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The Next Step in My Business Journey

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Doing the Things Only I Can Do

Over the past several weeks we’ve talked about having too much to do and not enough time to do it. Of how I need to delegate more of my business, but how hard delegating is for me. The only way that I can help more people is by sharing the load.

business planning

This issue has been brought to the surface after reading the book The Highest Calling by Lawrence Janesky. This book resonated with me because I see how construction businesses struggle with the business side of things. After reading this book it confirmed what I already knew…

Businesses need help building their business.

For several years, I’ve been working on ways to help construction companies with business building tools and processes. The problem is this takes time and energy away from construction projects.

So, then I shift my focus back to construction proposals and keeping those projects moving forward. And then the problem is I don’t have time to work on coaching and consulting to help people in the construction industry.

This past week is a good example of the construction part of the business not leaving any time for coaching and consulting.

It started out with Monday being a holiday. This means we started out the busy week with one day less to get everything done. There are ten different projects in varying stages. Some are almost finished, some are halfway done, and some haven’t been started.

To add to this list, I need to be doing proposals so that we will have work to do in the future.

I spent the majority of my time this week doing things that someone else could have…SHOULD HAVE…done.

If I keep doing what I’ve always done, I’ll keep getting what I’ve always got. Something has got to change. It’s up to me to do something different if I want to get past this mountain. The mountain will be easier to move, if I’m not the only one with a shovel.

One of the shovels that I’m working on giving to someone else is production coordination.

What exactly is production coordination?

It’s just what it sounds like. It’s the organizing and overseeing of the production and operation of multiple construction projects to maintain production schedules, complete projects within budget and achieve the quality of workmanship expected.

That sounds easy enough, right?

Trust me. To organize and oversee the production of multiple projects is a lot.

  • Project Coordination
    • Productivity Monitoring and Control
      • Coordinate schedules
      • Coordinate materials
      • Coordinate tools
    • Quality Control and Documentation
      • Periodic site visits and verify that quality is being achieved and maintained
      • Document with pictures and reports
    • Communicate with teams
      • Regularly review, follow-up and verify schedules
      • Determine materials and tools that are needed
    • Project Troubleshooting
      • Listen to customer concerns and document them
      • Communicate concerns with management
  • Planning and Control of Material and Tools
    • Coordinate gathering and delivery of materials and tools
    • Coordinate moving the balance of material to shop or return to supplier
    • Coordinate collection of tools from projects and/or production teams
  • Customer Service
    • Communicate schedules with customers and subcontractors
    • Assure that site organization is maintained
    • Coordinate and document finalization of punch list

So, where do I go from here?

I’m just one person and I can only do so much. If I’m going to build the business that God has called me to do…I’m going to need more help.

This means that I must be intentional and take action. Otherwise, I’m going to be limited to the number of people that I can help. That’s why this past week, I started the process of adding a PRODUCTION COORDINATOR to the team.

Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted as to how it’s going.

What are Your Core Values?

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They are the Foundation of Your Business

I was having a discussion with a sub-contractor. They were venting their frustrations with a general contractor they had worked for. This GC bid the project low to get it. Then after getting it, continued raising the price through change orders.

The sub-contractor felt this was dishonest and unethical.

Core values are the building blocks that make up the foundation your business is built on.

Core values are fundamental beliefs. They are your guiding principles. The definition of CORE is the central or most important part of something. This is the most inner part of who you are. This is also the most inner part of your business.

It’s like your conscience. Deep down, on the inside, who God made you to be. VALUES are the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something; a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life and business.

You choose these values. How you want to be, how you will treat others, etc. This doesn’t mean they have to be good. Some people’s values may be selfish or greedy, but regardless, we choose what values we will live by.

A wise person builds their business on a solid foundation. The rain can pour down, rivers flood, and the winds beat against the business. But if it’s built on a solid foundation, it will not fall. (Matthew 7:24-25)

Bad core values will not support the business in the long term.

