Online Project Management Software

September 19, 2008

I just came across a good article today about some factors and trends regarding the use of online project management software for construction. 

Typically the problem of remote software use has always been connectivity and trust with information being stored off-site.  Don Fornes does an excellent point of laying this all out. 

Read more about trends in web-based construction project management software...

On the website www.softwareadvice.com there are many more great resources to help you determine the best software for your company.  You can also learn more about Don Fornes on his ENR Blog.

Selecting and purchasing construction software is only a small part of the challenge - the real trick is the conversion process and total integration between the software and your company's processes.  This is an area where D. Brown Management excels - visit www.dbrownmanagement.com to learn more and contact us to discuss how we may be able to help you with this very critical process. 

Pre-Fabrication Saves 190,000 Hours Of Traffic Delays

September 18, 2008

Pre-planning which leads to pre-fabrication opportunities is something we work with clients relentlessly on.  It still amazes me that even in this tight economy how much push back we get from people at all levels of the company. 

If we can find a way to pre-fabricate entire sections of a building or bridges as shown in this article why do so many contractors fight the basics of setting up a pre-fab operation for their own niche of work? 

Labor is the most valuable and highly variable component of a contractor's business.  There is little that will have as big of an impact on construction labor productivity than the relentless focus on pre-planning and pre-fabrication. 

Click To Read ENR Article

Cutting The Fat - Slow Down Survival Tips

November 25, 2007

Action is the key to success. Here are just a few tips on leaning out during a slow down. This is a first of an upcoming series on surviving the market slow down.

Look around your company for those employees that just don’t shine quite as brightly as others. OK, now trim the fat. It’s that easy. Use this time to get rid of non performers. Think very carefully before cutting key employees. Replacement many of the costs for replacement are hidden. Long term employees know and understand your business. It’s essential during vast change to keep together a cohesive core.

Where did salaries go through this last building craze? Through the roof. Guess what, the slope just changed. Take command of your company. Trim just five or ten percent across the board while it’s here. Will it go over well? Probably not. However, having a job is much better than standing in the unemployment line.

Be sure you’ve scrutinized your insurance policies. Be sure to adjust estimated payrolls for projected premiums. Look at your estimated tax payments. Be sure they are re-aligned. The impact on cash flow from adjusted tax deposits and premiums can only be of help.

Many costs as you downsize naturally fall. Look at your floor space. It’s not going to shrink. If like many contractors you own the building, cost compare renting a smaller space, leasing your space to a more another business. If you’ve recently built, the change may pencil.

Keep the knife sharpener handy. Cuts don’t have to be deep nor drastic by any means. From toilet paper quantities, to pencils, to the cell phone plans to benefits synch it in. Lock it up if you must and designate a gatekeeper.

Hold brain storming sessions on how savings can be achieved with key employees and their subordinates. Create departmental teams and offer incentives for finding ways to save or increase efficiencies.

Take a very close look at your material handling or lack thereof it. Take your field guys to the conference room. Audit material handling and develop strict material handling training and processes. No nail shall go unclaimed. No board shall be cut too short. Use them as your tool for coming up with best practices. Most of it should stick when the heat dials up again. You’ll be operating as the new trimmer you.

Renegotiate with vendors. How low can they go? Negotiate a long term relationship to stabilize your costs if at all possible. Be sure to leave market adjustment allowances built into the agreements.

Stay tuned for more. Coming soon are moves that generate cash plus tips on running a successful construction company.

Summit Technology Group - Client PR

September 17, 2007

One of our clients (Summit Technology Group) just had a great article come out about their business in a trade publication:

Summit Technology Group: Divide and Conquer

The business strategy of diversification is huge for a contractor. The other thing we love about Summit Technology Group is their relentless focus on customers and employees. These are the two drivers that produce long-term profits. Any other strategy will fail in the long-term.

New Accounting Standards

July 30, 2007

The Wall Street Journal published an interesting article detailing some potential upcoming changes to the financial accounting standards:

Profit as We Know It Could Be Lost With New Accounting Statements

See the draft layout of how the new rules could affect financial statements

While this may seem trivial the effective design of financial reporting can create more rapid and thorough insight into a company. You should spend as much time designing your financial reports as you would designing your estimating take-off / recap format. Using the standard, "canned" reports that come with your accounting system is unlikely to produce optimal results for your unique business.

Company Integration

Currently we have several clients who are involved in acquiring, merging or otherwise integrating the operations of their company with another. This is a very exciting way to grow because of the upside of almost immediate revenue dollars but behind the scenes there are thousands of details that need to be managed.

If these details are not managed correctly then the chances of those additional revenue dollars turning into profits are slim to none - losses are more likely.

