If you’re running, or thinking of starting, a small business specialising in home renovation, then you’ll have a range of factors to consider in order to ensure that every job yields the maximum possible profit.
Let’s take a look at some of the things you might wish to consider.
Planning
Spending a little extra time and energy at the planning stage might help you to avoid unforeseen costs and unexpected results later on. It might also allow you to give your clients a better idea of what the final result will be, and thereby improve your reputation for delivering those results. If you know your way around the relevant software, then you might get everything planned out in advance.
Leasing
You don’t need to buy every piece of equipment you use. In the case of large, cumbersome, or rarely-used construction equipment, leasing might be a better option. This will help you to slash your one-off costs, and keep your liquidity high. A tool that you always need, like an angle-grinder, might be worth your investing in it. Something more obscure, like a biscuit jointer, you might elect to rent – unless you’re going to be doing a lot of woodworking and cabinetry.
Offer add-ons
By offering additional services at the point of sale, you’ll be able to guarantee yourself additional income further down the line. For example, if you’re installing an appliance, you might arrange to come out and service it later. If you’re redecorating a room, then you might talk about the next room in the house.
Don’t buy cheap tools
It’s a near-certainty that the cost of your tools will be major, especially if you’re buying them all at once at the outset. But don’t let this tempt you into buying cheap tools that will do an inferior job, and break down sooner. This, obviously, is going to be a false economy in the long run. The SDS plus range from Milwaukee represents a standard for quality, and you can be fairly sure that you won’t run into compatibility issues later on.
Improve your Marketing
Getting the word out about your company will involve getting images of your finished work out onto social media. This is an extremely visual line of work, and thus if you have a good eye for photography, you can achieve impressive results without a great deal of work – provided that the renovation is of the required quality in the first place.
You’ll need to obtain the client’s permission before you take photos of the inside of their home. Make sure that you broach this possibility during the early stages of consultation, so that they’re not taken by surprise later.