The foolish person builds their business on the sand. The rain can pour down, rivers flood, and the winds beat against the business. It will fall with a crash. (Matthew 7:26-27)

The core values that my business is built on are a collection of some things that I’m naturally good at and some things…not so much. I’m constantly working to get better at all of them.

These things are in alignment with what I believe God wants from me and my business.

These core values, other than the first one, are in no specific order. Some you may recognize as quotes or common sayings. Others derived from things I’ve heard or experienced. All of them are values I hold high and am striving to live out daily. Here they are:

  1. Honor God in all that I do
  2. Pay attention to detail
  3. Spend time wisely, there is a limited amount
  4. Never be satisfied with mediocrity
  5. Find and maintain the balance in everything
  6. Build the wall one brick at a time
  7. Remember that I have two ears and one mouth
  8. Avoid drama
  9. Be accountable
  10. Take off the blinders, be more observant
  11. Make all I can, Save all I can, Give all I can
  12. Intentional action

You can find out more details about these core values by following the links above.

Build your business on a solid foundation!

This post includes excerpts from my previous post, Using Core Values as My Life Filter.

Delegating is a Part of Building That I’m Not Very Good At

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Working on the Business is Not The Same as Working In It

Even after being in business for more than forty years and all that I’ve learned over that time…there is still more to learn. Delegating is one of those areas where I need to do better.

I’ve just recently finished reading the book The Highest Calling by Lawrence Janesky. This novel is about business struggles and success. It’s a story of helping others and learning how to do the right things in order to succeed. It shares important and powerful business principles.

It reminded me of things that I know but haven’t done well.

One of those things was delegating. After years of doing everything, I forget to share the load. And, as a recovering perfectionist, I have a high level of expectation. This makes it hard to delegate.

Last week, we discussed the need to find a different electrician. We looked at how this is possible through connections.

As hard as it is to just find subcontractors, it’s even harder to find good ones.

Too often when we get to a point where we desperately need help. The situation is serious enough that we hire the first warm body(s) that shows up.

We all know how this turns out.

We assume that everybody has the same values and understanding that we do.

Surprise…not so.

I’ve found over the years that hiring people who grew up working on a farm, have military service, or were serious athletes increases your odds of getting good help.

In addition to finding subcontractors, it’s hard to get them to perform at the level I expect. Of course, it’s not fair to them if they don’t know what I expect.

Add to this that I tend to be meek. This leads to me letting things slide and not calling people out on things. I need to be bolder. One of the twelve life principles in the book The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant is…

Be meek before God, but bold before men.

I’ve worked to do something about this problem several different times over the years without success. The last attempt was in February of 2023. We worked on a process for explaining what we expected from our subcontractors and a way to evaluate them on their performance.

At that time, I wrote a series of blog posts about raising the bar of expectations:

I can’t expect contractors to work toward the level of excellence that I expect if they don’t know what that is. The question is…what am I going to do about it?

Connections Can Help You BUILD Your Business

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And You Never Know Where Those Connections Will Come From

The first couple of years as a self-employed construction contractor were a lot different than Gene expected. He’s beginning to wonder if owning his own business is worth it. It certainly isn’t what he expected.

All the headaches and problems that he’s encountered are causing him to have second thoughts about his construction job and going into business.

Working long days doing construction and late nights doing paperwork feels like being stuck in a rut. With help not showing up and Gene having to do more work, the rut just gets deeper.

Add to this the truck transmission going out. Having to borrow money to fix it. The disagreement with the customer that cost Gene $1,000 and the bottom of the rut has now turned to mud.

Then, the bottom of the rut falls out when Gene finds out he owes more than $17,000 in income tax and he doesn’t have the money to pay it.

At the end of the day, Gene could make more and work less flipping burgers.

It’s been a rough couple of years for Gene, but this isn’t to say that everything has been bad.

At the end of the day, it’s rewarding to look at what he’s built. There are customers whose lives have been improved by the construction projects he’s done for them. The freedom of having control is nice. Not to mention that Gene did have a profitable year…otherwise he wouldn’t have owed the income tax.

As another week winds down, Gene decided to do something that is nearly unheard of…he’s going to take a day off work.

