Your clients expect to be able to collaborate in the process.
A web site is a source of information about you and your company, the good bits at least. What makes your business different from a maybe perceived similar business. The large project builders get their work from the display villages but their website makes their customers feel confident they are dealing with a reputable business and not one with a hotmail or gmail email address. Here today, gone tomorrow.
For the smaller boutique / custom builder it can be what separates you from your competitors. You won’t have to compete so much on price as you’ll have more enquiries to chose from. You won’t have to go in cheap to maintain cash flow.
You also won’t get nonsense calls for sheds and barbecues etc. because the shopper will see that you don’t do that type of work. The same goes for North and South of the river. If you live in Mandurah why quote a job in Yanchep?
Maybe you do shopfitting and don’t want to field calls from locals wanting a quote on a Family Room? The list goes on!
Your clients will also be able to communicate via your website,
You can place links to your accounting software where they can login, view their variations and monies paid to date and they will see anything that may be outstanding. You can also place a link to a Dropbox or Mega Drive where they can check their selections on their phones whilst in the hardware or tile shop and make another selection and advise your office at the same time. They may choose full height tiling in the ensuite, again this update can go to the plasterer’s phone so he knows not to set the ensuite.
Your website is another place for your clients to view your Company’s policy regarding site visits on weekends, who can enter and insurance liabilities regarding Health and Safety. If they don’t hold a white card (they usually don’t) then they need to be accompanied by someone who does.
You’ll want your trades and suppliers to also collaborate in the process.
Company Policies
Your work orders can state they are subject to conditions that can also be accessed from your website. That means any of a subcontractor’s workers can view the induction from their phone or tablet. This is important if an incident occurs. It is also good if a Work Safe representative comes on site.
MSDS’s are the sub-contractor’s responsibility.
An Induction Extract
Multi Residential
MS Project
All your Gantt charts can be accessible via a Dropbox link on your website. So after the subby has reviewed the induction he can check his schedules and what’s expected and when by and again can collaborate in the process. This is essential for many retail projects and schools that must open at the beginning of the term. You don’t want liquidated damages!
Housing
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If you did your Builder’s Registration Application with me at atc2 you may recall my insistence on having a market identity. It’s important for any business to know where they’re at. (if it knows where it wants to be) A map serves no purpose unless you know where you are.
A customer will want to know the Who, What, Where, When and How Much? They already know the why. No one chooses a heart surgeon from the yellow pages and takes the lowest quote!
Not even the ladies would choose a hair dresser like this.
You’ll have an idea of your niche market from the best jobs you have done and the nice clients you’ve worked for. It’s nice to do a difficult job now and then but it’s never nice working for a difficult client, it can be quite draining.
Sometimes where you are located will determine the value and type project.
The sort of clients you are likely to attract based on the service and expertise you are offering.
Everyone loves an expert.
Builders who don’t mind where they work or the type.
How will you handle more enquiries when you can hardly keep up now?
Don’t forget that with a website you won’t get any enquiries from locations or types of work you don’t want.
With increased good enquiries be selective and not just throw numbers at a project on a M2 basis. The following 3 shapes are all 144 M2 yet building 3 has 42% greater walls than building 2.. There are good estimating services around with empirical data and sophisticated algorithms so it is s good time to out source. Many tier 2 and tier 3 Commercial Builders do this to ensure they are not entering into risky business and a second opinion gives peace of mind. It is good to get quantities from an estimating service if only to check on your own numbers. It will be a saving not an expense.
Estimating services were quoting increases like bricklaying in January 2021. The other trades soon followed as they deal with many sources.
Around now you should have received your verification post card from Google so we can verify the site. We need this to load the Google API key into WordPress and GMB SEO.
You will have provided all the pictures you wish to use. They can be taken on an old Nokia phone as when they’re scaled they are low res anyway. I recommend avoiding the use of stock images that you see time and time again. Models prancing about in Hi Viz PPE. (as below)
You’ve also got an idea (bullet points are fine) of the “Who, What, Where, When and How Much” message you wish to convey to your Web Site visitors. E,g. 2nd Home buyers looking for a small low maintenance home in the inner suburbs for around $300K.
READ ON click here
