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Building A Dream Business

How To Build A Better Proposal

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One of The Foundational Building Blocks of a Successful Company

 

Small and medium size construction companies struggle with preparing detailed and accurate proposals. This problem isn’t restricted only to small companies. It begins there, but only gets worse until they either get big enough to absorb the costs of guessing at project costs or give up trying and quit.


When I started doing construction forty plus years ago, I had no clue how to prepare proposals and like every other small construction company…I guessed. I used a common method called, trial and error. Doing proposals this way is a real crap shoot and doesn’t leave much room for mistakes.


Preparing accurate proposals that communicate clearly doesn’t have to be a roll of the dice.


Early on I began working on a proposal system that worked for me. It has gone through years of experimenting and tweaking to become what it is now. Over the last fifteen or twenty years I’ve been asked multiple times by other contractors who saw my proposals how I did them. I just assumed that everybody else was doing something similar.


Several years ago, it hit me that this wasn’t the case after being hired by other contractors to do proposals for them. This is when it became apparent that there was a real need for a proposal system. I kept pushing this down the road until God hit me upside the head with a board and pointed out that my system could help other contractors.


I’ve been busy with construction projects and life in general and continued to procrastinate developing a system that other companies could use. Earlier this year I decided I better get to work on this before I get hit in the head again.


I’m happy to announce that we are currently in the final stages of preparing a proposal system that will be made available for other contractors to use. It’s currently being tested by independent contractors. We are rebuilding the Solution Building website to allow for downloading the proposal documents. It’s not just for general contractors either, it will work for any of the construction trades.


This proposal system will include templates for:

 

  • Bid sheet – A Word document with all the construction sections and individual items already listed out with space for filling out the scope of the work to be done, dimensions, materials, locations, etc., as needed for communication.

 

  • Worksheet – An Excel spreadsheet with all the construction sections and individual items already listed out with optional overhead and profit markups inserted in the appropriate cells.

 

  • Estimate – A word document with spaces to fill in the pertinent information, i.e. customer’s information, what will or will not be supplied by the contractor, the scope of work, the estimated price for each specific element and a total estimated price.

 

  • Proposal – A word document with spaces to fill in the pertinent information, i.e. customer’s information, what will or will not be supplied by the contractor, the scope of work, the proposed price for each specific element, a total project price, payment arrangements and project duration.

 

  • Contract – A word document with spaces to fill in the pertinent information, i.e. customer’s information, list of referenced documents, construction funding information, property specifics, project start date and legal terms and conditions.

 

  • Proposal-Contract – A word document that is a combination of a proposal / contract in one.

 

It also will include a data base for material and labor costs:

 

  • Data Base – An Excel spreadsheet with prices for material and labor for a wide variety of specific construction tasks. This information will be copied and pasted to a blank worksheet.

Clear communication between contactor and customer is difficult, especially when there isn’t any. Last week I wrote about the importance of communicating clearly through proposals and reasons contractors avoid doing them. 


Next week I will break down the proposal process even more.

 

 

The Bulk of The Communication Responsibility Lies on The Contractor

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How To Build A Better Proposal

 

 

Every contractor, at some time, has had an unhappy customer. This is almost always due to poor communication and/or a lack of understanding. It may have been some small misunderstanding or might have been major enough to result in being fired or going to court.


Several years ago, a partner and I were meeting with a customer early in the process of building a new home. The customer pointed out that the distance from the electric meter to the house was more than the 50’ allowance, as per the written proposal.

He asked if this was a problem. My partner told him no, it wasn’t a problem. Guess what…


It was a problem.


The problem didn’t surface until later when the customer was billed for the additional 100’. After some digging, the communication breakdown was uncovered.


The customer asked, “if it was a problem”. What he really was asking was…”is it going to cost more?”.


My partner’s response in reality was, “we can dig the additional 100’, but it will cost you three times as much as the allowance in the proposal”. This isn’t what was said.


Neither individual intended nor expected this to be a problem. It was a simple matter of misunderstanding…a lack of communication.


Communication is, …the exchange of information and the expression of feelings that result in understanding.

 

 

Understanding is the tricky part.

Why is it that contractors don’t communicate clearly through concise written proposals to customers? Here are the four main reasons for this:


First is time – It takes more time to prepare a detailed written proposal. We’re already so busy that we can’t keep up and with the limited time we have, we aren’t going to spend it on preparing a proposal.