Some of Gene’s friends have been pestering him to come hang out with them like he used to.

One of these friends, Dave, has a lifted 4×4 truck project that he’s been working on. Some of these guys have been hanging out on Saturdays and helping.

This past week, Gene ran into Dave at the lumber yard. They got started talking about the project and how it was going. Once again, Dave threw out the invitation to join them.

“I know how much you love working on truck projects,” Dave says, “We’re going to be dropping the motor in Saturday and could use some extra hands. You know you’d have fun…not mention how cool it is to hear a new motor fire up that first time with open headers.”

So, after Gene gets done on Friday, he calls Dave, “Hey, are you still planning to put that motor in your truck tomorrow?”

“That’s the plan,” Dave responds.

“Would it still be okay if I came over and helped?” asks Gene.

“Sure, we plan to start at 9:00. Bring the coffee and donuts,” he says with a laugh.

The next morning Gene shows up at Dave’s shop with a dozen fresh donuts and a thermos of hot coffee.

A couple of guys are already there. When Gene comes in with the donuts and coffee, they all act like they’re fainting.

After some jousting and poking fun at Gene for not coming around for so long, they dig into the donuts. As they catch up, a couple of others show up and join in on the ribbing of Gene.

After the tormenting slows down a little, Dave asked Gene, “So, why have you been avoiding us?”

His question catches Gene off guard, and he replies, “I haven’t been avoiding you.

I’ve just been trying to run my business. It’s a lot more work than I expected.”

As they began working on the truck and getting ready to drop the motor in, there was a lot of discussion about the construction industry and what it takes to run a business.

While they were talking, Dave brought up his boss who is the owner and operator of a large, successful construction company. Then Dave stopped what he was doing and looked at Gene, “Maybe I could set up a meeting with you and John. I bet he could help you understand how to BUILD a better business.”

Maybe this is just what Gene needs.

This unexpected opportunity might just be the connection that Gene needs to turn things around in his business.

We never know where connections will come from or where they will lead.

I want to share some real-life examples of some of the connections I’ve experienced in my business.

The first example is my amazing virtual assistant (VA), Emily.

Back in 2010 or so, my wife and I were struggling financially. We were tired of things the way they were.

We found out about Dave Ramsey, and I began listening to his radio program. Dave shared various books and people that he followed. Among them were people like Michael Hyatt. Then, from Michael I learned about Andy Andrews and Donald Miller. Then, I found out about Ray Edwards and began to follow his blog posts and podcasts.

Then in 2020, I had the opportunity to join a mastermind that Ray Edwards was starting.

This led to my meeting Becky Warner. Then through a 90 Day Launch course, I met Vickie Adair who is now in the current mastermind that I’m in.

As I was looking for a virtual assistant, Vickie told me that her daughter Katie was looking for a job as a VA. It worked out that Katie became my VA.

Then Katie had another job opportunity that was more hours. She connected me with Dori. Dori became my next VA.

Then Dori became pregnant with her second child. She felt that two small children and working was going to be too much. She connected me with Emily…my current VA.

I could never have imagined that listening to Dave Ramsey’s radio program would have connected me with Emily…but here we are.

The second example is a construction related connection.

The electrician that I’ve been using for years made a career change, which means I need to find a new electrician for a couple of residential projects.

I reached out to a couple of electricians that I have used in the past or knew. One—Mitch—called me back. He told me he was no longer doing residential projects. He gave me the name of Integrity Electric.

We’re planning to look at these jobs tomorrow.

This connection goes a lot further than it first appears. Mitch used to work for Galen. I knew Galen from high school and later when we were both on the local Trades Board.

Before Galen had his own business, he worked for Finn’s Electric. I also knew the owners of Finn’s Electric because we went to the same church.

Had I not had these connections, I wouldn’t have the wonderful VA that I now have or the opportunity to keep these construction projects moving forward.

My point of all this is that we are connected, and these connections can help us BUILD a better business.

I wonder if Gene will be intentional and take advantage of the connection that Dave is offering him?

Construction Customers Can Be Hard Work

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As a Contractor What Did you Expect?

