MAY/JUNE 2015

CONTRACTORADVANTAGEC A N A D A S M A G A Z I N E F O R P R O F E S S I O N A L C O N T R A C T O R S

COMPLIMENTARY

PLUS:EXTERIOR

PAINTS & STAINSROOFTOP

INNOVATIONS

ALSO:Cottage Trends + Business Builds +

Smart Locks +

WINDOWS& THE COMFORT FACTOR

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Contractor Advantage

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CONTENTSCA

CONTRACTOR ADVANTAGE MAY/JUNE 2015 | 3

Editorial Director Castle Building Centres Group Ltd.

Jennifer Mercieca

Managing EditorPaul Barker

Art Director Mark Ryan

ContributorsNestor E. Arellano

Paul Cherry Lawrence Cummer Stefan Dubowski

Walt Grassl David Chilton Saggers

Lauren Schreiber John G. Smith

2446 54

May/June 2015 Vol. 20 No. 3

Features

Inside

Business Builders / 18You have mastered your trade, but do you know how to build the business itself?

Windows & The Comfort Factor / 24 Homeowners want windows that reduce energy costs, look great, but also keep them comfortable.

Smart Lock Wisdom / 34When it comes to the exterior door, it is definitely riding the crest of the mobile wave.

Cottage Builds / 41A big part of contracting jobs involves navigating the many restrictive bylaws which vary from township to township and lake to lake.

A Brush With Genius / 46New architectural coatings make your exterior painting and staining projects easier to complete.

Rooftop Innovation / 54Todays contractors are varying their roofs as best they can to stand out from the competition.

NEWS WATCH / 5 Coverage of Castle AGM 2015PRODUCT SHOWCASE / 7 New and improved productsBUSINESS STRATEGIES / 10 The salespersons handbookSMART MONEY / 13 Achieving business healthECONOMICS 101 / 15 You own your own dreamsLEARNING CURVE / 17 Building vanities and friendships

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CANEWS WATCH

CONTRACTOR ADVANTAGE MAY/JUNE 2015 | 5

BY PAUL BARKER

Social media and shift in oil prices key topics discussed at Castle AGM

There was plenty of time to unwind at the Castle Annual General Meet-ing (see pages 32 and 33) held re-cently in San Antonio, Tex., but delegates also had an opportunity to gain insight into topics as diverse as Twitter usage among baby boomers and the impact of the recent oil price collapse on Canadian contractors.

This years business session began with a presentation from social media expert Amber MacArthur who spoke of the relentless adaptation and the accel-erating pace of corporate culture in the digital economy.

An example of that, she said, can be seen by the fact the fastest growing demo-graphic group on Twitter is currently 55-64 year olds, up by 70% since 2012, YouTube reaches more adults ages 18-34 than any cable network and 38% of Canadians turn to social media to recommend businesses to friends, family and colleagues.

In the new digital world, said MacAr-thur, organizations regardless of size need to adapt quickly, be responsive and cre-ate value.

She talked about the Eight Steps To Success: Protect your digital reputation, Put the right people in charge, Leverage viral trends, Beware of the social media storm, Embrace visual social media, Set expectations, Share authentic moments, and Use a few good apps.

Attendees also received a no-nonsense message from world-class manufactur-er and award-winning retailer Donald Cooper, founder of the protective sports equipment manufacturer that became a Canadian-brand icon, who delivered the straight goods on how to sell more, man-age smarter and grow your bottom line.

There are actually two kinds of fu-ture, he said. The future that will happen as a result of population and demograph-ics, changing tastes and priorities, inven-tion and discovery, political and economic changes and war and terrorism. The other is a future that we commit to proactively create.

Many businesses, said Cooper, make the mistake of defining themselves by the products and services they have always sold and how and where they have always done business. It is all about them and it is all about yesterday.

Failure to execute is one of the biggest problems in business today.

Businesses, he added, do not fold be-cause of one particularly incident, but slowly but surely, from 1,000 uncom-pleted tasks.

As always, the highly anticipated eco-nomic forecast from economist Dr. Peter Andersen who took the stage following Cooper left the crowd feeling confident about the year ahead despite the impact of declining oil prices, which he said will result in negative effects appearing right away and positive effects coming more slowly.

Andersen added that as a big net im-porter of oil, the price drop is a major posi-tive in the U.S. and the countrys economy will soon be going flat out and last for several more years.

The good news for Canadas economy, he said, is that it eventually rebalances and follows the U.S. with Ontario, British Co-lumbia and Quebec being the new growth leaders. Andersen also predicted that con-fidence will stabilize next year in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland.

This years keynote speaker, mean-

while, was Vince Poscente, CEO of The Goal Acceleration Institute, who start-ing at the age of 26 made the miraculous transformation from a weekend skier to an Olympian in only four years.

The New York Times best selling au-thor of The Age of Speed, once wrote that we will not thrive by coping our way to big goals. Seeking to manage our way to bottom-line results is not the way. We will individually and organizationally thrive by accelerating towards extraor-dinary outcomes with one overarching philosophy Do what the competition is not willing to do.

AGM speakers this year in San Antonio were (from top left to right) Dr. Peter Andersen, Amber MacArthur, Vince Poscente and Donald Cooper.

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PRODUCT SHOWCASECA

CONTRACTOR ADVANTAGE MAY/JUNE 2015 | 7

Innovative Products for Todays RenovatorsBuilding Blocks

+TASK LAUNCHES NEW BAR CLAMPS, LED WORK LIGHTS, SANDPAPERTask Tools has introduced new bar clamps and spreader, portable LED work lights and sandpaper lines the company says are contractor-grade, but consumer priced.

The new Task F300 Heavy Duty Bar Clamp and Spreader is capable of exerting up to 300 lbs. of force. They are easy to use with one hand as they have a unique spring mechanism that provides smooth superior performance. A quick-release lever makes it easy to change over from clamping to spreading. Other features include large, non-marking, V-Groove jaws that provide a firm grip and non-slip handles for comfort. Clamps are available in four different sizes, ranging from 6 to 36.

Task Portable LED Work Lights are bright and use less power than traditional halogen work lights. With 50,000 hours of bulb l