HomeTech Business Building Ideas is a monthly newsletter designed specifically for remodeling professionals who want to see their business grow. You are receiving this newsletter because you have done business with HomeTech Information Systems or CostEstimator.com within the last year. I hope that you enjoy this article and learn new ideas that will help your business.

Because of anti-spam rules, we will only continue to send this newsletter to you regularly if you opt in (subscribe). So, be sure to subscribe so you can continue to receive great Business Building Ideas. Subscribe now.

Last month, we discussed how important technology is to your growing remodeling business. It is virtually impossible to remain profitable in today’s market without the use of technology. But, there are so many different ways of using computers that it’s hard to know where to begin. And, let’s face it, it’s expensive, so you don’t want to make a mistake.

This month’s article will help you to think about where technology will have the greatest impact for your business. And, after the feature article, we have included 9 Important Tips for Using Technology that everyone needs to remember. Read on to learn more!

- Walt Stoeppelwerth, HomeTech Information Systems, Inc.

P.S. In order to make this newsletter better, we’re looking for input from you. Share with us your challenges, successes and where you need help. Your feedback will be used to develop future issues. Just write us at feedback@hometechonline.com.

Building the Technology Foundation
of Your Remodeling Business

Simply put, the purpose of technology is to make the jobs and tasks that you currently do (or should be doing) easier and a lot more efficient. When implemented correctly, technology can give your business the boost it needs to get to the next level of growth. But, how do you know where to start?

Where are you going?
Before you begin to address where you want to go with technology, you need to ask yourself where you want to take your business. What are your goals over the next year and over the next several years? You may want to increase your sales, double the number of jobs, or improve the profitability of each job. Knowing what your goals are will help you when making business decisions on a daily basis, as well as in the long term.

What are your roadblocks?
Once you decide where you want to go, you need to develop a plan for getting there. This is the hard part. This is where you need to take an honest look at your business to see where things are not working the way they should.

What are the tasks that take up too much of your time every day? What are the important tasks that you can’t seem to get to, or end up doing at night or on the weekend? Which tasks are redone by multiple people because of lack of communication or lack of process?

Make a list of these items for yourself. And, if you’re not sure what they are, keep track for a few days or a week of how you are spending your time and the things that are driving you crazy. (To help you learn where you are spending your time, we have created a Time Tracking sheet. Just click here to go to our Web site where you can download and then print out this form.)

Once you have this list, put the items into groups. They should fall into several categories. Here are some ideas of the categories you may have.

• Office Management
• Accounting
• Sales Lead Management
• Estimating
• Design
• Project Management
• Construction

Choose the technology solution that will solve
your most immediate problems.
Once you complete the process above, you will know where the roadblocks to your success lie. The next challenge is to begin to remove these roadblocks. Take a look at your categories and see which ones have the longest list of problems. Then, take a look back at your long term goals. Will removing these roadblocks help you to reach those goals? If so, this is probably the right place to start.

Here are some examples of technology solutions that you can apply to help remove roadblocks in each of the above categories. Each product name is a link which will take you to a Web page with more information on that product.

• Office Management: word processing (MS Word), email (MS Outlook), Internet access (MS Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape), spreadsheet (Excel)
• Accounting: QuickBooks (Pro, Premier), Master Builder
• Sales Lead Management: ACT!, Goldmine
• Estimating: HomeTech ADVANTAGE, CostEstimator.com
• Design: Chief Architect, 3D Home Architect
• Project Management: ACT!, MS Project, FastTrack

Don’t bypass the basics.
It’s tempting to jump right in to solve your biggest headache first. But, remember, anything that you build must have a solid foundation. So, if your foundation is not already in place, you need to build that first. The technology foundation of your business begins with the hardware. This is the computers, monitors, printers and networking equipment. Be careful to pay attention to quality for all of these items. Do research on the Internet or hire a technology consultant to help.

Once the hardware is in place, you must have the tools for office management. Your basic needs here include word processing, email, Internet access and spreadsheets. Many more specialized programs will work together with these office management products making your work that much easier.

Accounting is the final important basic. Accurate and accessible accounting information is critical to the health of your business. Accounting is also a very labor intensive process and the volume of information is difficult to manage manually for a company of almost any size. So, be sure to employ a computerized accounting system early in the life of your business.

9 Important Tips for Using Technology

1. The quality of your computers and related hardware is as important to your business as the quality of your construction tools.
2. If you invest in a faster computer, it will make today’s work easier and will probably continue to meet your needs longer than a slower machine.
3. If possible, opt for broadband Internet access (cable or DSL). It will save you a lot of time and headaches.
4. Network your computers as soon as you have more than one. The ability to communicate and share files electronically is another huge time saver.
5. Standardize your systems across the company. The more your computers are the same (operating system and software versions) the more seamlessly they will work together.
6. Backup all of your important data regularly and store copies of your backups off site.
7. Be sure that you have virus control on every machine in your network.
8. Whenever possible, take advantage of trials or demos of software before you purchase.
9. Don’t skimp on training. Technology will only help your business when you know how to use it.

Let us know how you liked this article and what else you’d like to learn about at feedback@hometechonline.com. These newsletters are for you, so we plan to listen and write about what you want to hear, but only if you tell us.

If you are not yet subscribed to this newsletter, be sure to sign up today!

HomeTech Information Systems, Inc. - 5161 River Road - Bethesda Maryland 800-638-8292

www.hometechonline.com
(c) Copyright 2006 All rights reserved.