Introduction

Introduction to Home improvement sales

The information provided here is based on my ten years of experience running a home improvement sales and installation business. I will take you through every step in running the business from deciding what to sell and how to price it, to getting sales and installing the jobs. You will learn all the in's and out's of the business that I picked up over the years. I will tell you how to make money, save money, and stay out of trouble operating your exterior home improvement business.

The profit potential of a home improvement sales business varies greatly, depending on the methods you use to operating the business, how you control your overhead expenses and how much competition there is. You should be able to net 20% of sales if you control your cost. At $250,000 annual sales you would make $50,000 with an annual sale volume of $500,000 you should make about $100,000 a year. If you do not make 15% or more on a sale you are selling at to low a price.

The business consist of presenting home improvement products to the homeowner, in their home, making the sale, and arranging for the installation.

Homeowners purchase home improvements to solve a problem, or to improve their life style. For example, a home with a west facing glass patio door would benefit from adding a patio cover over the door. The cover would reduce heat gain by shading the door, thus improve the owner's life style by making the patio usable more days of the year.

Homeowners buy this type of product once or twice in a lifetime. Because of this, the homeowner does not have a feeling for how much the products should cost or an awareness of what is available to purchase. That is why the large companies have not dominated this business category; it is still a one on one personal sales business. The customer wants you to help them select and properly install the improvement to their most valuable possession, there home.

A Home Improvement Sales business has a low start up cost.

This business can be started for a few hundred dollars and a little more for a few weeks worth of classified ads. It will take a few weeks to get everything put together. You will spend this time locating supliers, getting your business set up done and gathering together sales brochures, product samples, contracts etc.

The best times of year to start your business is in the early Spring and or early Fall months, the summer and winter months are slower.

The manual Covers

• Getting Started (setting up your business)
• Advertising and marketing  (time tested methods)
• Product Specifications (info on the different products)
• Steel Covers (gives you another product type)
• Engineering (Some permit offices like to see it)
• Pricing formulas (how much to charge)
• Product suppliers  (where to find the products)
• Installers (sub-contractors and how to pay them)
• Job Photos (people buy from the pictures)
• Financing  (finding the money)
• Measuring a job (you can't price it until you see it)
• and more (learning the hard way is expensive)