 Hi! I'm Diane!
Back in 1995, my husband and I started a T-bar suspended ceiling business. I had never worked in construction prior to this.
There was admin work, staying government compliant, finding time to do billable work and taming the paperwork beast that overwhelms business owners everywhere... it was a lot. At that same time, our two children were very young and our son needed round-the-clock medical care. I ended up leaving my job to A) be with our kids and B) get the business off the ground.
As the business grew we found that the various forms needed in construction weren't available online, or you had to purchase a multi-hundred-dollar package just to get the one form you needed. So, I started creating the forms we needed in PDF, Excel, and Word formats.
As my husband started networking with other construction firms and contractors, people started taking notice of the forms we were now using. I also observed every problem he dealt with, absorbing knowledge and tips that ended up proving invaluable down the road.
Other subcontractors would call me to ask my advice on a particular situation they were dealing with. We'd been through so many hassles ourselves (is there ever a construction job that doesn't have issues?) so when other contractors went through it I was able to give them suggestions to help resolve the problems.
Fast forward to 1999 and it got to the point where I was giving other contractors advice so often that many of them regularly encouraged me to write a book!
I thought about it but in the end, I decided to build this website, TheContractorsGroup.com, instead. My thought was that with a book, it would need regular updates which would mean contractors would have to purchase updated books to get the updated information. With a website, I could update it and the info would be instantly available to contractors at no charge.
Just like when I started running my husband's construction business with zero construction experience, I had zero experience with websites. But, again just like running the construction business, I jumped in with both feet and learned how to do it.
I honestly did not expect that anyone would pay for my forms so I started out by selling advertising and giving the forms away for free. After more encouragement from other subcontractors, I set up the forms as a one-time payment for unlimited usage. To my amazement, seemingly overnight this TOOK OFF!
Suddenly I was now running two businesses!
Eventually, I started a second website, Construction-Business-Forms.com, to handle the sales of the forms while keeping TheContractorsGroup as more of an informational website. As my articles and information grew, I then got crazy and started yet another construction-related website, this time at InformedContractors.com.
I spent the rest of our kids' childhood performing a perfect balancing act (okay, admittedly, not so perfectly balanced) ;) between helping frustrated business owners feel empowered and in-control of their operations and supporting our kids in anything they needed. I still strive to strike that balance to this day but they are older now (33 and 31!) and don't need me as much.
In fact, during those early years, our daughter was doing some observation of her own. It became clear to her that being self-employed was her path to happiness and a healthy work-life balance. She opened her own business as a freelance copywriter, and before long, she and I were swapping stories of being self-employed while wondering how to combine our talents. We ended up building an Etsy store together in 2024! It's an off-shoot of Construction-Business-Forms.com.
My daughter has some AMAZING talents!
The world has changed a lot since I started all this back in 1999. It just gets harder to find businesses online who are honest, passionate, dedicated, and offer support when you need it most. Owning a business isn't going to get any easier - unless you get some expert help, that is. That's what I'm here for. I still provide unlimited support not only to my happy customers but also to anyone who needs answers to their questions.
My highest commitment is to keep offering world-class support while providing these convenient forms to business owners everywhere, for current and future generations.
My top slogan is, "Ask me anything!" Here's a boatload of testimonials from my customers that tell the story of my customer service. :)
I've personally yet to meet someone who doesn't want to tame that paperwork beast and get back to doing the things they really love.
What about you? I'm here to help YOU! I can make your forms fillable, customize your forms to your business, and provide you with new forms. I can also virtually assist you in your business with research, designing sales materials, data entry, making calls, filling in paperwork, etc. Please do contact me!
Many thanks to Bob Baxter, Cathy Northcutt and Barbara Walker (all three of Cal-Ply Redlands back in the late 90's), for showing us the processes involved with generating preliminary notices, which release to use when, how to process progress invoices, etc.
Have a great day! :)
Diane Dennis
TheContractorsGroup.com
1-760-646-6303 - Phone
Please click here to reach me through a contact form at my InformedContractors.com website. I'd love to post my email address but those doggone spammers are relentless. |
