etc., speak to this struggle. I have been battling with this feeling regarding these blogs. Why is it that so few people are reading them? Then my inner evaluation begins. The content isn’t any good. The writing stinks. It doesn’t make any sense. The topics aren’t relevant. Am I wasting my time…and on and on.

 

Our book club just finished reading Cara Brookins’ book “Rise: How A House Built A Family”. The club collectively thought I might struggle reading this book (part of the reason it was picked 😊). You know, me being a professional builder reading about a woman and her four kids building a house using “how to” videos. I just want to say; this book is now in my top ten. Cara and her family really impressed and inspired me! Inspired me so much so that I gathered up the courage to email her (way out of my comfort zone).

And you know what.

She replied…to me…to little ole’ me and not only that, we had the opportunity to have a Skype conversation with her during our review of her book during book club. How cool is that! If she can build a house…I can write a blog.

Her current projects are based on her “firm belief that everyone who wants to can build themselves a bigger, better life. And the feeling…of being stuck and frustrated is exactly what most people are feeling. It’s a sign you’re on the right path, because feeling discontent creates action.”

Helping people build a bigger better life is exactly what I plan to do with my coaching, consulting and constructing here at Solution Building.

Her building of this house is proof that what is required to get past self-doubt is choice and action. We must decide to do something, something big, something as big as a house and then do it. It doesn’t matter how good the information in the self-help program is, it’s not going to do any good if it isn’t put into action.

God did not put us here to fail. Satan on the other hand is a master of using our weakness to keep us from doing the great things that God wants for us. Like our low self-esteem to keep us stuck. We must decide if we trust and believe. If we do, then it is up to us to start building.

Another one of my top ten books is Andy Andrews’ book, “The Traveler’s Gift”. It was turned down by fifty-one publishers before it was accepted.

Fifty-one.

Okay if Cara can push through the months and months of building her own home and Andy can go through fifty-one rejections I can keep blogging. Nobody said that persistence was easy, but it’s the thing that separates quitters from successful people.

I can persist – I can succeed – WHY NOT ME!

If you have any feedback on my blogs or if there is some specific topics you would like for me to write about let me know in the comments below.

The First Next Thing to Building A Better Business

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Action Is Required for Building Anything

 

It doesn’t matter if we are building a home, a business or a life…they all require physical action. Planning is critical but not enough.

At a lunch meeting with my financial assistant (my sister) earlier this week we were discussing what is needed to move closer to achieving the company’s goals. This conversation confirmed what I already knew. By nature, I am a planner, a dreamer and a recovering perfectionist. I have lots of ideas and plans, all great ones too, no doubt. 😊 But it takes more than just plans.

The necessary thing needed to build the business, just like a building, is action. You can’t live in a blueprint. The same is true for a business. You have to move beyond planning. You have to do the first next thing.

When doing a construction project, I understand the order of the process – to start, proceed and finish. I asked myself why the physical construction comes naturally but I struggle with building a business. I have come up with a few reasons for this:

  • It’s hard for me to delegate – I know that I suck at it. People who know me know that I suck at it. This leaves me with two options; do everything myself and do less or share the shovels. I listened to a Story Brand podcast a few days ago that pointed out that successful entrepreneurs don’t try to do everything by themselves.

  • I have a broken people meter – I was thinking about the discussion with my sister and came to the realization that part of the delegation problem is that my people meter is broke or maybe I just don’t have one. So, I need to incorporate the help of people who have good people meters into the process of finding the right people to delegate to.

 

  • My “to do list” is too long and I like lists – When the list of things that need to be done is too long we become overwhelmed. Being pulled in so many different directions leads to confusion and causes a lack of clarity. Trying to spin too many plates doesn’t move things forward it just makes us dizzy. Trying to do too many things causes chaos. I don’t have the time to do everything on my list. We need a plan for this but if things are going to change there needs to be some action.
 

  • Recovering perfectionist – Finding the separation between perfection and excellence is tricky. This is a very fine line. Having been a perfectionist for years it is difficult to not cross back into perfection. Perfection causes inaction. It slows down all the processes and makes it difficult to leave the planning and start the doing.

 

Moving forward with the first next step I must narrowly clarify excellent delegation.

 

Just like I can’t drive more than one nail at a time when doing physical construction, the same is true when building a business or a life. If I don’t quit trying to perfect the plans and start swinging the hammer I will never get anything built.