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"A budget doesn't limit your freedom; it gives you freedom."

-Rachel Cruze

Many kitchen and bath firm owners believe that just by getting big jobs throughout the year, they will eventually reach their goals. However, that logic doesn't account for mismanaged funds. Too many owners let valuable opportunities get by, and the only solution to mastering your business comes from budgeting your expenses.

Kitchen and bath owners who follow an annual budget wouldn't be surprised to know that they have more successful firms than their industry peers. Comparing your estimated budget with your actual monthly budget will allow you to navigate through spending and investing with sharper accuracy, giving you a firmer grip on your business and ultimately leading you to higher profit margins simply from better decisions.

Seven steps to determining your break-even point

A budget may not seem more than an accurate statement of the numbers your business wants to do, but owners can use them to make their operations more efficient and raise their gross profit margins. Robust profit and sustained success come from planning.

Analysis of your spending can help you calculate your firm's break-even point. A break-even point is helpful because it lets you know how much your firm needs to make each month to run your operations. First, identify all your variable and fixed expenses to find your break-even point.

The kitchen and bath dealers' most significant variable expense is always the cost of sales. Materials used for projects, labor, payroll and subcontracted, and transportation is all part of your cost of sales. Other crucial variable expenses include sales commission, sales payroll taxes, advertising, marketing tools, and traveling entertainment.

Enter your variable and fixed expenses into your budgeting program to find your break-even point.

Step Calculation

Enter the income for the period $2,000,000

Enter the variable expenses total $1,314,200

Calculate the contribution margin

(CM = Income - Variable Expense) $685,800

Calculate the contribution ratio

(CM Ratio = Variable Expense ÷ Income) 0.3429

Enter the fixed expenses total $535,800

Calculate the break-even point

(BE = Fixed Expense ÷ CM Ratio) $1,562,554

Calculate break-even per month $130,213

You'll want to use the sums of substantially completed projects to draft your budget. Then, check your work by adding your fixed expenses to the operating profit and dividing that sum by your contribution margin.

Applying the break-even analysis to your operations

Given how large your jobs can be and how much you charge for your products and services, you may have employees who think you have gotten rich in this business. If that's the case, chances are you have a formal relationship with your staff and are not running a transparent business. Imagine how your team would respond if they discovered that your company doesn't earn one dollar until it completes $1,563,000 worth of projects.

If you've hired well, your loyal team will become vigorous in achieving more significant sales in a shorter period to meet your firm's bottom-line needs. You could set up incentives to motivate your team to achieve profit goals quarterly. Competition in the workplace has been proven to elicit better results from team members. Add competition to your workplace and see your design assistants put more detail into their renderings. See your estimators achieve more precision in their calculations. Notice your project managers and subcontractors performing more efficiently on-site to get the job done problem-free and on time.

Studies have shown that employees prefer to know where they rank. Quarterly goals to reach your job production quota can motivate your team to achieve better results than they ever have before.

Projecting year-end net profit

Once you know your break-even point, you'll be able to accurately project the year and net profit based on nine months worth of figures, and your accountant can get a head start on your tax planning.

Project year-end income (based upon unfulfilled sales orders) $2,102,000

Subtract 12-month break-even point (based upon nine-month results) $1,604,400

Overage $497,600

Multiply by CM ratio (based upon nine-month results) 0.3526

Projected pre-tax net profit (based upon nine-month results) $175,454

Notice that the result will be more than the budgeted net profit. One tax-planning strategy might be to reduce the corporate net profit below $50,000, where the government payment is only 15%. Good accountants will consult you on your options to achieve this - but you need an excellent break-even analysis command.

-SEN Leadership Team

Master strategic planning, selling more into each job, leveraging technology, Good-Better-Best selling, and other intelligent implementations at one of SEN University's valued online business courses. Or contact us to attend our in-person school s.

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How a Break-Even Analysis Will Boost Your Firm's Profitability - SEN Design Group

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Kitchen and bath owners who follow an annual budget wouldn't be surprised to know that they have more successful firms than their industry peers.

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"Bad decisions made with good intentions are still bad decisions."

-Jim Collins

Too many independent kitchen and bath owners have an inflated sense of their company's performance due to the pandemic creating an astronomical demand for design projects. While success may overwhelm owners with a sense of what you're doing right, it may inadvertently cover up flaws in your business model.

Jim Collins's New York Times best-selling book How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In discusses how every company is vulnerable to decline. The reasons companies fall are simple: When leaders try to solve all the problems themselves, their company descends to irrelevance or financial ruin.

The good news is that even when a company has gone down the wrong path for a long time, turnarounds are possible - and even sustained success remains achievable.

Stage 1: Hubris born of success

When a leader replaces the ability to learn and understand from insightful thought and right action with the notion that "we're successful because we do these things, specifically," that leader has succumbed to hubris. Be wary of efforts to branch out your business for tremendous success if it compromises your core business. If your core business is neglected, your whole enterprise is in jeopardy.

This can happen to kitchen and bath dealers when they try to scale their business before it is ready. Grounding your operations with a centralized selling system will speed up your sales and increase your margins. This bold move is rooted in discipline and past successes proving that it works. Utilizing a centralized selling system will set your business on a course to be scalable several years down the line rather than several decades.

Stage 2: Undisciplined pursuit of more

The decline doesn't come from avoiding bold action but from taking unassessed risks and simply being ambitious for the wrong reasons. Some kitchen and bath owners fall into the trap of trying to scale their business too soon. This flawed maneuver frequently happens before an owner has mastered their financials. Companies that have entered stage two have already distanced themselves from what made them great in the first place.

Collins cites the former electronics mammoth Circuit City whose business peaked at the end of the 1990s. However, Circuit City's endeavors into the used car and Divx (a short-lived competitor of DVDs) markets were misguided, causing the company to neglect its electronics empire and drive it into the ground.

Firms should always stay within their ability to engage customers effectively and deliver consistently excellent products and services.

Stage 3: Denial of risk and peril

Some kitchen and bath dealers have been experiencing 5% - 10% lower gross profit margins due to manufacturers' surcharges from supply chain issues. This dip in profitability creates another situation that may make it difficult for owners to see a flaw in their business model.

In stage three, leaders tend to discount harmful data that warns of threats to the business and amplify positive data that hasn't been corroborated and therefore is of an uncertain value. They are much less likely to accept responsibility for how the negative state of their operations came to be. In the third stage of decline, it is crucial to take a step back from the business to ask probing questions about what caused the company to reach this woeful state of operations.

That's not to say that bold action should be avoided during troubling times, but rather that the action should come from sound judgment checked by trusted sources, such as a board of advisors. How do you know which risks are worth taking and which are too risky to try?
The waterline principle
Say your business is a ship on the open sea, and holes are blown into the hull whenever you make a bad decision. If those holes tear the boat below the waterline, that's reason to immediately stop the action causing that damage and determine a new course of action to take. If they strike above the waterline owners can accommodate a longer timeline for fixing the problem.

Stage 4: Grasping for salvation

Businesses that have entered stage four of decline are failing. Owners will want to reach out for help to save their business in any way possible, and make wrong moves in the process. Desperate owners seek a secret solution - to be rescued by some business savior, or to make a bold ploy for a rapid turnaround so they can be seen as the hero who single-handedly saved the business.

Kitchen and bath owners think dropping their prices by 10% to 15% to keep their sales up will save their business during a recession. On the surface, the logic behind this action makes sense. If your products and services cost less when people are tight with money, people will still buy from you. This will show anyone looking that your business continues to be busy during a time of hardship. However, doing this keeps your expenses high, alters prospects' views of what your company stands for, and, more than compromising your ability to earn a profit, is likely to send your company into a death spiral. It takes a lot more than sales to make up the difference in the loss of gross profit.

Collins asserts that only through resolution and willpower can companies at this level of decline reverse their course and be on track for success.

By way of example, Winston Churchill, in the early 1930s, was outside of government, depressed, blamed for great Britain's failing economy, and considered a spent force. Though depressed from his failings, Churchill continued to believe in himself amidst severe criticism. With the arrival of World War II, he proved to be a legendary leader and is now recognized for his successes rather than failures.

Stage 5: Capitulation to irrelevance

Companies enter stage five of decline when the accumulation of expenses and the results of poor choices have gone too far to reverse. Executive and employee spirit is broken, causing hope for saving the company to be lost. This is the end of the path leading to bankruptcy or irrelevancy.

Speaking to the opposite course of these five stages, kitchen and bath firm owners who abide in core operating procedures - that are never to be compromised - should be able to lead their firms to sustained profitability.

Conduct your operations within a code of values you believe in

Master your business by knowing your numbers

Budget quarterly, annually, and three years out

Streamline your operations:

Implement a transparent budgeting system

Sell your products and services on the Good-Better-Best model

Embrace a diversity of ideas in making significant decisions for your firm. Seek outside wisdom and insist on objectivity when analyzing your operations. By benchmarking your progress through a lens of objectivity, the things you want your business to be - reliable, innovative, and profitable - will make it a model of success.

-SEN Leadership Team

Master strategic planning, selling more into each job, leveraging technology, Good-Better-Best selling, and other intelligent implementations at one of SEN University's valued online business courses. Or contact us to attend our in-person school s.

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Learn From the Failure of Other Firms to Foster Your Success - SEN Design Group

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When leaders try to solve all the problems themselves, their company descends to irrelevance or financial ruin.

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"Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity, not a threat."

-Steve Jobs

The profitability of most independent kitchen and bath firms is compromised by the owner who works hard in their business without working enough on their business. These owners would benefit by gaining practical business knowledge from research, seminars, conferences, the internet, and reading books by business gurus. For them, it is not worth learning how to understand and implement new ideas when they can be working to generate higher gross profit margins.

SEN has learned that these owners are applying less than 20% of the industry knowledge that they have learned. It's time for owners to apply their knowledge and learn about kitchen and bath firm ownership to actualize their profit-earning potential.

Real change begins with the owner

The one constant challenge everyone has in their endeavors is themselves. Independent business owners must work at generating a profit and understand how their company earns and spends its money. Owners must be observant and bold enough to make necessary changes. Trim the fat here, spend more there. It all comes down to what's right for your business at any given time. Of course, prudent care is an integral part of good business, but a business can only be successful with the involvement of calculated risk.

Coaches facilitate the growth of an owner and their business

A business coach is not a replacement for a board of directors or advisors in your decision-making process. A good business coach is not meant to replace or challenge their authority or undermine your ability to lead your company. Business coaches help strengthen leadership, communication skills, prioritization, and goal setting.

A business coach can serve you in several areas if you choose one wisely. The coach to hire understands your needs and abilities and helps you channel your energy to complete the goals you target efficiently. The wrong coach will allow you to deviate from the path you set for yourself and or doesn't hold you accountable for the actions you take along the way. Your goals are your business, and it's an owner's responsibility alone to go after them.

Three reasons to hire a business coach

Perspective. A coach can help you see the flaws in your business model. When strategic changes are needed, such as during a recession, a coach can help you determine a plan to get your firm through the slump as quickly as possible. Here's one tip for owners entering a recession - keep pouring funds into your marketing budget. Prospects seeing your firm's image during challenging economic times doesn't just make you look good - it brings in business. It's not a good idea to stand too close to the tree. Coaches will give you a fresh perspective.

Accountability. Coaches can help you shift your pace to be more effective or productive. They also help owners stay focused to achieve their goals and keep their activities on track. Identify any changes you need to make upfront with your coach and refine them while working together.

Insight. Most kitchen and bath owners are preoccupied with daily, monthly, and quarterly operations. A business coach thinks three years out and knows the internal and external changes to make to prepare for future success.

Jack Kellerman of Baton Rouge found great success from working with a coach. In 2005, Kellerman planned a second showroom in New Orleans to begin construction late that year. As Hurricane Katrina became a threat, Kellerman discussed his plans for the showroom with his business coach and decided to finish the showroom months earlier than expected rather than wait out the storm to complete the project. In the wake of Katrina, his $900,000 business shot up to $3.2 million virtually overnight.

A coach gave Kellerman the insight that helped him develop a three-year budget, and expedite plans for the New Orleans showroom - guiding him to triple his profit very quickly with the New Orleans location.

The bottom line of working with a kitchen and bath coach is that owners will become better at running their operations. While owners beginning work with a coach will know areas they would like to improve, working with one will help them see things about their leadership style that could benefit from being changed. It comes from getting a fresh perspective from somebody with industry knowledge.

Six ingredients needed for real change

For your work with a coach to have a lasting positive impact on you and your business, it's essential to be honest about your strengths and weaknesses.

The following six items are necessary ingredients for real change. You may not have to be a pro in all of the areas mentioned below, but to get to where you want your business to be, you should have a working relationship with these concepts or be prepared to develop one with them during your work with a coach.

Awareness. If we continue to do what we've done in the past, we will continue to see similar results.

Intolerance to dissatisfaction. If we are unhappy with the results we are getting, we need to be motivated to change our behavior to improve our results. Otherwise, we will continue to be dissatisfied with the state of our operations.

Solution. We need to believe that there is a better way to do business. If we don't see the answer to doing better business, we need to know that we can find it.

Strategic Plan. Owners need to see how the proper action will get us to the solution. So we need to write a step-by-step procedure to implement plans leading us to our goal.

