From job-to-job, remodelers face unexpected design and construction challenges that continually make the profession — let’s say — interesting. Those who’ve seen it all, tell stories about simple time-and-materials jobs that lead to much bigger issues, stories about small half-day jobs that expand to fill half a week or even half a month.

That is why many of the most successful remodelers, through experience, find ways to limit the number of potentially negative variables they face. One way to impose limits on these variables is to impose limits on the type of jobs you do. Instead of shouldering the immense range of knowledge required to be all things to all clients, you can become a true expert in a specific remodeling niche. Today the remodeling industry is increasingly composed of specialists in all areas from basements to decks to kitchens and baths.

A onetime cabinetmaker, Darius Baker, CR, of D & J Kitchens and Baths in Sacramento, Calif., can attest to the benefits of focusing on just kitchens and baths. Last year the company completed 43 jobs with revenue totaling $2.28 million. Even more impressive, the firm was able to earn a “net, net profit” of 10 percent for the year.

“If you look at a typical kitchen remodel, there is a sequence that has to happen, and it is extremely difficult to mix that up. You have to tear it out. You have to do rough plumbing. You have to do rough electrical. You have to do some framing. You have to put up the wallboards. You have to do this before you can do that,” Baker explains. “And I think the value of specializing for us is that once you get that process down, it allows you to examine it even further. We have gotten to the point where we wire a light switch the same way every time so if Joe does the rough wire and six weeks later Jason comes by to set finish, he knows exactly what wire he is pulling out of that box.”

Beyond the speed and efficiency gained during production, Baker and his partner John Scofield, CR, bring decades of accumulated knowledge about kitchen and bath design to each meeting with prospective clients. “You sell better. You can design better. You can price better. You can convince clients to do things that work better because your conviction shows through to the client, particularly if you are doing the design part of it.”