Create A List And Double Check It Before Shopping

Unless you have a photographic memory and never forget anything, you need to plan on creating a list, before you head down to the store. I don't know how many times I went down to my local home improvement center or lumber yard only to find out that I had forgot to pick something up. The only problem with this is that I couldn't usually work unless I had that something that I was missing.

If you're a home builder and enjoying making money, it's time to go down to your local stationery store and purchase the few pads of paper and some ball point pens. It took me about 10 years, before he finally realized how important creating a list before going shopping actually was.

Here's what actually changed my life as a home builder forever. It was about two o'clock and I needed one 90° half-inch copper elbow to complete the water supply line and turn the water back on to the house I was working on. I told the homeowner that I would be back in less than an hour, because the nearest building supply store was about 20 minutes away.

That was my first mistake. The building supply store was completely out of the plumbing fittings that I needed, so I got in my truck and went to the next store which was only 15 minutes away. They had what I needed and I went back to finish my project, only to find out that I was out a gas and wouldn't be able to solder the fittings together.

That was the last time that I went to the store without checking to see if I needed anything else. Not only did I starting making lists, but I started to purchase and store large quantities of building materials at my home and in my vehicle.