Building company future proofing

[joshcowin]

So I work for a small building company (Our projects range from 20k-1m), at present we have plenty of work and enquiries however after reading a few topics/threads on here its apparent that the way people go about purchasing/investing is changing.

So my questions are, how would you like to engage with a builder? What would give you confidence in a builder? What would make you choose one builder over another?

Currently we get clients via recommendation, repeat business and architects.

My current thoughts are - direct online chats, instant quote, book a face to face meeting(online).

Bear in mind that we are a small firm with time restraints and limited funds.

Any insight/suggestions would be great.

[joshcowin]

eatcustard said:

For me its always recommendation. Online chat for a builder is irrelevant as you need to come out an see what the wants / price it up.

Great this is 80% of our work, my thoughts about online chat was that we get quite a lot of customers who are weighing up their options (this can waste a lot of time), if I had a brief description of the works I could give a ballpark figure or metre-age rate at least then the customers expectations are not based on thin air.

[joshcowin]

This has been great, a good way of getting concise, honest feedback.

Just replying to a few points -

Instagram - I will do this I have plenty of photos to share.

Cost - We are generally the middle or highest price at tender stage, this is because we do believe in charging extras, unless additional work is specified once we have started. However the architect has usually guided low so therefore our cost looks high for the project, we offer a good service (full time foreperson whos sole role is to liaise with clients and communicate with our team, daily) high standard and quality finish and also like to keep the site clean (even more so if in someones house). However this counts for little as the majority of people only look at the bottom figure. (they then get charged extras by the lowest bid tenderer and find the cost comparable to us)

Phone operator - there is 3 of us in the office full time 8-6 mon-fri and 2 of us on mobiles and email at weekends.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[joshcowin]

davek_964 said:

Sounds obvious, but do not ignore potential customers.

Recommendations, are great - the problem is, builders generally seem to have plenty of work and in the past, I've had recommended builders come to discuss the potential work - only to then ignore repeated attempts to get the quote. I guess they figured it wasn't worth their time - but if / when I want a bigger job done, guess who I won't be calling.

Good point - We always try to inform someone if the project is too small for us however I would imagine this would yield the same result as the scenario you describe above. 'they were to big for me then so I wont use them now'

Also you would be amazed at the amount of time wasting people wanting a builder to come out and look at their work before they have planned it or even thought it through, they know I will give advice for free so its a win win for them. Out of every 20 of these appointments I go to I get 1 small job. Its cost me 2 hours of my day that I wont get back and could have been using progressing on going (paying) projects or getting a tender ready.