Second is comfort – I started this company because I loved to build, plumb, wire, pour concrete, roof, etc., etc. The trade is what I know, and I don’t like doing paperwork, I want to go swing a hammer.


Third is knowledge – It’s hard to know how long something is going to take or how much material is going to cost. If I give the customer an approximate price or even better if I can just get paid for time and material, I know I won’t lose any money.


Fourth is no system – When we started the company, no one ever explained the importance of having a business system in place. A business system is the blueprint for building your business. Detailed proposals are one of the foundational pieces needed to keep it from collapsing.


These are four valid reasons for avoiding doing proposals, but…


The cost of not preparing detailed proposals, is far more expensive.


The customer also has some responsibility in preventing construction projects from falling apart and the high cost of poor communication. This whole construction process is overwhelming to most customers and they need to know what should be included in the communication. 


But the customer isn’t an experienced contractor that does this for a living.


If only there was a process for doing proposals that:

  • Saved time.
  • Could be done by office staff.
  • Didn’t require a four-year degree or twenty years of on the job training.
  • Included all the necessary parts and pieces


What if I told you that there is such a system and you could have it? There is and it’s going to become available in the next few months. Over the next several weeks we are going to breakdown the system, go through the different documents and processes in detail and explain how it works.


Remember that we are the professionals and the bulk of the communication responsibility lies on us.

Deciding What Should Be First on The List

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It’s Amazing How Things Become Clear with A Limited Amount of Time

 

There are so many things trying to get on the “to do” list and each one competing for the top position. Deciding which one should get that spot is tough. There are so many great and important things that we need or want to do.


It’s easy to say that we have limited time, but hard to actually schedule that way.


My computer’s battery is not lasting as long as it did when it was new. Recently while working out of the office, without the power cord, I had 2-3 things that I wanted to get done before the computer shut down. This limited time forced me to sort and prioritize them.


How do we decide what to say yes to? 


Emergency situations often require triage. This is the process of prioritizing patients’ treatments based on the severity of their condition and the resources available. In these situations, victims are divided into three categories.

 

  • Those who are likely to live, regardless of what care they receive;
  • Those who are unlikely to live, regardless of what care they receive:
  • Those for whom immediate care might make a positive difference in outcome.

 

These choices aren’t easy and often require a quick “gut decision”. A pre-determined system, training and experience aid in the process and provide for the greatest number of survivors.


Another life and death choice is deciding who gets a transplant when there are a limited number of organ donations available. Take for example a set of twins who both need a liver transplant and their father has one liver to give. Which little girl gets it? The early thoughts of a father would be to give half to each. The problem with this, half would help neither. The final decision will be determined by which one needs it most or which one is most likely to survive.

 


Most of the choices that we make in business aren’t this critical…or are they? The decisions we make can mean life or death for our business.

 

In medical life or death situations there is a system and plan in place before hand. This same type of system should be implemented in our business. We should predetermine how we are going to choose the most important thing to the life of our business. This is where things get hard.

 


What makes one thing more important than another?


 

What should be the highest priority? Should it be production or proposals, record keeping or customer service, marketing or staff? We’re faced with tough decisions in business every day.

 


I can’t answer this question for you, but I’m tired of struggling with this dilemma and plan to design and implement a “business triage” system going forward.


What will give my business the highest chance for survival?

The Most Positive Communication Can Be Negative

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An Honest No Is Better Than A Yes That’s Really A Maybe

 

Why is it that we say yes to more than we can possibly do? This trying to spin too many plates is a common problem. It’s a problem that’s thousands of years old. In Exodus 18:13-23 Moses’s father-in-law tells him to stop trying to do everything by himself.


Being too busy is no one’s fault but our own. I do think that overscheduling can push us to accomplish more than we would otherwise, but we take it way too far. There are too many puzzle pieces to fit in our puzzle no matter how hard we push. So many important things that need done, but…

 


We can’t DO everything.


Our natural desire to help others is a big driving force behind too many yes’s. There are so many people with so many needs. A servant’s heart leads us to over promise. This can be controlled, but it requires intentional actions. Especially in business, we don’t want to say no to any potential opportunity. Too many yes’s is not a good way to treat customers. Trying to be everything to everybody isn’t a good business plan.


We can’t BE everything to everybody.


Trying to DO EVERYTHING for EVERYBODY has been something that I have always struggled with. There’s just so many great things to be done and someone needs to do them. It never works any time anybody tries it. We have to learn to say no.

