March 19, 2020 1 “Preserving the Past while Building the Future.” Celebrating 136 Years of Service Siewers and the Coronavirus Siewers is taking all necessary steps to protect our customers, vendors and employees to provide a healthy and safe environment to conduct business. We have always valued our services and will continue to explore new services that may be helpful to some customers. For example, you may call in an order that we can pre-pull and have ready for you to load when you arrive, thus minimizing human contact. We recognize that you have a livelihood to maintain and an obligation to your customers – the homeowner or business owner – and we aim to do what we can to help you. Also, if it helps, our delivery service is available. On our 5 acre yard, we are doing the following: Using gloves whenever possible. Prohibiting handshakes or human contact. Requesting all vendors to contact us by phone, versus in person, to reduce human contact. In addition to our normal daily office and bathroom cleaning, we are sanitizing all surfaces (counters, doorknobs and other surfaces) several times per day. Requesting all employees to stay home if any fever or illness develops. Also, remain healthy with your everday lifestyle. Eat, exercise and sleep properly to maximize physical and mental 1
Transcript
March 19, 20201
“Preserving the Past while Building the Future.”
Celebrating 136 Years of Service
Siewers and the Coronavirus
Siewers is taking all necessary steps to protect our customers, vendors and employees to provide a healthy and safe environment to conduct business. We have always valued our services and will continue to explore new services that may be helpful to some customers. For example, you may call in an order that we can pre-pull and have ready for you to load when you arrive, thus minimizing human contact. We recognize that you have a livelihood to maintain and an obligation to your customers – the homeowner or business owner – and we aim to do what we can to help you. Also, if it helps, our delivery service is available.
On our 5 acre yard, we are doing the following: Using gloves whenever possible. Prohibiting handshakes or human contact. Requesting all vendors to contact us by phone, versus in person, to reduce
human contact. In addition to our normal daily office and bathroom cleaning, we are
sanitizing all surfaces (counters, doorknobs and other surfaces) several times per day.
Requesting all employees to stay home if any fever or illness develops.
Also, remain healthy with your everday lifestyle. Eat, exercise and sleep properly to maximize physical and mental health. Be wary of other viruses and the flu. The flu is taken for granted but it is a serious matter and it is still flu season. In the U.S. alone there are 60 million cases of the flu every year resulting in 30,000 to 50,000 deaths (the CDC uses this range). Siewers takes this illness seriously and arranges flu shots for customers and employees in early autumn every year. Most insurance companies cover this at no charge.
So from our family to yours we will all work together until this crisis is over.
-The Siewers Family
Contractor News
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March 19, 20202
Open! Open! Open!
OPEN MINDS
Frank Zappa once said, “A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.”
One easy practice in developing an open mind is to suspend our decisions until we collect 360 degrees worth of data or at least information from opposing sources. The diversity of sources allows you to discern truth by finding what is consistent in all. Collect facts from all points of view and then make your decisions as to what the true story is. Comprehensive data allows us to be dynamic yet rational in our judgments.
OPEN EYES/EARS
Observe the world around you and look past your industry. Check out the more common companies you use in your daily life. Keep your eyes and ears open to ways other companies are influencing you to help your business. Break down what attracts you to them, learn from them and look for even the smallest technique that could spur innovation in your own business.
OPEN DOORS
This is the easy one. Every day people reach out to us with new ideas and opportunities, but we close our doors to them because we are simply too busy. Treasure their insight and industry reconnaissance and employ it to your benefit. Accept LinkedIn invitations, phone calls or an opportunity to meet a potential vendor because you can learn from others. We should do everything we can to diversify our sources.
OPEN COMMUNICATIONS
Are you comfortable being wrong? When you walk into a conference room and have an idea, do the people around you feel free to criticize it, find its weakness and help develop a better idea? You pay people to let you know when you are wrong and to contribute to the team. We all need to surround ourselves with empowered and smart people who are strong enough to keep us from being wrong.
OPEN TO HELP
A great man once said that rule #2 in life was to ask someone who knows. Wise words and good advice to better yourself and your company.
Five Functional Traits of Great Construction Teamwork
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March 19, 20203
Five traits that make it work for groups and individuals in a great team: Trust Direction Influence Transparency Leadership
Trust
If trust is not present within your crew, project team or executive team, you will not have teamwork. Team members do not have to like each other, but they have to trust one another. Being confident that each member “has my back” when needed and will defend each member is huge toward building a team culture of trust.
While trust is often manifested through communication the underlying trust needed is the internal feeling by each member that “we are all on the same page.” When one member disagrees with another member, there is no personal attack but respect for the opposing viewpoint. However, once a decision or action is taken, each team member works from the same understanding.
Reinforcing trust within a team is the need for direction. I’ve observed teams of construction people who may have trusted each other, even liked each other, but had no clue as to the direction or purpose of their efforts.
