A combination of new recruiting avenues through Puerto Rico and other American territories, and referral incentives for current employees seems likely to promise the most success.

The 2016 Houzz report on the state of the industry is out and we couldn't be more excited about the info and based on the content - majority of general contractors, home remodelers, builders, and landscapers feel the same. 

2015 proved to be another year of growth for the industry - year over year as well as compared to the pre-recession times. 

Home remodelers, landscapers, and every home improvement business that deals with appointments and work in the field will say that the most challenging parts of running their business include employees and customers. In other words: people. Hands down, regardless of if its formal surveys or passing conversations, these are the most common two biggest headaches in our industry.

On the flip side, the biggest money and time investments by these same business owners include machinery, materials, and actual time on labor by business owners.

The green industry, or as some prefer, the outdoor living industry, has exponentially grown over the last few years. Homeowners in the U.S. are seeing their outdoor living spaces as part of their homes. They're investing in their outdoor homes. As a result, and as everyone in this industry knows, this means that landscape design and build companies are popping out left and right. Regardless of where you are, your competition is endlessly growing. And rightfully so. After all, if you're going to start a business, you want to do it in an industry thats booming. 

This is good and bad news for landscape professionals. Increased competition means increased standards. This industry is on the uphill in quality and margins. The downside.. losing to bids to the wannabes.

In the small world of home contracting and home services, strong businesses are still built on strong relationships. While a company's relationships with its clients, employees, and sub-contractors are all key, support and respect at the dealer/distributor level may just be the most important. This partnership can offer some hefty rewards if fostered properly—or some hard blows if not. 

If you ended with a possible yes from part one of our Home and Garden Show series,  Should Your Home Contracting Business Participate in the Next Home Show?, then you'll want to outline your budget details. A very important outcome of this will be determining your promotional budget - part three in the series. No one wants to build a beautiful and costly booth, and have no one see it.