The END of the Home
Remodeling
Contractor
- Business failures are at an all time high.
- Uncover the cause and how you can fight back.
- Scale your business to profitable, multiple 7-8 figures.
Your Chances of Survival
Imagine this...
You and 24 of your construction buddies have decided to join an expedition searching for sunken treasure off the Gulf of Mexico. The trip is dangerous. And involves a lot of hard, back breaking work.
But you've heard stories about people just like you becoming extremely wealthy after taking this same trip. The prospect of fame and fortune is swirling in your head.
You're excitement builds.
On the morning you set sail, the captain musters all the treasure hunters on deck. You and your 24 friends anxiously await the captain's announcement.
Here's what the captain says...
"We've made this trip many times. The boat, our equipment, and our provisions are in, shall I say, ship shape. But I must warn you. This trip will be perilous. There are things in the water you've never seen before waiting to have you for lunch. Most of you are unprepared for what's to come. Many of you, with a fool's courage, will jump into the water and try to figure things out as you go. There's 25 of you on this expedition, but most of you won't survive the trip. In fact, only 1 of you will make it back alive!"
The Highest Failure Rate of Any U.S. Business
In 2011, just over 10 years ago, the U.S. Residential Construction and Remodeling industry was a $253 Billion industry and is now trending to hit a whopping $1 Trillion by 2025. A 400% growth rate!
But get this…
The residential building contractor has the highest failure rate of ALL businesses in the U.S.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, residential building contractors in the U.S. have a 96% failure rate.
That means for every 25 residential home improvement contractors in the U.S., ONLY 1 will survive.
How is it possible for the industry to expand 4X but the contractor's responsible for all that growth are killed off in the process?
Quality Craftsmanship Isn't Enough
Quality craftsmanship used to be the gold standard for home improvement contractors.
Everything else was a distant second.
25 years ago, you placed an ad in the newspaper, showed up at a customer's home, produced quality work, and if you watched your numbers, you could grow a profitable contracting business.
But home improvement contractors have been pushed into an entirely new business model.
A business model driven by ‘Tech Creep’ and it's taken an already difficult business and made it almost impossible for most contractor's to succeed.
But before I explain how 'Tech Creep' has affected you and your business, I need to explain the science behind what's really going on.
Over 7,000 Craftsman Interviews
During the past 25 years we've conducted over 7,000 job interviews.
If you consider that only one in ten applicants actually make it to the interview stage, we have easily processed 70,000 applications.
Most of these applicants were seeking employment as a skilled residential home improvement craftsman.
We've learned a lot about the psychology of craftsmen and contractors.
There's one characteristic that's present in all craftsmen...
...and that is they all share the same learning style.
Learning styles are generally grouped into 3 categories...
Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic
Construction craftsmen are predominantly kinesthetic learners.
They didn't learn how to hang a door by reading books (visual) or listening to lectures (auditory).
They learned by physically picking up doors and getting their hands dirty (kinesthetic).
'Tech Creep' and the Kinesthetic Contractor
If you're the owner of a home improvement business. it's a safe guess that you didn't start off pushing paper at a desk in the back office. You started out as a craftsman swinging a hammer.
So if craftsmen are kinesthetically dominant, you as the owner of a contracting business started out as a craftsman...
...you too are likely kinesthetically dominant.
It's not your fault. It's not even a bad thing.
In fact, this country was built on the sweat of kinesthetically dominant workers.
When I decided to remodel my house, even though I could do the work...
I was miserable. And because I was miserable, I struggled to stay on task. I am not kinesthetically dominant.
But here's the thing...
What happens when a kinesthetically dominant person is required to perform auditory and visually dominant tasks?
Just like I was, they're miserable.
The task becomes painfully harder, and the probability of failure is extremely high.
In construction, the business and technology (BIZTECH) side of your operation require strong auditory and visually dominant skills.
This means tasks like writing and reading contracts, bids, estimates, financial statements, taxes, recruiting, and managing all the tedious parts of the business are NATURALLY your least favorite things to do.
In fact, I would guess that...
READING THIS FAR HAS BEEN TORTURE!
