Winter
Newsletter

March, 2016

   

As the  Building and Housing Market improves, Dawson Builders has noticed a steady increase in home renovations and new home purchases. While Dawson Builders has expanded and continues to grow, we always want to be sure and meet our customer needs... from your small repair project to your large scale renovation. 

Our new business opportunities come from your customer referrals. A customer recently told me, he was asked if he would recommend Dawson Builders. He told the individual: "Dawson Builders is a  very honest and fair contractor , but they can be slow completing their projects." I realized that "honest and fair" are great adjectives for professionals in the service industry. However, there is always room for  improvement. As a result, we have taken the following steps  to work on the 'slow' part of the comment and improve our effectiveness and efficiences.  

We have hired four additional skilled employees to keep up with our demand. One of them is  Boguslaw (Bo) who was hired to focus on the final punch list and overall customer service quality. She meets with the customers to create a final punch list of the last 10%  of open items and works to complete those to close the project.  

We are using technology more and more with our Dawson google drive so project manager, laborers, and contractors can check their phones for customer project updates and documented plans. We implemented the use of a new scheduling tool to keep our employees updated while at customer job sites.

We recently reorganized our business to concentrate on the small business needs as well as the larger project requirements. 

We changed our banking arrangement to BarringtonBank and Trust because of their strong service image. We also instituted new accounting practices to better serve our customers. 

As always, we appreciate your business. Give us a call if you have any home repair questions.


Thanks,
John 
This Newsletter includes:


Sump Pumps in the Winter

A sump pump is an important part of your home's outdoor drainage system. It is often an appliance that is "out of sight, out of mind".....that is until it fails. Now that it is warming up, you need to check that your sump pump is discharging the water regularly and correctly. 


A few tips about your sump pump:
  • The sump pump works by pumping water from heavy rains out of the sump pit located in your basement or crawl space. 
  • Once you locate the sump pump in your mechanical room or basement, check out Dawson's How to Check Your Main Sump Pump   YouTube video for instructions on how to verify if your sump pump is working properly. It just takes a few minutes to do. However, it can save you a substantial amount of time and money later.  
  • It is also recommended to have a back up system in place, in the event that your main pump fails or you lose power. It should alert you when you primary pump is not working. Take a look at the video, How to Test your Back- up Sump Pumpon our YouTube site.
  • Find the outside pipe that catches the water as it drains from the sump pump. It should be 1.5 meters away from the foundation and it should be sloped so that water drains away from the house and does not sit and freeze. Examine the opening to ensure no dirt or debris are clogging the drain.



One Phone Call to Dawson for Any Service Need

We believe that you
should be able to make
ONE phone call for your home construction and servicing needs. Call us for anything.

As a reminder, Dawson provides a one year warranty for all the work that is completed under the broad Dawson service umbrella.



Free Bath Room Fan Inspections 

The majority of houses built in the early 70's in Barrington have bathroom exhaust fans that only vent into the attic, or no fans at all.  Current code is to vent the bathroom fan through insulated duct work in the attic and connect to a roof penetration, so the moist air goes straight out.  This greatly reduces the potential for attic mildew.  We have seen enough issues with these fans, that we are now offering 'free bath fan inspections.' 

Set up an appointment for a Dawson employee to climb into your attic and investigate your bath room fan.  If any repair is needed, we will let you know.  For less than $600, including parts and labor, your can have a new properly installed fan that will reduce the overall moisture in your bathroom, prevent major attic mildew, paint peeling, and water streaking.