There is a great short article called "The Right Way - and Some Wrong Ways - to Make an Acquisition" written by Wharton / GE Capital that outlines some best practices. The dynamics of integration do not change whether it is a $10M company integrating a $1M company or a $100M company buying a $10M company or simply trying to tie together a strategic partnership.

Building Information Management

July 17, 2007

California Construction magazine provided a great overview of BIM - It's a BIM New World

Personal or Company Responsibility?

July 01, 2007

Just reading the latest edition of IEC Insights and there was an article by Christopher E. Hoyme, a partner at Berens & Tate. The article described a case setting some precedence regarding an employers liability for an employee's mobile phone use.

Recently a Smith Barney broker was using his mobile phone on his personal time but making a call to a client. The broker got into an accident and Smith Barney was sued because it was "understood" that brokers made business calls on their personal time. The case was settled out of court for $500K.

This is amazing and just goes to show how there continues to be a degrading line between an employee's personal responsibility versus a company being responsible for almost everything an employee does on or off the clock.

For more information about employment law sign up for Laborwatch newsletter from Berens & Tate or contact them directly:

Berens & Tate, PC, LLO
10050 Regency Circle
Suite 400
Omaha, NE 68114
(402) 391-1991 PH
(402) 391-7363 FAX
www.berenstate.com

Bug of the Month Club

February 24, 2007

In the IT world there are people that actually dedicate themselves (for free) to finding and publishing every bug they can find for a specific piece of software.

There is some debate whether this is good or bad - I can see both sides.

Personally I think that when problems are exposed in a "big and loud" way it does put a lot of burden on people to fix them quickly and that stress causes a lot of short-term problems but in the end it forces people to rethink entire processes.

People by nature are typically complacent and therefore they don't like being pushed out of their comfort zones. Sometimes pushing people out of their comfort zones causes damage. Sometimes a company can not act fast enough and more damage is caused.

Of course people are going to think this is bad - but the upside is that it is making people (forcing them) to get very, very good and quick at fixing problems.

Rapid recognition and broadcasting of problems is probably the best thing that a company can go through even if it is painful in the short-term.

Read the complete article called "Time to End This Gimmick" online at www.darkreading.com if you are an IT Guru - if you are not an IT Guru just think about how to make every problem in your business stand out as if you had a team of people watching you every second and posting the problems in real-time.

Start fixing those problems and their root causes and you will have an amazing business.

Be Smart About Taxes

January 31, 2007

Irving Blackman is a partner in Blackman Kallick Bartelstein and specializes in estate and tax planning issues. He got my attention through a column he writes in Contractor Magazine. Right after he got my attention we had a great phone conversation and he is a wealth of knowledge.

Recently he put all his past columns (35 years worth) online at www.taxsecretsofthewealthy.com - definitely worth checking out.

Customer Service - Blocking & Tackling

January 30, 2007

Paul Cardis of NRS Corp writes a great article in the December 2006 edition of Professional Builder that focuses on customer service. His main point is that real data should be studied to find the true root cause of the problem before trying to implement a solution.

Data is hard to argue with and can be used to find and fix so many problems in a company, not just customer service issues. Our approach has always been about using data to highlight problems and then, once people recognize the problem and root cause fixing it is much, much easier.

Fantastic Construction Marketing Example!

January 14, 2007

There could not be a better example of how a contractor / developer used some of the great marketing ideas oulined by Seth Godin that this.

Learn how to sell a $140M project via web, e-mail and permission-based events!

Read the post for more details - it outlines 9 basic steps to success and could not be more clear.

Chris - thanks for putting this example out there and trying something new when it comes to marketing in the construction industry.

Seth - thanks for being such a great influence and putting these ideas out there.

I was hooked since I read the book Idea Virus which was followed by Permission Marketing. Both of these books can generate a ton of ideas about how a contractor can utilize the web, e-mail and standard marketing means to create a cohesive marketing package that delivers results.

When I look at most contractor web pages all they have are pictures of their projects and some relatively boring text. They are not taking full advantage of what the web can offer for their businesses. It is about educating people, building relationships and interacting with them in a way that helps drive them to buy.

What if you were a service contractor and started putting a series of how-to articles on your website? What if you started really using it to educate your potential customers about their plumbing, HVAC, electrical or home maintenance? What if you had a sign-up for a newsletter with each article where they could get additional information? What if this additional information was geared to educate them, not just glossy sales material?

The first thing I hear when talking about something like this:

"That will just attract people who want to suck information from me and then go to Home Depot and do it themselves!"

Yes, this is true for a percentage of the people but, what if this whole process were automated so that whether there were 10 people or 10,000 looking at your site it didn't matter to you?

That is the advantage of the web and e-mail. The cost of distribution is near zero after the content is created. With this in mind you are better off using your website as a central place where people can learn about your services. Your website should position your company as an expert and whether the person uses your services or goes the DIY route they will still remember where they got the information from.

