Dave Contant: Growing fast in Chicago Learn firsthand what it's like to start up your own construction franchise by looking into a day in the life of Dave Contant.

While working as a systems analyst in the Chicago area, Dave Contant ran a small home-renovation business on the side. When his employer filed for bankruptcy in 2004, he was faced with a choice: what did he want to do with his life?

“The full-time job was paying the bills,” he says, “but I wasn’t happy. I was doing the remodeling because it’s what I enjoyed.”

Dave completed his Archadeck franchisee training in March 2005 and was awarded Will County, Illinois, as his Archadeck franchise territory.

Will County, southwest of Chicago, is one of the 40 fastest-growing counties in the U.S., with a lot of new-home construction. At first that’s what Dave thought he’d be getting involved with. But he’s found that people are adding decks and other outdoor living structures a few years after buying their home.

“They’ve finally recovered from buying the house and furnishing it, and now they say, ‘It’s time to do a deck!’”

About half his projects are decks, and maybe a third are pergolas—a big jump from last year (“I built one!”). The balance are roofed projects such as screened porches.

The best part of being an Archadeck franchisee for Dave is completing projects. “The most satisfying part,” he says, “is when the project is finished and the customer is happy.” And how happy are they, usually? “Very happy—happy with the projects and happy they’ve selected Archadeck.”

Dave operates his franchise from a home office, and employs three other people: his wife, to handle certain office work, and a full-time carpentry team of two. He found that the hot pace of construction in Will County meant that he needed his own crew to be sure he had carpenters when he needed them. Now he hires subcontractors only when he needs extra manpower or special skills.

Business is booming, so they’ve got plenty to do. Dave is planning to hire another salesperson so he can devote more time to running the business and supervising construction. But for now, he oversees it all...

As an Archadeck Franchisee, Dave Contant oversees all aspects of his business.

Will County: Wednesday, June 14, 2006

8:35 a.m. Dave, in his pickup truck, is on the road to the town of Frankfort for his first sales call of the day. Usually he likes to make his first appointment at 10:00, so he can have time to plan his day, answer voicemails, and so on. But that didn’t work for this customer, so Dave is out of the house first thing.

9:00 a.m. Dave arrives and begins an initial sales call with a couple who want to add a sunroom to their existing screened porch. They’ve lived here about 15 years. He goes through the first-visit sales processof building rapport, examining the existing structures, and finding out exactly what the customers want to do with the new one.

9:10 a.m. Dave’s phone rings. He lets the call go to voicemail so he can stay focused on the customers. (This call will turn out to be an initial inquiry, the first of four today, from  potential customers.)

10:35 a.m. Back on the road, Dave is on his way to the town of Channahon to check on a job-site. The sales call went smoothly and ran almost exactly as long as planned. He has got agreement from the couple to go to the next stage in the Archadeck sales process. Now he’ll prepare a proposal with designs and prices for them to review. It’s looking like a $20,000 project. He was planning to stay in Frankfort for a later meeting, but has had to reschedule that.

11:20 a.m. In Channahon, Dave’s two carpenters are at work on a large deck. The customer called Dave with a concern about an aspect of the project, so Dave has come to see what the issue is. He looks at the part of the job in question with the carpenter and the customer. They come to the conclusion that there is no problem after all. The deck is looking good—very good.

12:20 p.m. Dave checks e-mail on his phone. While he’s away from the office, calls are forwarded to his answering service, who send him messages by e-mail twice a day. He returns a couple of calls.

12:35 p.m. Back on the road to return to the office.

1:05 p.m. Dave gets home and has a quick bite of lunch.

1:30 p.m. Dave listens to voicemails and returns calls in his office, responding to inquiries from yesterday and this morning.

2:10 p.m. Back on the road to his next appointment.

2:35 p.m. A warranty stop in the town of New Lenox. The owner found that the gate on a pool-deck Dave’s crew had installed was starting to sag, so Dave has brought an anti-sag kit. He likes to handle warranty calls himself, to make sure the customer is satisfied, and to keep the customer relationship strong. The install is easy—not a big job.

Dave Contant visits his customers to explain exactly what his construction business can do for them.

How about you?

Many people have found they could make an Archadeck franchise work for them. Could this be you too? It’s easy to find out more. Just fill out our Request for Information form. Or learn more about how to become a franchisee with Archadeck.

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