Organizing technology Tech is a wild and wooly beast that can be tamed. It really must be tamed if you’re to survive in the construction industry. And, taming tech means getting it organized in ways that serve you rather than overwhelm you. When you think about the tools tech has altered, enhanced, or replaced, you’ll get a better idea of how important it is to use the organizing mantra, “A place for everything and everything in its place” even in the tech world. For example,

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

Preventing Loss of Tools, Equipment, and Supplies Preventing loss of your stuff I remember the overall depletion of my dad’s spirit the morning he walked out the door to go to work and discovered his tools had all been stolen. Tools which had taken years to accumulate. Tools which had somehow been magically transformed to fit the curves of his hands, his fingers, his being. Yes, there was insurance. No, it didn’t cover the entire loss. It stinks! It stinks when you have to de

Growing Your Construction Business in 2019 Growing your construction business is much like planning to run with the big dogs. As a matter of fact, I wanted to title this piece, “How to Run with the Big Dogs.” I thought better of it. Yet, getting out and romping with the big dogs does have a great appeal, right? Growing up My cousin, (I’ll call him Andy) tells an “in my youth” story. Seems Andy had gotten his first full-time job soon after receiving his high school diploma. It

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

Hubdoc! Whether or not you faithfully watch the annual Hollywood extravaganza known as the Academy Awards, you know there is a competitive division known as “Best Supporting Actor.” Much like the movie world, the real-life accounting world has tech. Tech which supports the big-name players. Those in the supporting rolls make the movie (or the accounting) so much better. Let’s break this down The best tools you own don’t perform well if they’re used with the wrong attachments.

Client requests Strategy is involved when you determine what to do and what not to do when dealing with client requests. Be sure all your employees and subcontractors know what the strategy is and how to deal with the various circumstances. In my last post I presented information concerning how to deal with the inevitable change orders which pop up during construction. This time let’s look at when a client’s request for additional service or a change in production, materials,

You’ve moved up from “Have hammer, or wrench, or paintbrush – will travel,” to running a construction contracting business. Now, you have much more to be concerned with than simply finding a project, doing it, and getting paid for your effort. You have a business to run, one which should be profitable. And in the construction business, just as in other businesses, cash in king. That is simply how it is. To run a profitable construction contracting business you must learn how

You’re a construction contractor – and you’re busy! All day long! Or are you? What about those minutes of time that are maddeningly frustrating because you’re waiting? Waiting between scheduled appointments Waiting for the person who is late to an appointment Waiting for the coffee to brew Waiting for a slow application to load Waiting for a field report to finish downloading Waiting between sessions at a conference Waiting on phone hold Waiting while you’re stuck in traffic

10 Qualities Needed for Scaling Your Construction Contracting or Service Business part 1 Being an entrepreneur in the construction field comes with a few challenges other entrepreneurs don’t face. There are a lot of ideas concerning what it takes to be an entrepreneur. For example, you’ll hear things like: You need to be motivated by challenges You’ll have to be tenacious You’ll need the support of your family and friends You will be one who loves new ideas You must see and f

In this monthly post, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to one of the many apps that we at Schulte and Schulte endorse and recommend to our customers. As a firm of construction accounting specialists, we love to help companies in the construction industry with their books and finances, part of that help is finding different apps or software that can help our clients out.  During this monthly feature, we take a look at several apps that we love at Schulte and Schulte, LLC, and

In this monthly post, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to one of the many apps that we at Schulte and Schulte endorse and recommend to our customers. As a firm of construction accounting specialists, we love to help companies in the construction industry with their books and finances, part of that help is finding different apps or software that can help our clients out. During this monthly feature, we take a look at several apps that we love at Schulte and Schulte, and dig a

At Schulte and Schulte, our passion is in working with any company that fits under the construction umbrella.  This includes construction service businesses like plumbers, HVAC techs, roofers, landscape techs, etc.  Some of the apps that have been, and will be, featured in this blog series are feature filed and do have elements that would be beneficial to construction service businesses.  However, we feel strongly about finding an app or software solution for each of our clie

Construction Contractor, have you found your tools are always yelling at you because the wife and kids take up way too much room? Well, here are some ways you can get them to calm down – the tools, not the wife and kids. Standardize the Process It doesn’t matter if you have a single pickup or a fleet of vehicles ranging from box trucks to vans to tool trailers, having organized tool and supply transportation is the key to hitting the jobsite ready to roll. Plus, consider this

I’ve discovered Construction Contractors and Subcontractors are among the most adept and proficient folks around. They wear such a profusion of hats (skilled tradesman, project manager, marketer, salesman, HR manager, supply-chain manager, customer-service representative, PR manager) it can be mind boggling. Yet there are 10 Personal Tools they need to use no matter which hat they happen to be wearing at any given time. The quality traits (tools) of excellent construction con

When you or your workers waste time looking for material, tools, or equipment, dollars are flying out the door If you’re organized, even a small shop can be a comfortable size. If you’re not, well, then a shop of any size will get crowded. Have you been in your shop and heard, or said things like this? Has anybody seen the box of washers? Do you know where the shop-vac is? What happened to the long, flat-head screw driver? I was just using it. If you have, stay tuned, I’ve go

My dad was a master carpenter who moved up the ranks, retiring as a construction superintendent with many awesome builds under his belt. My mom was counted among the last of the American generations of women who stayed at home taking care of the home front. (The photo accompanying this article is my Mom and Dad’s wedding picture.) The difference in how they saw the job of “being organized” was immense. Mom was a perpetual and ardent “stacker.” Her piles of magazines, bills, l

There are deadlines to meet, customers to satisfy, and (let’s face it) the important dollar to chase.  You work hard to build your contracting business. Finding ways to streamline the regular functioning is an ongoing process. Today, we present five “tools” for you to use in making your business run a little more smoothly. Close the door! Even if you decided to start your own construction contracting firm because you didn’t like your former boss’s real or implied closed door

You can utilize the same powerful tools and resources at a decent price. This is because, thanks to the advent of cloud technology, many tech companies are moving to the subscription based model rather than selling individual pieces of software. The advantages for small businesses are tremendous. The old methods of software development made it much harder to scale a piece of software for various sized businesses and needs. So, many of the more powerful software choices were e