Roofing|Remodeling

The ‘greening’ of existing buildings, as opposed to focusing on only new construction, continues to have a large ongoing positive environmental impact. As North America’s largest roofing manufacturer, GAF has long backed building owners and managers in that effort.  Now we are enhancing that support, by becoming the first roofing manufacturer to join the BOMA 360 Ambassador Program, which helps promote membership in the BOMA 360 Performance Program.

The BOMA 360 Performance Program recognizes excellence in building operations and management.  More than 300 buildings have obtained the designation.  The Program benchmarks a building’s performance against industry standards, and evaluates six major areas of building operations and management, including security, building management, education, sustainability, tenant relations, and energy usage.  One of the best ways for an existing building to improve energy performance is to focus on the energy efficiency of the exterior building envelope; and the roof is often the most important part of that envelope, particularly for commercial structures.

GAF can help connect building owners and managers with leading roofing professionals, in order to evaluate the solutions that are best for their property.  Best practices in improving roofing energy efficiency include an ongoing roof maintenance program; air and/or vapor barriers as appropriate to the structure; improved insulation; and of course cool roofing.

In addition to improving building operations, recognition from the highly regarded, national Building Owners and Managers Association can be a powerful tool in attracting tenants.  That’s probably the reason that there are already over 300 BOMA 360 properties—and the number seems to be growing every week.  Have you worked on a BOMA 360 property?  Have you heard property owners and managers talking about the program?

Clark Howard, who is a businesslike customer advocate, has warned many customers about the dangers of responsibility affair with a association who is not legitimate. You can face lawsuits and pay out thousands of dollars by dealing with the wrong contractor. Take the time to analyze each association based on their merits.

A dedicated businesslike roofing association will advertise on T.V. and radio. This is a great sign that the association has been responsibility well in the roofing business. How might they afford to advertise if they were not responsibility all the right things. You will find them down at your local hardware arsenal as well.

When getting an estimate it should be very neat and easily readable. A clump of ailing written gibberish is a sign that the roofing work will probably be the same. There should be a local address for the affair to operate from on a each day basis. If they do not have such as place, I would go on to the next candidate.

The contractor should not have any claims overhanging abutting them in the courtyard of law. Check the background of any association that you are considering for roofing services. It is not a good idea to contract in affair excluding responsibility your due diligence.

Companies that have affiliation to shingle manufactures are giving you a clue as to their commitment to the roofing industry. The National Roofing Contractor Association is the top association to be in association. If your association has this bank of affiliation than you should hire them by all means.

Finally, you should ask for a copy of their insurance certificate. Most roofing contractors that are in affair for any length of time will have proper insurance coverage. Confirm that your name and address has been located on the certificate. Call the insurance association and confirm coverage as well. Good luck.

More Information:

We offer free roof estimates to all of our customers. We offer roof leak repair as one of our services. Please feel free to give us a call.

Roofing.

http://www.advancedroofing.biz

It is important to maintain a good relationship within the workplace.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a directive that establishes uniform procedures for OSHA field staff for responding to incidents and complaints of workplace violence and conducting inspections in industries considered vulnerable to workplace violence.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) and Agility Recovery Solutions, Charlotte, N.C., have partnered to offer “10 Commandments of Disaster Preparedness,” a webinar that will help business owners take responsibility for the economic health of their companies.

As the upcoming filing extension tax deadlines approach, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have announced a new round of outreach to small employers and the professional service providers they rely on to urge them to review the new Small Business Health Care Tax Credit and determine their eligibility.

RCI Inc. will hold its Symposium on Building Envelope Technology Oct. 10-11 in Charlotte, N.C.

In the past week I’ve had two customer service wake up calls that had me reflecting… “Why is it so hard to handle complaints from customers?”

First- the issues. My wife and I use a nanny service- and they’re awesome. As new parents it’s been priceless to have someone that can help us out. They’re so good, we’ve really come to rely on them. So, when they messed up and did not show up one day- we were really thrown off!

The owner of the company is very nice, but she did not handle our complaint well at all. First- she did the basics: “I’m really sorry about this”. Then she dropped into the blame game- blaming her employee for screwing this up.

For every Business Owner or Manager out there- this is MISTAKE #1. Customers do not care whose fault it is within your team. Customers view you all as one entity – the company. So, when there’s a mistake- you have to take it on as your own mistake.

Next- she crossed an incredible line- she told me that she planned on docking that employee’s pay for the entire next day that she was to work at my house!!! WOW- that blew my cork. Did she think I wanted my revenge or something? Would I really want a disgruntled employee helping care for my 9 week old? Customers DO NOT want to know how you manage the internal functions of your business!

Safe to say- she got a piece of my mind about that one.

Next- and this is killer, she would not take responsibility herself. Her ego just wouldn’t allow it. This was not the first mistake they’ve made (it was just the worst). They’ve had scheduling issues before. The owner does all of the scheduling. Several different employees have told us they were given the wrong times etc. by her.

There is one thing in common to all of these things. They work for the same owner. The owner personally manages the schedule. Yet- when I suggested that the process needs to be looked at to avoid issues I got “my process is foolproof”. Ah- really? Why then were there 3 mistakes in 2 weeks?

This is where business owners and Managers HAVE to step up- and own the mistakes… EVEN if it is not their fault. EVEN if it is the CUSTOMER’S fault! Which is probably the hardest thing to do.

A few days after this we had a complaint from a customer with some training. We did pretty well on taking it on, and not blaming anyone. But- in the process of trying to explain to our customer what happened- it occurred to them like we did not own it-… and “BAM!” we were not being 100% responsible.

Our other mistake was to try and communicate with this customer through e-mail. I’m really embarrassed to admit this- but yes- we tried to make good with this customer on e-mail. Fortunately halfway through I realized how DUMB that is- and we were able to speak to the customer, take full responsibility for the issue- and leave them feeling cared for and appreciated.

Sometimes we get too busy to slow down and remember the basics. When this happens it always comes back to bite us.

This all reminds me of a statistic about customers. 1 in 26 customers will complain about a problem (source: US Office of Consumer Affairs). The remaining 25 will leave you for someone else, and not even alert you. THAT is the best context to put every complaint into: “this customer is giving me a chance to keep their business- I need to get this right”.

Reasons customers choose others: (Forum Corporation)

–        15% for price

–        15% for quality

–        70% for customer service

I recently came across an assessment tool to rate your business’s customer service abilities. Go to the Forum Corp’s website and check it out:

 http://www.forum.com/register.aspx?id=ecaa5a10-19c4-48b6-9de5-22122783d656&edocid=228

And take this test- check out where you are in customer service capabilities.

Let us know what you do that works, and how this assessment worked too!