When we first started our business, it was tempting to take any job we came across. And, by some measure, we had to. When you’re just starting out, you often can’t afford to discriminate between projects and many contractors take whatever leads they receive.
Over time, as we got more experienced and got exposure to many different types of projects, we got the chance to see which projects were most attractive to us and which jobs we were most efficient (and profitable) at completing. After analyzing a large history of completed jobs, we worked to narrow down what we wanted our business focus to be. Nowadays, we have a fairly strict view of what an ideal project looks like for us. By focusing on a specific niche within residential construction, we’ve improved every aspect of our business. From who we hire to how we market ourselves, everything is linked back to the niche we’ve carved out for ourselves. Our niche is intrinsically linked to our business and brand identity.
But, how did we figure out what we wanted our niche to be? How do we ensure that we only work on jobs that match our niche? And, what consequences are there if we depart from our niche?
First, let’s explore what a typical project now looks like at Black Boot Builders. Although this wasn’t always the case, we now focus on three major areas within residential construction: new construction, home additions, and large-scale renovations. We define large-scale as a project that affects a large portion of the home, such as the whole home or an entire floor of the home. We have gotten away from projects that focus on a single room, such as a basement, deck, kitchen, or bathroom. We’ve also narrowed down our typical cost range for projects and use the expected overall budget of a potential project to see if it’s within our usual price range. Besides the project scope and budget, we also have guidelines related to the level of finish intended for the project. While this oftentimes directly correlates to budget, it’s worth mentioning that we’ve defined our niche to specifically include projects where the client wants their contractor to execute at a high level.
Through defining our service list, we were able to solidify our target audience. We’ve found that many of our clients are living in (or are about to purchase) their forever home and they want to make a large investment in a space that they will enjoy for years (or generations). Although there are exceptions, we’re generally not the best choice if a client is overly concerned about resale value, if they’re planning on living in their house for under 5 years, if they don’t want to engage an architect or designer, if the project is for immediate resale (development work), or if they are looking to achieve a moderate level of finish work or plan to outfit the house with mid-grade finish materials (non-custom).
In our marketing brochure, it reads, “We are a team of construction professionals with a proven track record of collaborating with architects and designers to deliver quality spaces that last for generations, and are poised to create long lasting relationships with our clients as their go-to choice in their forever home”. This guiding statement was created as a direct result of pinpointing our niche and ideal client.
We feel fortunate now to have a clear direction on who our company is, but this wasn’t always the case. There was definitely a trial period where we tested out several different kinds of projects that varied widely by scope, location, and price point before landing on what works best for us. However, if we look back, we can definitely identify steps we took to be intentional about carving out our niche.
First, we tried to identify what types of projects we enjoyed doing the most. Since we’re the ones who have to wake up every day and work on these projects, we wanted to make sure we were aligning ourselves with work that we (and our team) found interesting. We found that we enjoyed working on larger scale projects. We weren’t afraid of staying on one project for over a year and we found that we excelled at managing a lot of different subcontractors across all of the phases of a project. We realized that we preferred to have fewer, larger projects than a roster of smaller projects. It was clear to us that we enjoyed seeing a project the entire way through from start to finish and really enjoyed putting it all together in the finish stage. It also became apparent that our team really enjoyed high-end finish work. Every client doesn’t necessarily value custom details and high-end finishes that take a long time to complete, but our favorite projects by far were those where our team had the freedom to produce unique, one-of-a-kind finishes that required careful attention to detail and a great amount of skill. We knew we wanted to work for clients that prioritized the craft of the installation over the speed of the project.
From scrutinizing our past projects and process to gathering feedback from clients and design professionals, it became clear to us that our team was developing a reputation for being communicative and detail oriented and focusing on projects that push the design envelope.
We knew we wouldn’t be the right fit for a project where perfection wasn’t the goal because it would be inefficient for us – we were prone to overthinking details, we knew we would take longer than expected for clients who didn’t appreciate that type of work, and we knew that we would be too expensive for projects that didn’t value high-end work because we would price ourselves out of being considered against the competition. Thus, our identity was cemented: we create high-end, custom spaces where the client values a quality end product above all else.
