The larger a remodeling company becomes, the more difficult it is to achieve customer satisfaction, right? Dave Bryan, president of Blackdog Builders in Salem, N.H., showed me anything is possible, no matter what your company's size and volume. Bryan's $5.5 million firm employs 35 people and produces 43 percent gross profit on 70 annual jobs.

When doing an addition or renovation, remodelers often have to reconfigure or even replace the home's heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. If you want your customers to be really happy with the job, sizing the system correctly is key. "Properly sized HVAC systems lead to satisfied and comfortable customers; lower initial and operating costs; reduced callbacks; an...

Four years ago, Austin Foster's Atlanta, design/build firm, Construction Ahead, was averaging about $400,000 per year in installed sales volume. Last year, following steadily increasing annual sales, the firm's volume reached a hefty $1.7 million. Although a number of factors contributed to this rise in business, Foster places the majority of the credit on his company's ability to satisfy custo...

Having purchased their second home, the homeowners initially came to Eren Design & Remodeling intending to simply update the kitchen. But Eren owner and general contractor Janice Donald had worked on many of the other homes in that subdivision, and she knew that if the homeowners really wanted their Tucson, Ariz.

Brothers Ethan and Chris Landis, co-owners of Landis Construction, never search for spec remodeling projects. "They fall in our lap" at the rate of about one a year, says Ethan.

Whether your craftsmen are employees or trade partners, it's always a challenge to find and keep talented, reliable people. Tom: One of the top challenges we have today is how to maintain good craftsmen. Mostly we're going to talk about production people and today's challenges of labor, whether or not they're employees or subcontractors.

Data from the American Housing Survey and the NAHB shows that adding a bathroom can increase a home's value by as much as 20 percent. "An added bathroom has one of the strongest impacts of any home feature on single-family detached home values," said NAHB economist Paul Emrath. The results come from in-depth analysis by NAHB of the AHS data, concluding that remodelers in suburban locations can ...

Reviewing your internal systems to increase efficiency or reduce costs is something you should always be doing. With the housing market experiencing a period of adjustment because of rising interest rates, materials costs and other factors, now is the perfect time to re-examine everything you do to see if there are any areas where you can save money without sacrificing quality.

One improvement sparked ideas for another. Once HartmanBaldwin, a design-build company in Claremont, Calif., had gutted and remodeled the kitchen and master suite, the family room cried for a makeover. Next came the bathrooms. After two years, project architect Hudson Pruitt and project manager Troy Coats had transformed the entire interior of the Upland, Calif.

Whether you use an in-house architect, outside source or home designer, there are benefits and problems. This month's discussion deals with the good, bad and ugly of those different options. Jud: We're talking about the pros and cons of using an in-house architect. Chris, do you have an in-house architect? Chris: No we don't — we're a design/build firm.