Now, picture that DIY person who installed their own ceiling fan last year thanks to the information on your website. Now they have been getting your newsletter with electrical tips each month including safety tips, enhancing home value with outdoor lighting and highlighting pictures with low-voltages spot lights.

They decide they want to do some of these things but they will need a new service panel - now you get a call from a customer who already loves your company. This minimizes haggling over price or even needing to sell them on your company.

Again, if your website looks like your company brochure then you need are missing out on huge opportunities!

Why Employees Are Sick

January 13, 2007

CCH recently conducted a study showing the growing problem of people calling in sick when they really aren't and the reverse of the problem - presenteeism - where people come to work when they are actually sick and their production suffers.

If you are involved in HR or manpower management in any way this is a quick survey that will give you some insight that can be helpful.

For more information see http://www.cch.com/absenteeism2006/

Yellow Pages Advertising

January 10, 2007

Adams Hudson writes another good column for Contractor Magazine regarding the use of Yellow Pages advertising. The response rate for advertising is not driven by size of the ad alone. If you are planning to spend a few thousand dollars on the ad then you may want to think about shifting more of the budget to design.

A well-designed, well-targeted marketing piece will produce the best ROI for your marketing dollars. Spending money on size and quantity will not always translate into revenue dollars.

Read more at - Change your Yellow Pages ad and Budget. Visit Adams' website at www.hudsonink.com for more articles on marketing for contractors. Remember that if you boost your service business it will help protect you from the volitility of the project market. It is better to have nickles trickling in from all over the city than it is to have a million dollars coming from a single source.

E-Mail Communications & Contractors

January 08, 2007

This is a very, very critical subject and you should read everything you can on it. You should be putting policies and procedures in place for dealing with electronic communications and making sure that you are legally in compliance with your contract.

Susan Linden McGreevy makes some excellent points on this issue in Contractor Magazine.

"One Night Brand"

January 06, 2007

Alain Thys does a great job of telling a funny story about the difference between how a customer perceives your company when you are selling to them versus when they are actually doing business with you.

Contractors will all find this story very funny - but probably hitting close to home. Does everyone in your company treat the customer the same way throughout the sales and installation process? When you are doing submittals is your project engineer treating them as if they are a proposal to a very important potential customer? When you are turning out a bill are you paying the same attention to detail and customer service that you did when you presented them the initial proposal?

E-Mail Marketing

Joe Dysart wrote a great article for Contractor Magazine that applies to any contractor who uses e-mail as part of their marketing campaign.

The article is titled "The Spam Filter Gauntlet" and is a must-read for anyone using or thinking of using e-mail.

FYI - if you are not using e-mail as part of your marketing campaign then you are missing out on a lot of opportunities.

10 Ways to Motivate Your Employees

January 03, 2007

Jacki Bradbury-Guerrero gives us some great tips on how to motivate employees based on Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs theory.

Maslow's pyramid of needs is a great way to look at human motivations. I would suggest making a list of ALL programs and services your company offers from training to retirement to health benefits and see which one of the needs on the pyramid it meets.

Are there any gaps? As a company trying to compete with today's limited workforce those that provide programs to help employees at all levels of the pyramid will thrive because they will be the employers of choice.

What do you offer near the top of the pyramid?

10 Ways to Motivate Your Employees

Jacki Bradbury-Guerrero gives us some great tips on how to motivate employees based on Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs theory.

Maslow's pyramid of needs is a great way to look at human motivations. I would suggest making a list of ALL programs and services your company offers from training to retirement to health benefits and see which one of the needs on the pyramid it meets.

Are there any gaps? As a company trying to compete with today's limited workforce those that provide programs to help employees at all levels of the pyramid will thrive because they will be the employers of choice.

What do you offer near the top of the pyramid?

Quick Advice for Anyone Marketing on the Internet

January 01, 2007

Seth Godin put together a quick one-page list of things that can be done to help non-profit organizations market themselves on the internet.

This list is just as good for any contrator seeking to improve their internet marketing. We talk to a lot of contractors and most are still stuck thinking about the internet the same way they think about print advertising. The internet is a lot different and if you don't learn that you will just be wasting money and time on a "pretty" website.

This one-page summary gives you some places to start learning about the web.

Also see our conference summary on SEO (Search Engine Optomization) for more details.

Electronic Discovery

December 30, 2006

Just something to be watching as we move more and more into electronic record storage in construction. I don't think I've heard a solid opinion from a construction attorney yet on electronic records because there is no real case history where the validity of the electronic records has been challenged.

From another industry but still something to watch: Discover or Else: Rules Take Effect on Electronic Evidence.