 


The big question is how do I know what to say yes to?


This is definitely a big question and one that’s hard to answer. As we begin to approach the end of 2019, I’m beginning to think about 2020 and all the things I want to do. As I think through the list it becomes clear that clarity is needed.


Focusing on the right yes’s is going to be my goal for 2020. After all, 2020 is perfect vision. It isn’t going to be easy, but it can be done. It will require a clear plan of what the highest priorities are and removing things from the list that don’t qualify.

 


There are a lot of good yes’s but only one best yes.


I’ve been thinking forward through the long list of things that I want to do. All things that are good and important, but there are too many to do them all. With God as the Chairman of my Board of Directors, I’m confident that we can get a clear vision for 2020.


There are some new and exciting things on the horizon for this next year. I’m excited and ready to get started.

 

How To Win The Race Of Business

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You Win by Never Quitting

 

It’s NASCAR race weekend in Kansas City. My brother-in-law and I have already enjoyed Saturday’s race. There were several things that happened late in the race that changed the expected outcome. The winner of the race was not the one who lead most of the race, but he kept racing until the last lap and won.


Currently we are sitting in the hotel lobby, waiting to get back into our room, which we are locked out of and our stuff is inside the room. It appears that the battery on the electronic code reader is dead. Technology’s great…when it works.


I’m writing this on the hotel’s computer in the lobby since my computer is locked in the room.


Most people would say the only way to win a race, is to finish ahead of everyone else. I would argue that there are other ways you can win. For me winning is as much about staying true to values and core principles as it is finishing first. There are races inside of the race. Points accumulated toward the championship, sponsor visibility, etc.


When racing you need to be ready for whatever challenge is around the next corner. (Like being locked out of your hotel room.) There are other drivers, wrecks, breakdowns, all things that are out of your control. Things learned in this race or this season, help me to race better. Winning is how you deal with difficult situations.


This doesn’t mean you should race without passion or a desire to win.

 


In racing there are pit stops and caution flags that give you a chance to catch your breath and regroup. The same is true in business. Take advantage of these opportunities when you get them.


It takes more than a driver to win a race. It takes a good team, a good system and good equipment. Business is no different.


Winning the race is about how you run it.


Galatians 5:7, 2 Timothy 4:7 and 1 Corinthians 9:24


Three hours and we’re back in our room. The hotel was very apologetic, they comped our room, gave us free breakfast coupons and additional points. They had a computer and it served me well.


I’m going to call it a day so that tomorrow we can race another day.

When you win…remember to celebrate.

This video is from the Sunday race, 10/20/19

I Know Why Rome Wasn’t Built in A Day

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It Was A Lack of Web Presence

 

I’ve written a lot recently about the high cost of no communication. I think this might be why it took so long to build Rome. The people in charge of the project struggled to find qualified contractors.


If they only had someone like Stacey with Custom Internet Services to help them with a website.


A few weeks ago, I wrote about rebuilding our Timber Creek Construction website. Drum roll…it’s finished, live and amazing. Check it out here. Like any construction project, I had a dream and a vision of what it would be. I couldn’t be more pleased. Great job Stacey!

 

 


Our reason for having a website is so interested people can find out more about the construction process. Construction doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Our site also includes pictures and information of past projects. This helps customers see what can be done and incite ideas for their own projects.


Most customers don’t have an in-depth knowledge of the construction industry. This includes questions to be asked and answered, what should be expected from their contractor including documents that should be included. The site is designed to help with this too.


Our site had gotten old and stale, as websites go. This was pointed out to me a couple of years ago by Shannon Martin a previous assistant. We’ve been thinking, talking, designing and planning this rebuild, off and on, since then.

 


I was given an opportunity to speak to the Kansas Barn Alliance about the importance of communication through proposals and contracts. Shannon was responsible for this as well.


It was decided that it would be good to have the new site finished by the presentation and we did. Thanks Shannon. 😊


Our goals were a site that was fresh, fun, clear, informational, easy to use and looked great. Mission accomplished.


The Timber Creek Construction site turned out so good, we plan to make some changes and updates to the Solution Building site next.


Check out the Timber Creek site and let us know what you think in the comments below.

How To Balance Passion and Profit In Business

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It Doesn’t Have to Be One or The Other

 

Why is it that the owners of small businesses struggle to even make minimum wage? When you factor in the number of hours and amount of stress that most small business owners endure, often it’s less.