Environment. It's crucial to have the right working environment. From the building you use for your operations to your team and those you subcontract work to - whom and what we surround ourselves with are either supportive of the change we want to see or inhibit us from making it.

Action. A resolute decision to take action is the first step, and taking action is step two. You may have plenty of great advisers and an excellent team working with you, but you are the only person you can depend upon to change the course of your firm's profitability.

Your kitchen and bath business can grow to great sustained success if you put the work into it that's required for its growth. Hard work and dedication to daily operations are integral to your business, as is seeing it from a fresh perspective and having the ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

-SEN Leadership Team

Master strategic planning, selling more into each job, leveraging technology, Good-Better-Best selling, and other intelligent implementations at one of SEN University's valued online business courses. Or contact us to attend our in-person school s.

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How to Affect Radical Positive Change for Your Business - SEN Design Group

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It's time for owners to apply their knowledge and learn about kitchen and bath firm ownership to actualize their profit-earning potential.

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"Transparency is the antidote to hypocrisy."

-Britt Merrick

Kitchen and bath designers love the development process and seeing how much the clients love the result of their remodeling projects. We live for the client's satisfaction and their referrals. However, as we enter 2023, most kitchen and bath sales designers still follow the same approach I was trained on in the late 60s!

Today, there's a better, faster way to do business with kitchen and bath prospects - focusing on their needs to save time in getting a proposal. After all, most of your clients are double-income households and very busy with work and family obligations. The convenience of saving time is paramount to them.

Discovering your sales process

Competitive sales are adversarial and in need of an antidote.

Competitive sales see a winner and a loser for every transaction. Either you lose, or your customer does. This combative approach to sales makes for aggressive salespeople and remorseful buyers. As you triumphantly close a sale, your client has given into your will. If you didn't make the sale, the client succeeded in buying what they perceive as a better value from your competitor. No wonder being a salesperson in the 20th century was filled with many emotional ups and downs.

There's a better way to generate profit for your firm.

The new way of selling will save you and your team time and earn you higher gross profit margins. The old system is fatally flawed. Take a look at the sale designer's role in it:

Perform a needs analysis for their prospect

Develop a detailed plan and propose an exact price

Present their plan to the prospect

Need to overcome objectives if the job isn't closed after the plan is proposed

Chase their prospect until they give up or make the sale

Even in recent years, SEN has learned that most people attending industry seminars admit they still follow a close variation of this sales approach. And how long does it take? Most sales designers put in over 8 1/2 hours of appointments before earning a client commitment.

It's too much time to put into the process, even if it were a lot more successful than it is.

The biggest reason this traditional sales process isn't effective in today's market is that it strips value out of the buying process.

Consumers want to be kept from being sold anything. They want to be informed so they can make a smart decision on whatever they're in the market to buy.

The selling process is geared towards automation, which quickens and streamlines a prospect's buying experience. The value a candidate gets from shopping for a kitchen from your firm comes from the knowledge they would have with your sales designer and interacting with the models in your showroom.

Creating value through collaboration

In 1981, I read an article in the Harvard Business Review about the value of tangibilizing the buying experience for the customer. The article talked about how to prove the value of the intangible product through superior service at each step of the buying process.

The author spoke about the effectiveness of giving the client deliverables along the way. Deliverables prove the value of a product that costs the customer thousands of dollars but that they cannot yet enjoy.

Many people buy a kitchen out of need, but it's difficult for them to fork over the funds it costs for the job to be complete. Tangibilizing the process doesn't just make your customer feel better about spending money they would instead save but proves your firm's value to them.

Eight years into my life as a kitchen and bath designer and firm owner, I discovered a new way of selling remodeling projects to my prospects that transformed my operations and produced successful results beyond my wildest dreams.

During my time as a sales designer, I learned certain things about sales that I think are intrinsic to sustaining success.

Put your client's needs ahead of your own, and you'll get commitments

Competition is the way of the past, collaboration is the way of the future. The collaborative mindset is effective for client development because it invites clients' involvement, empowers them, and builds their trust in you and your firm.

The way to differentiate a product or service is through how those products or services are delivered

Dealers create value for their clients by issuing deliverables throughout the remodeling process - from plan and purchase to installation

Speed kills the competition

The art of the sale through collaboration

Beginning in the mid-1970s, I earned a retainer in 1/3 to 1/2 the time clients had committed using the traditional sales approach.

I was stunned that so many people would retain us without a scale floor plan or a precise estimate. I earned commitments during a two to three-hour conversation with little more than a sketchpad!

I wasn't taking measurements - I was merely interacting with the prospect - speaking candidly about prices and drafting a project budget with them on the spot. It's incredible how prospects responded to pricing when they could see the numbers!

My technique was to offer realistic figures off the top of my head that accounted for cabinetry, countertops, appliances, and installation. In return, I received signed retainer checks in the thousands of dollars, the equivalent of 8% of the low end of the budget range.

"Going for the no " early on saved me a ton of time, and transparent budgeting led me to close 75% of prospects! As a result, I doubled my sales almost overnight. More importantly, because prospects saw I was providing superior service, I was also able to raise my gross profit margin from 35% to 51.5% despite charging 30% to 40% more than my competition!

Instead of a win-lose approach to selling remodeling projects go for the win-win. Today, SEN advocates a Good-Better-Best selling model so prospects quickly get three quotes and create their budget range. In doing so, they feel great about their decision to buy.

You don't need to sell a kitchen to every prospect who walks through your doors or peruses your website. Owners and sales designers get and keep clients by proving their value. That's how you start building genuine wealth through your kitchen and bath business.

-Ken Peterson, CKD

Master strategic planning, selling more into each job, leveraging technology, Good-Better-Best selling, and other intelligent implementations at one of SEN University's valued online business courses. Or contact us to attend our in-person school s.

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The Power of Transparent Budgeting - SEN Design Group

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There's a better, faster way to do business with kitchen and bath prospects - focusing on their needs to save time in getting a proposal.

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"If you don't drive your business, you will be driven out of business."

-B. C. Forbes

Finding the right cabinet manufacturer to partner with is an intricate process that involves brand research, product knowledge, and interviewing. This white paper is a comprehensive study that kitchen and bath firm owners - especially those who serve remodelers, builders, and high-end and mid-range consumers - should find helpful in choosing the right cabinet manufacturer. It concludes with a useful checklist of criteria for reference when interviewing cabinet representatives.

Overview in selecting the right cabinet manufacturer
Get to know the prospective vendor
After identifying their target market, one of the primary considerations for kitchen and bath dealers is choosing the right cabinetry brands for their showrooms to display. The first step in making a decision is to learn the range of options available.
Identify the manufacturer's values
The quickest way to know what a manufacturer stands for is to read their statement of values. While a good cabinet representative can share the manufacturer's values with dealers, reading their values is an excellent way to gauge the confidence and expertise of the manufacturer as well as observe how closely their operations measure up to what they say is important to them.

Top cabinet reps are experts in their field and are usually outgoing, skilled salespeople. Effective cabinet reps have a thorough knowledge of the products they sell, which should be reflected in how they discuss them. Likewise, top manufacturers will go out of their way to offer numerous catalog options, enabling their dealers to create excellent designs with their products.

Cabinet reps who need more mastery of the products they represent, answer perfunctorily or are unwilling to go out of their way to satisfy the interests and questions of the kitchen dealer are telling signs that the manufacturer would be challenging to do business with down the line.

It's a good idea to be ready with a list of questions to ask each cabinet representative interviewed. A short list of considerations dealers may want to factor in when formulating their questions for cabinet reps follows.

1. Are they passionate about what they do and the products they represent?

2. Are there cabinet questions they can't answer immediately?

3. Can they discuss nuances of the different cabinet lines they sell masterfully, or do they gloss over details or confuse products?

4. How informed are they about other brands?

5. Are they conversational, informative, and open to questions, or pushy and trying to sell product at every step?

A cabinet rep's primary function is to inform dealers of the cabinet lines they represent and how to sell them. Reps tend to extol the unique features of their cabinet lines. The quality of the cabinet dealers' products ought to be the primary factor in considering a cabinet line. The skill and experience of their representatives are secondary factors.

Corporate culture substantially influences how a company interacts with its clients. Dealers may be able to look past pushy cabinet reps to acquire a cabinet line that they love or discover that a manufacturer is an unfavorable option. Let researching and interviewing galvanize the decision, it's worth investing the time. If the manufacturer's personnel or operations are flawed but their cabinetry line is fantastic, put them on the shortlist and review other manufacturers before making a final decision. If a cabinetry line resonates positively in a dealer's mind long after interacting with a rep, it may be time to return to that manufacturer to investigate the line further.

Learn about the manufacturer
Read the manufacturer's website
Conscientious owners who value their reputation maintain attractive, up-to-date websites that give the reader a comprehensive business overview. Due diligence and preparing to talk to cabinet manufacturers include scanning their websites to understand their capabilities and accomplishments.

Note their affiliations. Check if they're aligned with industry juggernauts such as the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA) or the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA). If their blog is published regularly, check if it is comprehensive and well-written.

Do they have a green product line for dealers to offer their clientele?

Do they use automated assembly and shipping?

Do they have instructional videos that show how their cabinets are assembled?

How well do their website and blog show off their product?

Does their blog discuss industry trends and educate the reader on product specifications?

What are their construction standards?

If a manufacturer's website is not a comprehensive overview of their business, they may not be investing enough marketing dollars. Owners may want to forgo interviewing manufacturers who don't represent themselves well online, as it may indicate that their collateral material isn't first class.

While it is uncommon to see critical reviews of cabinet manufacturers, markets outside the industry have been transparent in displaying critical reviews alongside stellar reviews. The influence of other industries may catalyze a change in the kitchen and bath industry to adopt this practice.

Thoughtful, critical comments may indicate that while a dealer's experience was less than superb, doing business with the manufacturer still held value for that dealer. It's more important how quickly a manufacturer responds to problems and how efficiently their customer service resolves issues than having sterling reviews across the board.
View their specification guides
Cabinetry specification guides provide detailed information on the material, dimensions, construction methods, finishing, and so forth that manufacturers used to create their cabinetry.

It is in the dealer's interest to know all the information regarding how the cabinet manufacturer builds its products.

Professionals outside the industry, such as architects and interior designers, often use specification guides for their new construction and remodeling projects. For sales designers, and contractors working within the kitchen and bath industry, cabinetry specifications provide valuable information for planning, ordering, and installing cabinetry. They are a good indicator of which manufacturers would be wise to partner with. They also make practical consumer educational tools for prospective kitchen buyers.
Visit their factory and showroom
Many cabinet manufacturers have showrooms because it's an excellent way to build customer relationships. Since kitchen and bath dealers use showrooms to sell products and services to their clientele, cabinet manufacturers have showrooms to showcase their variety of products in an environment dealers are familiar with.

Manufacturer personnel typically walk kitchen and bath dealers through the product lines in their showroom, giving the dealer a sense of the cabinet's post-installation look. Visiting factory showrooms is an effective way for dealers to become acquainted with product lines.

It is crucial for dealers to be educated on how a manufacturer builds their products, handles customer service issues, and treats their employees before making a decision between finalists.

Overview of materials used in cabinet construction

As kitchen and bath dealers build relationships with cabinet manufacturers, they will be able to better inform and serve their clientele. The average kitchen buyer needs to be made aware of why cabinetry cost as much as it does. While it's easy to see that higher quality products factor into a higher price, it is not always clear to the consumer where many of the factors that determine the price of cabinetry originate.

The following types of wood are used in cabinet construction.

Fiberboard. High-density fiberboard (HDF) and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) are excellent alternatives to working with natural wood. Both are great building materials for different purposes. Both are created by mixing wood fiber and glue and setting them under immense pressure and heat.

HDF is denser than its counterpart, making it also thinner than MDF. MDF is better suited for lighter construction, such as furniture, and HDF is used in heavier applications.

Commercially used furniture

Laminated flooring

Door skins

Backing panels

Home furniture

Bathroom flooring

Cabinets and shelves

Decorative work

Materials typically used in premium cabinetry: Construction f eatures of premium cabinetry: Materials typically used in lower-cost cabinetry:

Solid wood

Plywood

Soft-closing hinges

Undermount, smooth, self-closing drawer slides

Construction f eatures of lower-cost All plywood construction cabinetry:

Full-height back panels

Solid wood, dovetail drawer boxes

Fully assembled in the factory

Framed faces

Customizability and modifications

A lifetime warranty and industry certifications

Full-height back panels

Pulpwood

Medium density fiberboard

Glue adhesive

Plastic brackets

Soft-close hinges

Thinner sides

Weaker,not as tight-fitting construction

Fewer stock-keeping units (SKUs)

Limited warranty

A detailed look at the specifications of high-quality cabinetry

(APC) plywood is a high-density plywood capable of handling hardware, such as screws and adhesives, with better-holding power than others.
Undermounted drawer slides
Plywood is constructed by gluing thin layers of wood veneer together where connecting layers have their wood grain rotated up to 90° of one another to create flat, sturdy "sheets" of wood with various applications in cabinet construction.

