Building Optimal

Ultra-luxury home developer, Joanna Lily Wong, discusses her journey, her $15 million spec home, and her ideas for better design and marketing. Joanna brings a deep insight of home buyers into all elements of her projects, and she shares some of these with our listeners on this special episode, the first in a series of women in the industry.

Joanna is a rising star. This was a lot of fun to record, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did! You can find Joanna on Instagram or at Ennate, her design and development company based in San Francisco.

P.S. Follow us on Instagram (@buildingoptimal), and also sign up for our newsletter on our home page to get continuously new tips that will help you in your business!

Show Notes:

[1:15] – Joanna shares her background.

[5:10] – Joanna’s perspective on being a female in a traditionally male-dominated industry.

[7:30] – How buyers identify the fine touches.

[9:28] – The story of the $15 million Jones St. project.

[12:26] – Assessing the risk when building an ultra luxury home.

[13:15] – Features people want in a luxury home.

[18:05] Tricks to better market your properties.

[25:20] – How feng shui can help in building design even if you don’t practice it.

[28:40] – Where to find Joanna online.

Liability insurance is one of the most complicated aspects of your business. Unfortunately, poor or deficient coverage is much more common than we know, and the consequences for your business can be severe.

Treacy Duerfeldt, an insurance expert who runs The NationWide Contractors’ Alliance and also WISE Insure, covers some of the top issues in today’s interview. Learn what can go wrong and how to protect against these things, so you can focus on building your business with confidence.

If you aren’t following us yet on Instagram, check us out for some good tips and updates (@buildingoptimal). And be sure you are signed up for our emails on the home page of our website, www.buildingoptimal.com.

Show Notes

[2:55] – Where do you find a good insurance agent and how do you know when you’ve found one?

[6:20] – The insurance carrier you choose matters. There are huge differences. How can you compare the good vs. bad insurance carriers?

[10:20] – What is the difference between non-admitted carriers and admitted-preferred carriers? And why does it matter?

[17:00] – What is the difference between “audit ready” and “claims ready?”

[23:55] – How do you get a copy of the policy from all your trade partners?

[26:55] – How does it work with your architect agreements?

[28:30] – The difference between claims-made and occurrence policies.

[30:40] – On prior work exclusions.

[35:20] – Other typical exclusions to know.

[43:30] – The need for builders to understand these issues themselves.

[48:05] – What is the biggest mistake Treacy sees builders make?

[50:30] – Where to find Treacy online.

Who hasn’t had a client try to negotiate their fee down? Spend a short amount of time in this business, and it’s going to happen. Here’s what I’ve found as the best approach to avoid those discussions altogether.

Adam Conley understands the dynamic between builders and contractors in a hot market. He wrote a post on social media that originally caught my attention and spurred our conversation. We talk about his views on building stronger builder/trade partner relationships, even covering a few specific recommendations.

Adam is the President of Glass Expanse, a company that manufactures and sells directly to builders innovative, architectural glass door systems for luxury homes. You can also follow them on Instagram at @glassexpanse.

Show Notes

[1:50] – Adam’s quote on the relationship dynamics between builders and contractors that are unfolding in this market.

[6:10] – Adam’s advice on building better relationships with their contractors.

[15:30] – Any mistakes builders make that poison the unknowingly poison the relationship?

[22:55] – Adam’s take on the industry.

[27:50] – Adam’s story and business at Glass Expanse.

Welcome to a mini-episode, the final of three with business coach and construction consultant, Shawn Van Dyke. Shawn is a national speaker and author of Profit First for Contractors, available on Amazon.

We covered ‘Attracting Talent’ and ‘Getting Paid for Pre-Con’ in our first two episodes. This time, we cover a few random topics from common bad advice he hears to preparing for the next recession.

You can find Shawn and his menu of offerings at shawnvandyke.com, and also on social media, @shawnvandyke.

Show Notes:

[1:00] – The worst advice Shawn hears.

[3:25] – What Shawn preaches that he doesn’t hear anyone else preaching.

[6:40] – Shawn’s advice for weathering a downturn.

Welcome to the second of three episodes with business coach and construction consultant, Shawn Van Dyke. Shawn is a national speaker and author of Profit First for Contractors, available on Amazon.

In this episode Shawn outlines plan to help you get paid for your pre-con work. If you’re not doing it already, this is worth a listen! And if you are, well Shawn may have a few ways to enhance your program. Stay tuned for our third installment with Shawn coming next. It’s a good one.

You can find Shawn and his menu of offerings at shawnvandyke.com, and also on social media, @shawnvandyke.

Show Notes:

[1:20] – Why do we need to get paid for pre-construction work?

[4:30] – The difference between an up-front estimate and professional services.

[7:40] – How do you sell the client on paying you to perform the pre-con work?

[14:45] – What are the specifics that should be included or excluded in a pre-con

phase?

[20:40] – The trap of offering ballpark pricing.

[29:10] – A major cause of litigation.

[30:00] – A few more specifics to include in your pre-con agreement.

Shawn Van Dyke is a business coach and consultant to the construction industry. He travels the county speaking, and he even has authored a book, Profit First for Contractors, available on Amazon.

This episode covers attracting talent. We’re doing two more episodes with Shawn, one on getting paid for your pre-construction work, and the other, an episode on bad advice and other timely musings such as thoughts about the economy.

You can find Shawn and his menu of offerings at shawnvandyke.com, and also on social media, @shawnvandyke.

Show Notes:

[1:25] – Where should we be looking to find our next hire?

It’s an admittedly idiotic name for the episode that we couldn’t resist, in honor of the Seinfeld Soup Nazi, an appropriate flag bearer for this final episode on happy client hacks. This is a reading of our recent article published in our Building Optimal Journal. You can read it HERE.

This is a reading of our recent article published in our Building Optimal Journal. You can read it HERE.