Coming to you all the way from Syndey Australia is George McGarry from McGarry Constructions. They specialize in residential renovations and additions.
George grew up in Ireland. His father passed away suddenly when he was sixteen years old.
He was fortunate to have learned to use hand tools from an early age. Then later in his teenage years he started an apprenticeship with a cabinet maker.
He then worked for five years for another company. While he was there he learned many valuable lessons such as:
- A project manager must know the details.
- You won’t be able to fake it and make it very long if you don’t know what’s going on.
- A project manager must be good at communicating with the client.
A valuable lesson George has learned, but wishes he knew when he was starting out, is which jobs to say “no” too.
He has learned how important it is to follow your gut.
George goes on to advise contractors to learn who is best suited for what they do on the team, and assign tasks accordingly.
Also, learn how to work with the dynamics of the team.
Something George does that works very well, is to qualify his leads by sending them a list of questions. This helps weed out the “tire kickers.”
George has lots of great advice for contractors who are trying to make a difference:
- Try to structure your week
- Keep moving forward
- Don’t get paralyzed by a decision
- Delegate tasks
- Keep your finger on the pulse of the job sites.
George loves to use technology in his business. Some of his favorite apps he uses a lot are:
- Builder Trend, for scheduling. (But he doesn’t like the job tracking feature very well.)
- Zero, for cloud based accounting
- When I Work, a roster sheet for the entire team.
- Sherpa, a brilliant courier service.
- Houzz
The book that George recommends is:
Get Your House Right – by Marianne Cusato
When George was asked what he would tell a young contractor who is just getting started, he said…
- Work for someone first to learn what to implement and not to implement.
- Then go for it!
- Keep on learning and progress.
- Make the jump.
- Keep on progressing.
This was an awesome conversation! Listen all the way through and be inspired!
Today’s Protractor Tip is given today by Jackson Andrews from Jackson Andrews Building. Jackson talked about the importance of controlling the environment inside your job sites as soon as possible.
Protractors – Making A Difference!