Stay with me though. What I'm about to say is important.
Starting in the mid 1990's, contractors began to fall prey to the predatory seduction of tech companies...
...who promised contractors the ‘illusion of solution’ through the systematic transformation of business tasks using technology.
'Tech Creep' hit the construction industry hard by taking already difficult and unpleasant tasks and creating the illusion that everything you needed to be successful was a click or a tap away.
But then one day it hits you like a pallet of drywall...
The technology behind acquiring new leads, closing sales, recruiting employees, bid take-offs, proposals, contracts, accounting, managing cash, collections, advertising, ratings & reviews, websites…
...has become more expensive, you're working harder, your losing money, and everything in your business is so fragmented you can't see how to fix all the pieces of your business.
It's like someone took a large jigsaw puzzle of your business, grabbed the opposite corners and twisted until every piece of the puzzle popped up. You can still see your business in the pieces, but the image is fuzzy....and all the pieces are out of place.
That's what it's like for the contractors who fail.
Everything's become more expensive, you're working harder, your business is losing money, and all the pieces seem out of place.
How Do the 4% of Contractors Survive?
The contracting game has become more complex…more sophisticated.
The contractors that survive are bigger.
They have built organizations that are driven by systems and procedures.
They have multi-million dollar annual revenues....
...and larger budgets than the average contractor.
They have key people who focus on specific areas of the business.
Key people like Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations, and Human Resources who can cost up to $1.5 Million in annual salaries PLUS benefits...
Key people who probably only picked up a hammer when they were handing it to someone.
This type of business model simply isn’t affordable for smaller contractors trying to grow their business.
The Fractional Business Model
As much as you might want to believe that your home improvement contracting business is one-of-a-kind, the truth is only about 20% is unique to you.
80% of your business is just like every other remodeling contractor.
A contractor in Denver and a contractor in Wichita are virtually identical in the way their businesses should be run. Only 20% of their businesses are unique to their market and their individual way of servicing customers.
The Franchise Model
To help you understand the fractional model, let's take a look at the franchise model.
When you think of franchises most people immediately think of McDonalds. But in fact there are thousands of different types of franchises throughout the world.
The concept is simple.
The master franchisor manages all the business systems and marketing (80%), and the individual franchisee buys a geographical territory that offers protection from competing franchisees and runs day-to-day operations (20%).
Franchise businesses have operated this way since the beginning.
And it works for a few reasons...
1) Franchisees use the operational and marketing systems of a much larger franchisor to help them run their business.
2) Every franchisee is virtually identical. And since the same systems can be used for every franchisee, this redundancy creates an economy of scale that lowers the support cost for each franchisee, usually paid as a franchise fee.
3) Every franchisee has a protected market territory so they never compete with other franchisees for the same customers.
The downside of franchising is you are essentially leasing a job from the franchisor.
The Fractional Model
Home improvement contractors are also virtually 80% identical.
This means the same economic opportunities for shared redundancy are present.
And every contractor has a protected market territory so they never compete with other contractors in the system for the same customers.
The fractional business model is like a hybrid franchise on steroids.
Only you own and control your company name and ownership.
There's no franchise fees.
And you're free to withdraw your business at any time without penalty.
Unlike a typical franchise, a fractional model becomes a one-on-one masterclass to help you understand your business, optimize your potential, and make consistent, predictable, year-on-year profit.
Wait! Who are you?
Hi, my name is Lee Clements…
Since 1995, I’ve been an active real estate investor, property manager, residential in-fill real estate developer, and home improvement contractor.
I originally got involved in residential construction to support my real estate investment and property management firm in Los Angeles.
By 2002, my construction business pivoted to offering maintenance and residential construction services to the general public. Within a few years, it had grown to 4 offices, serving 5 Southern California counties and on its way to becoming a national franchise.
On the path to franchising, I became an expert in analyzing regional markets for the SMB home improvement sector and developing business systems. I have been a financial analyst, Chief Financial Officer, and business owner, and have conducted economic validation studies for clients. I founded Dream Sherpa Labs, LLC, as a business development advisory for ecommerce firms, that now focuses on SMB home improvement contractors in the U.S.
