Email marketing is vital for small businesses these days. Everyone is in competition with big box stores, major corporations, and chain businesses with tons of money to spend on advertising, and if you are a small business you need every edge you can get. For contractors, this is especially true, since not only are you in competition with larger firms, but with the do-it-yourself set getting taken in by advertisements from major home improvement stores. You?re a contractor, not a marketing guru. So where do you begin? Here are some basic do?s and don?ts to get you up and running with a strong email marketing strategy.

Basic Points to Remember

There are a few basic points to remember when setting up your marketing strategy.

• Targeted Advertising: Be sure that you are reaching your target audience. Simply sending out a mass email blast to a list you purchased from a vendor isn?t going to do you much good. You want to be sure that your marketing is hitting the crowd you?re trying to draw in. If you have a mailing list, go through it and make sure you have up-to-date contacts. Also check to see that the people on your list are ones who are likely to either buy services from you or pass the info along to those who will. Make sure that customers who visit your website have a way to sign up for your mailing list. Use opt-in rather than opt-out strategies. That means allow customers to choose to get emails from you, rather than asking them to check a box if they don?t. This ensures you get the best bang for your buck as far as interest goes.

• Keep Information Relevant: You can and should send out emails to your customers on a regular basis, which include information not only on your current specials, deals, and offers, but on general industry information. However, keep these newsletter-type blasts relevant to your specialty. If you are a roofing company, don?t send out email blasts about the latest highway construction projects, for example. Changes in standards or regulations for the roofing industry, on the other hand, are of importance to the overall services you provide.

• Look to Professionals and Applications: There are companies out there who offer software and applications that will help you to streamline and improve your marketing plan. These programs will help you to maintain your email lists, track clicks and subscriptions on your website, and monitor the overall effectiveness of your marketing campaign.

Things to Avoid

Just as with the important basics to remember, there are things you want to avoid when planning your email marketing campaign.

• Everyone Hates Mondays: Nobody likes Mondays. Eyes are bleary, people are still dealing with ?weekend lag,? and they don?t want to be at work, let alone slogging through emails. If you send your blasts on Mondays, there?s a much better chance they?ll get deleted without ever being opened, and that does you no good. Tuesdays, on the other hand, are a prime day to send email advertisements, since people have recovered and are at their most productive on this day of the week.

• Do Not Use Outlook: If you use Microsoft Outlook to manage your email, use either your non-Outlook webmail client or a third party mailing list management service. This is because Outlook has a very aggressive spam protection scheme built in, which means that mass emails sent through Outlook often get routed directly to spam folders of the recipients. If you use an e-newsletter provider, your messages will not only be more likely to reach your clients, you will come off as much more professional as well.

• Watch the Frequency: Earlier we said it?s good to send regular newsletter-like updates. This is true, but be careful how regularly you send them. If you?re sending emails every other day, these will start to be seen by both clients and email applications as nuisance or spam messages, and they won?t get read. At worst, you could lose clientele who suddenly opt out of your list. Sending mails once a month is plenty to keep you fresh in your clients? minds.

Keeping these basic do?s and don?ts in mind will ensure that you get a good start on your email marketing campaigns to compete with all those big box retailers and DIY-ers!

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Now more than ever people are concerned about mold and the effects it can have on not only personal health but the damage it can cause in your house. Mold is everywhere and has an important job to do outside your house like helping to break down fallen leaves and other organic material. Inside your house mold can affect your health with symptoms as serious as shortness of breath.

Everyday you breathe in mold as you go about your duties. In your house it can be seen as black spots on the shower curtain, little patches of white furry looking stuff on the basement floor, or that unsightly rust color that forms around your sink drains. These are some of the visible places where mold occurs but you may not be aware that mold can grow inside your walls.

Finding Hidden Mold In Your House

The drywall and glues and caulks used while putting up as well as other wall boards can be a prime breeding ground for mold in your home. Since this mold is basically invisible you need to know what to look for to find these hidden health threats.

• Check areas you know have been exposed to water from floods or backups.
• Discoloration or stains on the wall
• Warping, crackling, or buckling of the wall.

**Should you discover a large mold colony please contact a professional to handle the removal process to avoid the health risks and to make sure all the mold is removed.**

Mold hidden in the walls will most likely require the drywall to be removed and replaced. Use the following guidelines when choosing a contractor or doing it yourself.

• The drywall should not be made from cellulose or paper
• Joint compounds need to measure a 10 on the ASTM D 3273 test for mold resistance
• Use mold resistant drywall tape

Joint Compounds

There are two types of joint compounds and choosing the right one is important since about 40% of the wallboard surface is covered by the compound. The first is drying compound that dries when the moisture evaporates. This type is not moisture resistant. The second is setting type which hardens through a chemical process. This type may or may not be right for the job so you need to make sure it has been tested and scored a 10 on the ASTM test.

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When you're busy hanging drywall and winning jobs, dealing with issues with your drywall supplier can really cut into the time you need to get the job done. How do you find the right drywall supplier for your business? There are a number of aspects you can look at with a drywall supplier that can help you make sure they can take care of your business. Here are a few of the major ones you'll want to look at when investigating a drywall supplier to ensure they're a good fit for you.