Thinking Differently

John Moore posted a list by Bruce Mau about change - the list is short and concise. Reading it over breakfast this morning reinforced my thought process in some ways (refreshing) and sparked a lot of new ideas (VERY refreshing).

Notice that many of the ideas mentioned seem counterintuitive - until you think hard enough about them.

Thank you John for posting this list!

Winning - The Answers

December 15, 2006

Yesterday I was at the airport in San Antonio, Texas and saw the book Winning - The Answers by Jack and Suzy Welch. The book is a compilation of various Q&A sessions similar to what the very end of Winning had. Unfortunately my brain was a little tired and though I wanted to read the book I opted for a magazine instead.

This morning I see a post from John Moore with some great quotes from the book (see slides below). I loved the book Winning - the ideas were applicable to every business and every career. This weekend I fly back to Florida and will definately pick up a copy but in the mean time I really enjoyed the excerpts.

If you haven't checked out John Moore's website, Brand Autopsy you should - he regularly posts the best excerpts from the business books he is reading along with great insights.

One Laptop Per Child

December 03, 2006

First Near-$100 Laptops Roll Off Assembly Line - News by InformationWeek

There are few things that will do more to change the world (or a company for that matter) than giving everyone access to the same information. This program will do just that - imagine lifting billions of people out of poverty and war over the next century.

Costco & Employee Relations

Welcome to the Club | workforce.com

Great points about workforce development including management development that are applicable to contractors as well as retailers.

Killer Customer Service Idea

December 02, 2006

Trust, But Verify - News by InformationWeek points to how Salesforce.com puts their data center performance metrics online for customers to see - both the good and the bad.

Customers want information - it is that simple. If you want to keep customers provide constant information whether it is good or bad.

Business Growth & Transition

November 18, 2006

Great article in Entrepreneur magazine about 6 steps you can take to help your business make transitions - called Lost in Transition by Carol Tice.

Even though this article is geared toward the ultimate transition of selling the business many of these steps will make any business run much, much better.

Notice that #2 on the list is to document processes! This is hard, boring and tedious work - and well worth every penny and minute you spend on it.

If you don't think that getting your team together in a conference room and "agressively discussing" the details of exactly how a bill or change order should be processed for several hours is worth it then you are destined to fix billings and change orders each and every month - forever!

Construction CEO's For Hire

November 07, 2006

Forbes recently ran an article called CEOs for Hire on ForteCEO which provides interim CEO's for growing businesses. ForteCEO lists construction as one of their key industries. If you are in need of some leadership on a short-term basis to get your company organized or to the next level and you need more than what a consulting firm can provide this may be a potential solution.

Standardized Construction IT - Coming Soon...

November 06, 2006

Standards for data sharing gain momentum- 9/1/2006 - Building Design & Construction

Article points out the current advancing status of standards for construction CAD systems. Once all CAD systems can talk to each other there will be billions of dollars of savings annually. Hopefully these standards begin to flow down to project management systems for exchanging RFI, transmittal, submittal and change order data in the near future.

Dialing For Growth

A couple weeks ago Jack and Suzy Welch gave some great advice for growing small and medium sized businesses in their weekly column in BusinessWeek.

There is very little literature out there about medium sized, growing businesses. Most books are about either huge corporations or about startups. Jack and Suzy suggested simply getting out the phone and calling other businesses. Most businesses are very open to sharing - you just have to ask the question.

I see that in the construction industry all the time - contractors are very local and if you want to learn something just find a contractor across the country who is doing something cool. I almost guarantee you that they will talk to you and help you out in any way possible.

Download the MP3 podcast of the article for more details - or just pick up the phone and start calling people!

Construction IT - The Next Level

November 04, 2006

Most likely you run your construction company with dozens or even hundreds of spreadsheets and forms designed for a specific purpose. This method works good for smaller organizations but as your company grows the seperate spreadsheets kept by each project manager quickly become unmanageable.

For instance if you have 25 projects in-progress it becomes very challenging to get a real good feeling of the status of changes throughout the company.

OK, so the spreadsheets are not working - but there does not seem to be a single solution that really addresses all of your companies needs. What do you do?

Take the approach that Pulte Homes did and just bite off one thing at a time. Database and web development have become increasingly affordable. Pick just one process like change orders and integrate it into a "one-company" system with all project managers feeding it and drawing information from it.

One little process automated at a time will help you define your company as a series of processes and lay the groundword for you to select that "one system" in the future.

Designing Interactions - Innovation

October 31, 2006

I always love books on ideas. At the end of the day there is nothing more important for improving a business than the ability to generate new, profitable ideas. The best businesses have a culture of both execution and innovation. Both can be turned into processes. IDEO is a company that has consistently been at the forefront of innovation for many years. I recommend reading EVERYTHING you can find on how they work. Along with this book is a great website at www.designinginteractions.com

50 Lessons

October 30, 2006

Fantastic idea for online learning. Short, to the point and available on-demand.

www.50lessons.com

Build Your Business Through Exercise

October 28, 2006

BusinessWeek just ran an interesting article discussing the benefits of exercise on the health of your business.

