For at least the past 25 years, Qualified Remodeler and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) have partnered to provide high-quality remodeling industry education content to the broader remodeling industry.
NARI members also benefit a second way. By reading educational content provided by NARI in the pages of Qualified Remodeler and then taking a quiz online, NARI members would be able to earn continuing education credits from NARI that go toward maintaining any and all of their professional designations with NARI.
Those designations are Certified Remodeler (CR), Certified Kitchen & Bath Remodeler (CKBR), Master Certified Remodeler (MCR), Certified Remodeling Project Manager (CRPM), Certified Lead Carpenter (CLC) and Universal Design Certified Professional (UDCP).
NARI and Qualified Remodeler have agreed to continue that long-standing education partnership into 2022 and beyond. In 2022, NARI will provide well-researched design and business educational lessons that are normally only available to NARI members. This content will appear in the magazine, online at QualifiedRemodeler.com and, where appropriate, KitchenBathDesign.com.
The lessons will focus on several key content areas including business management, design, project management, safety, sales and marketing, technical skills and universal design. There will be an interactive element as well. Each “lesson” will be accompanied by a link to an archived webinar available on NARI University.
These webcasts are normally an exclusive member benefit, but they will be opened to Qualified Remodeler readers as well. And as has always been the case, NARI members looking to maintain their professional designations will be able to absorb the information in all forms of the content and take an online quiz to prove their knowledge of the lesson.
Educational Content to Come
We’ve identified the first three topics we will present in 2022.
January | February
Best Practices for Managing Change Orders
Remodeling contractors of all types have one thing in common: Something almost always changes once a project starts. Even the best planned project has some changes. Sometimes there are owner requests, rotten framing or misunderstood site conditions.
Contractors don’t have to sacrifice time or money when a change is necessary. Ready use of the change order might even turn changes into profits. This article and webinar will demonstrate:
- Why change orders are important
- When a change order should be written
- How to write a better change order
- The value of scope-only change orders
- What to do once a change order is approved
General contractors, trade partners, designers, owners, project managers and lead carpenters who utilize change orders will find this webinar useful.
March
Best Practices for Time and Cost Tracking
You’ve heard the saying, “Time is money.” But it’s another matter to understand how to track time (minutes, hours, days) and why it’s important to convert it to money (dollars). This article and webcast will address a few best practices in time and cost tracking for remodeling businesses. You will learn basic approaches to record-keeping that will help you to capture staff time accurately and to produce financial reports effectively.
A few specific areas will be covered:
- Fundamentals of staff time clock
- Different time clock options
- Staff compliance and efficiency
- Review of basic transactional accounting (bookkeeping) terms
- Relationship between timecards and Quickbooks chart of accounts
- Important financial reports produced by Quickbooks
- Time and cost tracking impacts on estimating and profitability
This content is intended for an owner or manager who wants to implement a new time-tracking system and improve their basic comprehension of financial reports. This session might be helpful to an immediate user whose existing system isn’t producing the output you need.
April
Job Debriefs: How, What, When and Why?
Given the amount of time that most remodelers devote to estimating jobs and entering costs, it’s surprising that so many stop short of “closing the loop” by comparing projected results with what actually happens. This session takes a look at why conducting job debriefs is so important, examines some impediments to the process, and reviews some common errors that can lead to erroneous conclusions.
Finally, because so many remodelers use QuickBooks software, the session will include a brief review of those reports available in QuickBooks that can contribute to both useful and actionable job debriefs.
Other topics to come in 2022 include:
Designing from a Distance: Universal Design and Creating a Culture of Accountability
Running a profitable remodeling business takes a broad range of skills from design and technology to business management and sales and marketing. That is why NARI and Qualified Remodeler are pleased to continue this longstanding educational partnership. In addition, it may open the doors to a wider swath of remodelers the many tangible benefits of association membership. QR