As someone who has been in construction for more than forty years, I’ve worked for my share of hard customers. This does not mean that they are bad customers. On the contrary, more often than not the opposite is true. They are the best customers because they have a high standard and expect high quality.

There are, however, those customers that are difficult. Ones that perceive the process of a construction project to be more of a battle that they need to win.

These aren’t the kind of customers that I’m referring to when I’m talking about customers being hard work.

Most of the time the problem is with the “professionals” doing the construction. For whatever reason, they expect construction projects to be simple, that everything will go just as planned.

This isn’t the way life is. Why would we expect construction projects to be any different?

As construction contractors, if we’re doing our job well…it should be hard work.

Hard work isn’t bad. Actually, I think the opposite is true. I think if we’re doing our job well as contractors…we will be working hard.

So, what is it that makes a customer hard work?

I think the number one reason is the contractor and customer approach construction projects from different perspectives. The customer sees their dream project in its completed and finished beauty. They have little or no idea of the processes and struggles that it takes to get the project there.

The contractor, on the other hand, knows that there will be bumps and detours along the way.

The problems arise when there is a breakdown in communication.

Often the contractor isn’t hearing what it is that the customer wants. Or he’s more interested in making money than fulfilling the customer’s dream.

As contractors, even when we have a clear idea of what the customer wants, sometimes isn’t obvious to the customer until they see it.

When faced with these situations we can say, “This is what they said they wanted. It’s what they agreed to in the scope of work that they signed.” This answer is the easy way out for the contractor.

Or we can put in the hard work and find a solution.

We’re currently working on a hundred-year-old tongue and groove wood floor that had never been finished. The customer liked the way the floor looked as it is. The plan was to sand it down and put a low sheen clear finish on it.

The problem arose when the clear finish brought out a red tint that was unexpected. Now what are we going to do?

Some contractors would tell the customer that it looks good, and they’ll get used to it. And wouldn’t that be the easy way to handle it?

The other option would be to listen to the customer. Make solving this issue as important to you as if it were your own project and you didn’t like the way it looked.

We’re going to sand it down again and work on different options. This might mean applying a stain to cover the red tint of the wood. Or maybe we’ll apply an oil finish to it. Or…maybe we’ll just leave it unfinished.

Ultimately…we’re going to work hard because this customer is worth it.

We’ll keep you up to date on how the project’s going and what we do with the floor in future posts.

What in the World is Contractor Etiquette?

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…And What Does Etiquette Even Mean?

It means treating others the way you want to be treated.

I had a conversation with a friend once about an experience they had with a plumber. While they were standing in the kitchen talking about the project…

The plumber spit tobacco juice in the kitchen sink.

Not once mind you, but 3-4 times! At least he had the courtesy to turn the water on and rinse out the sink.

I wonder if his wife let’s him spit tobacco juice in the sink at home.

While I was talking with this friend, I thought out loud, ‘What has happened to contractor etiquette?’ The more I’ve thought about it, more examples of this kind of ‘bad contractor behavior’ have come to mind.

Contractors may be reverting to barbarians.

The word etiquette often brings to mind high-society, pinky-out, knowing-which-fork-to-use, thoughts. Things that the ‘common man’ knows little about and may try to avoid.

However, etiquette is much more than a snooty, better than others attitude.

One definition of etiquette is – The code of ethical behavior regarding professional practice or action among the members of a profession in their dealings with each other and customers.

So, what exactly is etiquette in real life, everyday terms?

In an article by Robin Bickerstaff, “Etiquette includes having a strong moral code of conduct. The basics include allowing personal space, following the Golden Rule (treat others as you wish to be treated), obeying the 10 Commandments, and respect for elders.” This sounds simple enough.

We are aware of the Golden Rule. The principle of “Do to others what you would want them to do to you,” taught by Jesus. Most of us were taught this simple principle as kids…what happened?

I think much of the problem is a self-centered, socially disconnected, lack of human respect. Either we have never had or have forgotten any code of moral conduct.

We tend to put our own wants ahead of others.