Dream Sherpa Labs provides finance, call center, sales training, marketing, human resources, manpower recruiting, safety programs, and advisory services for the home improvement general contractor.
Fraxtional by Dream Sherpa Labs©
Here’s a brief look at what goes into Fraxtional, our fractional C-Suite program:
The Contractor's Blueprint: Business Intelligence
Our Contractor’s Blueprint is a personalized, one-of-a-kind, in-depth business intelligence report specific to your construction business. It's a blueprint to identify where you are, what your competitors are doing, and what needs to be done to turn your business into a successful, money machine. It includes a Competitive Analysis of your top 30 competitors, Traffic and Scale Analysis, Market Segmentation Analysis, Consumer Sentiment and Polarity Scoring, Customer Advocacy Analysis, Labor Market Analysis, Value Proposition Analysis, Customer Acquisition Cost (CPA) Sensitivity Analysis, Predictive Customer Lifetime Value (pCLV) Analysis, Profitability and Economic Validation Analysis, Website Teardown Analysis, Bounce Rate Analysis and Website Validation, and a Content Style Guide.
Hosting and Server Management
Your target customer's decide in the first few seconds you're worth their time. Professional management of your hosting and server software gives your potential customers the best possible user experience. This includes software updates, uptime monitoring, repelling bot attacks and unauthorized user login attempts, cross-browser testing, and regular speed checks.
Content Copywriting
The Contractor’s Blueprint: Business Intelligence Report provides our professional copywriters with a wealth of knowledge about your target customer. Copywriter's craft compelling messaging that connects with your target audience and increases sales lead conversion.
Virtual Phone System
The virtual phone system platform sits on top of your existing phone system whether you're using land lines, VOIP, or individual mobile phones. Eliminate 99% of robocall interruptions, never miss a sales call, and with call tracking, we know the best use of your advertising dollars. We set up your call tree, outgoing announcements, and call attribution across all marketing channels. Knowing where call traffic originates means we can utilize ad spend more efficiently.
Call Center / Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)
Speed to Lead is essential because 87% of potential customers decide in the first 5-10 minutes which contractor they want to meet with and discuss their project. 35 – 50% of sales contracts are awarded to the contractor that responds first. Lead quality rapidly degrades at a rate of 3% a day. After 30 days there is a 90% chance the lead is dead. You'll never miss a sales opportunity because of a missed call. Call center agents will book the lead, and send you the lead data with the customer's project information.
Digital Asset Management (DAM)
Company logos and project images need to be in different formats depending on where they are used. A DAM library is where these files are stores. Your images are branded with your logo, compressed, and reformatted for use across different digital platforms.
Website Design and Validation
Your company website is your most important digital asset. All your marketing channels eventually lead your target customers to this virtual office address. Your website is given a makeover with a clean, simple design and professional copywriting that has proven to increase sales lead conversion. We also take care of cross browser testing, speed tests, validation, and site map propagation to make sure your website is visible on all search engines across the internet.
Website Project Calculator
The Project Calculator is an interactive tool we embed on your services pages. It uses regional market data plus your professional experience to estimate a range of values for different types of remodeling projects. While not an estimating tool, the calculator increases sales conversions by offering budgeting transparency to customers. It also serves to eliminate unqualified sales leads.
Social Media Management
There are over 133 social media platforms. For the business owner, they represent the potential of free visitor traffic. Unfortunately, to manage each media site requires a lot of work - sometimes more work than the cost to simply buy advertising. Social media management for the home improvement contractor is about strategically putting effort into the social sites that make economic sense. Never have to worry about creating, updating, and managing your social profile pages for sites like Google My Business (GMB), NextDoor, Better Business Bureau (BBB), Facebook, and Instagram.
Reputational Management
Reputation management is the effort to influence what and how people think about you and your company through ratings and reviews. It seeks to influence an essential metric called "sentiment" by changing what people see during search, social, and other online interactions. The mantra for reputation sites like Google My Business is 'fresh and frequent will always bring you to the top of search results'. Keeping your reputation sites fresh and encouraging your customers to leave positive reviews increases organic traffic, lead conversion, and lowers your customer acquisition cost.