Robust and high-quality cabinet construction includes a ⅜" or thicker full plywood for the back panel. They will be sturdily constructed and contain metal hangers, wood rails, and brackets. High-quality back panels allow the cabinet box to be directly attached to the studs anywhere on the back. Given the sturdiness of plywood, hanging rails are not needed. Cuts to the plywood for such possibilities as facilitating electrical wiring or plumbing should not affect the panel's integrity.
Other drawer slide systems
Cabinet hinges are vital components to the length of a cabinet. Higher quality hinges benefit from the support of a soft-closing feature, increasing the life of the cabinetry as it takes the brunt of wear and tear of daily use.
Extention capabilities
High-quality cabinet hinges have a soft-close feature built into the steel and nickel-plated constructed hinge. Compromised hinge action is noticeable, which usually means the cabinet cannot be closed quickly. Broken hinges can create a diagonal slant of an affected cabinet door, compromising the strength of the remaining hinge and the look and feel of that kitchen space.

Another feature of high-quality hinges is that they are adjustable in six ways: in and out, up and down, and left and right, so the hinges can be adjusted when cabinet doors expand and contract during seasonal changes in humidity. Hinges need to stand up to constant use. Manufacturers would use only hinges that meet or exceed the American National Standard Institute's (ANSI) requirements.

Undermount slides travel on parallel tracks and are mounted to the sides of the cabinet case and underneath the drawer. The quality of the slides should always be commensurate to the intended use of the drawer. Drawers loaded with silverware will be bottom-heavy and should be supported by stainless steel, heavy-duty aluminum, or alloy drawer slides. Drawers used for lightweight objects, such as cloth napkins, could be supported by lower-grade aluminum or plastic drawer slides.

Top-quality drawer slide models are built with steel ball bearings and guides that give a smoother slide and have a longer lifespan. These slides are mounted beneath the drawer. Their value is determined by how heavy a load they can support. Drawers should be able to hold at least ninety pounds. Soft-close slides, also called "anti-slam," provide a near-silent use of the sliding action and full access to the contents in the drawer.
Hardwood dovetail drawer boxes
There are hundreds of drawers, slide systems, and mechanisms that cabinet manufacturers use. Lower-cost cabinetry frequently uses epoxy-coated metal with plastic rollers, reducing the amount of time the drawer will function properly. Center and side mount slides rarely provide full access inside the drawer, so items in the back of the drawer could be difficult to reach. Side-mounted slides reduce the drawer's interior width, restricting storage space.

There are three extensions possible for cabinet drawers. Three quarter extension, full extension, and overtravel.

Three quarter extension. The common drawer slides out threequarters of its length. While offering more access to the items in a drawer than wooden slide systems, items in the back of the drawer may not be visible when the drawer is open, since these drawers to not extend their full length from the cabinet box.
Lower-cost methods for cabinetry construction
Full extention. Full extension drawers are the ideal option for most homeowners since when the drawer is fully open, there is visibility to every corner of the drawer.

Overtravel. Overtravel drawers open beyond their full extension to give an ample view of the drawer's contents. Overtravel drawers are ideal for homeowners whose countertops or cabinets extend with a lip over the edge.
Particleboard
Hardwood and dovetail joints, the standard in US quality cabinetry, includes hardwood drawers, boxes, dovetail joints, heavy plywood bottoms, or sometimes back paneling, are the top end of quality cabinetry.

High-quality woods, such as solid, maple, or birch, are cut in ⅝" or thicker for drawer construction. Plywood drawer bottoms fully captured on all sides in "dado" grooved (cut against the wood grain) joints are often glued and nailed into place. Dovetails contain rows of interlocking teeth that contribute to the strength of the design.

Various materials such as particleboard, plywood, metal, and plastics are standard materials in the construction of kitchen cabinets. Generally, plywood and steel are used to construct high-quality cabinetry; well particleboard plastic and pliable metals are used in lower-cost cabinetry; lower-quality drawer boxes often have notched joints secured with staples to bind the sides together. Such drawers may have particleboard bottoms.
A note on Artificial intelligence
Economical methods for cabinetry construction involve using thin panels, metal hang rails, brackets, and picture frame construction. Slim cabinets may not contain a back wall or have a mirror ⅛" to ¼" particle board panel that connects to the box covering the entire cabinet height. Any modifications to the box for a necessity, such as electrical wiring, can compromise the integrity of the cabinet, requiring additional onsite reinforcement.
Fully assembled
Low-quality cabinetry easily bends and breaks because they eschew the beauty and efficiency of dovetail joints.
Ready-to-assemble (RTA)
Particleboard is a building material made from wood byproducts, such as sawdust and wood chips. When bonded with an adhesive such as cement, formaldehyde, or glue, the sides are sometimes finished with melamine, laminate, or veneer. While particleboard is a lower-cost option, improvements have been made in recent decades. If it is going to be used for cabinet construction, it must be furniture-grade particleboard to be a reasonable option.

Melamine, a type of thermally fused laminate (TFL), is a lower-cost option for finishing particleboard. It can be used to make cabinet boxes, shelves, drawers, and line interior surfaces. It is a popular choice due to being a heat, humidity, and spill-resistant material. It offers a smooth, solid-color finish.

Methods of cabinet assembly
Framed and frameless cabinetry
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how cabinet manufacturers do business. It is used to design cabinet doors, pack and ship orders, render 3-D models, and test design options. Algorithms are being used in market research to analyze data on customer preferences, so stylings can be made to satisfy demand. AI is also applied to conduct research to assist in marketing. We are seeing the beginning of what AI can do in the kitchen and bath, and cabinet manufacturing industries.
Full overlay
Fully assembled cabinetry construction methods include dovetail joints, hot and cold glue power fasteners, and other industrial techniques that increase the strength of a cabinet. Factory workers typically use rubber hammers to gently fasten the various panels into a completed box. Then drawers and shelves are put in place. Quality inspectors scrutinize the cabinets for defects and oversights before they are packed and shipped from the factory, ready to be installed when received at the consumer's home.
Partial overlay
RTA cabinets are "flat-packed" in a box and, therefore, shipped more economically. Typically, a box will include the cabinet, face frame, drawers, drawer, slides, shelves, inserts, doors, and all the hardware needed for construction. RTA cabinetry is designed to be assembled by a homeowner or contractor on a construction or remodeling site.
Pros of overlay cabinetry
RTAs are typically less costly and can take significant time to assemble and install. While these cabinets can fit almost any budget range for a new kitchen, they are usually less sturdy than factory assembled. Their hand assembly can become noticeable with wear and tear over time.
Cons of overlay cabinetry
Tangible differences in RTA cabinetry include price, convenience, and construction strength. RTA cabinetry isn't as sturdy as professionally installed or fully assembled cabinetry since the tools available to an installer building the cabinet on site cannot render a tight-fitting product as one constructed from state-of-the-art factory machinery.
Inset cabinetry
There are three construction styles of framed cabinetry: partial overlay, full overlay, and inset. Each refers to the amount of frame visible when the doors are closed.
Benefits of inset cabinetry
Full overlay doors nearly cover the cabinet face frame, usually leaving about a ⅛" reveal. Since the door sits outside the cabinet box, full overlay cabinetry provides the amplest storage space of framed construction. More accessible storage space becomes available when the cabinet doors open without a vertical style on the face frame, allowing undivided access to the cabinet box.
Drawbacks to inset cabinetry
Partial overlay cabinetry, also known as standard or traditional, covers part of the 1¾" to 2" wide front frame, leaving a ½" - 1¼" of the cabinet face frame exposed.
Frameless cabinetry

A more cost-effective option compared to inset

More interior storage space width is available (especially in frameless cabinetry)

It may be used on frameless or framed cabinetry

A less streamlined look due to the presence of more edges

More cleaning since edges are susceptible to dust and drip

Doors set into the cabinet box create a flush surface over the face of the cabinet - very much like fine furniture. The simplicity and distinction of the look will elevate the kitchen with a classic touch.

Streamlined appearance

High-quality fully-customizable cabinets

Hinges may be hidden or exposed

Higher cost than overlay

Less storage space, and narrower drawers, compared to full overlay and frameless cabinetry

Subject to humidity-swelling effects where adjustments may be needed from time to time to make sure the doors and drawers are working properly

Cabinet door styles
Frameless, also called full access, or European-style, cabinets have no frame on the cabinet face. Frameless cabinets have full overlay doors, revealing approximately ⅛" around drawer fronts and cabinet doors.

Their side panels are thicker than that of a framed cabinet - usually ⅝" - ¾" thick - allowing drawer slides and door hinges to be attached directly to the cabinet's side walls.

While higher-end frameless cabinetry is very durable when built with HDF and MDF, lower-cost frameless cabinetry often uses particleboard, which typically has a shorter lifespan than other options, sometimes causing hinges to become loose and separate from the particleboard over time.

Installing frameless cabinets is a delicate process. The installation has to be perfectly level and plum since even tiny idiosyncrasies will be perceivable. Doors may rub together, and drawers may not function well. Due to the difficulty of installing these cabinets, some installers charge more to install frameless cabinetry.
Customizability and modifications
In short, these two methods of cabinet construction differ significantly in appearance. Framed cabinetry is more traditional in appearance and can even approach the look of fine furniture. Frameless cabinet doors are attached directly to the cabinet panel box, furnishing a cleaner, more modern, and uncluttered look.

Cabinet doors are the most viewed area of cabinet installation, making the door style integral to the overall look of a kitchen. There are three common designs of cabinet doors:

Raised panel. A traditional design featuring a raised center panel and a beveled or recessed groove within the door frame.

Recessed panel. A design where the flat center panel is lower than the door frame.

Slab. A frameless flat panel design, typically less stable than other door stylings.

Sometimes kitchen spaces are unusual - with lower ceilings or angled walls - where a designer may require cabinet unit variations from a manufacturer's standard product catalog. Many reputable, premium manufacturers develop fully customizable, high-quality cabinets that can be modified to various sizes, finishes, and door designs tailored to the designer's specifications.

Since ready-made cabinetry limits or offers no customizability, and fully customizable cabinetry is costly, many consumers find middle-ground, semi-customizable cabinetry to be an agreeable choice.

Cabinet finishing systems

Cabinet manufacturers use two primary methods for painting and staining cabinetry:

Flat finishing systems

Hanging finishing systems

The main differences between flat and hanging finishing systems are how the cabinet parts are stained, painted, or treated and assembled.

Flat finishing systems require cabinet doors lay flat when the finishing product is applied to the wood. Cabinets may be finished at a set workstation or moved on a conveyor belt through various applications and drying stations.

Hanging finishing systems involve hanging cabinet doors on hooks, racks, or a conveyor that moves them through the application and drying processes. This method allows for more flexibility in the painting process, as the doors and parts can be sprayed at various angles to achieve the desired finish.

Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages. Manufacturers may use either or both methods depending on their production requirements. Flat finishing systems are often used for high-volume production of uniform finishes, while hanging line systems may be used for more complex finishes or custom work.

Cabinet finishing techniques

There are several common ways to treat wood during the finishing process. While some of these options have been around for decades, others are recent developments. Most notably, there is a trend favoring environmentally friendly practices in the production and shipping of cabinetry.

Painted finishes. A traditional finish. As customization is widely embraced, there is a trend among consumers wanting to select shades out of a paint color fan deck. Sometimes a manufacturer will match the paint the dealer wants to satisfy their client's needs. In such cases, dealers must sign off on the match, acknowledging that it is the shade that the customer wants. This is done mostly by high-end manufacturers.

Textured finishes. Textured finishes come from various methods, such as applying a wire brush to the cabinet door, distressing or weathering the wood, or heating melamine. Textured finishes are growing in popularity because of their quality in adding depth and character to the cabinet surface.

Matte finishes. Matte finishes offer a low-gloss, velvety appearance. Recently, they have been popular in earth tones, including brass and copper, and darker tones, such as black and graphite.

High-gloss finishes. High-gloss finishes offer a sleek look ideal for contemporary or modern kitchen designs.

Stained finishes. Stained finishes are popular with consumers who prefer a more traditional or natural look. White cabinets have been a kitchen standard for several decades. Many of today's consumers are opting for lighter or darker stained cabinetry, rivaling the preference for white.

Lacquered finishes. Oil-based finishes offer a durable and smooth water ring and scratch-resistant finish.

Eco-friendly finishes. Eco-friendly, low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) finishing systems, such as water-based paints, are now common consumer choices and negatively impact the environment less than their alternatives. Dealers will want to be prepared for the growing trend toward sustainability and eco-friendly options that continue to enjoy a growing portion of the kitchen redesign market.

Warranties and certifications

Offering warranties on cabinets can help instill buyers' confidence that they are making the right investment decisions for their homes. Kitchen and bath dealers can not go wrong by offering flexibility to the buyer. Whether the buyer is overly cautious or changes their mind often, client-friendly agreements will appeal more to the prospect than inflexible, punitive structures to the purchasing process.

Lifetime warranty. Lower-quality cabinetry will often begin to break down after five to ten years of use. By that time, their manufacturer warranties may have expired. Since kitchen cabinets are one of the most expensive items consumers will ever purchase for a home, a lifetime warranty can assure that the cabinets will serve the buyer for a long life span.

Lifetime limited warranty. A lifetime limited warranty assures that the manufacturer will guarantee cabinetry operation as long as the original purchaser owns the product. These warranties are typically limited to repair or replacement.

