Things aren’t what they used to be The reaction to the Coronavirus pandemic has caused shifts in buying habits, consumer expectations, and even workplace practices. Therefore, the construction industry has experienced and will continue to experience impacts on operations. These impacts may include: equipment, and supply chain disruptions financing restrictions or cash flow shortages permit delays or restrictions on new permits schedule setbacks workforce interruptions And lik

Turning your construction contracting company into a Lean Mean Communicating Machine is imperative. In the best of times, communicating well quenches fires, builds trust, and improves your bottom line. In this COVID – 19 time, communicating well allows you and your construction business to stay in the game, maintain traction, and grow in ways you may not have thought of before. Five communication basics Keep everyone informed. Be honest with all involved. Encourage communicat

So, you’ve sent the office staff home. And, the schools have sent their children home. How do they (and your construction contracting business) cope? As a professional business owner as well as a second-generation homeschooling family, we offer some ideas that have worked for us. Perfect solutions Remind yourself and your employees there are not likely to be any perfect solutions. Things will happen. Plans will go awry. Interruptions will . . . well, you know, interruptions w

Inspire through leadership Your leadership capabilities as the owner of a construction contracting business may very well hinge on one simple concept – inspiration. No matter how you became the owner of your business, there comes a time when you must inspire others. You’re not Chuck in a Truck. You’re the owner of a construction company. A construction company that employs staff, teams, workers, hands, people who look to you to guide the way. One bare fact is employees thrive

Leading with Composure Keep in mind these three important facts concerning composure: Everyone wants it Most have messed it up It can be regained It is easy to remain composed when all is going well. Anyone can do it. It’s when faced with uncomfortable and difficult experiences in your construction contracting business that you have the opportunity to demonstrate your composure as a leader. In other words, Composure One aspect of composure is it is difficult to describe. But

You own a dog whether or not you know it If you own a construction contracting business, you own a dog. And we’ll get to that part later. But for right now, I’ll take you on a little journey down Working Dog Lane. Ranch dogs must be working dogs For example, Tonya’s first paying job beyond babysitting was on a ranch in northern Arizona. Her boss was a no-nonsense type who expected each of her ranch hands (including the animals) to put in a day’s work to receive a day’s pay. I

Employee Handbooks for reading pleasure? 😵 I was asked to help write an employee handbook for Schulte and Schulte recently. And I yawned. Like, you know. Employee handbook = boredom induced coma. In that regard, it was in some ways an easy task.  A lot of “copy and paste” was involved. It was a very difficult task  in other ways.   What must be included and what is optional? Therefore, there need be only three rules it seemed to me. My (tongue in cheek) suggestion: Don’t be

Building streams This report is going to follow two diverse streams which converge to make one river of thought. The first stream has to do with an encounter on a modern city sidewalk and the second with a look at the building of a medieval castle. Building high rise office structures On Tonya’s and my recent trip to Salt Lake City, we had occasion to walk from the convention center to a nearby grocery store. Therefore, we passed through a covered sidewalk which was designed

Indirect Costs can cause hair loss You know what I mean; trying to figure out what amount goes into which column can be a hair pulling adventure. And, making matters worse, indirect costs can mount in a hurry. At first glance, it would seem differentiating a direct cost from an indirect cost would be somewhat intuitive. And, in one respect it is. Because, you can name the labor cost and the materials cost per job and you’ve got the foundation for your direct cost column. Ther

Drone Thinking as a tool Before we begin, let’s get something cleared up. Capterra’s Rachel Burger wrote a blog post for The Balance Small Business titled, 6 Ways Drones Are Affecting the Construction Industry. She has some cool insight into how using drones is beneficial to construction contractors. It is worth the few minutes it takes to get her overview. Check it out, you may find a few bits you hadn’t already thought of. It’s good stuff. Yet, it isn’t what this article is

Uber – what it means From Dictionary dot com, we learn that “uber” can be used as either an adverb or an adjective. When used as an adverb it means, “having the specified property to an extreme or excessive degree,” and as an adjective, “designating a person or thing that exceeds the norms or limits of its kind or class.” There is no mention at all of how the word is now being used as (I think) a verb. Here’s an example of how it is used in a sentence, “We thought about walki

5 Takeaways from Archery for your construction business My first venture into the world of archery took place while I was still in high school. As I recall, our PE teachers chose a variety of sports and activities to keep those of us who were in our senior year interested. I chose the archery segment thinking it would be a lark, never once thinking it would be something I would be interested in after the 6-week venture. Yet it was. What follows is a light-hearted look at what

Counting the Cost in Construction Accounting Counting the Cost in Flood Waters There is an interesting law here in Arizona which is known by the name, “Stupid Motorist Law.” It says something to the effect of “any motorist who becomes stranded after driving around barricades to enter a flooded stretch of roadway may be charged for the cost of their rescue.” Apparently, the law can be found in Arizona Revised Statutes section 28-910. Also, just as apparently, the law isn’t reg

Employee or Right-Hand Man Employee with more to offer Last time we looked at the problems involved with finding Loyal Employees.  This time we’re going one step further and suggesting that finding a Right-Hand Man or Right-Hand Woman is paramount to developing a construction business with hutzpah. And right up front, I will let you know, this isn’t a position for which you can advertise. “Right-Hand Man Needed” won’t fly. Employee Right-Hand Man samples Bill Gates – Steve Ba

Loyal to what? In the construction industry, in 2018, the idea of loyal employees has taken a beating. Loyalty has gotten into the workforce ring and taken a severe beating – then been kicked in the ribs just for good measure. Lest you be tempted to lay this no-loyalty scenario at the doorstep of any particular generation — stop. Look back at the late 1950s when the seeds were already being planted. The seeds of distrust which began unraveling the employer and employee social

Mistakes are learning tools Learn. Study. Improve. Grasp. Catch On. There are numerous ways for us to learn. Making mistakes is one of them. At the bottom rung of the construction contracting mistake ladder we hope to learn to never again do the thing which turned out to be a mistake. Yet, there are more rungs. Making us think it through. Training us to not do similar things. Teaching others to avoid the action. Enlightening us concerning our skills level. Revealing something

Business is great Business is great – until it isn’t. The construction contracting business is well known for its boom or bust nature. Using the boom to prepare for the bust is simply a matter of having good business sense. And, two ways you make the preparation are considering future financial needs and creating documented, sustaining processes. This is the third in a three-part series dealing with growing an established construction business. Taking it up a level. Getting b

This is the second in a 3-part series dealing with efficiency in a construction contracting office. The first installment, having to do with the basics, can be found here. Being efficient is all about systems and processes Finding ways to make your construction office operate more efficiently begins with determining simple, thoughtful solutions for the various systems and processes necessary to get from point A to point Z. You already have systems and processes in place, whet

Efficiency in the construction office Efficiency for the sake of efficiency isn’t enough. As a project-based organization, you often face a struggle with factors such as time, cost, and quality on each individual job site. Therefore, being efficient and effective in the office becomes paramount to supporting all the needs associated with getting the jobs, performing the jobs, and getting paid for the jobs. Let’s start with Return on Investment Yes, there is an ROI factor conn

You need an accounting system for your construction contracting or service business because you need data. There are three basic reasons you need data. Because the federal as well as state and local governmental entities require it. And, let’s face it, running your construction contracting business from a prison cell would be much harder than any issues you’re currently facing. Because banks or lending institutions, as well as bonding businesses require it. Loan officers have