A large, diverse inventory ?

When you've got a large job or a number of jobs going at the same time, you need the exact materials when you need them in the quantity required. You don't have time to wait on shipments because a smaller supplier can't keep up with your demand. It's often helpful to partner with an established supplier who understands the flow of supplies required for your projects.

High quality standards ?

When a job is underway, you need to know you're getting the best quality material available. You don't need to waste time turning back orders because a careless loader damaged the corners of an entire pallet of drywall. You don't need to discover after you've installed and finished out drywall that there were quality issues with the wallboard, the joint compound or the screws holding the material in place. A drywall supplier that keeps their inventory protected, in good condition and transported carefully can mean the difference between a successful job and one that leaves you losing business.

Fast, efficient delivery -

You can waste a lot of time getting the trucks and trailers together to haul material for a large job because a supplier doesn't offer delivery. It can even more frustrating when you need to wait for ages for your material to be delivered. We've all had projects when you've called the supplier half a dozen times over the course of a morning just to hear, "Yeah, it's on its way," just to have it finally show up late in the afternoon, after you've sent your crew home for the day with nothing to do. Suppliers that can deliver to your job site quickly and on time are a great advantage when the clock is ticking and you need to get the job done.

Different services offered ?

Can your supplier order in specialty products when you need them without a lot of extra work on your part? Do they have people who have experience in the drywall industry and understand your needs? Are they willing to offer education to help keep your crew moving with the latest trends? These extras can make all the difference between a good supplier and an exceptional one.

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It's 2017 - do you know how your safety regulations are changing? There are a few changes to the overall OSHA safety regulations that need to be addressed both in terms of crew safety training and the tools used to keep your crew safe. We've summarized these changes below to give you a general overview of those changes, but you'll still want to make sure you clearly understand what the new regulations are and what they mean to how your crew works. Here's the basics of what you need to know.

The two major changes have to do with fall protection. Part of the reason for these changes is the position that falls hold in deadly construction accidents and accounting for nearly 40% of all on-the-job deaths, over four times as high as the next highest job site fatality cause of being struck by an object on the job site. For this reason, OSHA has decided to crank down on job site safety for fall protection to try to reduce this number significantly over the next few years.

As of January 1, the height where fall protection is required will be reduced to six feet from the ground or floor level. Previously limited to working at areas ten feet or higher, this change will strongly impact workers who had previously worked in the area under a home's eaves or ceiling between six and ten feet high. It will add some amount of time to each job, so make sure you include the extra time in your estimate to ensure that your costs will be covered and you can maintain profitability. This rule also applies to open excavations,openings in walls that are less than 39" in height or walkways over excavations.

The change does not impact areas where protection is required at any height, such as openings in a roof such as a skylight or vent, working next to or above dangerous equipment or using boom-supported work platforms.

On October 1, slide guards will no longer be considered an acceptable method to protect workers from falling off a pitched roof. Though slide guards provide some small protection, the old standard required a height of four inches that can withstand 50# of force in the middle of the run. It does not provide adequate protection against falls by, say, a 185# roofer who is sliding rapidly down a high-pitch roof. What's more, when used exclusively to provide fall protection, it can actually increase the risk of Achilles' tendon injury and damage, hence the job site moniker of "cripples".

Both of these changes will require that additional fall prevention and different methods or tools will be required to meet the new requirements. One approach to this is through the use of personal fall arrest and fall restraint systems.

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Getting your energy bill can be a terrible shock, especially during the winter. Fortunately, there are ways to save money on power that you don't have to think about constantly. One of the most effective of these is replacing your windows.

Many homes have single-pane glass windows. When these are replaced with windows that meet the EPA's Energy Star standards, your power bill can be 7% to 15% smaller. Unfortunately, hiring professionals to replace your windows is more expensive than your energy bill. The way to do it cheaply is to do it yourself. Window replacement isn't as difficult as it seems, and takes only a few steps.

Step 1: Measure

Measure the height and width of the opening your replacement window will go in. Take your measurements from the inside of the opening (not from the trim around it). Cautious DIYers usually measure several times. This is a good practice; write down your results and use the smallest ones when picking out a replacement window. Small gaps are acceptable, since they will be filled in when you caulk.

Step 2: Preparation

The next step is to remove the indoor stops (the strips that keep your window from falling out). These can be installed in various ways, but you'll definitely need a screwdriver and knife. Don't damage the walls around the window. Save the stops when you're done (you'll put them back on later). Next, remove the old window. Different windows can have different methods of removal, but you'll want to remove the lower sash (the part that moves) before the upper one. Repair any damage to the inside of your window opening, then take your new window and see how it sits in the center of the opening. Replacement windows often come with shims and bumpers used to keep the window in proper position, so use these.

Step 3: Installation

Caulk the inside of your exterior stops, and install any bumpers or expanders you needed in the last step. Next put the window in the opening, making sure it is square and installing shims (it's best to leave them sticking out a little, in case you need to remove them). Use the provided screws to fix your window in place and test it. If everything works properly, caulk the inside of the window and reinstall the stops you removed in Step 1. Congratulations! You've just installed your own windows.

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