Put simply those business owners who exercised regularly felt better about their businesses AND their sales were higher. This is definitely worth a read - full article here but I'm not sure I fully agree with the cause-effect line they are trying to draw.

In the early 90's I took some time off from construction and had a personal training business. We did not do any studies as formal as the ones mentioned in the article but we did notice that successful business people had a drive and heart that made them better in the gym.

The problem with studies like the one discussed in the article is that it could drawing connections between two unrelated things. I believe that it is the drive and heart of a person that makes them excel whether it is in business or in the gym or in anything else they choose to do in life.

Does exercising make you feel better? Yes - but does the personality type that will get up at 4AM to run before heading to the office at 6AM also use that same drive to improve sales?

Perhaps you should look at the gym and other athletic events when recruiting talent for growing your company. Maybe sponsoring some of these events would help you recruit the talent you need to grow your company.

Building Your Brand

October 25, 2006

In a Fast Company article called Brand Yourself there are some great tips that can help any business grow. Construction companies are typically built around one or two strong personalities that other people "want" to do business with.

Building and enhancing your personal brand in conjunction with your company is a clear path to profitability.

Intesting Healthcare Options

Interesting post on the Tom Peters blog about people actually traveling outside the country for operations.

On another front there are more doctors switching to a model called Conceirge Doctor where the patient pays an annual retainer for better service - imagine not waiting in long lines and actually getting someone who can pay attention to you!

Both interesting things to keep tabs on.

10 Marketing Tips - Seth Godin

Seth's Blog: Top 10 Secrets of the Marketing Process

Fantastic summary that is applicable to every business - especially contractors. Few contractors actually "Market" their services. Bidding a job is not marketing!

A question I often get asked is about the profitability differences between contractors. I can't say that we have seen any particular niche of the construction market that is more or less profitable than another.

What we have seen is that the companies with more of a sales and marketing focus are typically more profitable regardless of how efficiently their operations seem to be.

Good marketing starts with good customer service, creating good stories and then spreading those stories. Everyone in your company is involved in this process from the estimator to the person processing lien releases or certified payroll reports.

Do not assume your customer service is as good as you think it is. Things often look far different from the provider side of the transaction than they do from the customer side.

Spend some time really trying to understand and improve your customer's experience and profits will follow.

Brain Age?

October 19, 2006

An interesting concept - Brain Age

Exercising your brain. I believe strongly in it and would love to hear comments from anyone who has used this product. E-mail me comments about this or other "Brain Enhancing" products and I'll post them here.

You only have two real assets in the world - your brain and your body. You should treat both with the respect they deserve.

Brainstorming

BusinessWeek magazine just had a great article about brainstorming, how it can be done right and more importantly how brainstorming is often done incorrectly. The article - The Truth about Brainstorming also includes a great example of a Mind Map by David Kelley, founder of IDEO.

The Idiocy of Crowds

October 16, 2006

David Freedman makes great points in his article titled The Idiocy of Crowds. Understand the difference between communication and collaboration. Don't collaborate in place of communicating. If a decision is best made by a single or small group of people then make the decision and communicate it. Don't dumb down the process by "collaborating" with people who do not have the skills or experience to ehance the decision.

Managing Space - Managing Change

October 15, 2006

Tom Peters just reminded everyone in a quick post that space management is huge when it comes to managing cultures and change. He mentions that back when writing In Search of Excellence there was a chart showing the odds of communication based on physical proximity.

Is your utilization of space and proximimity at odds with your company goals?

Do you say you want Project Managers engaged and focused on supporting the field yet keep them in the office instead of investing in larger jobsite trailers and getting them out on-site?

Do you talk about the problems in hand-off between estimators and project managers yet keep them in seperate parts of the office?

Do you want to integrate your operations with accounting but still keep them on opposite sides of the building - or even in different buildings?

You don't have to be a big company to focus on space design. Just focus on organizing people and space around problems or opportunities, not around functions or seniority.

Ehancing Customer Service

October 12, 2006

Seth Godin makes some good points about customer service. The biggest thing that makes a difference is a shift in the framing of the problem.

If a customer contacts you and your goal is to get the "problem closed" on your tracking system then you are inwardly focused. You can only truly serve the customer by focusing outwardly, putting yourself in their shoes and working together to solve a problem.

Brainstorming With A Tech Edge

October 10, 2006

An interesting article in BusinessWeek about how an ad agency came up with new ideas for Wal-Mart. The overall article is interesting but the best part is about mid-way through the article starting just before the subsection titled A Long Day's Journey.