I had this conversation with a local contractor last week. The same conversation I’ve had with different contractors, including myself, repeatedly over the years.


Self-employed people are generally in business for one of two reasons. They either love what they do or they’re in it to make all the money they can. The ones who focus on quality and service usually don’t put enough effort into profit. On the other side, the ones who focus on profit, do so while neglecting the quality and service.


Let’s look at some of the reasons for this problem.


In a Score Contracts blog post, “8 Reasons Why Small Businesses Are Not Making Money” they list eight reasons. Most of these you have heard or experienced, but some are worth repeating.


#2 – They don’t know what they’re doing. They are technicians or trades people trying to run a business. They need to have a business plan in place and use it.


#5 – Poor thinking. Most are hard workers but have poor thinking habits. They spend more time planning their meals, vacations and daily chores than they do their life.


#6 – Lack of education. Not formal schooling, rather self-motivated expansion of knowledge like reading, studying, courses, on the job training.


#8 – Self-doubt or fear. Most people quit before they even get started. They look at the options and then talk themselves out of even giving it a real try.

 


Here are some additional reasons that small businesses find it difficult to make money, found in a blog post “17 Truths About Running Your Own Business”. 


#1 – You can’t be everything to everyone. You need to decide what your priorities are, be selective and learn to say no to the things that aren’t.


 

#6 – Your business isn’t a piggy bank. You can’t just spend money on everything you want without a plan. You need to be sure to have money for taxes, equipment or building repairs, investments, etc.

 


#8 – You can’t do everything. You need help. You need a team and they need to be good. You need to know what that looks like and how to get them.


#10 – Your customers are your most important asset. Treat them as such.


#17 – You are your own most important client. You need to spend some time every day working on your business and not in your business. If you don’t take care of the business, it won’t last.

 


What are we going to do to make our business profitable while being true to our passion?


As is the case generally, everyone’s specific situation is different. The important thing is to listen, learn and apply information learned. If you learn new things and don’t use them, they’re worthless.


Application is the hard part.


Because we have struggled ourselves with finding a business system to fit our needs, we decided to develop a user-friendly business system that can be tailored to different business’s needs including training and implementation support.

 

 


It doesn’t have to be only passion or profit; IT CAN BE BOTH.


Here are some previous posts about some of our business system thoughts and struggles.


Building Your Business Is Critical to The Survival of The Business
Be Careful About Short Table Legs
What Does It Take to Be a Builder?
The First Next Thing to Building A Better Business

 

Share business struggles that you or someone you know has had in the comments below. This will be helpful to us as we design the system.

 

 

Rome Wasn’t Built in A Day and Neither Is A Colossal Website

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A Website Isn’t as Important as Rome, But Pretty Close

 

 

We’re in the process of rebuilding our Timber Creek Construction web site to freshen it up and provide a clearer and more informative message. Whether building Rome or a website, both are big projects. I thought it would be good to share –


The reasons behind the rebuild


A sneak peek at what’s coming

 

Why does anyone even bother having a website anyway?


According to How Stuff Works, “A website lends an air of credibility – it lets people know that you’re serious and ready to do business. It’s a guaranteed sales booster and a whole lot less expensive than buying ads.” So, if you’re in business and you want to connect with someone who might need your product or service, having a website is a good thing.


Okay, but we already have a website, why do we need to rebuild it?


 

 

That’s a good question and one that I asked myself. What’s wrong with the site we have? It’s not that old. We built it when we started Timber Creek Construction…in…2003. Okay, so that’s a little longer ago than I thought. It was cutting edge then but now…not so much. It took someone on the outside to bring this to my attention.

 


We need to clarify our message.


There is a whole list of issues that customers typically have with building contractors, almost all of them come down to one thing – poor communication. Good communication takes two, but in a business to customer relationship the majority of this responsibility lies on the contractor. Clearer, better communication is one of the main things that we hope to accomplish with the new website.


One way to improve the communication is to improve contractor’s business systems. Most small construction companies knew how to do their trade when they started their business but didn’t have any idea how to manage the operational part of their company.


As I looked closer at the Timber Creek website, I discovered that both Timber Creek Construction and Solution Building’s messages at the foundation were the same. In both cases we help people find solutions for building their dreams, whether that’s constructing a building or an operating system to run a more effective business.