Analytics Data
Analytics is the technical scoreboard used to measure marketing channel traffic and visitor engagement. Properly configured, it informs us how your customers behave when they interact with your digital content so we can convert more potential customers. We will set up your Google (GA4) Analytics, Google Tag Manager, UTM Parameters, Dynamic Phone Number Insertion and Marketing Attribution.
Email Autoresponder Sequences
Home improvement contracting typically has a long selling cycle. Convert sales prospects who would otherwise be lost by keeping your construction business top-of-mind. We send email sequences that start with telling your story and then dropping article excerpts with project ideas based on their interest nurtures the relationship and keeps your company in the forefront. We capture lead data and immediately add potential customers to your email list using our Email Service Provider (ESP). Your customer list is provided with your KPI Report at the end of each month.
Search Intent Landing Pages
Using data from the Contractor’s Blueprint: Business Intelligence Report, we can determine in advance the topics most frequently searched by your target customers that align with your business services. Search Intent Marketing informs us on the landing page content that will increase your conversion rate of new qualified sales leads for the least amount of money. We use our landing page library and modify each landing page to match your company and regional market. When necessary, we will write new landing pages to meet worthwhile search intent.
Paid Ads Management
This program completely eliminates the need for outrageously expensive paid lead generation services like Angi. We use Google ads, Bing ads, Facebook ads, and Instagram ads strategically based on your target customer. We start with Google for most audiences. Instagram for the under 40 audience. Facebook for the 40-60 audience. And Bing for the 50 and over audience. Our system allows us to turn ads on and off to maintain a balance of marketing qualified leads. This keeps your cost per lead (CPL) at a fraction of what a lead generation company charges, and you don’t have to share the lead information with 2 of your competitors.
Human Resources
Employee wage and hour disputes can cripple a growing business. We create a branded, online Employee Handbook of your company policies, We also work with you to create Employee Onboarding Documents, 1099 Contractor Onboarding Documents, and help you set up your HR procedures to keep you in compliance with state and federal regulations.
Craftsman Recruiting, Screening, and Interviews
We use a highly developed methodology for recruiting craftsmen using advanced screening techniques and applicant self-assessment of up to 16 trade skills specific to your contracting business. Every interview is captured on video. Reduces applicant no-shows by 95%, so you only invest time with the job candidates having the highest probability of joining your team.
Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP)
Weekly Tailgate Safety publications are pushed to team members via sms text. The program encourages sound safety practices on the job site and frequently reduces your workers' compensation insurance premium.
Take-off, Estimating and Contract Support
Save time and increase bid accuracy with customized, online take-off forms, project estimates, and contracts based on your labor rates and pricing.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Reporting
Financial bookkeeping and accounting statements are lagging indicators. By the time you receive your statements, too much time has passed to understand what happened. This can create unnecessary losses and perpetuate struggles in your business. KPI Reports are leading indicators. Using automated data collection process and proprietary software, we can project your business performance in near-real-time. This allows us to help you make the necessary corrections before problems can cripple your business. The KPI Report is a monthly, 18-page summary of all key areas of your business and includes a comprehensive Google Meet video discussion with you and your team.
Ongoing Advisory Services
At the heart of our work is our advisory services. Here we can provide immediate counsel on most business situations. Need a strategy for how to sell to a particular customer or negotiate a contract? Need to know how to properly terminate an employee? Over time, this becomes a master class in how to profitably grow your business.
CASE STUDY
Our client's trust us with information that we hold sacred. For this reason, we’re prevented from revealing the identity of our clients. At the bottom of every report page we produce for our clients includes this statement:
However, we can share one of our client’s story. The name has been changed to honor his privacy.
Jim's Story...
Jim is a home improvement general contractor in the Midwest. He started his company in 2016, and was running a small crew of tradesmen, quickly built his annual revenue to $750K
By the beginning of 2019, the stress of the business was taking its toll. His business was 3 weeks into the slow season and he was concerned about having enough work to keep his crew busy. The slowdown also made him realize he had been trading dollars with customers, not realizing he wasn’t making the profit margins he needed to survive. His available cash was running low.