Short-term or no warranty. Many manufacturers only offer one, five, or ten-year limited warranties, while others provide no warranty. Be cautious if considering cabinets with no or minimal warranties. If the cabinets fail, there is no recourse for the consumer.

When selling higher-end products, in most cases, it would be unwise to go with any cabinetry brand that does not have an unconditional lifetime warranty. If the manufacturer does not provide such a warranty, the dealer can decide if it's worth creating one for their clientele.

How to talk with cabinet manufacturers when shopping for brands

Shopping for a cabinet brand to represent is frequently a lengthy process of getting to know the manufacturer. The vetting process is replete with points of consideration essential to the kitchen and bath firm owner. It can be exhausting to meet with numerous reps to determine the right cabinet line(s) to carry.

Dealers can save time by streamlining the vetting process. By having a set of questions to ask every cabinet rep interviewed, dealers can talk with reps confidently and thoroughly and in less time than if they winged their questions from interview to interview.

Generally, it is a good idea for dealers to answer two questions as they begin to interview cabinet reps.

What do their kitchen buyers want in cabinetry quality and features?

What are they willing to pay?

Kitchen and bath dealers shopping for the proper cabinet manufacturer to partner with may want to print the criteria below so that each point is addressed with every cabinet representative with whom they speak. Thorough questioning of cabinet reps from every brand investigated will produce measured findings and make it easier to determine with which manufacturer to partner.

Before engaging cabinet or factory reps, it's a good idea for kitchen and bath owners to have a set group of merits to look for and questions to ask before the interview starts.

Adopting a systematic vetting process enables the kitchen and bath owner to weed out the lesser options and select the best options in a shorter period.

The list of merits and the following questions can be used as a guide for thoroughly vetting cabinet manufacturers. Create a file for each manufacturer who is interviewed. The owner or sales designer can curate the criteria as needed.

Print and use this form to thoroughly question cabinet manufacturers, and their representatives, when shopping for new brands to carry.

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A Comprehensive Guide to Finding the Right Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturer - SEN Design Group

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This white paper is a comprehensive study that kitchen and bath firm owners should find helpful in choosing the right cabinet manufacturer.

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"The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence. It is to act with yesterday's logic."

-Peter Drucker

Overview

In 2023 it is clear that most independent kitchen and bath dealers are not taking advantage of the resources available to make their businesses as successful as they can be.

A few years ago, RICKI reported in Kitchen & Bath Design News that approximately 900 kitchen and bath firms averaged gross profit margins of 29% (2017). This low figure has not changed much for decades in the industry. At 29%, kitchen and bath dealers do not earn enough net profit to retain abundant earnings. Therefore, these owners are prevented from engaging in business opportunities or surviving a recession. A solution to this financial stagnation is to learn how to leverage concepts that create a better business and drive it to earn higher gross profit margins.

This white paper covers several key areas for independent kitchen and bath dealers to educate themselves - or sharpen their abilities - to achieve consistent gross profit margins of 38% or higher. A 31% improvement in this metric alone will go a long to elevating the overall performance of these highly skilled, independent remodeling businesses.

Average Kitchen And Bathroom Remodel Costs
National average cost of kitchen remodels
While the national average cost of kitchen remodels hovers around $25,000, the amount consumers invest in their kitchens varies widely. On the lower end of the spectrum, partial remodeling costs around $10,000, mid-priced remodels range from $50,000 to $75,000, and high-end remodeling jobs often exceed $100,000. The kitchen and bath remodeling industry came close to reaching $200 billion in market value in 2022, consistently rising by leaps and bounds since a few years earlier.

While the projected market value for 2023 is about 14% less, at $162 billion, it is an exceptionally healthy industry that continues to grow and develop and be very profitable for savvy dealers. Amid the major advancements in commerce and technology that the world has seen in the past ten years, many areas of this industry remain underdeveloped. One of the significant gray areas of kitchen and bath remodeling is pricing.
Factors that affect regional pricing
While there is a formula for pricing kitchen remodels in the kitchen and bath industry, independent dealers typically base their prices on local market competition. Most owners avoid investigating higher price points to determine how they may be right for their business. As a result, many independent dealers are not earning the full potential they could gain from their businesses.

Before determining a price point in order to sell products and services, it's important to be clear about the different general factors that affect the pricing of a kitchen remodeling job.

Labor. Labor costs may be higher in regions with higher unionization rates or more stringent labor laws.

Shipping costs. The availability of materials, location of the contractor, client's project timeline, and the cost and breadth of materials all factor into the total cost to ship the clients' orders.

Permits and fees. Permits can change the cost of a project. Contractors may need to obtain permits from the city or state before starting a remodel. Permits are usually at a cost, and the contractor pays the authorities, passing that expense on to the dealer, who may pass it on to the client. In addition, obtaining permits and fee-paying may cause delays in the project timeline.

Cost of Living. Like the aforementioned factors, labor and material cost factor into the consumer's price, depending upon their local cost of living. Building codes, regulations and property values may also factor in. Many areas with a high cost of living may have stricter building codes and regulations, which may increase the project's cost. Likewise, property values may increase the project cost with respect to the value of the property.

Supply and demand. In addition to material and labor costs, the availability and quality of products also factor into a client's remodeling project. Products in high demand may take longer to receive or be difficult to find. Some may simply no longer be available for ordering purposes. If the customer does not want an alternative product, the project timeline can be delayed, and its overall cost can be higher than expected.

Competition. The level of competition among contractors in a particular region can also impact pricing. If many contractors offer kitchen remodeling services, they may need to offer more competitive pricing to attract customers. Too often, kitchen and bath dealers think they can't raise prices because they are already "the highest price company in town."

Materials costs. The cost of materials and labor can vary depending on the region. For example, the cost of lumber or stone may be higher in some regions due to transportation costs or availability.

Economic conditions. The state of the economy can also impact regional pricing for kitchen remodeling. During economic growth, contractors may charge higher prices due to increased demand, while during a downturn, they may offer more competitive pricing to attract customers.

Four Factors That Influence The Overall Cost Of A Kitchen Remodel
1. Scope
The first determinant in pricing a kitchen remodeling job is knowing what kind and how big of a remodeling job the homeowner wants. Kitchen remodeling projects fall into one of three categories: partial remodeling, full replacement, and major remodeling. Each has its unique potential pitfalls where designer expertise is needed.

Partial remodeling. Most partials are necessary investments focused on specific smaller improvements. For instance, the homeowner may decide to update their laminate countertops to quartz or stone, and that's the only thing they want to be done for a fresh look. The cabinetry, lighting, plumbing, and appliances might stay the same.

Full Replacements. Another area that could be minor remodeling is full replacements. The full replacements constitute jobs where entire kitchens will be made over. Countertops, cabinets, and appliances are all replaced, while there is no change to the kitchen layout or structural changes to the home.

Major Remodeling. Full-scale remodeling involves structural changes to the space and an entirely new kitchen design. A smaller kitchen may be blown out to a larger one by knocking down an interior dining room wall and adding an island with a sink on one side and a twelve-inch extended countertop with stools underneath on the other. Exterior walls may be removed to construct a family room space within a breezeway having all new windows and French doors exiting to a terrace, creating a brighter, more open and gracious space than existed before.

Additions. As indicated in major remodeling, additions occur when the homeowner wants a new room connected to the existing structure. New family rooms, bedrooms, sunrooms, and garages are all often desired additions. There are five factors to consider when pricing additions:

1. Square footage. The more square footage you add, the higher the cost will be. This includes not only the physical materials needed to construct the addition but also the cost of labor to build it.

2. Layout. The layout of a kitchen can also impact the cost of a remodeling project. If the client's project calls for knocking down walls, the cost will be higher than if they want to update the existing layout. For example, if the designer is converting a closed-off kitchen into an open-concept layout, this will require additional construction and may involve moving electrical and plumbing lines.

3. Complexity of the addition. A simple bump-out or extension will be less expensive than a multi-level addition or one that involves major structural changes. Constructing angled walls is usually more difficult and expensive than straight walls.

4. Building codes. Building codes and permits may be required for certain additions depending on the state.

5. The cost of the materials used in the addition will also impact the total cost. The number and size of windows and doors can become expensive. High-end finishes such as granite, marble, or stone fireplaces will also increase the price.

6. Contractor fees. The contractor's fees also factor into the cost of the addition. This includes the cost of labor and any design or project management fees.

2. Design
The second major factor affecting a project's cost is design. The design does not carry nearly as great an impact in a kitchen remodel as when designers can interpret a space's configuration from scratch. A unique design can increase the cost of remodeling by as much as 50%.

This is not quite true for bathrooms. The vast majority of American bathrooms do not have enough space for creative design. A staged platform for a whirlpool tub, a curved soffit with recessed lighting, or a curved, off-the-floor vanity could increase the overall cost by 5% to 15%.

Of course, even in a small space, designers may plan extra cabinetry for specialty storage. Or extra features like built-in hampers or hidden jewelry safes. Extras like these could increase the overall cost by another 5%-15%.

Another possibility of design in a small bathroom, if there isn't a second floor, would be to create a vaulted ceiling with a skylight. The enhanced sense of light and space is usually worth the typical $3,000 to $5,000 extra investment.

The best designers engage the prospect in their desires, offering options and solutions within the purview of what the prospect says they want. The act of selling takes a backseat to that of influence. Prospects never pay more than they're willing to pay for a kitchen or a bathroom, but a designer helps them navigate what they're willing to pay for.
3. Product
Product is a third important cost factor. Generally speaking, kitchen remodels constitute 60% product - principally cabinets, countertops, plumbing fixtures, appliances, and flooring - and 40% labor. Those percentages are reversed in bathrooms. So, as with design, the product is not as prominent a cost factor in bathrooms as in kitchens.

However, because of the range of quality, the product can have a greater effect on a bathroom project's final cost than design - particularly in 5' x 8' replacement jobs. Take a shower installation, for example. A good quality material would be an acrylic or fiberglass wall surround with a molded stone shower base. A better quality would be a series of solid surface panels with the same shower base. The best quality material might be granite wall panels or designer ceramic tile with a tiled shower base. The consumer's granite selection could cost up to 300% more than the good options of acrylic or fiberglass.

Vanity cabinets and faucets are two more areas where there can be a wide range of quality. A simple 30" vanity base in the plastic laminate may cost only a few hundred dollars. Filling the same space with a one-of-a-kind reproduction furniture piece in an unusual finish and may add several thousand dollars to the total cost. Likewise, a good quality, single-lever chrome faucet could run in the neighborhood of $150, while a high-end two-lever faucet in polished brass or satin nickel could be another $1,000.
4. Services
The fourth area of influence on a project's expense is the quality and breadth of a kitchen and bath dealer's services. That's because these projects are intangible purchases, totally reliant upon the skill sets of the people who design, order, supervise, and install the hundreds of products and pieces to fit like a glove in one's home. It becomes a tangible purchase only when the project is substantially completed - and the new room can be used.

Producing such projects is a monumental assignment involving many levels of services, including:

Educational nature of a dealer's showroom and sales process

Quality and range of displays and product samples

Organization of personnel with specialized skills to service the projects

The comprehensiveness of the design process

Completeness of the project specifications

Systems - both manual and technological - deployed to manage all the details

Communication protocols through every stage of the project

Fit and finish of the installation

Final inspection and evaluation procedures

Indeed, these dealer services function as the critical glue to put the entire project together and elevate the quality of family life for twenty years or more to come. The more these services are factored into every project, the greater the cost. But also the greater level of customer satisfaction with the end results. Historically, kitchen and bath design firm owners have grossly undervalued these services in their pricing model.

How Pricing Formulas Strengthen Business Models And Lead To Bigger Returns
Develop dealer operating budget
The two biggest areas preventing independent kitchen and bath dealers from making substantially more profit in their business are inadequate budgeting and faulty pricing of their products and services. Most dealers don't realize the logical connection between operational budgeting and creating a price formula: together, they generate a firm foundation to offer better service to prospects and clientele and produce higher gross and net profit margins for the company.

As the most important byproduct of the budgeting process, the price formula system for a kitchen and bath firm should consist of at least three parts:

1. Calculation of the production overhead (burden) rate (applicable when sales designers are part of the operational "showroom business model")

2. Calculation of the respective markups for each business mix category (called "price segmentation")

3. Establishment of a service contingency percentage

By developing a singular pricing methodology per market category, dealers can be certain to collect the necessary gross profit dollars to finance a firm's market-rate salaries, production burden, direct overhead, and desired net profit.

Pricing formulas speed up the time it takes to figure out the price for a job. As mentioned in this white paper, delivering the total cost to the client sooner instills confidence in the buyer and demonstrates the value of the firm. It's a subtle contribution to professionalism that makes sales designers' jobs easier. In an industry with so many moving parts, there are many opportunities for things to go wrong. Streamlining one's business is an opportunity to reduce operationally systemic headaches.

Many dealers use different markups for different categories, such as 1.60 for cabinets, 1.40 for granite countertops, and 1.3 for labor. These numbers are what they are able to get in their local trading area. However, they have little to do with the realities of running a business from a financial management standpoint.