Once during a children’s message at church, I was reminded of the Golden Rules for Living. These are things that I was taught as a kid.

When thinking through the list, I realized that these rules need to be implemented by construction companies.

If so, there would be less spitting of tobacco juice in customer’s sinks.

Golden Rules for Living

  1. If you open it, close it.
  2. If you turn it on, turn it off.
  3. If you unlock it, lock it up.
  4. If you break it, admit it.
  5. If you can’t fix it, call in someone who can.
  6. If you borrow it, return it.
  7. If you value it, take care of it.
  8. If you make a mess, clean it up.
  9. If you move it, put it back.
  10. If it belongs to someone else and you want to use it, get permission.
  11. If you don’t know how to operate it, leave it alone.
  12. If it’s none of your business, stay out of it.
  13. If it will brighten someone’s day, say it.
  14. If it will tarnish someone’s reputation, keep it to yourself.

Not everybody’s moral code is going to be identical. We are all different, which means our ethical behaviors will be different. The problem is most professionals (especially in the building industry), learned their trade, but not how to operate a business.

Operating a construction business includes proper contractor etiquette.

This is a revision of a previous post titled What in The World Does Etiquette Mean Anyway?

Now What Am I Going To Do?

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The Bottom of the Rut is Gone

It’s been a tough few weeks. With the truck transmission needing to be replaced and the customer shorting Gene $1000 dollars for the garage windows, Gene has felt like he’s stuck in the bottom of a muddy rut.

Even with all the problems, Gene has had a lot of work to do for his first year of self-employment.

Some of the projects have been very profitable.

Having a lot of construction projects is rewarding. It’s also one of the reasons he’s struggling to get proposals done and keep up with the paperwork.

To add to the busy, it’s time to get the tax paperwork gathered up. Gene needs to get it to the accountant so income taxes can be prepared. One more thing on the to do list that needs done. He’ll work on that next week after he gets this project that they’re working on finished.

After a couple weeks of late nights, Gene has the tax paperwork ready to take to the accountant. Another thing checked off the list.

On Monday, Gene starts the crew removing the kitchen countertops and cabinets for the current project. Once things are underway, Gene takes the paperwork to his accountant.

They look through the paperwork. As the accountant goes through the stack of papers he asks Gene a few questions.

There are a couple of things that he still needs.

Gene tells the accountant that he’ll get those to him later this week. The accountant says he will let Gene know if he needs anything else or has questions.

A few weeks later, Gene gets a call from his accountant that his income taxes are ready to be picked up. Gene looks at his calendar trying to find time to squeeze in a meeting. With all the construction going on, it’s hard to find time.

The thing is…April 15th is only a week away, so they schedule a meeting for next week.

—

Today’s the meeting with the accountant. After lunch, Gene drives to the accountant’s office to pick up the tax papers.

With this being Gene’s first year paying self-employment income tax, the accountant wants to go through the return with him. They sit down at the table in the conference room and the accountant begins explaining the different pages.

As they are going through the pages, Gene is beginning to feel a little nervous as he sees the numbers. Then the accountant gives Gene the return to sign and…

A voucher with $17,376 typed in the “Amount You Owe”.

Gene sits there quietly for a minute as he processes this number.

He looks up at the accountant with a distraught look on his face, “I don’t have that kind of money. I can’t afford this! How am I going to pay it?”

“You could borrow the money,” suggests the accountant.

“I already borrowed all I could to replace the truck transmission. Are there any other options?”

The accountant tells Gene that there is an option to set up payments with the IRS. Of course, there will be interest and penalties paying it off this way.

This would be better than pretending not to owe it.

Gene takes the paperwork and pays the accountant. It looks like Gene now has a new project to undertake.

After researching all the options, Gene contacts the IRS.

The process of setting up payments with the IRS was a nightmare and took weeks to get done. Now Gene has a monthly payment of $350 for the next 60 months. That’s five years and $21,000.

This is not how Gene pictured the first year of his dream business.

Now the bottom of the rut is not just deeper and muddy…it’s gone. Gene feels stuck. Like he’s got his hands and feet pressed against the sides of the rut without any way out.

