With the new year comes change. Regretfully, we must change some aspects of our fee structure to keep up with the everyday cost of doing business. Don’t worry; we’ll still approach each project with the same energy and creativity, following our Signature motto: Do it so well you’re proud to sign your name to it. Let’s talk about that for a minute.
What exactly does The Signature Movement do? Like our welcome page says, we provide customized solutions for everyday issues–it can be an idea for how to arrange things in your space or choosing the right materials for those aging in place or redesigning entire spaces to fit your lifestyle and movement better. We have ideas for lots of things. Primarily, our focus is providing solutions in a real estate capacity. We want you to find the right purport for you and/or build equity in your property.
As the creator/owner of this brand and leader of this team, I have my hands in everything. My role here consists of five P’s: Planning, Purchasing, Personnel, Production and Presentation. I’m here for my clients from concept to completion. I’m completely invested, because our company motto is my personal motto. I hold everyone I work with to this standard because it’s my name and reputation on the line. That said, I also represent the pros I work with, and each of us deserves the respect and compensation we work so hard for.
Sometimes clients like to undermine our products and short-change us–usually after an unexpected bill comes or the contingency runs out. It’s like inviting friends to a nice restaurant and they’re totally enjoying themselves, loving the ambiance and the wine. Then when the check comes, they’re like: “What?! Why does it cost so much? Gratuity? That steak wasn’t THAT good. It was medium well anyway; I wanted medium rare. The wine was nothing special…” You get the gist. Everything was fine until you realized you overspent. That’s not on us; we signed up to give you everything you asked for, not count your coins. It’s your job to set a budget and stick to it in the beginning.
What’s changing? Everything. We’ve avoided charging our clients a specific amount for mileage or per hour for most services because we wanted to stay competitive while working for the people to build equity in their homes. And it just made sense at the time to develop a schedule of charges based on labor, time and materials involved. But that doesn’t cover enough if the job is not local or if additional hours are needed to meet a deadline, or Covid delays and inflates EVERYTHING. It’s not fair to our hardworking associates.
Why the changes? While we can certainly deduct many expenses at tax time, you need the money in advance to cover each expense. So we must go back to the drawing board and include all aspects of completing the individual job, based on what is required to complete it within the specified timeframe, with what’s readily available at the time–even if it costs more than our favorite go-to products. And each project must include a contingency for unanticipated overages, or our operating budget takes a hit. That means we can’t grow or get training and equipment or certifications because our money was spent covering your expenses. We can’t keep living like this, even if we’re for the people.
We want to be around for years to come, so we must ensure that every project we put ourselves into is rewarding enough for us to continue. It’s a business. Profit is always the goal. I realize this will price us out of some people’s budgets, but it really is true you get what you pay for. If you want customized solutions and design plans, it’s going to cost you, and you should expect to pay well for it. Base model builds and common ideas are everywhere for much less. Have at it. This is couture. This is Signature.
Thanks to those who continue to support us in the coming years. We absolutely love what we do here. Changing lives feels good, unless you’re going broke doing it.
Most Sincerely,
Tonya D. Floyd, Creator of The Signature Movement