Home Builders Association, and Networking Groups

[scorpion 0]

Home builders Associations

 

 

Home builders association would be a waste of money. It is an excellant place to be if you do high numbers with different builders. I would highly recommend the association if you can afford it. Don't do it for the builders, do it for the home buyers. It looks good to have it in your ads!

 

If you want to capture home builders, the path of least resistance is to hit them up on their "showcase" homes, or "parade of homes". You may end up doing a "free" prewire, and then putting in products for the "dog and pony show". After the showcase, or parade of homes you take your products back with you. If the house is a model home then use this as a showroom/office. If it is a spec house then you are only out the wiring (and labor time). When the house is sold then you can sell to the client that buys the home. Expect to be "used" by home builders with this "service". They will take advantage of anything that is free.

The only way to crack the "wall" is to offer multiple low voltage services.

You will need to do alarm, structured, central vac, pool alarm, intercom, speaker wiring, home theater, whole house audio, and video surveillance. This will allow you to be a one stop shop for the builders. You can be more price competitive by cutting prices on one part of the whole project.

On high end condo/houses offer a free door video station system on every house/unit. The builders love it when they can provide more "features" than other builders. The customer may select the builder with more features for the same cost of a house between two builders.

 

The best way to reach "builders" is to do Home, and Garden shows, or Home shows. Builders tend to walk around and look at other exibitors, and when they come across you they want to talk to you about "working together". These are usually "want to be builders, or start up builders.

 

If being with a builder is a must (!) then you will have to open in office in the same building as a builder. Stand alone builders are obvioulsly out, but the others you will see on a day to day basis. They may have some disaster that you may be able to come to their rescue. You may have to do projects on the cheap, and try to make it up by selling more to the client. Such as wiring the plasmas inside the walls, and other after sell, services. Day to day contact is the greatest way IN!

 

Home shows are great because you can talk to prospective home owners. They can hire your services, and request that your company performs the services on the house that is to be built. You work for the owner, and not the builder. This is great for money up front!

 

Fict Name Registration

 

In florida they have a fict name registar called www.sunbiz.org

You can check this site for new businesses that have filed for a fict name, and send them a "post card".

 

New construction

 

If there are a lot of strip plazas being built in your area then have stickers made that are business cards. Stop at these empty building and stick your business card on the glass window of the door. When someone rents the space they will see your sticker, and you hope that they say to themselves "hey I need an alarm, or electronic locks, or cameras". Bars and nightclubs can give you video cable, telephone, networking, dj booths, dance floors, and you can buy disco lights if you want to venture that far.

 

Newspaper ad.

 

Use pictures of children. This will effect women the most. This will start the process against the man to do something about safety. Women can relate to ads with children. They will think of their own children. Hell has no fury like a women scorned and feels insecure!

 

Show room

 

If you have one use it for other ways to bring in people. I would suggest having a wine tasting. If your shop, or warehouse is not up to it, thats ok, you just need to hang fancy cloth on the wall. You can have an artshow that would bring in a higher class of clients.

If you can do a charity event this would get you free advertising in the newspaper, and with radio stations. Its a human intrest story, or you can ask them to be a "sponsor" of the event

 

Yellow page ad

 

This is a must. If all you can afford is just a listing then do it. If you can afford multiple listing then ask for a buy one heading, and get a free heading. If you buy two then you are in four different listings such as BURGLAR ALARM, TELEVISION CLOSED CIRCUIT, SECURITY SYSTEMS, AND SUPPLYS, SURVEILLANCE EQUIPMENT

_____________________________________________________________

 

Chamber of Commerce and Networking Groups

 

What I find about Chamber of commerce and other networking groups is that you will not get much responce. Most times it seems like a big business card swap meet.

 

In the past I have joined a networking group who would meet for breakfast, or for lunch. They required a monthly "fee", and this was used in an advertisment with all of the businesses names on a half page ad.

 

I bumped in to a couple of business owners that I had not seen in a while. During their business "start up" I would try to help as much as I can. I would show people how to apply vinyl lettering to store front windows, vehicles, and on pieces of sign board (it looks like card board). I would have them hang the signs inside their store from the ceiling using mirror ball motors so that the signs would slowly spin.

Everyone at the meeting would get in involved with the process, and people were so appreciative that they would go out of their way to send customers my way.

These meetings went from the "business card swap meets" to a real networking group. We had a couple of printers that got involved, and all we had to do was pay for the paper cost. One guy donated a page in his thrifty nickle style advertising magazine. Some would show people how to use MS publisher to make business card, and flyers.

 

If the group you join seems dead, I would suggest moving on to another one.

 

I hope this sparks an idea or two!

[Bob La Londe 0]

Expect to be "used" by home builders with this "service".

 

Sheeeee-it. Expect to be used by builders if you work for them period. It is always a thousand percent better to work directly for the client. Those clients who are too stupid or too lazy to be bothered by specifying and working directly with a specialty contractor to get exactly what they want get exactly what they deserve with the like and stick (prewired for a wireless alarm) that they get stuck with otherwise.

[scorpion 0]

Then there is the opposite effect. There is a "everything is included" home builder in our area.

 

You cannot do anything in the house! You have to wait till the owners move in, and then you can do a retro fit! AAAAAAAAAAArrrrrggggg!

 

Low voltage is not to bad on a single story home, but a retro fit central vac really sucks! Oops, I made a pun. I really hate going down, and drilling out holes in "firestops" to run cent vac pipes. It is so much easier to do it during the const phase.

 

I love looking at the eyes of people who demand a retro fit cent vac system. YOU WANT HOW MUCH?????

[Bob La Londe 0]

Home Builders Association offers it's members benefits such as discounted insurance rates for their employees so this will help lessen the burdens on the contractors and subcontractors who already have a hard time with making ends meet and don't want to have to fire or cut back on their laborers.

 

construction company

Are you smoking dope?

[Bob La Londe 0]

Can we please kick these generals off the forum. Two in one thread just pushing their own self serving associations formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of specialties is Waaaay to many.

[Bob La Londe 0]

Ok, I admit my comment was a bit strong, but thank you.

 

Anyway, as near as I can tell the associations are all geared towards making it easier for the generals to cherry pick (at best) and take advantage of enmasse (the average) the specialties. I looked at one, who had some pretty great sounding services, but I couldn't afford to join. When they found out all the things I could do they offered to let me "participate" in the "business side" (bids, plan room, etc) without joining. I played for a couple months until I saw how it worked and I never went back. It did give me some great insite into the two or three "mostly" honest generals in the region, and the 99% who are no better than the infamous organized crime assoicated generals in certain cites who I NEVER want to work for, with, or even on the same job site.

 

Ok, I guess by going in with eyes open and I did gain something. LOL.