When the aforementioned three elements are followed to arrive at the correct pricing model for a kitchen and bath firm, owners will need to develop a market plan to achieve the revenue and gross profit percentage goals.
Budgeting businesses to the core
Budgeting a business to its core enables owners to make smart overhead-reduction decisions, establish correct pricing formulas, and develop key management tools to successfully steer their operations through rough waters.

A rock-solid budget is a principal tool to determine the minimum amount businesses need to markup products and charge for their services to make the desired pretax net profit. A big mistake kitchen and bath firm owners typically make when budgeting their operations is looking at last year's P&L statement. Judging that the firm can achieve the same gross profit as last year will prevent the company from reaching the desired net profit for the coming year.

That's why the recommended process is to reverse engineer the gross profit dollar amount required to fund the necessary overhead and desired net profit. And for greater visibility and maneuverability, produce a three-year budget. What follows is an example of a three-year revenue projection for a "studio" business model where the owner handles all leads and sales with a small support team to assist.

A chart outlining the steps a studio model kitchen and bath business should take to develop a precise budget for its operations for the coming year follows.

Step 1 Project income $1,000,000 100.0%

Step 7 Fill in cost of sales $624,000 62.4%

Step 6 Reverse engineer to gross profit dollars $376,000 37.6%

Step 2 Detail sales expense $163,000 16.3%

Step 3 Detail administrative expenses $138,000 13.8%

Step 4 Detail burden expenses $10,000 (1.0%)
(e.g. rebates and discounts)

Step 5 Select desired net profit $85,000 8.5%
Step 1. Make realistic annual income projections
As an operating budget is a spending document, it's essential that the owner's projections are conservative. Overly optimistic numbers can trouble a business, especially in a recession.
Step 2. Detail sales expenses
Like sales designers working for large competitors, studio owners should earn 10% of what they sell. So $1 million in revenue renders a $100,000 salary. Other sales expense accounts for this studio business model include such items as market-rate salaries for design assistant(s), owner's car expenses (gas, oil, maintenance), marketing tools (cabinet literature, door samples, etc), and advertising. In good times, experts recommend that established businesses invest 3% to 4% of expected income in marketing to keep their brand awareness high. In bad times, they recommend doubling that investment percentage to maintain a continual flow of leads, secure a positive cash flow, and gain significant market share as competitors cut this overhead expense.
Step 3. Detail administrative expense accounts
Administrative expense accounts include office manager salary, rent (should be about 3% of total revenue), utilities, office equipment depreciation, health insurance, owner's key man and disability insurance, property and liability insurance, retirement, office supplies, dues and subscriptions, and amortization of leasehold improvements.
Step 4. Detail other income and expense accounts
Other income includes cash discounts earned on material purchases, rent from subleased space, buying group rebates, et cetera. These income items should be posted "below the line" on the P&L statement because "top-line income" should be reserved only for project income. Otherwise, a dealer's gross profit margin gets artificially inflated. Other expenses would include interest from loans and warranty service.
Step 5. Determine the desired net profit
American industry strives for an 8% to 10% pretax net profit: kitchen and bath firm owners can make or surpass that aim. It's not enough for owners to earn a market-rate salary and perks. That's nothing more than "buying a job." There has to be a good return on investment for the blood, sweat, and tears in satisfactorily completing $1,000,000 worth of kitchen and bath projects, as in this sample studio operation. And capital will be needed to fund the 25% growth in year two and 20% in year three. The capital left in the business, called retained earnings, can help to finance that growth.
Step 6: Reverse engineer to gross profit dollars
The last and uncharted step is to add up the totals of steps two through four and post a result on the Pro Forma page under gross profit. This figure represents the total gross profit dollars required to "finance" the sales, administrative, and other expenses - plus the desired net profit. Many owners are shocked that the required gross profit percentage may necessitate a 15% to 20% price increase - or even more.
Step 7. Determine the cost of goods sold
Subcontracting the gross profit from the total project revenue delivers the cost from all vendors - product, and labor. In this case, the total is $624,000.

So the correct price formula for this studio business model in Year 1 would be taking the total of all estimated costs - in either a kitchen or bath project - and dividing it by .624 (the percentage of revenue this expense category represents in the company's annual operating budget). For example, a kitchen costs out for all products and labor at $50,000. The correct sale price would be $80,128 ($50,000/.624).

Burden Rate Calculation

The labor used to install a kitchen is commonly referred to as a direct labor expense and can be easily posted to a specific job. However, many indirect labor expenses are more difficult to identify and cost to a specific project, such as the project manager's salary, truck driver's salary, truck expense, warehousing, workman's compensation insurance (for production staff), health insurance, retirement, payroll taxes, etc.

How can these indirect costs of production be properly job-costed before paying the sales designer's percentage share of the gross profit? Indirect production costs must be job-costed before paying any sales designer commissions (typically calculated as a percentage of the gross profit). Otherwise, designers would be overpaid and the firm would under-collect for its overhead.

The solution to accurate burden rate calculation follows two critical steps.

Creating a production overhead schedule during the budgeting process

Creating a "burden rate" percentage - in the company's price formula - to collect these indirect costs of production before adding the correct markup to cover the balance of the company's sales and administrative overhead and desired net profit

For our hypothetical "studio" operation, when sales designers are added in Year 3, a burden rate of 10% should be added to the cost of sales (including costs of material, use tax, direct labor, and subcontractors) exclusive of appliances. The accuracy of the burden rate should be checked quarterly, and adjustments made up or down, as needed. Failure to use a burden rate in their pricing formula (and commission system) is one major reason why kitchen and bath remodeling business owners fail to make a robust annual net profit.

Develop Price Segmentation Per Target Market

Price segmentation is a strategy intended to finance the collection of sales and administrative expenses, other income and expenses, and the net profit established in the budget. Most dealers with showroom business models (where the owner functions as a general manager to several sales designers) sell to different markets. Based on the expected business mix, different markups will be needed (over the burden rate). Using a hypothetical $3,000,000 showroom operation, a pricing strategy chart below depicts the minimum markups for four market categories.

Market Category Mix % Revenue GP% GP $ Min Markup Min GP

Kitchen - Remodel 70% $2,100,000 43% $903,000 1.79 44.1%

Kitchen - New House 10% $300,000 38% $114,000 1.65 39.4%

Appliances 10% $300,000 25% $75,000 1.34 25.4%
Bathrooms 10% $300,000 46% $138,000 1.92 47.9%
TOTALS 100% $3,000,000 41% $1,230,000

The imperfect nature of the remodeling business, where there can be many sources of human error even with good controls in place, requires an allowance for gross profit slippage. So the minimum markup for kitchen remodeling projects is 1.79 or 44.1%, 1.1% higher than the desired 43% gross profit. Since bathrooms are more difficult to produce, nearly a 2% slippage is built into the 1.92 minimum markups.

It is also suggested that owners give pricing flexibility to their sales designers. For example, the range for the kitchen remodel category might be a minimum markup of 1.79 to a suggested markup of 1.85. Suppose compensation is based upon a percentage of the gross profit of the job. In that case, excellent sales designers seek to achieve the highest markup, particularly if they sense the client will need a lot of hand-holding through both the design and installation stages.

Summary

The most significant challenge of independent kitchen and bath dealers in sustaining the flourishing growth of their firm is to develop the correct formula for pricing their products and services. In closing, the following points enumerate the concepts which support a successful pricing structure.

The most significant challenge for independent kitchen and bath dealers in sustaining the flourishing growth of their firms is to develop the correct formula for pricing their products and services. In closing, the following points enumerate the concepts which support a successful pricing structure.

1. The correct pricing formula is the direct byproduct of a company's annual budget.

2. The key step in the business budgeting process is to reverse engineer to the required total of gross profit dollars needed to fund market-rate salaries (including the owner's), sales and administrative overhead, other income and expenses, as well as desired net profit.

3. For studio model operations, the correct price formula for any project would be the inverse of the gross profit percentage. For example, gross profit is budgeted at 37.6%, so all project costs would be divided by .624.

4. For "showroom" business models, where sales designers earn a percentage of the gross profit of the jobs they sell, a burden percentage must be factored in prior to the proper markup per market category and service contingency percentage.

5. "Pricing segmentation" adjusts markups up or down per market category competitiveness or difficulty of execution. For example, bathrooms are typically on the second floor and are small spaces creating major production challenges. So, it makes sense to target 4% to 5% higher gross profit percentages for bathroom projects than kitchens.

Owners lacking experience or confidence in any of the areas mentioned in this white paper can gain mastery over these subjects at SEN University's Executive Business School. SEN members receive a discount for attending any SEN-sponsored event. SEN University gives kitchen and bath dealers an opportunity to network with other industry vets and create a stronger, better business for themselves. By being masters of every area of critical operations, owners can expect to achieve their revenue goals and sustain gross profit margins of at least 37%.

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The Independent Kitchen and Bath Dealers' Guide to Pricing Remodels - SEN Design Group

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Understanding how to price remodels is very important as a kitchen and bath dealer. This guide is very handy for getting the right pricing the first time.

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"It's an unbelievable network that has been very valuable to me and my business."

-Nancy Jacobson

Kitchen Design Partners, Inc

A business growth opportunity for independent dealers

Kitchen and bath dealers who turn their project management department into a profit center can add tens of thousands of dollars to their firm's bottom line! Many industrious dealers see their business increase from quarter to quarter without ever tapping the total capacity of revenue their operations can generate. Owners who believe they can earn higher margins for their business, but aren't sure how to harness them, should have a quick read of what follows.

A problem facing independent dealers

One of the perennial issues hindering the independent kitchen and bath industry is that businesses earn far lower gross profit margins - 29% instead of 37% - or higher. Even the country's busiest and biggest independent design firms are not running as efficiently as possible.

Many firms lose 5% to 8% of their margin during the installation process!

It does not need to be this way. There is a reason why independent dealers are missing opportunities to unlock revenue streams. There is also a solution to generate profit from areas of the kitchen and bath business that have only begun to be tapped.

The dealer's solution

There is no secret to business success, but there are innovative routes kitchen and bath firm owners can take that will support the successful growth and stability of their business. However, there are many unknown and under-used though profitable strategies, tips, and techniques to tighten up controls and significantly increase profit margins by breaking down the steps needed to take businesses into the next stratosphere.

SEN teamed up with 40-year industry veteran Tom Blau who learned how to turn a project management department into a revenue stream. Working with Blau, SEN developed The Online Project Management Course, two four-hour investments over two weeks that will help you determine how to eliminate profit erosion from every project you and your team take on.

What the online Project Management Course covers

In the online SEN Project Management Course, we will discuss how to turn a project management center into a revenue stream.
Estimating methods for generating profit
It's a common practice for independent kitchen and bath dealers to underbudget their jobs. No one underbids because they want to earn less but because they can't see or choose not to see the big picture. Typically, owners who are narrow sighted in estimating are not accounting for burden expenses. In the online Project Management Course, Tom will cover the fundamental importance of proper job estimating methods and accounting for burden expenses.

Burden expenses include the project manager's and delivery driver's time, warehouse space, truck operational expenses, insurance, payroll taxes, and any indirect expenses related to completing a job outside of the primary materials and labor factored into it. The latter either payroll or subcontract labor - can easily be job-costed, but true burden expenses are more difficult to consider. Tom will cover good business practices in the Project Management Course to help owners become comfortable with accounting for burden expenses.
The importance of scope and specifications
To avoid avoid misunderstandings that cost time and money, every project detail must be thoroughly documented in the job specifications and final agreement's terms and conditions. It's just as important to document what the dealer is not doing - such as flooring and painting -

as well as to list what the homeowner is responsible for.

The documentation should cover what happens if, for instance, there are hidden contingencies - such as when a non-bearing wall needs to be removed and an unforeseen pipe shows up. An agreement should spell out what "substantial completion" means because that is when the final payment is due. It should also spell out what the company's project warranty covers and how long its duration is.
Handling purchase orders
Professional handling of a purchase order starts with a project manager reviewing blueprints, specs, and cabinet orders and including the expected amount before the order is released to vendors and subcontractors.

The online class highlights the importance of accurately estimating delivery dates, job starts, and expected net costs on all purchase orders. Dually important is checking cabinet acknowledgments within twenty-four hours of receipt so the production time slot is not lost with the manufacturer, which can lead to one or more week's delay in delivery.
Scheduling best practices
Handling the client's needs goes hand in hand with handling a firm's needs, so preparation for serving a client is prefigured by planning jobs well. In the two-day online course, SEN will discuss how Gantt Charts are used for unpacking critical installation pathways. We'll also cover why the best way to communicate job start time includes accounting for "wiggle room" and how to prepare clients for what to expect once the job commences.

Our online project management course tackles managing the scheduling process to get subcontractors, installers, and inspectors to the site at the right time. This goes hand-in-hand with encouraging prospects that it's in their best interest to have the design firm (a) handle the project design, (b) furnish all products, and (c) install them. When there isn't one party performing a turnkey installation of the critical pieces, the risk of oversights, outright mistakes, miscommunications, delays, and extra costs becomes very real.
Trade coordination techniques and communication
The rise of software's role in business took longer to reach center stage in the kitchen and bath industry. Now that there's a broad and deep reliance on the cyber world among design firms, it's essential to put our use of it into perspective.