Jim was referred to Dream Sherpa Labs by a friend, and he signed up for our Contractor’s Blueprint about a week later. We immediately went to work analyzing his regional market, top 30 competitors, the types of projects and customers he had been targeting, and financial analysis to understand his profitability and cash position.
Armed with a new understanding of his construction business, we assisted him with making strategic changes to every aspect of his business model. Today, his company has a consistent flow of marketing qualified leads, a 90-day backlog of contracts, a stable, skilled workforce and a consistent, recruiting effort, a healthy profit margin, and sufficient cash on hand. He has not only increased his revenue past the $1 million mark, he has tripled his profits. He still has the occasional stressful day but nothing like before. He’s now building a sustainable business with predictable income. He even gets to spend time with his wife and kids.
Here's what Jim wrote about his experience with Dream Sherpa Labs...
"Lee and the Dream Sherpa Labs team have taken a personal, hands-on interest in my success.
Lee is tireless in his pursuit of detail, and wants to use every piece of data to better understand and optimize my business. I often find Lee awake and online in the early morning hours working through one of my business problems that surfaced the day before.
He challenges me, and constantly takes me out of my comfort zone. Because of his decades of business experience, he’s honest, direct, and to the point. When it comes to critical decisions, he doesn’t hold back and tells me the consequences of making the wrong decision. Sometimes his advice is hard to hear, but ultimately he leaves the final decision to me. But when I follow his process and coaching, the results have always been positive.
I've come to trust and have complete confidence in Lee and his team. Today he is a key and essential part of my company, intimately involved with every aspect of my business. Put Lee on it and know that it is not only done, but done really well – better than you could ever do it yourself, or think it could be done.
His fee is always reasonable, and I’ve learned that whenever I receive his monthly bill, the value I receive is significantly greater. I can confidently say that every team member in my business is deriving high value from Dream Sherpa Labs."
What Some of Our Other Clients are Saying
“I was blown away the first time you showed me the results. Thank you for all your work and guidance...home run!...I've got some people very excited!” - LM
“Dream Sherpa Labs was retained by our firm to review our business systems and discover opportunities for improving our marketing and customer-facing activities. Lee interviewed key managers within our companies and rendered a final opinion to the executive management on areas where improvements could be made. Many of his recommendations were implemented successfully and are still in use today.” - SC
“Dream Sherpa Labs has been instrumental in guiding us through the tedious process of re-inventing our marketing. He played a critical role in helping us secure over $5 Million in new contracts with high-value customers. Whether you are looking for management consulting or sales and marketing training, Lee and his organization are a highly competent group of experienced professionals.” - VK
“Dream Sherpa Labs expertise in software, marketing, and general business is extraordinary. Lee found free, organic traffic to our website and to date has converted over 250,000 visitors into subscribers. Our month-on-month sales have increased an average of 400% with some months hitting as high as 1400% without spending any money on advertising.. If you are looking to grow your business to new levels, you really need to sign on with Lee and his team.” - DM
How to Get Your Business Started with Fraxtional by Dream Sherpa Labs©
Look...if you're currently satisfied with how things are going with your construction business and don't feel the need to try something different, then keep doing what you're doing.
I would honestly tell you not to change a thing. Do what works for you and makes you happy.
But, if your business is getting harder, the profit isn't there, the stress is becoming unbearable, and you want a clear direction on how to turn your business into a market leader and not join the 96% of contractors who fail.... I'd like to help you out.
The Most Comprehensive Fractional C-Suite Program for Home Improvement Contractors
GET ALL 20 PROGRAM FEATURES!
for as low as
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No Risk. You-Can't Lose. 100% No-Questions-Asked. Money-Back Guarantee.
I don't want there to be any doubt in your mind. But just in case you didn't understand what I wrote above, let me say it a different way.
If FOR ANY REASON you aren’t THRILLED and SATISFIED with Fraxtional by Dream Sherpa©, just let us know in the first 30 days and I'll refund 100% of your payment.
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