Government Resources for Small Businesses
Friday, November 10, 2006
| Americans with Disabilities Act: Guide for Small Businesses - Discusses basic requirements businesses must follow to ensure that facilities are accessible. Also includes toll-free sources for assistance. |
| Avoiding Office Supply Scams - Learn the most common office scams and tips to avoid receiving overpriced or unordered merchandise. |
| Being An Entrepreneur - For various types of small businesses, explains how to create a business plan, decide on the best legal structure for your business, and market it. Also provides information on selling your business. |
| Choosing a Retirement Solution for Your Small Business - Get the facts on the most popular types of retirement plans, how to establish them, the tax advantages, and more. |
| Consumer Guide to Buying a Franchise - Want to start your own business? Find out about the benefits of franchise ownership, the limitations, choosing the best franchise for you, and investigating franchise offerings. |
| Doing Business with GSA - The General Services Administration (GSA) buys a wide variety of products and services for federal agencies. Learn about GSA's contracting opportunities. |
| Facts About...Starting a Small Business - Explains how to create a business plan, research your market, price your products and services, and raise money for your business. |
| General Information Concerning Patents - Learn about patent laws, application procedures, costs, and more in this revision Includes application form with instructions. |
| Introduction to Federal Taxes for Small Business/Self-Employed - This helpful CD-ROM explains what you need to document expenses and deductions and file federal taxes. |
| Q's & A's for Small Business Employers - Use this guide to develop an effective safety and health program, identify safety hazards, reduce injuries, and more. |
| SBA Programs & Services - Find out how the Small Business Administration can help you start or expand a business. Describes SBA’s financial assistance programs, business development programs, and more. |
| Using Consumer Reports: What Landlords Need to Know - Learn how to use consumer credit reports to evaluate rental applications of prospective tenants and what you are legally required to do. |
| Using Credit Reports: What Employers Need to Know - Explains the legal steps you must take when using credit reports to hire or evaluate employees. |
More Home Building News from California
Thursday, November 09, 2006
From the San Francisco Chronicle, "Toll Bros. Inc., the luxury home builder with projects in San Ramon, Dublin and Sunnyvale, said Tuesday that it will report a 10 percent drop in quarterly home-building revenue in another sign of a weakening housing market. Citing a higher-than-usual rate of home sale cancellations in Northern California, the company said the number of contracts it signed throughout the country fell 55 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Oct. 31. Northern California accounted for 11 percent of the canceled sales nationwide.
"You had a high level of speculative activity, more flexible down-payment rules, and you're coming off a period of very rapid home price increases," Toll Bros. spokesman Fred Cooper said.
The company closed sales on just 167 units in California during the quarter, less than half of the 362 home sales completed in the same period a year earlier. Revenue from home building in California for the full year dropped 34 percent to $710.3 million from $1.08 billion.
The company said it expects the softness to continue in Northern California and other former hot spots in the country.
Toll also said it will take fourth-quarter write-downs of $50 million to $100 million on the land it owns and has options to buy, up from a prior forecast of $4 million. The charges will reduce net earnings to 36 cents per share, down 18 cents.
The market decline comes as deteriorating consumer confidence and falling prices cast a growing pall over the sector. Toll Bros.' smaller rival Beazer Homes USA Inc., which builds houses largely for first-time buyers, posted a 44 percent decline in quarterly earnings and forecast profit sharply below expectations for its 2007 fiscal year.
Though the reports showed weakness at both extremes of the market, neither was unexpected, coming on top of a series of government and industry reports that showed America's long housing boom has corrected. New home sales and prices are both sharply below levels a year ago, as rising interest rates and steep energy prices dampen consumer spending.
As a result, neither company's shares suffered much in Tuesday trading. Toll Bros. stock fell as much as 2 percent in early trading but later recovered and was close to unchanged, a sign investors had already factored in weakness.
Economic trends are leading customers -- even those in the high-income bracket that his company serves -- to take a wait-and-see approach, according to Toll Bros.' chief executive.