Gene asks himself, “Why am I doing this? I could make more money and work less hours if I went back to work for someone else…”

If You Don’t Like How Things Are, Change is Required

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Or You Can Just Keep Doing What You’ve Been Doing 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.  

This common quote is attributed to a lot of different people. It doesn’t matter who said it. What matters is what it says. 

I think this quote is so popular because of the truth that it represents. 

I recently shared how change is hard. This seems especially true for people in construction but isn’t limited to them. 

Without intentional action, nothing is going to change. Things will just continue as they are.  

I know a lot about the struggle with change because…I’m one of those people who doesn’t like change.  

This was evident when our church was considering changing the hierarchy of our committees.  

As long as I can remember we had an Administrative Council to oversee other committees in different areas. These included finance, trustees, staff/pastor parish, nurture, outreach, witness, communications, memorial, and a whole lot of others. 

I thought this system worked just fine. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

Some in the church thought this system resulted in too many meetings. Many felt overwhelmed by the meetings. There were a lot of meetings. 

The suggestion was to reorganize and consolidate most of the committees into one larger committee. This might mean longer meetings, but fewer of them. It was voted on and approved to try the new system.  

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is I-dont-like-change.jpg

I was not for the change. I went kicking and screaming…okay, this might be a little exaggerated. The point here is there were some things with the old system that needed to change. And… 

Doing things over and over again expecting different results is insane.  

We made the change, and it seems to be working. 

If we aren’t open to change and trying new things, nothing will ever improve. We’ll just stay stuck in our rut. Walking back and forth as it gets deeper and deeper. 

It’s been said that a rut is grave with both ends kicked out. Don’t spend your life in a grave. There’s so much more for us if we just get out of the rut.  

Change is scary. We’re used to our rut. The change we don’t know is scarier than the pain we do know. This resistance to change could be because of the unknown. It could be the time the change is going to take.  

Another scary thing about change is that it’s not a one and done thing. Change is a continual process. We want simple, but that’s not how life works. The question is: do you want control over the direction of your life…or do you want to leave it to the world around you? 

We have the power of choice. We can choose to change or not.  

We also shouldn’t change just for the sake of change. Change should be intentional and based on knowing who you are, knowing what you want, and being true to these. 

Too many people drift through life without any direction or purpose. If this mundane rut is where you want to stay…just keep doing what you’re doing. But if you want to build a dream life…do something about it! 

“Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.” Tony Robins 

There’s Too Much to Do and Not Enough Time to Do It

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This is Where Delegation Comes in 

Having too much to do and not enough time to do it is a common situation. This is especially true for people in construction. 

Chasing my tail and trying to keep up is a good description of how this past week was for me. There were four different construction projects being done at the same time. This involved organizing multiple subcontractors and materials. 

In addition to this, there are six construction projects that are either waiting to be started, need to be scheduled, or need change orders done. 

Oh, and don’t forget the proposals that need to be made, payment applications and invoices for the week, and record keeping. 

Sounds like a pretty normal week in construction, doesn’t it? 

This week wasn’t necessarily any busier than normal. It was the need for my involvement in the construction projects that was the big difference. This required a change of focus. I need help! 

One of the things that I struggle with is delegating. By nature, I try to do everything. It is my business after all. Serving my customers well is my responsibility. But me doing everything can only work if I limit what I’m going to do.  

Over the last several years, I have been working hard to figure out who exactly God has designed me to be. What my strengths and weaknesses are.  

As I worked through this process, I have reached a conclusion. God’s intended purpose for me is to help as many people as possible find solutions for building their dreams. Even if they may not know they’re looking for them.  

There is a limit to how many people I can help by myself.  

In Exodus 18:13-26, Moses was trying to solve all the issues of all the people. There were so many people that needed help and he couldn’t help them all. His father-in-law saw this and recommended that he share the load and put his energy and focus on what God had designed him to do…not everything.  

If I am going to help more people and help them well, I must share my load, just like Moses. 

