Even if the thefts results in an insurance claim, there is still a deductible for the claim.  If your company views losses due to theft as an overhead cost, this will raise your overhead cost during the bidding process.  No matter how you look at it, thieves have a direct impact on the cost of a project.

There are several different types of thieves from the obvious person that sneaking onto the site and helping themselves to the employee or other trade on the project “borrowing” tools or material.  Another form of stealing is an employee padding their time cards.

One way or another an estimator has to increase their bid to compensate for the loss whether it’s decreasing the productivity rate (compensate for time card padding) or increasing line items in the estimate such as small tools allowance, overhead, or material costs.   In order to help keep these additional costs down, everyone at your company needs to take an active role in loss prevention.

The correct approach to signing a legally binding contract is to not only read the document but more importantly, comprehend it.  It’s very easy to breeze over some fancy legal jargon which at first glance seems completely harmless.  But a single word or phrase can make the contract extremely unfair for you or your company and could end up costing your company severely in the long run.

I was just recently reading a confidentiality agreement and came across a word that I did not fully understand.  After doing a bit of research, that one word allowed a third party to bring a lawsuit against our company (this term was not agreed to).

So, what do you do if you don’t understand something?  I would suggest doing a little research by either talking to your coworkers/superiors and/or researching the term on the internet (use common sense and caution when using the internet as a resource).  A better alternative if you can is having an attorney review the document and explain to you the meaning and possible ramifications of the contract.  No matter what, you should always understand the terms and conditions of the contract prior to signing the document.

This should never happen, but I am seeing more and more of it.  The electrical contractor will not typically look through all of the notes on all of the drawings and the work will be missed.  This is a losing situation for all parties and will probably end up in dispute.

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” -  JFK

A little background on the project; it was a four month project with an average of about ten field guys and was not located near much of anything.  After a couple of weeks, the project manager realized the guys would all run to the gas station for a pop for both the morning and afternoon breaks.  This quick run resulted in a 30 minute break twice daily instead of two 15 minute breaks.  By doing the math, 5 hours a day was spent on the pop run over what was supposed to be taken.  The project manager came up with an idea to supply the guys with the pop.  The foreman would load up the coolers on his way to work with pop and ice for all the guys to drink on the breaks which cost about $10/day but we gained 5 hours of productivity.

Another result of this nice gesture was the efficiency of our craft seemed to improve.  They were happy about the small perk and actually started to work harder.  The benefits gained in increased productivity more than compensated for the relative low cost of the drinks.  Sometimes even giving out some sincere compliments can improve the attitudes and morale of the workers hence increasing their productivity.  It’s definitely a “win-win” situation.

My friend had over 200 change orders by the time the project was all said and done.

The worst part about it was that he either just barely broke even or lost money on the project because of the working conditions and other outside factors.

I had done work out at the same facility, when I first got started in construction.  The job that I did was scheduled for a two day job for 2 people. It ended up being a week and a half job for four people.  The unforeseen problems on the project were the limited access to areas, escorts while moving about the facility and for the safety of patients, staff, and the construction teams you could not leave any tools unattended.

What “unforeseen” problems have you run into? Are they really unforeseen or is there a way to handle these problems before they cost massive amounts of time & money?

The construction market is in a similar place right now, with lots of contractors chasing an ever diminishing amount of work.  But just chasing the work is not enough. How are you going to make your company stand out in this over crowded market?

While a zombie campaign may not be right for you and your company, you need something. Play to your company’s strengths and reputation. Show everyone why your company stands out from the crowd and the benefits to be gained from working with your company.

Check out the Zombie Campaign!