Today, kitchen and project management software such as Co-Construct, Builder Trend, and DesignAlign are integral to the success of small businesses. Still, your team will always be the driving force that uses them for greater success.

In the SEN Online Project Management Course, Tom will discuss how to lead your personnel to have the greatest efficacy with prospects and clients through such habits as:

Dispatching sales designers to visit the job site regularly

Updating project managers from the site with changes to a job

Facilitating client access to project scheduling

The aforementioned topics are among many practices that should be oiled into every kitchen and bath design firm's operations.

The Project Management Course will also cover how the installation process can be efficiently executed for the best client experience by factoring such practices as using a project manager as an inside quarterback to oversee the highest level of success by the completion of the job, delivery, and storage of products, and deploying dust barriers to keep the job debris to a minimum.

Rounding out the SEN Online Project Management Course, Tom will share his experiences in another overlooked area of efficient remodeling business: how to achieve a zero job completion punch list.

Agreements and guidelines for subcontractors

Organizing punch list appointments

Client sign-off on punch list agreements

The Project Management Course is ideal for learning - or brushing up on methods for sharpening operations - so that kitchen and bath firm owners have a maximalist strategy for injecting more profit dollars into their businesses.

Who should attend the Online Project Management Course

These four information-packed, two-hour sessions are for anyone seeking to advance themselves in the kitchen and bath industry and improve how they do business to earn more income:

Business owners

Project managers

Sales designers

Design associates

Installers and subcontractors aspiring to become project managers

Anyone in kitchen and bath remodeling who is looking to take on more responsibilities and perform them exceptionally well will benefit from the Project Management Course. Opening revenue streams is the name of the advancement game. We believe investing in these eight hours is wise for your career.

-SEN Design Group

Master strategic planning, selling more into each job, leveraging technology, Good-Better-Best selling, and other industry-specific implementations at one of SEN University's valued online business courses. Or contact us to attend our in-person schools.

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Turn Your Project Management Department Into a Profit Center - SEN Design Group

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Kitchen and bath dealers who turn their project management department into a profit center can add tens of thousands of dollars to their firm's bottom line!

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In Business to Grow Your Business - Introduction to SEN Design Group

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Education for better business performance metrics is the heart of SEN Design Group’s value to its members. Learn more about our offerings.

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"I could not endorse this program more and will look forward to personally promoting SEN events in the future."

-Tom Price, Director of Sales,
Custom Wood Products
St Mary's, KS

Design talent is not a guarantee for profitability, growth, or success. Success in the kitchen and bath industry is grounded in knowing a business's numbers and understanding that knowing the competition's value offers a unique perspective that assists owners in identifying their own company's value.

Typically, active firm owners do what they're good at and avoid learning new skills to apply in their enterprise. Education is objectively good, and everyone loves learning. However, the time investment is a good reason kitchen and bath owners eschew dedicated learning: they don't want to spend time away from their business.

Owners who apply skills without adapting new technologies and better practices that can revolutionize their operations are preventing their firms from earning more significant profits. The result of inadaptability will stunt a firm's growth over the long term, leading it to stagnate as a lower-earning enterprise.

The SEN Design Group created its 4-Day Executive Business School to deliver a comprehensive education to independent kitchen and bath dealers to help them maximize their operations quickly.

The 4-Day Executive Business School is an industry-specific education in building an endurably profitable enterprise that offers teaching in finance, management, marketing, team building, and sales, reaching the needs of novice entrepreneurs and successful veterans' needs. The payback from time and money spent far exceeds the cost of this extraordinary investment.

The essence of leadership
There's literally no education of this type-and this specific-in the industry that I am aware of.
-Vince Hodshire, CEO,
Exclusive Cabinet Agents,
Chicago, Illinois

When we talk about business savvy, we're talking about experience. The deeper the esteem an owner has for their knowledge base, the less seeking they will be of fresh ideas.

Naturally, business owners want to have as broad a perspective as possible to make appropriate decisions for their enterprise. Listening, understanding, discernment, humility, and right action are the cornerstones of great leadership. Outstanding leadership also involves hiring specialists for a task, admitting one's mistakes, and applying new teachings. Brilliant leaders don't purport to be familiar with everything, so they do not have to be the smartest person in the room. For their enterprises to be phenomenally successful in the long term, outstanding leaders will often look to those more knowledgeable than themselves to find an answer.

The SEN 4-Day Executive Business School sharpens kitchen and bath business owners' knowledge bank, strengthens good habits, and enriches the experience they pull out of running their business.

SEN believes in sharing its vision with kitchen and bath firm owners and learning their visions since everyone working in the kitchen and bath industry today has the potential to contribute excellence to it.

This paper will dive deeply into the business school.

The 4-Day Executive Business School is the vision of SEN founder Ken Peterson, CKD, and several colleagues throughout the past five decades. It is not SEN alone who carries the torch but all of us pushing the industry forward. SEN School solidifies kitchen and bath designer values and unites attendees through a shared vision and goal.

Measuring the success of a business: knowing the numbers
SEN has benefited me in so many ways-specifically, the exercise of creating a three-year budget and profit plan. That exercise enabled me to plan revenue, marketing, staffing, and personal growth. This process made it possible to bring the events of the future into the present and has empowered me to get a real handle on moving to the next level.
The top priority for a business owner is knowing the numbers their business is doing.

Knowing the number is the principal freedom that enables a business to grow into a healthy enterprise of long-sustained success.

This is why the 4-Day Executive Business School focuses on finance and the most critical decisions to maximize an owner's return.
Adopting a three-year budget
SEN Senior VP and SEN School instructor Dan Luck teaches how first to understand and then leverage financial statements into maps for guiding owners to sustain success for their operations in the long run.

In SEN School, Luck demonstrates how it's possible to overcome the trepidation of taking an honest look at an operation's numbers and why knowing the numbers is one thing kitchen and bath business owners must have an expert handle on to ensure the success of their enterprise.

Another critical financial focus is learning the proper way to budget your business.

1. Project revenue

2. Skip over gross profit and start detailing Sales Expenses line item by line item

3. Do the same for Administrative Expenses

4. Project Other Income and Expenses

5. Select the desired percentage of net profit for the company

6. Reverse engineer the gross profit in dollars to finance the overhead and net profit

SEN recommends developing budgets three years out for greater visibility and maneuverability.

One key derivative of this business process is creating the correct price formula for your business. Doing this will ensure you reach your desired net profit.

Four key indicators for measuring performance

Kitchen and bath remodeling is such a complex industry that it takes a great deal of balancing good habits and practices to keep firms leveraging through the rises and afloat through the declines of the economy. It's after owners master financial matters that a kitchen and bath firm can be measured for what it is genuinely worth instead of what it appears superficially to be.
First indicator: accrual accounting
Accrual accounting recognizes income when earned in full - upon a project's substantial completion. It's more accurate than cash accounting since product and labor costs will have been booked by then, delivering an actual gross profit percentage. Cash accounting books revenue upon receipt of the deposit check before any project costs have been incurred. It grossly inflates income, gross profit, and net profit.
Second indicator: current ratio
The current ratio is a way of measuring a company's ability to pay its bills on time.

A healthy current ratio is 2 to 1. Banks want to see a 2 to 1 ratio, meaning a business can pay back its current bills and credit line within a given year.

Current Assets (cash, inventory, receivables) 2

.......................................................................

Current Liabilities (invoices due: credit line) 1
Third indicator: debt to equity Fourth indicator: retained earnings ratio
Debt to equity refers to the amount of debt a company has compared to its equity - or net worth. Here, again, bankers want to see a 2 to 1 ratio. Two parts borrowed money for one part of the company's equity, representing the profits left in a business. Suppose the ratio of borrowed money exceeds 2 to 1. In that case, banks are unlikely to grant additional loans unless the owner can prove that the company's retained earnings are parked in a personal bank account or liquid investment portfolio.
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships. -Michael Jordan
The dollar amount of retained earnings that show up as net worth on a balance sheet is by far the most important indicator out of the four. Retained earnings are proof positive that a business is profitable or failing.

Foundational success: building the right team the first time around

It's people first, technology second.

Kitchen and bath firms succeed from exceptional teamwork. The more effective a team is, the more profitable a business can be. Technology will streamline your business to provide greater efficiency and service - your team will dictate and measure the size of your success.

What results is your business seeing from your team's efforts?

Team members are more likely to achieve goals when there is an incentive to do so. The incentive is partly built on team pride and carried through to their maximum potential by designated challenges.

Ability, compatibility, communication, and orientation are key to a healthy, long-lasting, highly productive team.

Compatibility - How well does your team work together?

C ommunication - How clearly and quickly is your team responding to each other?

Orientation - Does your team have a goal that they want to achieve?

To build a great team, firms need to hire smart. Owners may want to audit their hiring process and fine-tune their approach to interviewing candidates.

How do you make hiring decisions?

What is most essential for you in a candidate?

What do you envision your team to achieve?

How do you translate your core values to applicants who might not be familiar with them specifically but show qualities of those values?

Make a note of everything you want to see in a new hire for each position you have, including your own. This way, every position in your firm is expressed as an idea in your own words. From these records, you can measure your candidates for your impressions of them and how they stack up against your ideal qualities. This way, your ideal personnel is captured in words, and you can measure your candidates by your impressions of them and how they stack up against your ideal qualities.

What businesses need from their employees stems from general behavioral qualities. Love, trust, speed, personal development: what's important for you to see in candidates to fulfill a specific role in your business? Do your candidates' promising qualities match up with universally esteemed qualities?

#1 Love - People who love their work are dedicated to doing it well.

#2 Trust - You need to trust them. When you hire someone, you're investing in your company's future.

#3 Speed - How fast are they in completing assignments? When everything is said and done, fast producers translate to higher profit potential.

#4 Personal D evelopment - Are they committed to learning? Their occupation will continuously challenge people who love what they do and love learning.

Assessing the abilities of new hires with DiSC assessments

DiSC assessments identify learning styles and illustrate how individuals interact with the world through graphs and percentages. They help determine whom to hire and where to place them in an organization. Other personality assessments may be helpful in hiring the right people. Introduced in 1940, the DiSC assessment measures human attributes through the lenses of dominant, influential, steady, and conscientious personality types.

Attendees of the Executive Business School take a free DiSC assessment before starting the school. Instructor Dan Luck will walk the group through their results during the course. The 60-page reports are a marvel of information for people to absorb about themselves and help them become more effective in their interactions with others.

Each of the behavioral styles is the characteristic of a potential leader, with strengths and weaknesses.

Dominant - D styles - are extroverted people who love to express their opinions

Influencers - I styles - are personal and trusting idea people

Steadiness - S styles - are amiable, patient people who know how to keep the peace and avoid conflict

Conscientious - C styles - are conscientious, detail-oriented, and precise

DiSC assessments will help owners to make the right hire, know where to place new hires, and identify when any shifts in post need to be made for existing employees.

In SEN School, the instructor will discuss the meaning of the test results. SEN offers one-on-one consultation with them in a deep dive into all the metrics.
The kitchen and bath industry is ripe for disruption. Technology applied to all aspects of our industry is my number one disrupting trend for 2022 and beyond. Technology will attract talented young people to enter our industry and build their careers, leveraging these powerful tools, which is what our industry needs for long-term growth and sustainability. -, CMKBD, Industry Consultant
In addition to having a deeper understanding of your behavioral style and thus, how you are most productive, owners will have the opportunity in the class to identify and discuss using motivators to effectively communicate with and get the highest performance out of their employees.

Streamlined service is superior service

People bring uniqueness to a buying experience, but their sales service should never surprise anyone inquiring or doing business with your firm. Whether they are a prospect getting their first impression or a repeat customer, the quality of service should always be streamlined for efficiency, speed, and accuracy.

The SEN Design Group has acknowledged exemplary business practices used by firms nationwide for decades. These business practices are what this white paper addresses and what is taught in SEN Executive Business School.

Once the financial fundamentals are understood, implemented, and regularly practiced, the critical issue for kitchen and bath firm owners is streamlining a business.

Making 10%+ net profits (after market-rate salaries for owners and team members) in the kitchen and bath industry is centralizing your business's expenses and streamlining it with economies of scale.

In the four-day SEN Executive Business School, attendees learn how to charge 40% more and earn it with every job they do.

This unprecedented notion of charging more and being perceived as a better value is time-tested. It may sound unrealistic, but differentiating from your competition upwards and cost is not only a viable opportunity.

It's a straightforward system with big payoffs.

Engage prospects with an interactive sales process built around their needs that your entire staff can master quickly

Use DesignAlign™ to foster relationships with clients and quickly determine an accurate budget with them

Discover why streamlining your sales process will allow you to scale your operations with multiple satellite studios much more quickly than without using one

Incentives to inspire healthy competition and more significant returns

Once a kitchen and bath business has its personnel and selling system in place, it is helpful to use an incentives program to build rapport within your team. If you have not already implemented an incentives program, discover how using one can boost your sales by influencing client spending.

1. Increase your sales and gross profit - achieve the common goal of earning bigger profits by setting quarterly sales figures to reach. Boost sales designers' morale and enliven customers'

2. Create stronger client relationships - prospects notice when design teams work harmoniously together. Pleasurable buying experiences are marked by consistency, speed, and accuracy-capped by engagement with a seasoned, synergized, and energized team of experts.

