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A Contractor Coach's Dream; Standard Contractor Education

  
  
  
  
It's 3:30 in the morning, woken by an strong dream and I find myself at the computer. My mind is racing with a plethora of ideas about founding a school for educating and training general and remodeling contractors, specialty trades and support industries servicing the RESIDENTIAL (not commercial) homeowner construction market.

THE DREAM

It is a year in the near future and I am the leader of a school that teaches students how to set up and run a successful residential contracting business. This is no ordinary school. This school provides a career path for men and women interested in becoming a professional construction company in the residential remodeling and home improvement industry. The target market for these companies are homeowners, not commercial or institutional owners.

 The school has a curriculum that is approved and sanctioned by public education officials. Once students complete their studies they will have a degree like any other college, university or community college. Scholarships, grants, and student loan programs are available like any college program today. Courses are approved for CEU credits in any state in the nation. The school is inclusive and offers courses specific to businesses in the residential construction industry. In addition to the standard trade courses on how to build, there are industry specific subjects; Business for Residential Construction Companies, Leadership, Residential Estimating and Markup, Best Practices and Ethics in Contracting, System Development, Administration and the contractor's office, Company Handbook Development, Hiring employees, Accounting, Computer and Software Applications for Residential Construction, Website Design, Marketing, Production Management for Residential Construction, Professional Sales Training, Networking and Strategic Alliance Development, Self-development, Green Building and Remodeling, Lead Carpenter Management for Remodelers, Lead Foreman for Replacement Trades and the Retrofit Industry, Design Build , Kitchen and Bath Design and Remodeling, Interior Design, Aging in Place, Lead Paint, Safety and OSHA Compliance, Plumbing, Electrical, HVAC, Roofing, Painting, Siding, Windows, Insulation, Excavation, Fencing, Asphalt Paving, Landscape Design and Construction, Tile, Masonry, and other courses specific to the residential construction market.

The school has an active internship program placing students with professional local contractors. We have great instructors all who have demonstrated experience with residential construction servicing the homeowner market. Our graduates work and network with other graduate companies.

Homeowners demand our graduate contractor companies to work on their home because they know they are professionally trained to be the best.  

Wow its late and I realize that this is a dream. In America can you find a conventional college or university that offers a comprehensive degree in Residential Construction that includes the courses listed above? Where would you go to school to be a residential professional remodeler or a professional roofer? Sure there are consultants who offer industry specific training, but conventional schooling caters primarily to the commercial construction industry. Trade schools teach the how to, with little or no training on how to set up a construction business that services the residential homeowner market. The career path for commercial construction is established. The career path for education and training to set up a residential contracting company is incomplete in our conventional education system! 

This is a great dream. The funny thing about this dream is that it is possible and now is the perfect time for it to become a reality. Any dream or thought backed by an intense desire and a well thought out plan can become reality. This intense desire and drive resides within me. I believe in this dream so much that I left a well paying 16 year job to set up my coaching business to deliver best practice education and training to contractor clients.   

I see this school and schools like it, revolutionizing the entire residential construction industry as we know it. I know, given the opportunity and the right backing from angels or venture capitalists, we could build this school in short time and provide a standardized career path for those who want to become a professional contractor. The residential construction industry is ready for a rebirth and complete overhaul. Can you imagine the day when the public looks at residential contractors as professionals in the same light as other professions?

Now for the next step, building the team of industry experts to launch the dream and convert this thought impulse into its physical counterpart. The future is now.

mark the coach

mark the coach

Contractor Business Coaching    Design/Build Training

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Comments

Hey Mark- 
 
Great ideas and I'm on-board. And so necessary! Since HT started 40 some odd years ago, another generation of remodelers have hit the market without the education needed to run a successful business. We are expanding our presence in community colleges and a university or two in the discipline of estimating but your "dream" is quite a broad scope of endeavor. It would be great to build an association of industry professionals that would pay-back by mentoring the next generation of remodelers. 
 
Keep me posted and we'll see what happens.
Posted @ Tuesday, July 07, 2009 7:57 AM by karen johnson
This idea has been argued for many years. Residential remodeling needs to serve its customers and its workforce with a predictable minimum set of standards. 
 
Will it? 
 
I became a carpenter partly because I had long hair and was a high school dropout, my job prospects were slim. Regardless the processes involved proved interesting and challenging to me, but I quickly noticed that the craftsman and hacks all got to be contractors and it was buyer beware. My biggest disappointment was you could make the same amount of money whether you were good or not. 
 
Fast forward to today and its not uncommon to hear people say "I'd do it myself but I don't have the time"? In other words, contractors are perceived by some as non professional or slightly skilled members of a field that anyone could be proficient in. Nothing could be further from the truth. 
 
Should we require minimum educational achievements?  
 
With the dumbing down of America it will be difficult to promote educational standards for residential remodeling certifications, and even NARI now is making its certifications more pedestrian and easily obtainable. I see it getting easier rather than something people will have to earn. 
 
I hope I'm wrong about that
Posted @ Tuesday, July 07, 2009 9:52 PM by Paul Lesieur
Good idea shared,  
Well helping & informative one.  
Thanks for sharing the post.  
Posted @ Friday, July 08, 2011 2:28 AM by Remodeler Software
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