Branding Package..

I had no idea what to want or expect from a branding package. How much it would cost…. I just knew I couldn’t take the branding beyond a sketch. It needed to be more than that. I sent along my sketch and the marketing company took it all from there.

They turned my sketch into a digital stamp!! Then they added to it from there. Front & back of shirts, hats, sign logo, truck logo, business cards & on and on…..

I was so impressed they could read my mind and create “everything” we needed to look as professional as possible. It removed my excuses on why don’t I have a cool site sign or shirts for the guys I could be proud of.

Once we had everything we needed to represent our company we turned to a website. Hardest part was creating the written content. The visual was a breeze w/ the help of the branding team. Finding the right crew that understands your ideas is key. If you don’t have that connection move on… I’d recommend Slash Creative to anyone!!

Burn Rate….

When the idea of creating a company enters your mind. The next think is “I have a wife, (2) kids, a home and a life style…. So much RISK.“ The biggest question is how can I afford to make this work. SHOW ME THE NUMBERS…..

I broke this down a couple different ways; company tree to understand what a lien construction company looked like and salaries. Knowing the first yr plus would just be the (2) owners and no help, no PM’s, no Supers, no labor, no controller….

But, ideally when would we be financially stable to bring in help. WHY bring in help? Solid question. Vacations, have mornings w/ the kids and get them on the bus, coach sports, take long weekends, have a life. This goes back to the “life style” mentioned above. I know I can solve most issue w/ hardwork & my time (as I don’t have to bill for it). Goal was to create a boundary…..

Then we added projects (2) per PM & (2) supers. Even when writing this chart I put 5/6 on there. Why do we need so many projects? Was it ego? or was it out of necessity? Goal was to understand what the burn rate of the employee salary vs average size project. Was is sustainable?

Then we added Development division; Specs or light commercial…. Even added the dream div of Concierge. It looks so controllable on paper like this…..

Moving to the blue ink.. This is overall salary costs per div + controller. Then brokedown just Custom + Development. Just Concierge and just Custom..

Results was a target of (4) projects north of a million dollar contract. This would equal 7-9 months of work and $190k in O&P. This was acceptable and knowing that there would be no other employees the Overhead would be lower and Profit would only grow….

Reality was a blend of everything.. We received (1) custom new construction, (1) custom renovation **Should have stopped there. But, we landed a deleveopment project in Boston and (2) spec. homes in metrowest. The specs were $650-750k contracts so this equaled one of the projects we had in our plan.. This brokedown (2) projects (development brownstone & custom reno) for one of us and the MetroWest had (2) 7k sqft specs and (1) 13k sqft custom. This should set us up beyond projections. But the burdon of bookkeeping, managing, insurance, client meetings, purchasing resulted in endless days. Honesly, 6-months in I wanted to stop. But, these projects were 8-14month durations. It’s hard to unwind once accepted and work started. It looked better on paper as most things do.

If you like the content be sure to pass it along to a friend & share on social. Thank You!

Construction Timeline (created 2017)

2017 Construction Process Sketch…

In 2017 it would have put me at 22 years in this industry. I had been building 5-6 (even (7) homes a yr for the (5) years previous years leading up to this sketch. I’m a visual person, I can make more sense from seeing something drawn out instead of written out or even just explained. It’s how I process. My mind hypercycles a topic like this and then splits it into different layers.

Yes, this is a timeline from Idea/ Dream to Post Construction. Initially I wanted to have a diagam like this be the ice breaker to showing a timeline. But, after drawing it out I found beyond the timeline, beyond the team needed and selections. The item I wanted to capture and recognize was the STRESS level. I wanted a stress level meter to rise and fall if you ran a mouse over different parts of the construction process timeline. Most builders will be able give their 5min rant on schedule & when to introduce an architect, designer or landscape architect. Same goes for selection process. But, the differentiator was the stress. Meaning, this would show an insight and depth into our process that others lacked. Ideally you should be battling between 1-2 builders for a project and price/ quality and timeline should be of similar stature. It “should” come down to the people involved. The connection the team you are presenting; Owner, Project Manager, Supervisor. This timeline animated on the website was to give us an advantage on that connection, beyond a ghant chart MS Project schedule that anyone a yr out of college can create….

Even looking at this sketch my mind processes it differently. Knowing the initial intent was to show overall duration. It does little to give a size to the project for this related timeline. Now, assuming the level of details, trade & vendor pool this would be for a 5-6k sqft build from scratch. This timeline would 1000% change depending on design team and architect selection (that’s a note I’d add w/ a different color sharpie..)

How are you showing your experience & creating value for your next project?