A lot of contractors I know are terrible about returning phone calls.   You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

The sales process is the very first experience homeowners have with you and returning phone calls later or not at all sets a negative tone on your timeliness and professionalism. 

To excel these days in the trades you need to have outstanding customer service.   Women rank it among their top three expectations in a brand!  [Read Good Business Practices]

The best advice is to take time and effort to work on business development and a sales process.  This includes how you answer and handle that very first call.

Follow through on your promises an over deliver!

DAP introduced a new sub-floor adhesive called, Smartbond.     I've been using the DAP Polyurethane FireBlock Sealant for a few years now and love it!

Smartbond is a polyurethane sub-floor adhesive that  applies as a foam and quickly turns into a gel, depending on job site humidity.

The adhesive can be deployed from cans [similar to expanding foam cans] of from a RPO gun.  Application is faster with Smartbond due to the pressurized can and PRO-gun applicator.

The best part of this product is that DAP advertises that on 20-ounce can of Smartbond equals eight 28-ounce tubes of adhesive.

Here at a Concord Carpenter we love tools and although we don't make a living using our lawn mowers, it is certainly a tool we rely on and use regularly.

Without a quality mower that is maintained to perform well our beautiful homes may be overlooked by our hideous lawns. This is especially important during the fall as our attention on the yard doubles and leaf removal becomes part of our landscaping routine.

As purveyors of quality tool reviews we want to help you maintain one of the most important tools you have in your garage or shed, the lawn mower. And with the rigors of Fall just on the horizon we thought these tips on how to maintain your lawn mower in the fall would be appropriate.

Proper pruning of trees and shrubs  can improve the health, appearance and functionality  of your entire landscape.


Proper pruning can:

• Reduce risk of tree failure
• Improve plant health and structure
• Contain the planting where space is limited
• Reduce shading of turf and understory plantings
• Provide building clearance
• Achieve aesthetic objectives

According to ANSI A-300 pruning standards there are 4 types of pruning that can be achieved:

Crown Clearing:

This is the removal of dead, damaged or diseased limbs

Crown Thinning:

This is selective removal of healthy limbs to increase light penetration and air movement through the tree canopy.  Allows sunlight to reach understory  plantings and shrubs

Crown Raising:

This is the removal of lower limbs to provide clearance for understory plantings, pedestrians or vehicles.    Low hanging limbs can trap moisture around buildings promoting rot, decay and peeling paint

Crown Reduction:

This reduces the length, and height of the branches to reduce risk of failure to wind, snow and ice storms  It is also used to maintain foliage density in privacy hedges and ornamental plantings.

If you have large trees in your yard, a periodic inspection  and pruning to reduce the risk of failure and potential damage to people and property  is the proper thing to do as a custodian of a property!

Related Reads:  

• How to protect trees during home construction
  
• Best Practice for installing bark mulch around trees
• Fertilizing trees and shrubs