Hurricane Harvey stormed through Texas destroying homes and businesses and leaving many people wondering what鈥檚 next.聽 The coming days and months are going to be busy and stressful for contractors and homeowners affected by the flood as they begin to rebuild.聽 As a contractor, your time and services are extremely valuable.聽 Here are a few tips from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Remodeling magazine on how to maximize your effectiveness as a remodeler:
-
Your clients need advice right now.
Call your current and past customers and be available to answer any questions they might have. Anxiety levels are high so being available to answer questions will make a world of difference.
-
Call your current clients.
If they don鈥檛 have any flood damage, put their job on hold while you deal with the emergency projects.
-
Top priority is anyone with health or safety issues.
For example, if someone鈥檚 roof has a hole and water is pouring into the home, take care of that first.
-
After the critical jobs, start helping your existing and past clients.
Remodelers tend to try and help everyone but don鈥檛 spread yourself too thin, you won鈥檛 be effective to anyone if you do that.
-
Be honest about insurance settlements.
Typically, settlements from FEMA do not cover the cost to have a professional remodeler restore your client鈥檚 home; they need to know what to expect. Make sure to have a financing partner that can help you offer these customers low monthly payments for the amount that isn鈥檛 covered.
-
Encourage your clients.
Once you begin working on projects affected by storm, be sure to encourage your client, give them home and provide extra/ongoing communication.
Whether it鈥檚 Hurricane Harvey or any other weather disaster, as a remodeler it鈥檚 important to be as effective as possible and use your time and services wisely.聽 These events are stressful for everyone involved.
Read more tips from the NAHB here.