3. Motivate sales - An incentive program with an attractive goal will inspire healthy competition among your team and foster sales designer-prospect relationships, as well as better individual and firm-wide performance.

The critical importance of sales forecasting & management

In developing a company sales plan, managing change by the percentages, creating individual sales plans per designer, and measuring a salesperson's effectiveness during monthly evaluations are necessary.

It is possible to scale your business in a few years rather than decades. Timing when to expand from a showroom business model to a showroom satellite model is crucial for kitchen and bath owners.

Traditional showrooms and the studio model share the kitchen and bath market pretty evenly. While showroom models manned by a fleet of sales designers typically do higher volume business when the economy is good, the studio model offers greater flexibility. A studio owner who closes virtually all the sales can more quickly pull back on overhead when the economy goes south, lessening the brunt of a recession, and have an easier time expanding their business when the market roars back.

Five years or so before retirement, it would be smart for the studio business owner to shift to the "showroom" business model. Elevate those design assistants who have been incubating in your operation to full-fledged professional sales designers who handle all the leads from the onset. Elevate yourself to a general manager role to guide and direct these new sales designers. Add design assistants to support them.
A budget doesn't limit your freedom; it gives you freedom. -Rachel Cruze, Financial specialist and author What is your firm's breakeven point?
Your objective is to have a strong, experienced sales team following the same sales process that consistently delivers superior customer experience. A short term result may be that you might not make as much personal income, but you will more than make up for it when you cash out.

Critical management tools to steer the ship

We all want to count our sales as another pile of loot to stash in the castle. And while job after job each quarter proves that homeowners want to do business, multiple sales for your firm do not accurately project how much spending cash you have. The amount of spending cash is identifiable after calculating the "burden rate" in your cost of sales.

Considering indirect labor expenses such as project manager supervision, how do you correctly job cost before paying your sales designers their percentage share of the gross profit? The answer is creating a burden rate - based on a comprehensive annual company budget that covers indirect labor expenses as a calculated percentage of total labor expenses.

Knowing what your firm needs to make for every job is crucial in helping to stratify your spending.

Your break-even point is found by identifying your variable and fixed expenses, and when you stack them against each other, you have a company's break-even point.

Indirect labor and production expenses include a project manager's salary, delivery truck operations, warehouse rental space, et cetera. Owners who do not do the proper job costing end up overpaying their sales designers and under-collecting the firm's overhead.

The kitchen and bath dealers' most significant variable expense is always the cost of sales. Materials used for projects, labor - both payroll and subcontracted - and transportation are all part of your cost of sales. Other crucial variable expenses include sales commission, payroll taxes, advertising, marketing tools, travel, and entertainment.

Forecast your cash flow three months out

A cash flow forecast is your lifeline to soaring in high times and staying afloat in tough times - always forecast for three months out. Three-month forecasting is a byproduct of your three-year budget.

Think of this budget as a magnifying glass that allows you to see your firm's activity in a contained period. These flow forecasts might be updated monthly, weekly, or even daily, depending on how challenging the economy is and how your business is doing.
Greatness is not primarily a function of circumstance. It's first and foremost, a matter of conscious choice and of d iscipline. -Jim Collins, researcher, professor, and author
Your accounts payable , balance sheet, income statement, and so forth all factor into your cash flow forecast. Hence, when they change, your cash flow forecast should be updated.

Taking your company from good to great

If you walk a couple blocks down a commercial street, you may notice businesses that specialize in doing one thing - and do it brilliantly. In New York City, most neighborhoods have a pizza shop that is more popular than the rest. In Paris, one can find a crepes stand that enjoys a monopoly of the tourist business during the day and the bar crowd at night because their crapes are fantastic. People flock to these businesses because they do one thing exceptionally well.

Kitchen and bath firms of unprecedented success in their local market are likely to be doing one thing brilliantly. They may showcase stellar products that sell themselves and make working with them a breeze. No doubt, there are many aspects of their business to praise. However, their greatness likely stems from that one thing they do brilliantly.

Customer service is the one thing to get right every time. Great service turns prospects into clients and clients into repeated clients and referrals. Great service is the public face of the driving force that provides the cushion for owners to scale their businesses. (Mastering the numbers is the private face).

Great companies have great leaders, and they invest in people and products they love and prosper richly because of it.

What can your firm be the best at delivering to customers?

What is driving your business to earn profit?

When the answers to these questions are intrinsically related, you have the prime ingredient for greatness.

Whether you're an industry vet or new to the game, the 4-Day SEN Executive Business School has a lot of wisdom to share with you. Dan Luck teaches new, good, and better businesses to achieve higher success. After all, the SEN Executive Business School was born out of decades of successful owner-operated enterprises that blazed a path in the kitchen and bath industry before we did!

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SEN 4-Day Executive Business School Value

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Success in the kitchen and bath industry is grounded in knowing a business's numbers and understanding that knowing the competition's value offers a unique perspective that assists owners in identifying their own company's value.

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"I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."

-Dwight D Eisenhower

Simply put, selling is everything in business. A successful sales process is a gateway to scaling a business. A streamlined sales process in kitchen remodeling means more business, bigger jobs, and more jobs completed in a year. Successful selling develops a sterling reputation, repeat business, and referrals. A company's identity is built solidly from its core values and developed through sales.

Good-Better-Best selling is simple and easy to adopt.

It's more than designating the good from the better and the best cabinet lines. GBB sales designers build stronger relationships with prospects in the first meeting and get a hard "No," or a "We love the design, when do we start? much more quickly. On top of that, your firm can charge up to 40% more for each job. This will allow you to scale your business in a matter of years rather than waiting decades. See how Good-Better-Best selling can revolutionize your income.

Whether you are a kitchen and bath firm owner, sales manager, sales designer, vendor partner, or a design assistant on an upward path in the remodeling world, you should attend the SEN GBB Sales School for industry-specific sales training to elevate your performance results.

Skim through this paper to discover what SEN University teaches in its jam-packed 2-day school at theMart in downtown Chicago.

Learn or refine skills in Good-Better-Best selling methodology. In the Good-Better-Best Sales School, instructor Dan Luck will unpack concepts of GBB selling that will increase the number of remodeling projects your firm can do in a year and save you time and money.

Establishing key GBB principles in a business

The time-saving value of template creation

The winning strategy of the three-column budget

How interactive budgeting helps deliver shockproof pricing

The art of getting retained: The key to a fast commitment

Being confident of how to find the correct numbersfor budgeting a job

Leveraging contacts to systematize leads and opportunities

Implement a strategy for capturing and managing data

Streamlining performance for faster, smoother - scalable-in-a-fraction-of-the-time - service forms of communication

Trailblazing pathways for networking

Accurate sales forecasting

Four-step preparation
1. Your selling system
Your selling system is the arrow to achieving your gross profit margin goals. Your sales team is the archer. Everybody works in concert with one selling system for one main goal. The key to successful selling is to have a service that's right for your clientele. If your firm gives fast, accurate, courteous service to every prospect who enters the showroom, most of them will become clients. New clients represent repeat business opportunities and will refer their friends, family, and colleagues to do business with you.

A design firm can leave an indelibly positive mark on every prospect who enters through their doors. When the sales team works in concert, they'll close jobs faster.

Consumers make informed decisions, they don't want to be sold anything. They want options presented to them, so they can decide on their needs. They want to know the scope of products available to identify their spending range. At the very least, after a first-time visit to a showroom, or a thorough look through your website, they should feel good about learning the basics of what will go into their project.

There is nothing wrong with what the prospect wants or how they shop. It's up to your team, and they're selling systems to serve your prospects' needs.
2. Your target market
The key to successful Good-Better-Best selling is identifying your target market. Good-Better-Best selling offers a spectrum of products and purchase points to include all budgetary concerns. The brilliance of the selling model is that it's compacted into three categories.

People want choice - though not too much - so offering three options is strategically sound. They want variety, and they want the convenience of single-store shopping. It doesn't mean that they won't want to shop at other kitchen and bath remodeling firms, but Good-Better-Best selling is an exceptional way to hold their interest so that they make their investment with your firm.

Know the kitchen and bath industry

Identify your target market->Where your services best fit

Know who your prospects are->Who is my primary customer?

Know the styles and products that are seasonal hits and perennial favorites

Know the common complaints and trigger events of your prospects

3. The primary customer exercise
If you're still looking for your target market, you could find it by creating a list and then whittling it down.
4. Identify your firm's value to the target market
When you know your target market, it's essential to be able to serve them. Make yourself invaluable to your target market by creating points of value. These points of value are otherwise known as a value-building cycle.

Value #1 - Convenience - Provide convenience to the consumer. Make sure what your firm provides is relevant to how people want to buy

Prospects may want to:

Value #2 - Education - Similar to the first value, provide information that prospects and clients want

a.) Web presence - position your showroom as an education center

i.) Blog - Keep a robust blog and post articles that edify the consumer once a week or more often

ii.) Video - create video content for your website and showroom

Post videos on your blog that highlight your projects

Short clips of kitchen warming parties could be attractive to prospects (45 - 90 seconds - humor lends a big boost)

iii.) Be dynamic - Regularly update your website

b.) Showcase - Position your showroom as an education center

i.) Cabinet comparison wall - Provide quality and professionalism showcasing your product in a Good-Better-Best cabinet comparison wall. This is an excellent way to elucidate the expenditure undertaken in remodeling a kitchen and educate prospects about the lines you carry

ii.) Spotlight customers

Show whose job you're currently doing on a bulletin board with pictures and other memorabilia visible to all who walk into your showroom

Announce your customer by name on your bulletin board. Few things are nicer than seeing your own name and lights and knowing people are excited about your arrival

iii.) Visuals

Display beautiful kitchens you've designed in a video on loop

Display a hot reel that shows before, during, and after construction footage of a beautiful project your firm did

Value #3 - Budget interactively

Build rapport with your prospects quickly by gaining their trust from the get-go

Consumers want information to influence their choices

They want to know the numbers of their investment up front

They spend more when they have control and are more comfortable when guided by easily accessible knowledge

Value #4 - Work with an experienced team

People bring their personalities and acumen to a situation, though when it comes to remodeling sales - everybody should be on the same page when talking about products, pricing, and services

Your team should talk about your products and services the same way

Streamlined service delivers a harmonious and confident experience to clients

From hello to close in record time

Good-Better-Best selling is more than a selling system. It takes people, strategy, and technology to form operations that will revolutionize an income.

SEN believes that a sales process dedicated to serving customers with Good-Better-Best options using an interactive budgeting strategy and shock-proof pricing on software is part of an exceptional buying experience.

It's hugely convenient for prospects to develop an accurate investment range for their project in an initial two-hour meeting with a skilled sales designer.

Consumers love the engagement and the product price transparency. It puts them in the driver's seat and builds their trust in your firm.

Plus, they can select from Good-Better-Best options to receive the recommended three "estimates" from a single source. Kitchen and bath firms using Good-Better-Best selling strategy and DesignAlign™ can expect to go from hello to close in record time.

Good-Better-Best firms can expect to earn:

Learn the magnificent seven points of Good-Better-Best selling

A Good-Better-Best selling strategy doesn't just bring your team together to work in concert - it's a kitchen and bath industry game changer that adds speed and professional edge to any remodeling firm.
Good-Better-Best selling

1. Makes quicker identification of mistakes and produces quicker fixes

2. Increases confidence among staff and owners

3. Improves focus for both consumer and designer

4. Doubles productivity

5. Racks up quality time to spend with your family

6. Generates streamlined experiences for anyone doing business with your firm

7. Becomes an indispensable powerhouse tool when packaged correctly for delivery

Position your showroom as an educational resource

Be the one-stop shopping experience for your clientele

Master DesignAlign project budgeting

Adopt the mindset of getting retained in the very first meeting

The platform you choose will determine how successful you will be

Use DesignAlign as the backbone of Good-Better-Best selling

Sales experience

Your sales process should be easily replicable and used by everyone on your team

Using DesignAlign generates an excellent service experience

Establishing rapport: The personal component of success

People are the core of business, and technology is how they can provide the absolute best service. The best service always comes from the best people working in the right roles.

There are three keys to establishing good rapport.
Chameleon strategy leveraging 1.Common Ground TTI/DISC profile assessments
To win in sales, you need to get them to talk about their problem - this is their reason for buying - it's not about your product. The prospect's needs always come first, then address their problem and propose a solution.
3.Follow Through

Ernest and open conversations build strong prospect relations

Ask open-ended questions and listen intently to the answers

Who are they?

What do they love to do?

What are they looking for?

Conversing over a broad spectrum of interests will draw you closer to signing the deal

Bare in mind body language is 55% of communication - it's crucial to ask engaging questions, as well as being thoroughly interested in their project

Many sales designers get hung up on products' costs and see them as a wall between themselves and their ability to sell. In reality, the price is irrelevant to a prospect if the designer builds up their value in the customer's eyes - that way, they don't feel expensive.

Implementing DesignAlign: The digital component of success

Take advantage of the kitchen and bath industry's first time-saving software. Test the Good-Better-Best (GBB) sales model to deliver accurate budgets to prospects in 30 minutes or so, depending upon the project's scope.
Real-time analytics
DesignAlign streamlines your kitchen and bath remodeling service and helps you scale your business in a fraction of the time. Imagine owning three satellite showrooms a few years from now - forget that it customarily takes decades for owners to achieve.