"We continue to look for signs that a recovery is imminent, but can't yet say that one is in sight," Robert Toll, the CEO, said in a statement.
Preliminary numbers show the company posted home-building revenue of $1.81 billion for the fourth quarter. Analysts, on average, were expecting $1.87 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
Toll Bros. said it expected to deliver 6,300 to 7,300 homes for fiscal 2007, compared with its previous forecast of 7,000 to 8,000. The company expects to deliver 1,500 to 1,800 homes in the current first quarter."
Home Builder Reports from California
The Desert Sun in Palm Springs reports from California. "Home builders across the Coachella Valley have their pulse on the slowing new-home market, and they're reacting by constructing fewer homes, bolstering incentives and scrutinizing construction costs.""As jittery home buyers abandon sales contracts or balk at buying amid uncertainties in the housing market, builders in the valley and across Southern California have cut back on construction. There were 2,782 homes being built at the end of September across the valley, down from 3,748 at the same time last year, according Metrostudy."
"In the Riverside County/San Bernardino/Ontario area, 1,691 building permits were issued in September, down from 5,101 in September 2005, according to the California Building Industry Association."
"The slowdown in new-home building permits is in direct response to growing new-home inventory. Some 1,511 new homes sat vacant at the end of the third quarter in the Coachella Valley, compared with 537 at the same time during 2005, said Steve Johnson, of Metrostudy."
"'The builders are taking the initiative to slow down their construction starts to deal with this inventory,' he said. Home builders are reacting in other ways, too. They're beefing up home-buyer incentives, reigning in escalating construction costs wherever possible and analyzing land deals."
"Ashbrook Communities, with developments in Cathedral City, Palm Springs and Indio, is watching its spending on everything from construction materials and marketing to payroll, while at the same time aggressively introducing new incentives to attract pensive buyers."
"Now you really need to focus on the basics as a builder," Robert Perryman, president of Ashbrook Communities' Desert Division, told fellow builders and real estate agents at a recent real estate forum in Cathedral City.
That's a marked change from two years ago, when families stood in line at home builders' offices in the valley to put their names on lists for the newest development phase. Then, home builders could afford to absorb more of the costs."
Maintaining Personal Relationships with your Clients
Monday, November 06, 2006
Elections are upon us. I have stopped answering my phone because I'm being bombarded by endless phone calls to vote for this politician or that proposition. It's not that I don't care about the issues - I do. I will be exercising my most important right as an American on Tuesday, for sure.But what I don't like is the fact that all of these messages have been recorded messages. Canned responses from the actual politician or some more important politician who recommends them. Now, I live in California but I do not expect a call from The Terminator himself. That's not my point. What I'm trying to say is that it's important to have real people reaching out to me, whenever possible -- not a recorded message. Not an impersonal, photocopied flyer or door hanger.
How does this affect your business? As a service professional, it's very important for you to maintain a relationship with your past clients. You have already paid a very large sum in your advertising and marketing efforts to acquire each and every one of your customers. Why not use that to your advantage and keep in touch with them? Send them an email newsletter. Send out holiday greeting cards with a company photo of all your workers. Make a follow up phone call to give them some free advice on how to maintain any of the products you installed or services rendered. Make it personal - either directly from you or one of your staff - and they will remember and refer you and your company.
It's understandable if you don't have a lot of time. You don't have to send out a mass mailing for every single customer you've ever had all at once. You don't have to call them all in one night. But pick a time, each week, and get in touch with some of your clients that you've only worked with once. Your regular customers will be happy to get a Holiday card in December.
If you had installed a concrete kitchen countertop and called to remind me that it was time to apply my penetrating sealer... I would certainly remember you when it was time to remodel my bathroom.
And when your company needs additional job leads, remember Construction Deal. You can register your service with us for free. Review current and past remodeling, building, and repair job leads in your area. If you have enough activity, you can subscribe at any time. Give us a call at 866-663-4711 if you have any questions!
