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Old March 13, 2007, 08:31 PM
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Default USP Help continued...

Wow! Thanks to all that returned for a quick response and thanks for your help and comments.

Some had asked a few questions and I will try to answer...

I think my existing clients buy from me because I am the cheapest (cheapest that sells all that I do), because I generally dont whine for more money when the going gets tough (contractors call that a change order), because I offer everything that they need to complete a project... they give me an adress and, if they choose to trust me, the next meeting we have is when I hand them the keys to a finished space, permits finaled, construction complete, counters installed, signs up and lit, now hiring banner installed, ready to open for business.

My competitors... I see my competitors as much larger companies with more overhead, many more office and field personnel, subcontractors and their problems, mechanics lien issues on the customers property (from not paying the subcontractors), etc.

My ideal client is typically a small national chain that builds many locations in each of my states that I work in. My clients need to be big enough to keep building but not so big that they have their own construction managers or act as their own general contractors. My clients are busy finding real estate and opening stores and appreciate that I can take care of whats needed in between those two activities. And they are willing to pay for that hassle to be taken out of their lap.

Another ideal client is a busy property manager in charge of several commercial properties... same customer size criteria, for the same reasons stated above.

My risk reversals are not standards... we reduce the customer risk by ensuring a sub or supplier wont bite them in the but by filing liens for non-payment on the property. we design and review designs against codes that we are familiar with (retail, dry cleaning, sign zoning, etc)... more familiar with than our competitors.

Another mention is that since we use very few subcontractors, we do not mark up for a general contractor fee on any work that we do on our own. A typical General Contractor will have electrical+25% + plumbing+25% + mechanical+25% etc etc. We also mark up subs but we sub very little. Anything we do ourselves is not further marked up. In the end, the customer might find a painter that will do the painting for slightly less that we will but they will not usually find anyone to do the whole package as inexpensively as us.

Someone asked our company name... for 20 years its been a generic name... "Altex" or more acurately.. "The Altex Companies". When I started out, I was only doing stucco work (textures) - hence the name ALL-TEX... I later dropped the hyphen and lightened it to just Altex.

Well, I hope this helps some. I am still thinking, hard. And I do appreciate the help. I am just overwhelmed with how to bring it down to an elevator speech or better yet... something that will fit on a business card. If I can see this happen here in the next short while I will be a believer for life.

Continued Thanks,
John
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