One of the problems of delegation is that too often sharing of the load is done without much clarity or planning. Positions are just filled with the first warm body that comes along and says yes.  

Rather than helping to carry the load, this often just makes it heavier. If you have ever experienced this, it makes it harder to share the load the next time. 

It’s taken me a long time to figure out how to share the load, but I think I’m getting closer. My busy week would have been busier, or less would have gotten done, if it hadn’t been for my Virtual Assistant (VA), Emily.  

I couldn’t have done it without Emily! 

This help became evident as I was talking with one of the subs. He was working on one of the construction projects this week and asked me how I was able to get so much done.  

I told him it was my VA Emily. He said, “I need an Emily.” I told him to find his own, because he couldn’t have mine.   

In construction there are always towering mountains that need to be moved.  

The key to moving the mountains is to share the shovels.  

I am going to be careful and intentional about who gets what shovel. I need to make sure that the shovel and the person using it are a match. 

Now…who’s getting the next shovel? 

Even if delegating is not natural for me. It’s needed if I’m going to fulfill God’s purpose to help as many people as possible find solutions for building their dreams.  

This is a revision of a previous post titled Sharing the Shovels.

What are the Three Ways Heat Moves?

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It’s Important to Know This Because Your Money Can Move with It

It’s that time of the year again; temperatures on the thermometer are creeping near the 100-degree mark. This raises the issue of keeping the heat outside and the cool air inside.

This issue is even more relevant if you live in a home that is 40 years old or older.

A home built before the mid-seventies is more likely affected by outside temperatures. Not enough insulation, single-pane windows, and air infiltration are all issues that may need attention.

Understanding how heat moves in and out of your home can help you determine what projects to consider undertaking to minimize the heat. It can also help determine which projects are most important.

There is a difference between heat and hot air.

A basic misunderstanding is that heat flows upward. This is not the case. Although, hot air rises because it is less dense than cool air.

Heat is unaffected by gravity and flows in all directions.

For example, if you apply a heat source to the center of a metal block, the bottom will get just as hot as the top and sides. Heat spreads in all directions and at the same rate.

Hot air is different. When the air in an attic or fireplace gets hot, the air begins to rise. This creates a draft or natural up flow. This is why vented ridges on roofs work so well.

Heat moves through your home in three different ways. Each needs to be considered and will require different methods or products to control this heat transfer:

  • First, conduction is like the metal block example above or the handle of a cast iron skillet on your stove. This is how heat moves through the walls, ceilings, and floors in your home. The temperature difference on either side of a wall determines how fast and which direction the heat will flow through it. The higher the R-value of insulation in that wall, the slower the heat transfer.
  • Second, convection transfer is like conduction, but occurs in fluids and gases. When a cold wind is blowing outside, this increases the loss of heat through the wall more than if the air was still. This is the “wind chill” factor. Convection ovens use this form of heat transfer to cook by moving hot air. This is why they cook faster than conventional ovens.
  • The last type of heat transfer is radiation, which is probably the most difficult of the three to understand. Radiation does not need a transfer material to move heat. This is how the sun warms the earth over millions of miles of empty space or how the top of a steak gets seared in the broiler. Radiant heat transfer is generally more of an issue in the summer but shouldn’t be ignored during the winter. Radiant heat is not blocked by standard insulation, but rather by reflectivity. An example of this would be the way dark colors of roofing, siding, etc. absorb heat and light colors reflect it.

All three of these are to blame for heat entering your home in the summer and leaving it in the winter.

Adequate wall and ceiling insulation, high-quality windows and doors would be a good place to begin. These can be expensive but will give you the biggest return on your investment.

There are several small ways to make improvements, including new weather stripping, filling voids in foundations with spray foam, sealing around electrical and plumbing openings, etc.

Also wind breaks (i.e. evergreen trees or privacy fences) can help.

NOW would be a good time to give some consideration to these issues before it gets even hotter.

Investing in these kinds of home improvements can help keep you cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. They also provide an economic payback with lower utility bills.

Do what you can to keep the money in your home and minimize it being transferred with the heat.