Stephen Diller is a fourth generation builder. His great-grandfather was the barn raiser in his community, and his grandfather and father carried on the building tradition, specializing in custom homes. After several years working on another builder's payroll, Steve, assisted by his wife Janelle, started his own construction company. Specializing in the rapidly-expanding home-improvement market, they built a successful business based primarily on referrals and repeat work. Janelle Diller also came from a family involved in the construction industry. She maintains an active role in the office end of the business, and also teaches at the community college. Although the two grew up with construction, when it came to starting their own business, they quickly discovered that knowing how to swing a hammer and how to run a business profitably were two very different skills. What they needed was a book like this one: one that would explain estimating, scheduling, setting up books, dealing with the IRS, marketing, and salesmanship. After learning these skills the hard way-through trial and error, the authors decided to share their knowledge with other contractors starting their own business. The information they have provided fills the gap between construction skills and business skills. The authors' purpose is to relieve other would-be construction company owners of the pain of learning the hard way.