NTCA UNIVERSITY UPDATE ––––––––––––– By Becky Serbin, Training and Education Coordinator Estimating courses are in development As I have stated in previous arti- cles, we have a lot of new mem- bers and they are looking for help with their businesses. If you take a look at our membership, most of our contractor members employ up to five people including them- selves. I’m also assuming that most of these owners are tile contractors first and business owners second so the fact that they need help run- ning their businesses should not come as a surprise to anyone. That being said, one of the Training and Education subcom- mittees, led by Dirk Sullivan with Hawthorne Tile, has started develop- ing estimating courses. The team realized that there are several dif- ferent types of estimat- ing needs based on the customer and size of the project, so they started with a course on estimating small residential projects in which you would be working in a home where a homeowner could be present. The course starts with explaining what you should do during your initial visit including how to make a good impression and the type of information that you should gather while you are at the potential job site. Here is a tip: never give a price to a potential customer off the top of your head! Always take the information from the job such as substrate prep needs, size of project, potential material needs, and any important details with 100 TileLetter | August 2018