Who says clients don't pay for modeling?

[gpickren]

This sounds like a good alliance. I do a similar thing, but right now I have been helping remodelers who have not done design/build and if they are not, they are really not selling, but just bidding jobs. Design/build is an entirely different animal, and far more profitable.

Your remodeler already has a sales/design system in place and is producing the sales leads so right now your role at the sales appointment is sales support. Kind of like when the computer system salesmen used to bring their technical people along who could answer the questions the IT people would bring up that would stump the salesman.

If your remodeler is a good salesman he will bring you in to demonstrate thingsduring the sales presentation. When I say "sales presentation" I don't mean that it is a formal structured presentation. If it is a good one it will not look that way, but will appear natural and spontaneous. But a good salesmen knows where he is going while the customers do not, so he teaches, explains and demonstrates as he seeks to make the customers comfortable about something that is actually quite intimidating to most of them. I have known a fair number of architects and contractors and I think I can confidently say the ones who were the most successful were those who were as skilled in managing the customer as they were their jobs.

If these guys are pros this is an ideal situation for any Chief designer to work in. Especially if one has not had this kind of experience. If your role is just to design then you get paid for that, but if this remodeler has not used the kind of tools you provide he should find his closing ratio going up, number of design meetings being reduced, job sizes could increase as well. Then, you learn to work with him in his estimating, providing him with appropriates material lists to help him in his estimating. Some of these values seem dead on accurate, others are harder to pin down, but I don't think there is a contractor alive who doesn't hate the paperwork of estimating.

As one develops expertise in these things one can become essential tothe remodeler. He could reach the point that he cannot even conceive of doing an appointment without you. If he is fair he will see your value in this and as you become a part of the sales team your value added should be compensated. If not, your experience will have taught you how to do this for others or for yourself.

I went to a meeting yesterday for a remodel that was to expand and remodel a kitchen and FR. The house was built in the late 50's and had an 8' breezeway under roof between the kitchen and DR and the garage. As soon as I drove up, I knew I already had their layout in my laptop. I had done another home 15 miles away which had a very similar external appearance and internal layout.

The owners got very excited as I showed them the process we had gone through with the other job. Showed them the as built photos, then how we progressed through the design, showed them renderings and then gave them a tour of the house with a live Chief model. We left with a contract and the job has expanded to do a whole face lift on the house, increasing the size of the garage and redesigning the master bath.

It was pretty funny. Here is this guy with the new wife who thought he was perfectly satisfied with the pale blue tile on his counter and shower. His wife says, "This has got to go." So I said, "Well, if you don't like the counter, then we need to redo the shower." So then we explained that since she wanted to redo the most expensive things in the bath, why not have us gut it and redesign so that it really functions as a bathroom for two people. So that was added on too.

The garage addition came up because he has this antique Bentley that is probably worth half the value of his house. So we showed him that by changing the garage it would balance the look of the house which is now one sided. The new wife is selling a house that is worth three times what his is so Iknow where the money is coming from and who is driving the sale.

This is where one adds value. It is not just design or draftswmanship, even contracting. It is sales and marketing. If one can do this and make deals happen, drafting fees will not be an issue. Salesmen get paid also, you know. If you can do both, you can get paid for both. If you generate your own leads, there is value in that as well. This is not for everyone. Different people have different skills. Some people are not comfortable dealing with the owners and would prefer to just design and draft. In that case, then creativity, practicality and efficiency are where you make money.

I think the % fee is probably a good one and fair to both sides because there is a lot more time spent in detailing a $100,000 kitchen than a $25,000 one of the same size. In fact, it is probably faster to do a design on a $100,000 house than one of those kitchens.

But, the key is to continue to honestly examine what you are bringing to the table and try to make the most of it.