The focus is on using technology not only to gather the most ideas possible but also to enable everyone to have the same voice. Good thoughts for any business.

Operational & Marketing Excellence Lessons

October 08, 2006

A couple of weeks ago I was in a Starbucks in Santa Rosa, CA and saw the training process for a new cashier in progress. She was working the cash register and right beside her was a book about 1" thick that looked like it covered all details of her job. The pages she had it open to demonstrated exactly what all the markings and codes should be on the side of the cup before handing it to the Barista. Next to her on the other cash register was a more experienced cashier coaching her through the rush-hour morning.

This constantly amazes me because they have put so much time and effort into documentating every step of their business yet in construction which is many times more complex we hardly ever take the time to document our processes. This is why there is such variability in construction projects and construction business owners everywhere constantly blame the people. The problem is not the people but rather the processes and training setup (or not) by the company owners or management.

If you have been in business a while and have good success in the market place but are having difficulty growing then process documentation and streamlining may be what you need to take your construction business to the next level.

Not only can we learn good operational lessons from Starbucks but we can also learn many fantastic marketing practices as well. John Moore has several books and a blog dedicated to lessons learned about marketing Starbucks.

The Broken Job Interview Process

October 07, 2006

I have been on the road traveling to a lot of client sites the last month and did not get a chance to comment on this great article by Seth Godin about the job interview process when it came out.

Here are some short thoughts about how it can relate very well to contractors:

Who the ____ cares where the applicant has parked themselves for the last decade? Let's dig into what they did. You can do this through a structured information gathering process during the pre-employment screening (see website screening example) and then go deep on that information during the interview.

Why is it that most managers talk a lot about the revenue they produced or managed? Wouldn't you rather have an estimator say "I really don't get a lot of jobs. I typically only get 1 or 2 jobs each year but they have always made $1M or more in GP." What do they normally say - "I get 75% of the jobs I bid and got $10M in work last year."

How much can you really tell about how someone performed based on an interview? Test them out by putting them on the job for a few days and working closely with them. See how they ACTUALLY perform - if they don't then move on.

Integrating these processes into an overall organizational planning process will improve your company more than any other single action you can take.

Website Tweaking

September 18, 2006

Seth Godin points out the need for companies that can simply tweak a website to make it a little better. I could not agree with this need more and personally have a need for such services while also having several clients who could use a minor "facelift" rather than a complete rebuild.

As an example our company website www.dbrownmanagement.com could use this service to convert the standard HTML coding into CSS format for faster loading and easier SEO. We would also like to incorporate parts of this blog into specific pages on our company website. I have a great vision for what I want and just need some "tweaking" as Seth puts it. Anyone who provides such services please contact us.

In-Cab University

September 02, 2006

InCabUniversity is an accredited program geared towards drivers who can complete coursework while on the road. This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone who spends a lot of time driving and there are plenty of us in construction who spend time on the road.

This could be a good opportunity for contractors to sponsor these a learning program and help build their workforce.

5 Mistakes In Business (Seth Godin)

August 21, 2006

An excellent quick list of the top 5 mistakes Seth Godin sees when it comes to entrepreneurs and marketing. I don't think these points could be said any clearer - pay special attention to #3.

Myths in Management

August 06, 2006

ACCAbuzz ? Blog Archive ? Myth Busters

Some great points about management myths and how they cause managers to make the wrong decisions. There are some great points about financial incentives (programs need to be designed right) and a great one about work / life separation.

Additional Insured Endorsements

March 07, 2006

Additional insured endorsements still an issue

Managing insurance risk for contractors is constantly becoming more challenging. This is a fantastic article describing the direction the industry is heading and how some states such as Oregon are trying to limit the ability of owners to flow-down all risk to contractors. This is a must-read for anyone in the contracting industry.

RSS Basics

December 30, 2005

RSS Tools (For The Record)

This is a great overview of RSS and how you can use it to effectively manage information on the web or integrate it into your website.

Pulte Homes Handbook For Winning

December 24, 2005

HousingZone.com - Pulte HomesHandbook for Winning

Lots of good and simple advice applicable to any business and a fantastic overview of how Harley Davidson focuses on details of customer service even at the initial delivery stage to build their image and gain additional customers.

Sarbox Isn't Just For The Big Guys

InformationWeek | Sarbanes-Oxley Act | Snapshot: Private Adopters Are Bigger And Faster Growing | July 4, 2005

I've written about this in the past - Sarbanes-Oxley, Transparency & Your Business (General Thoughts)

This is a follow-up story and survey by PWC showing the number of smaller companies voluntarily complying with Sarbox 404 just to improve their businesses.

There are a lot of measurable benefits towards designing, documenting and auditing the internal financial controls that guarantee the accuracy of your financial reports.