Direction
Direction gives the purpose of the teamwork. When a group of people is all focused on striving for the same end goal there is informal outreach between members on how to make the goal a success. I have found, personally, that providing direction alone is a great motivator for individuals to set their agendas aside and figure out how to maximize the talents and knowledge of those on the team.
Influence
Once trust and direction are in play the team members can then impact each other through influence. Influencing a fellow teammate is not to strong-arm or to manipulate. Rather, to influence is to approach other members with helpful insights or expertise that can contribute to greater results. To influence is to present a perspective or solution and then allow the teammate time to understand, adjust and finally to see the advantages from the perspective.
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March 19, 20204
In my studying and coaching of teamwork among the construction crew, project team or executive team, I can assure you that there is much influence exerted among members. Sure, some members may be more influential than others but there is still a trust that one member is not taking advantage of another.
Transparency
Transparency remains one of the hardest things for construction teams to acquire as a team trait. This trait is difficult for many reasons, perhaps, but admittedly to be transparent is to trust others. Therefore, if a team can truly experience trust between its members, the openness to be honest and emotionally “naked” in front of fellow members becomes much easier.
Much of my observations on teamwork through the years have discovered that for the construction team to be transparent it is helped along if one or two of the members will initiate the honesty. This might include one member making an apology to another member in front of teammates or simply one member sharing honestly why they cannot support a decision, goal or action taken. Tough to do for sure, but if you don’t have transparency in your teamwork, I doubt your team is reaching their potential.
Leadership
A fifth trait I have always found within any great team is leadership. In the team, it’s not “leader-follower” living but instead “leader-leader.” This suggests that every team member, no matter their rank and title, can lead one or more of the other teammates in any given situation. The leader-leader does not suggest equal pay among the members but rather a healthy respect for each member, giving way to the member with greater experience, knowledge, commitment, etc.
Leadership is desperately needed today in construction. The great teams in construction spend very little time establishing who is “top dog” in control and more about getting all of the “dogs pulling the sleigh” in the right direction. Title and rank have little to do with real leadership; at times, it can be the greater interrupter of high performance.
Work to make the five traits of great teamwork part of your work crews, your project teams and even your senior leadership team. The same “diseases” that can cripple teamwork (such as jealousy, egos, etc.) at the crew level can also cripple great teamwork for the management team.
Start team building today and let it begin with the 5 functional traits of great teamwork!
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March 19, 20205
2020 Remodeling Forecast
In a recent American Housing Survey, the following information was found.
The houses that millennials tend to buy are older with a lot of cosmetic and structural issues. They seem to be going after many projects at the same time, but they’ll do the minimum necessary to sort of maintaining the home. They do represent roughly 14 percent of the renovating homeowners. They are doing 35 percent more projects, but they are spending 30 percent less overall.
Kitchens and bathrooms are showing the most popular increase in renovations. It is recommended that home improvement pros should make the most of the first 6 months of 2020.
NARINational Association of the Remodeling Industry
NARI Lunch and LearnMay 20, 2020 - 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
How Do You Compare? Performance Metrics of the High PerformersBy Victoria Downing – President, Remodelers Advantage
Hosted By: Siewers Lumber & Millwork, 1901 Ellen Road.
More Information & Registration: www.naricentralva.org
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March 19, 20206
2020 United Way Campaign
United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg invests in dozens of fantastic local nonprofits, but they are much more than a funder.
They do research and data analysis (link) to understand problems that affect real people – all in an effort to understand trends and pinpoint areas that need our help the most. From that knowledge, they fund programs (link) in our community that provides help for individuals in those most needed areas. Then, they bring together government agencies, other nonprofits, religious organizations, schools, businesses and community members to create community-wide solutions that eliminate the root causes of these problems. And finally, they share what we know to empower everyone to find a path to success.
When you give to our local United Way, you are helping to provide more than 100,000 local services across a broad spectrum of needs, including housing and food, healthy babies, successful students and healthy and connected older adults.
Please take the time to read some success stories (link) from the people, families and organizations that have been positively impacted by United Way. Finally, thank you for joining Siewers Lumber and Millwork in supporting our community through our United Way!
Market Minute / Feb. 2020Central Virginia / Richmond
New Listings 2,211 Average Sales Price $249,925
Units Sold 1,317 Days on Market 47
Sold vs. List Price 99.2% Months of Supply 2.7
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March 19, 202010
Company Mission
To serve the needs of contractors and remodelers.
“Preserving the Past while Building the Future.”
Siewers Lumber & Millwork1901 Ellen Road
Richmond, VA 23230Phone: (804) 358-2103 Fax: (804) 359-6986
Hours:Monday – Friday
7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Visit our website for product and general information atwww.siewers.com
&also on Facebook and Twitter at Siewers Lumber & Millwork
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