Electric cars and trucks are the signature of the green movement. They will be the savior of the construction industry! These dandy vehicles are the culmination in the transformation from gasoline only to hybrid gas/electric to full electric transportation. No more noxious fumes from exhaust pipes! These vehicles will fulfill all of our transportation needs [...]
Contractors, both primes and subcontractors, are slashing prices in a desperate attempt at staying in business. They will take work at practically any price to get just another dollar of revenue. Never mind that this attitude is hastening them into oblivion. The market today is rife with contractors taking work at pricing that is too [...]
On this Memorial Day weekend I would like to join with you in remembering the heroic deeds of those who fought for our country and to share with you the pride of being an American on Memorial Day and Always!
In the dark ages before micro-computers estimators had pencils, paper and erasers. Sometimes they were very big erasers! We had techniques for minimizing mistakes on a given takeoff sheet, detail sheet, summary sheet and the final bid sheet. One of these was the primary estimator on each of these sheets was responsible for checking their [...]
How can someone without extensive estimating credentials tell if they have a good or a bad estimate? If they don’t have the estimating experience yet know the scope of the project, it can be a relatively straight forward evaluation. While it definitely helps to have estimating experience, a lot of problems can be eliminated without [...]
Nothing new in this headline either. When an owner contracts for design services on a construction project, I would like to think they are paying for design services required on the project. The architects and engineers, along with their specialty consulting engineers, should be able to design the facility. Sadly, the design fees being paid [...]
A lot of talk goes on about how contractors can, and will, front end load the progress payment requests. This allows them to get more money than has been earned for the value of the work installed. Front end loading also occurs with architects and engineers. It does not seem to be discussed very much. [...]
I came across an article the other day that I think is worth mentioning. In St. Louis, Missouri a company called Innoventor developed an asphalt binder made from hog waste. Immediately I thought of at least a dozen jokes and puns that I’m sure have already been said. On the other hand, I thought it [...]
Unqualified estimators do exist in the industry. I do not have a firm count on them but in my experience there are quite a number of them. They are not just with owners or architects, but also with construction managers, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. How can you tell you are dealing with someone that is [...]
Caltrans is reaping some major initial cost benefits from depression style pricing in the construction industry. In a recent ENR.com article on saving over $2.4 billion, they stated the bids were coming in 20% to 40% less than the estimates. On one project the bidder actually proposed a 21% shorter time frame than estimated by [...]