With that being said, this niche we’ve identified for ourselves isn’t the right niche for everyone. The entire point of identifying your niche is to analyze your individual business, your taste and preferences, and your team’s expertise to identify what types of projects you excel at. A successful niche is more about your ability to sell and execute within that niche rather than having a niche that relates to large or high-end projects. The end goal for any contractor shouldn’t be to do the biggest or most expensive jobs possible – it should be to identify a niche that is uniquely suited to the strengths of your team to allow for an efficient project. All types of contractors are needed and no single niche is better than another.
It’s been critical for us to remain true to our niche and make sure that the projects we take on are consistent with the identity we’ve built. When we talk to a new client for the first time and are learning more about their project, it’s just as important for us as it is for them to see if it’s a successful match. By asking questions about scope, budget, timeline, style, and design professionals, we can often make a determination on whether or not we would be a good choice for that client’s project.
And if we’re not a good fit, we’ve gotten very used to saying no. In our opinion, this is the best way that we can help to take care of a potential client and set them up for a successful project. We keep a referral list on hand and will often refer other contractors who we genuinely think could be a better fit for that project if we don’t think we’d be the right choice.
We insist on sticking to our niche because for us, there’s danger in departing from it. One time, we were doing a project that involved an addition and interior renovations. A nearby neighbor asked us to do a small project within their home since we were already on the street. At the time, it made logical sense to us. We were already going to be there and it didn’t seem like it would be much work to cross the street and manage that project too. We did end up doing the small project in the neighborhood, but it was a lesson about the dangers in departing from your niche. The project wasn’t run smoothly or efficiently. We were used to large projects where there might be multiple subcontractors on site at one time. We weren’t used to scheduling one sub at a time and having a void on site if a particular subcontractor was delayed. It ended up being difficult to manage the expectations of that neighbor client because they saw progress across the street, but nothing at their own house. We also thought because it was a ‘small’ project, it would be okay to proceed without architectural drawings. That also turned out to be a mistake. Between feeling the pressure to have a very tight window between subcontractors to coordinating all finish details in real time, it ended up being much more of a headache than we anticipated. We weren’t able to be as organized as we like to be before a project starts because many decisions were made on the fly. Because the project budget was different than other active jobs we had, we also had to rely on subcontractors that we didn’t usually use, or ones that we didn’t have as strong of a relationship with. That contributed to a breakdown in communication, lack of presence on site, and our overall satisfaction with the finished work. And, the worst part was that the client felt it too. We fully admitted to ourselves that it wasn’t a great fit and the project wasn’t run in a way that the client deserved. What we thought was an opportunity to please a neighbor and make some additional revenue ended up being a hard, expensive lesson.
We’ve found that for our team, the small projects are actually the most distracting and stressful. After experiences like that, we’ve now learned how important it is to stay true to your niche and how it could actually be a detriment to clients by saying yes to a project that isn’t within your wheelhouse. Because of this, we’ve gotten really used to saying no in order to ensure a good fit. And we feel confident in saying no to projects that aren’t a good fit because we know that the client may end up with someone better suited for the project. We care about the overall construction process for our clients, so we’d rather see any homeowner in the hands of the right contractor.
Once a contractor does the work of identifying their niche, the rest falls into place. For example, we know now who our target client is. For that reason, we are purposeful when it comes to deciding which print publications to buy ads in, which editorials we want to be featured in, which social media channels we choose to pursue, etc. And when it comes to growing our team, we seek out individuals who align with our commitment of providing the highest quality work. That oftentimes involves people who are communicative, patient, detail oriented, talented in finish carpentry, good at multi-tasking, and maybe a little bit of a perfectionist.
Every company benefits from identifying their niche because it gives them the confidence to turn down work that they aren’t suited for, sets a branding direction to reach the appropriate clients and employees, and guarantees a better chance at being more efficient and profitable by creating a repeatable process that can be duplicated for every project within the niche you’ve carved out.
