Solution Building

Just Knowing That There’s a Problem is More Than Half the BattleAs we go through the daily actions of living our lives, we become oblivious to things on the periphery. This is especially true of things outside of our expertise. This lack of awareness includes things like construction if you’re not actively involved in the building industry. When there is a situation that catches the attention of s...

Because Admin and Finance are Out of the Contractor’s Comfort Zone Most trades people like doing physical work, not paperwork. They like building things, not sitting at a desk making proposals or putting numbers in spreadsheets. Avoiding paperwork is one of the biggest reasons construction companies struggle to stay in business.

Because If You Don’t…It’s Likely to Come Crashing Down Around You If you own or operate a business, I’m sure you’ve experienced the feeling of your world crashing down around you. There are a variety of different reasons this happens. A few of them may be due to things out of your control. But, more often than not…it’s because of bad decisions we made . Most of us that are self-employed started ou...

Like Any Project That Has Some Size…It Takes Some Time to Build A few weeks back I told you about my plans to convert my blog posts into podcasts. We started by discussing the why question. We came up with the answer of – being able to help more busy people find solutions for building their dreams. Next, we talked about how we would ever get blog posts turned into podcasts. It was determined that...

As business owners, entrepreneurs, hardworking employees of companies, and active people, we find ourselves busier than ever during this time of the year. As we approach the end of one year and begin preparing for next, there just isn’t enough time to get everything done. Add to this the Holiday season and everything that goes with this…it can get overwhelming. As busy people we struggle trying to...

Too Often Once the Goals Are Planned…We Forget the Achieving Part. This is like having plans to build a building and once you get the blueprint drawn…you stop. You have a picture you can hang on the wall, but the building never gets built. Having a plan before you start is good, but it’s not enough. If you don’t dig some dirt and drive some nails, nothing is accomplished.

The third part of a Construction Contractor Story. Applying the tools of Building a Better Buisness Proposal System.

The second part of a Construction Contractor Story. Applying the tools of Building a Better Buisness Proposal System.

The first part of a Construction Contractor Story. Applying the tools of Building a Better Buisness Proposal System.

The eighth lesson in the Building A Better Buisness Propsal series. Once you have a signed Proposal, conclude with a Contract. The Contract completes the Proposal process and covers things beyond construction. Things like funding, additional documents, property boundaries, time within which the project will be started and terms and conditions. 

The seventh lesson in the Building A Better Buisness Propsal series. If you’ve ever done a jigsaw puzzle, you know how frustrating it is to get to the last piece…and you can’t find it anywhere. This is the same frustration a customer feels when they don’t have the full picture of what is to be included in their construction project.  Giving the customer a complete and thorough proposal gives them...

The sixth lesson in the Building A Better Buisness Propsal series. The next step in the “Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal” is to determine the price for the project. We ’ve talked a lot about the importance of communication to provide a clear description of the work to be performed . Now w e’ ll go through the process of determining consistent and accurate prices .  

The fifth lesson in the Building A Better Buisness Propsal series. What is a Scope of Work?    A Scope of Work " clearly defines the project requirements, milestones, deliverables, end products, documents and reports that are expected to be provided by the vendor. It helps in the smooth functioning of a project/work contract wherein both parties can avoid ambiguities and situations leading to disp...

The fourth lesson in the Building A Better Buisness Propsal series. Gathering important information as you begin the proposal process.

The third lesson in the Building A Better Buisness Propsal series. This is the third post in the Blueprint for Building A Better Proposal series. The first focused on the importance of communication between contractor and customer and the problems that can happen without it. The second listed the foundational pieces of the proposal system. In this post we’ll take an overview of the process and how...

The second lesson in the Building A Better Buisness Propsal series. Small and medium size construction companies struggle with preparing detailed and arcuate proposals. This problem isn’t restricted only to small companies. It begins there, but only gets worse until they either get big enough to absorb the costs of guessing at project costs or give up trying and quit.  Preparing accurate proposals...

The first lesson in the Building A Better Buisness Propsal series. Every contractor, at some time, has had an unhappy customer. This is almost always due to poor communication and/or a lack of understanding. It may have been some small misunderstanding or might have been major enough to result in being fired or going to court.