For a small or medium sized company this is really about integrating Operations and Accounting to consistently provide accurate feedback on the health of the business.

Web Application Technology

InformationWeek | Web Applications | Fuel For The Web | July 4, 2005

If you have ever used a web-based application such as Salesforce.com or Netsuite you have begin to see the power of applications delivered over the web but have also noticed the lagging response of web applications versus typical desktop applications.

That is changing with a new suite of tools for web developers. The first major roll-out of a data intensive web application using these tools was Google Maps.

This is a technology you should be looking at as you decide which direction to go when selecting future technology applications for your business.

OSHA 18001

Quality Digest Magazine

Good article on tying safety with the quality processes of ISO 9001

Integrated Security & IT

A Two-Person Job - March 2005 Issue @ SecurityInfoWatch.com

All systems are converging on IT - phone systems, video, media and now security.

It makes sense. Security is about managing a variety of data inputs; no different than any other IT application.

Back in 2002 at the ISC West convention there were only a couple of IP based products out there. Today almost every security manufacturer has IP enabled products.

Unfortunately the technology has adapted much faster than the internal political barriers have come down. In a typical organization in 2000 there were several distinct infrastructures including the IT system, telecom, security and building management. Each of these infrastructures had a seperate budget and management.

In the near future all of these will share the same IT infrastructure. This has huge efficiency benefits but there will have to be a lot of organizational changes to match the technical improvements.

We address a lot of these challenges in our latest whitepaper revision on Infrastructure Security - When the Billy Clubs & Hardhats Meet the Bits & Bytes Team.

Planning a Successful Exit Strategy

Planning a Successful Exit Strategy

Running a business with the end in mind is crucial for success. This article focuses on the more tactical pieces of selling a contracting business. It is a good quick read that provides a simple overview of the process.

Related Post: How to Value a Business Before You Buy It

Fighting for the Future of US Manufacturing

December 22, 2005

Chief Executive, The: Fighting for the future of U.S. manufacturing: American companies need relief and support

This is a fantastic summary listing some key statistics such as how much the general government red tape/compliance costs per manufacturing employee and how much the costs of excessive lawsuits are for the industry. When added up this creates a $10-12 per hour per manufacturing employee increase in costs.

Reducing these costs go a long ways towards increasing the viability of American manufacturing.

Why "Balance" is B.S.

Chief Executive Group | Articles

Fantastic article focused on "Blending" rather than seperating work and personal life. Comments apply not only to owners and CEO's but really to anyone in a senior leadership position.

The Age of Authenticity

The age of authenticity - QR: Editorial - Remodeling, Design, Planning, Contractors, Business

Having a higher purpose is necessary for true, sustainable success in any business. Looking at your market demographics is critical. www.americanlives.com

Surviving Business Failure

Surviving business failure - QR: Featured Articles, Home Improvement

This article quickly summarizes why a business will fail, some key indicators that can't be ignored (cash!) and the fact that it is not the end of the world. You can learn more from failure than from success - and failure makes you a lot stronger if you learn from it. Most successful people have failed at some point in their lives.

Solid and Sustainable (Remodeling Market)

Solid and sustainable - QR: Featured Articles, Home Improvement

Industry research is always positive just to understand the market a little better. This article very solidly explains the outlook for the remodeling market.

You Don't Have To Be Perfect To Be Effective As A Speaker

You don't have to be perfect to be effective as a speaker

Speaking at industry events is a fantastic way to raise the status of your company. Owners and managers are far more effective at this than they usually give themselves credit for. Don't miss this opportunity to promote your company, your industry or political issues specific to your industry just because you think you have to be the perfect speaker - the same goes for writing.

Communication and leadership go hand-in-hand.

VoIP Surges Into The Mainstream

November 29, 2005

InformationWeek > VoIP Surges Into The Mainstream > VoIP Surges Into The Mainstream > January 10, 2005

Voice Over Internet Protocol can have significant advantages for businesses of all sizes. http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18200936

The Most Successful Remodeling Business

The most successful remodeling business - QR: Editorial - Remodeling, Design, Planning, Contractors, Business

You have to imagine what the perfect company will look like in order to create it.

Help Clients Create a Positive Cash Flow

Monthly Checklist Series

A simple checklist of things that seem like common sense but often get lost when it comes to dealing with cash flow. Cash is the most important aspect of running a business on a daily basis. You should review your cash flow management processes regularly and communicate them with all employees who have an impact from the accounts receivable person to the project manager doing billings and processing changes to the field foreman and crew who are responsible for doing the punch lists, as-builts and other details that can hold up payment.

Charts Tell the Real Story

Charts Tell the Real Story

Charts can be an excellent way to demonstrate trends on spending, overhead, gross profit analysis, cash flow, etc.

