| Bob Rider remembers the couple well. The wife wanted the outdoor fireplace, but the husband wasn’t convinced. Yet when Rider, who owns Rider Stone in Tulsa, Okla., bumped into the husband a week later at the hardware store, he sang a different tune. “The first week that it was finished, his two sons were outside throwing water balloons right after a cold front had moved in, and they warmed themselves by the fire,” says Rider. “Pretty soon, the whole family was roasting marshmallows together.” Rider likes to tell this heart-warming tale when he meets with his customers. It illustrates the dramatic impact that outdoor fireplaces have on people’s lives, he says. “I tell my customers if they like being outdoors, the only thing they’ll regret is not doing it sooner.” In recent years, outdoor fireplaces have become popular. They add a dramatic, architectural element to backyard patios, provide a gathering place for friends and family and extend the outdoor season by several months in cold-weather areas. Additionally, modular fireplaces have now become widely available. These new models are high-quality, attractive and easier to install than traditional masonry fireplaces. Manufacturers now offer products that can be installed by workers without masonry experience, thus improving the profit margins for installers. Selling outdoor fireplaces isn’t that hard, Rider says, because upper-income homeowners are investing in their homes. “My customers are people that used to do a lot of traveling, but are spending more time at home now because of the economy,” he says. “Fireplaces become the focal point of their outdoor living area.” To market outdoor fireplaces, Rider provides customers with client testimonials and invites them to tour his past projects. “Nine times out of 10, it works,” he says. Maverick Pickering of Maverick Landscaping, which does business in the Kansas City metro area, has the same sentiment. He sells lots of outdoor fireplaces through the photos on his website as well as referrals from other customers. “Outdoor fireplaces account for half our sales calls,” he says. One reason that outdoor fireplaces have grown so popular is that customers also love the convenience of the new products. Because certain fireplaces come in preassembled pieces, installers can also set them up in customers’ yards in a matter of minutes to test locations. “When we installed outdoor fireplaces with brick and block, we had to know exactly where they would go,” says Rider. “Now the customer can look at it first and make sure it’s what they want.” Another selling point is that outdoor fireplaces can be customized to meet clients’ budgets. “Eight years ago, you had to be rich to be able to afford one,” Rider says. “Today the starting price is $4,000, making it more affordable.” As a result, Rider does fireplaces as stand-alone projects and part of larger backyard renovations. Yet Rider’s customers are not only interested in outdoor fireplaces. He cites fire pits, larger patios and hot tubs as other popular features with his clients. “Outdoor kitchens are also big – there’s a whole outdoor living theme in the industry right now,” he says. While Pickering has completed $200,000 projects before, many of his clients are foregoing larger projects to focus on outdoor fireplaces, he says. “They may decide they can’t do the $75,000 project, but they’ll spend $12,500 on a fireplace.” For companies that are seeking to break into outdoor fireplaces, Rider recommends using them as a hook to grow the rest of their business. “Use them as a focal point, and then sell the whole job,” he says. “Once you get the fireplace, you’ll probably get the yard, too.” He also recommends completing research on the product you’re going to sell, making sure the product is tested and certified. Another piece of his advice: avoid cheap products. Finally, he says that contractors should place the fireplace where it can be seen from two or three different places. Doing the job right means profit margins of up to 60 percent. Pickering recommends that companies bid projects carefully and educate clients about why genuine products are a better choice. “You have to know the cost of your material and labor, period,” he says. He cites an example in which he bid against another contractor that quoted $8,000 for a fireplace. Pickering told the homeowner that he needed to buy a real stone fireplace. He ended up getting the job – for $12,000. These days, despite the economic downturn, companies like Rider Stone and Maverick Landscaping are thriving, a trend that Rider attributes in part to the sales of outdoor fireplaces. “We would have been out of business if not for the backyard scene,” he says. The author is a freelance writer based in Cleveland. |
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