Helping small businesses develop and implement business systems and informing and educating the customer is the purpose for Solution Building.

 


Let us know about any issues or problems that you’ve have with construction projects or operating your business in the comments below.


We will be sharing progress updates and more details of both Timber Creek Construction and Solution Building in future posts.

Great Things Never Get Done by Under Promising

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On the other hand, Amazing Things Can Be Accomplished by Over Promising

 


This is not to say that we should make promises and not keep them. Keeping a promise is important and speaks to who we are as individuals. We’ve become lazy in our use of words and the English language in general. We throw words and clichés around without considering what we’re saying.


“Under promise, and over deliver” is one of those truisms that at face value sounds like a good way to treat customers. It looks great on a business card.


What are we really saying if our goal is to “under promise”?


Last week I wrote about the issue of businesses over promising. As I was researching, I found an online article, by Josh Linkner “Why Under-promising and Over-delivering Is bad Advice”. In this article Mr. Linkner speaks to the lowering of the performance bar when we under promise.


He says, “…this false wisdom encourages mediocrity. It grants permission to make small, flaccid commitments and then gleefully celebrate delivering them. The very nature of the argument suggests holding back on achievements that can actually be attained. Simply put…


Under-promising is a promise to play small.”


Most businesses don’t want to play small. There are so many great things that we want to accomplish and so little time to do it. This is why we over promise.


It’s been said, if you want to get something done you should ask a busy person to do it. On the surface this appears counterintuitive. It would seem the person with spare time would be more likely to do something than the busy person. In reality it isn’t in the time available, rather it’s in the person’s level of drive. Busy people are doers.


The more we want to do the more we get done.


I’ve come to realize that the tighter my schedule is packed, the more I get done. It’s frustrating to have things left on my list at the end of the day, however when I step back and look at the bigger picture, I can see the benefits of “over promising”.


What we need to do is to rethink the terminology. To come up with different words that better serve our purpose. To be our most productive selves we need to push ourselves beyond our existing boundaries without lying to others or ourselves.


We need to keep our promises.


This is where things get difficult. How can we grow and do more, if we don’t push against the walls and move them out?

 

“I don’t think we have any choice. I think we have an obligation to change the rules, to raise the bar, to play a different game, and to play it better than anyone has any right to believe is possible.”


Seth Godin

 

Be careful to be true and honest, keep your promises to yourself and others as you continue to raise the bar of expectation.

One of the Biggest Issues in Business Is Over Promising

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Why in the World Do We Do This and What Are We Going to Do About It?

 

 

I received a phone call from a gentleman asking about a problem he was having with a leaking metal roof on his shop building. As normal when confronted by a situation like this I began asking questions.

 


Early in the conversation I found out some important pieces of information. First, he thought he had called his contractor neighbor. Second, they live almost a hundred miles away. I pointed out the distance and unlikeliness of my coming that far to do a project.

 


This didn’t stop him from needing answers to questions.

 

 


As the conversation continued, he shared about his problem and I (being the solution seeking contractor that I am) continued to discuss his situation with him. Then I found myself looking for ideas to solve his problems, all the time thinking to myself, why are you doing this when you know he’s so far away and you’re already doing too much.


Near the end of the discussion, I agreed that if he would send me some pictures and a written description of what the problems were, I would give him an estimate…strictly from a consulting perspective of course.

 


You know you have too much to do. Why did you do that?

 


As we ended the conversation, I told him that I was busy and would get him something as quick as I could. He proceeded to tell me a story about several experiences he had with people in the construction industry that had made promises and then not kept them. He asked why this happens? I’ve asked myself this question many times.


The question of over promising is rampant. I know that in my business it raises its ugly head daily, whether it’s sub-contractors, suppliers, IT people, mechanics or my own schedule. I certainly believe that most of the situations of over promising that I experience are not done from a place of malice. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s still being done.


Why does over promising continue and what am I going to do about it?


 

Maybe this isn’t the right question. Andy Andrews says that “The quality of your answers is determined by the quality of your questions.” I’m thinking that maybe my question isn’t very good.

 

 


This is a big issue, as you can see from these previous posts.

Over Promising Is Easy When You Have A Servant’s Heart
5 Ways to Stop Over Promising and Under Delivering
How to Create Realistic Expectations for Customers – Part 1
Honesty Is the Best Policy – I Don’t Care How Hard It Is

 

 

I’m not going to stop looking for an answer to this question.