Exceptional showroom experience

Most kitchen and bath owners make intuitive decisions rather than follow real-time analytics. This explains why so many of us take two steps forward - only to fall a step back.
Retainers: Keys to a fast commitment
Real-time analytics gives you dashboard data so you can make informed decisions quickly.

RTAs enable you to double your revenue in one-to-two years!

There's no better way to learn than by doing. Instructor Dan Luck will familiarize attendees with the phases of Good-Better-Best selling, then, attendees will have the opportunity to engage each other in the process.

Have a look at the four phases of Good-Better-Best selling below. How is GBB selling similar to your current system? In what ways is it different? Which system do you think is more effective for getting retained quickly?

At first contact, designers will introduce themselves and act as ambassadors, orientating prospects to their company, its product lines, and its unique customer experience process.

In the first phase, designers will ascertain whether or not prospects fit their ideal customer profile, determining whether or not they will choose to do business with them. These days, consultation is done virtually or over the phone as frequently as it is done during showroom visits.

If both parties want to move forward, set them up as a "contact" in DesignAlign. Also, as an "opportunity" for a sale, record whether it will be a "kitchen remodeling," "new house kitchen," "master bath," etc.

Once you have the prospective client entered into the system, send them the "" so they can gather the appropriate information to help you build out an accurate investment as the next step. With DesignAlign, building an accurate investment moves quickly and is simple to complete.

After scrutinizing the homework, schedule a two-hour showroom appointment with all the prospect's decision-makers for the Investment Analysis meeting.
Company Commercials

Pre-configure investment templates

Quickly eliminate irrelevant categories

Fine-tune pricing per category and level

Modify the price level descriptions as needed

Ensure your retainer agreement fee is configured correctly to save meeting time.

A great way to get the message of your services' value out to prospects is to create

1.) A commercial

2.) Blog about your business
Who should attend SEN U's Good-Better-Best Sales School?

Introduce yourself and your company

Address a recent problem - such as a client design issue

Offer a solution - if applicable - showing off a finished project

Tell that story and provide an emotional hook

Think: this 45 seconds to one-and-a-half minutes long

People need more time for the long commercials. Your commercial is merely an introduction to your business and what you offer. Your goal is to generate consumer inquiry. Post your commercial on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Kitchen and bath firm owners

Sales managers

Sales designers

Vendor partners

Sales assistants on an upward path in the remodeling world

The tuition fee for learning all the ins and outs of this revolutionizing sales system is only $2,850 - and an absolute bargain for SEN U members at only $1,995 when more than one person from a firm with a SEN University membership attends within the same year!

Streamline the way you do business for smoother, razor-sharp service

Sell double the number of jobs in a year for up to 40% more gross profit per job

Leverage economies of scale in a matter of a year or three - as opposed to decades

Build and strengthen team morale and raise the level of healthy competition

The Good-Better-Best Sales School is a two-day investment that promises more than a 100% return on the first job you close using DesignAlign!

Good-Better-Best selling is the future of kitchen and bath remodeling.

Contact us to sign up for a SEN University in-person school or online course - or to learn more!

-SEN Design Group

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Applying the GBB Sales Process for Maximum Return

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A successful sales process is a gateway to scaling a business. A streamlined sales process in kitchen remodeling means more business, bigger jobs, and more jobs completed in a year.

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"Transparency is the antidote to hypocrisy." -Britt Merrick Kitchen and bath designers love the development process and seeing how much the clients love the result of their remodeling projects. [...]

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"Transparency is the antidote to hypocrisy." -Britt Merrick Kitchen and bath designers love the development process and seeing how much the clients love the result of their remodeling projects. [...]

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Individual coaching, customized business consultation and business plan development is designed to identify and build upon business strengths and transform areas of weakness. Often the most difficult step a business owner can take is identifying their own need for self-improvement. However, it is a journey that is worth taking if you truly want to improve your weaknesses and fully capitalize on your strengths.

SEN has been such a benefit to me in so many ways-specifically, the exercise of creating a 3-year Budget and Profit Plan. That exercise enabled me to plan revenue, marketing, staffing and even personal growth. This process made it possible to bring the events of the future into the present, and has empowered me to get a real handle on moving to the next level."

-Michael Watts, Bel Air Construction, Inc., Forest Hill, MD

SEN understands that no two kitchen and bath showrooms and design/build firms are exactly alike. Therefore, despite the similarities companies in this industry may have, effective business development will take different routes to success. There is no "one size fits all" approach to Business Coaching. SEN Design Group is the only industry organization with multiple Licensed Professional Business Coaches (LPBC's) on the team with the background, knowledge, and credentials to power our industry professionals toward crafting the best game plans for achieving their goals. It is our passion to help make our members stronger, smarter business owners.

Whether you are a large showroom dealer looking to grow and further improve your business, or a smaller studio model trying to improve your profitability and streamline efficiencies, SEN has the Coaching Services to not only substantially strengthen your business but help realize its full potential. Our Business Coaches can partner with you 1:1 to cover topics such as creating a profit plan, increasing gross profit margin, crafting an exit plan, and hiring the right talent. If you need to reassess current processes and procedures, our Business Coaches can help.

Join hundreds of your industry peers to receive the latest news and special offers from SEN Design Group delivered to your inbox.

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Kitchen & Bath Business Coaching | SEN Design Group

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Individual coaching, customized business consultation and business plan development is designed to identify and build upon business strengths and transform areas of weakness. Often the most difficult step a business owner can take is identifying their own need for self-improvement.

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4-Day Executive Business School

Having your team attend SEN University programs throughout the year is a smart business decision that will enable your company to build its knowledge bank. Take advantage of the SEN leadership team's experience, group resources and educational offerings designed to help you grow your business.

To view SEN University events by category, select the type of event in the panel at lower left-or signup today to save your place at our featured event shown below.

Join hundreds of your industry peers to receive the latest news and special offers from SEN Design Group delivered to your inbox.

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SEN University Events Calendar | SEN Design Group

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4-Day Executive Business School Having your team attend SEN University programs throughout the year is a smart business decision that will enable your company to build its knowledge bank. Take advantage of the SEN leadership team's experience, group resources and educational offerings designed to help you grow your business.

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Unique in the kitchen and bath industry, SEN Design Group offers a full complement of business education classes available through our very own SEN University. With classes focused on finance, management, marketing, team-building, sales, and project management, no other industry organization provides this type of education and professional development for your company. SEN Design Group gives our members a distinct advantage in mastering the fundamentals of successfully and profitably operating a kitchen and bath business with exceptional industry-specific education.

As a member, you can take advantage of SEN Design Group's experience and resources - packaged into insightful, industry-specific, educational offerings. Discover how SEN University business education resources and training can help grow your kitchen and bath showroom. Start by contacting our Membership Development Team at 800-991-1711, or view the class descriptions below.

Start growing your business today with SEN University business education resources and training.

"It's been very educational for me. It's a reminder of all my years, going back to being purposeful about your approach to business, and it's been very industry-specific. It's not only about how to run a good business, but how to run a good kitchen and bath or remodeling business. There's literally no education of this type-and this specific-in the industry that I am aware of. This has been great!"

-Vince Hodshire, Exclusive Cabinet Agents, Chicago, IL

Join hundreds of your industry peers to receive the latest news and special offers from SEN Design Group delivered to your inbox.

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SEN University: Business Education & Sales Training | SEN Design Group

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Unique in the kitchen and bath industry, SEN Design Group offers a full complement of business education classes available through our very own SEN University. With classes focused on finance, management, marketing, team-building, sales, and project management, no other industry organization provides this type of education and professional development for your company.

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Kitchen & Bath Business Development & Software | SEN Design Group

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Providing solutions to the challenges of growing a kitchen and bath business SEN Design Group is the nation's premier kitchen and bath industry business resource. In comparison to other industry organizations, a SEN membership provides comprehensive benefits beginning with industry-specific business education classes, an industry-leading buying group offering top vendors and generous rebates, time-saving cutting-edge technology solutions designed to increase productivity, and a supportive strategic community.

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At SEN, we understand the realities of kitchen and bath business owners, the employees who help power the business, and the companies they deal with on a daily basis. We also understand how the combination of design talent and business acumen are not always part of a kitchen and bath industry owner's innate skill set.

GET THE GUIDE: Top 10 Business Practices Guide-Transform Your Kitchen and Bath Company Into an Engine for Wealth

GET YOUR FREE GUIDE

SEN Design Group is the only industry organization led by leaders in the kitchen and bath industry with more than 140 years of combined experience - including hands-on experience in kitchen/bath sales and successful company ownership. Put our team of knowledgeable and experienced industry leaders to work for your team, and see for yourself the difference we can make in your organization.

Our team has seen the spectrum of business challenges and lived through the cycles of industry expansion in good times and its contraction in difficult times. More than 30 years ago, SEN learned how other U.S. business categories such as appliances, electronics, and other kitchen and bath cabinet dealers in European countries, had far more profitable operations when they were members of a strategic buying group. The members' businesses prospered when they opened themselves to engaging and learning from others. This prompted SEN Design Group to establish the first buying group in the U.S. kitchen and bath industry in 1994.

SEN currently has nearly 200 members nationwide and growing. It has more than 50 quality vendor brands in cabinetry, appliances, countertops, plumbing fixtures, decorative hardware, closets, lighting, bathroom products, flooring, tile, accessories, and business services who offer their products/services to SEN membership at preferred group rates.

It is the job of SEN's leadership team to bring unique experiences and resources to its membership - and that is exactly what we do. In addition to the experience of our leadership team, no other industry group brings the benefits of a buying group together with the breadth of available business education resources, and the inclusion of innovative DesignAlign™ Selling System Technology.

Join hundreds of your industry peers to receive the latest news and special offers from SEN Design Group delivered to your inbox.

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At SEN, we understand the realities of kitchen and bath business owners, the employees who help power the business, and the companies they deal with on a daily basis. We also understand how the combination of design talent and business acumen are not always part of a kitchen and bath industry owner's innate skill set.

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SEN Design Group was born from a vision of fundamentally changing the kitchen and bath industry, and the studios, showrooms, and design-build firms who encompass it. We are in the business of empowering these industry entrepreneurs to accelerate growth and improve their bottom line. Engaged members positively exploit the SEN brain trust of experience, and leverage the organization's exclusive education assets, to transform their companies into increased-profit-margin generators in a few short years, eliminating decades of costly trial-and-error.

No other industry group helps kitchen and bath business owners:

Fortify intellectual capital through industry-specific SEN University education programs

Hone business skills through management/marketing tools and sales-focused training

Ignite a passion for combining exceptional design talent with increased gross profit margin on every project by leveraging the group's purchasing power

Build strong relationships with the SEN member community, vendor partners, mentors and coaches, and colleagues

Leverage innovative DesignAlign™ Selling System Technology to minimize time and maximize success

These are the core values SEN Design Group leverages to help members achieve their goals.
Discover Whether SEN is a Good Fit For Your Business

"After weathering the 2008 - 2011 recessions, I determined we needed to tweak our business model in order to become less reliant on production builder trade and more consumer-focused. In order to learn more about potential competition (specifically the Retail Kitchen and Bath Dealer), I enrolled in SEN's Kitchen and Bath Business Boot Camp. I learned more about the business in that one week than what I had experienced in the previous 25 years. Already having an advanced degree in finance and marketing, I learned new metrics to help identify my company's successes and failures. With a new perspective on profitability, we have been able to increase a marginally respectable ROI to something that could turn outside investors heads. I could not endorse any one-week program ahead of SEN's and respectfully encourage any stakeholder in the business to attend."

-SEN MEMBER, KENTUCKY

Join hundreds of your industry peers to receive the latest news and special offers from SEN Design Group delivered to your inbox.

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SEN Design Group was born from a vision of fundamentally changing the kitchen and bath industry, and the studios, showrooms, and design-build firms who encompass it. We are in the business of empowering these industry entrepreneurs to accelerate growth and improve their bottom line.

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SEN Design Group-Empowering kitchen and bath businesses with the essential resources for success...it's time to get a team of experts on your side.

The SEN Design Group leadership team directs the only industry organization that has logged over 140 years of hands-on kitchen and bath sales and company ownership - and whose passion is to help owners thrive and prosper. In fact, our only business is helping you grow yours.

Founded in 1994, SEN Design Group currently has nearly 200 members nationwide and growing. It has more than 50 quality vendor brands in cabinetry, appliances, countertops, plumbing fixtures, decorative hardware, closets, lighting, bathroom products, flooring, tile, accessories, and business services who offer their products/services to SEN membership at preferred group rates.

With industry-leading educational resources through our very own SEN University, innovative technology solutions that increase productivity, and a supportive community of kitchen and bath professionals, SEN Design Group is the team of experts you need on your side to get your business growing more quickly and more profitably.

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SEN Design Group | Premier Kitchen & Bath Industry Buying Group

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The SEN Design Group leadership team directs the only industry organization that has logged over 140 years of hands-on kitchen and bath sales and company ownership - and whose passion is to help owners thrive and prosper. In fact, our only business is helping you grow yours.