Outsourcing To Romania

InformationWeek > Offshore Outsourcing > Move Over, India > November 14, 2005

Article outlines the lower cost of IT Outsourcing to Romania - personally I've had fantastic results using a Romanian company for some marketing and design work. They were very professional and about 25% the cost of local companies.

The funny thing was that we got almost 30 proposals for the work and out of the 5 companies we shortlisted based solely on quality of work three of them were based on Romania.

Outsourcing is definately something to be concerned about for American jobs but the solution is not short-term political actions. We need to learn how to utilize these worldwide resources efficiently if we want to succeed.

The short-term political actions are very easy to sell to those who are being put out of a job and make for fantastic stories when put together by someone like Michael Moore but look at the decline of unions as an example.

They spend all their member's money on short-term, mostly political actions which only make for a slow death rather than INVESTING this money back into their members, focusing on better training, increasing productivity and generally partnering with businesses to figure the best solutions out. This has been going on in construction for years - don't let the same thing happen in IT.

VoIP Learning Curve

InformationWeek > Voice-Over-IP > VoIP Gotchas > November 14, 2005

Excellent article detailing both the upside and downside of VoIP systems. Personally I've seen fantastic business results from the improved communication and lower costs of the VoIP systems but implementation is challenging and it doesn't always make financial sense.

Learn more about how technology can help contractors including a free assessment for Northern CA businesses.

Bidding Standards

InformationWeek > IT Outsourcing > Business Technology: Don't Drive Right Past GM's Latest Idea > November 21, 2005

The construction world knows all too well the challenges of comparing scopes at bid time. There is a lot of inefficiency in the process of subcontractors bidding to prime contractors and the prime trying to match all the scopes together to make a complete project.

With standards for bidding starting to emerge in the technical world for very large contracts you will start to see changes in the construction world within the next 5 years.

General contractors, owners and CM firms should have their eye out for new standards that will change the way scopes are put together and the bidding process is managed from the new 2004 CSI Master Format to the many online bid management modules for estimating software popping up everywhere.

Subcontractors should be watching these trends as well and learning how to align their estimating systems with the new formats and systems.

There is so much lost productivity in construction from the estimating process through the construction process just because of mis-matched formats and communication standards that change is a given. Companies will either be on the cutting edge poised to take advantage of these changes or will be left scrambling to catch up.

Make Excel and Instant Know-It-All

November 25, 2005

Make Excel an Instant Know-It-All

Pivot tables are an excellent way to analyze data dumped from just about any accounting system.

Under Pressure

InformationWeek > E-Business > Under Pressure > January 10, 2005

We depend on IT systems but they do still crash and most people blame the IT staff and are irritated without taking a step back and realizing that before technology there was no way to deal with these same problems and it cost a lot more.

Dust Off Those Creative Tools

Quality Digest Magazine

Creativity is getting lost and there are a lot of gains that can be made through creativity. Author's website is www.harrington-institute.com

Involve Non-IT Peers In Long-Term Planning

InformationWeek > Long-Term IT Planning > Smart Advice: Involve Non-IT Peers In Long-Term IT Planning > January 10, 2005

While this article applies to IT technology it can also apply to other systems within your organization. As companies start to grow they tend to treat their departments like silos and there are a lot of inefficiencies and lost opportunities because of this.

Creating a Reliability Culture

Creating a Reliability Culture

Create a comparison between how a maintenance organization runs using metrics, prioritization, flow charts, etc. and how that can be applied to best practices in keeping a business running smooth. A business is really just one big machine with a lot of moving parts. How much time do you spend on preventative and proactive maintenance versus dealing with emergencies and catastrophic failures? Also has a good matrix for responsibilities that can be utilized elsewhere and made into a downloadable template.

Implementing a Successful Training Program

Implementing a Successful Training Program

Details about the shortage of skilled trade workers and some strategies to deal with it.

Basics of Branch Circuit Testing

Electrical Contracting Products - ECPZone.com | Publication

This article hasn't been posted online yet - will be posted in about 3 weeks.

It discusses the basics of testing branch circuits, how to find high-impedence problems that can lead to a fire and discusses how the Philadelphia Housing Development Corp. lowered the incident of in-wall house fires from blown-in insulation by requiring certain branch circuit tests.

Fantastic idea for service electrical contractors to market for older homes and joint marketing with insulation contractors.

Going it Alone - Software Consultant

November 23, 2005

Software Development>Career Center: Going It Alone

Software Development Magazine - December 2005

An article focused on making the shift from employee to independent contractor but from the perspective of someone in the software/IT business.

Glance - Web Conference Service

Glance - Glance - Instantly host a web demo, sales presentation, desktop sharing, application sharing, screen sharing

Saw this in Presentations Magazine and it looks like a great low-cost tool for meetings. Review for use in training sessions.