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Member Profile: Four Core Values Bring Success
The latest in a series that profiles members of local NAHB Remodelers who are strengthening their local councils through networking and recruiting new members. The grassroots champions who are being highlighted in this series have collectively recruited more than 400 new members for the NAHB Remodelers to date.
 Jimmy McKinney
President, J&R Construction Services, Inc.
Wilmore, Ky.
Jimmy McKinney first hung out his shingle in 1996, building decks and porches.
Seven years later, with $700 in cash and a credit card with a $4,000 limit, he and a partner launched J&R Construction Services.
The first year was so challenging, McKinney says, that only prayer helped them through. But the company quickly began to expand its services and, by the next year, McKinney bought his partner out.
Today, J&R Construction Services boasts six employees and a robust and growing client list. Kinney has shifted his focus to balancing financial success, a passion for the work and his family.
Despite the housing and economic downswing, McKinney is generally optimistic.
“Last year we were 40% under where we projected we’d be,” he observes, “but as of June, we’re 60% up from the same time a year ago.”
Networking and ‘Talking With People’
One of the steps McKinney took three years ago was joining and getting involved in the Home Builders Association of Lexington (HBAL) in Kentucky. Within a year, he joined the organization’s membership committee — and was soon persuading others to become association members.
McKinney’s recruitment secret?
“I just like talking with people,” he says. “I’ll burn up anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 minutes a month on my cell phone. When you’re involved in an organization like this, it just becomes part of your normal conversation.”
McKinney is a true believer in the value of being a member, noting that in addition to what he’s saved on insurance, vehicles and computers, the continuing education has helped in a big way.
“If I didn’t stay up to date on the latest trends and what I can do for my clients, I’d just be another guy with a ladder in the back of my truck,” he explains with a laugh.
Another aspect of his involvement with HBAL is his membership on its remodelers council, where he’s working to encourage more open sharing of resources and solutions and serves on its executive committee.
McKinney’s largest business challenge, similar to that of many other small companies, is cash management. To boost cash flow and improve customer satisfaction, McKinney and his staff are about to unveil a new service offering ― home maintenance contracts.
“We’re at a unique point in history,” McKinney explains, “with four generations living and working together. One area my staff and I took a lot of time to work through was tailoring service arrangements and pricing structures that would appeal to traditional home owners, boomers, Gen-Xers and Gen-Yers.”
Four Core Values to Running a Solid Business
McKinney believes there are four essential values to running a solid business — passion, persistence, desire and hard work. He also emphasizes the importance of hiring people who truly buy into his business approach.
“I always ask people to talk about their passions during interviews. If we’re not a good fit, I’m not doing them any favors by hiring them, or vice versa,” McKinney says.
Like most business owners, McKinney has specific revenue goals in mind when discussing where he wants his business to be in five years.
But just as importantly, he believes that in order to get there, his business has to be able to answer what he call the “three big questions ― What are we passionate about? At what can we be the best in the world at? What is our economic denominator’ or profit potential?”
“Once we can answer those questions, we can just start driving the bus,” McKinney says.
 Increase Your Professional Credibility
The Certified Graduate Remodeler (CGR) designation emphasizes business management skills as the key to a professional remodeling operation.
Remodelers who earn the CGR become members of an exclusive national program and gain recognition as industry leaders.
To learn more about the CGR designation, visit www.nahb.org/CGRinfo, or call The Professional Designation Help Line at 800-368-5242 x8154.
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