Few things will make a general contractor rethink their line of work more then the problem owner. If you’ve been in the business long enough I’m sure you have your own war stories to tell about the homeowner from you-know-where. You’ve met them before, they’re sweet, reasonable, well intended people that can go from the good Dr. Jekyll to the dark and twisted Mr. Hyde almost overnight. For the purposes of illustration I’d like to tell you about mine…at least the one that pops into my conscious mind whenever the subject comes up. For the sake of this discussion I’ll call her Mrs. Yellow (you’ll understand why in a minute). Mrs. Yellow was like any other potential homeowner, excited from the beginning about building her dream home. She h... [More]

800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 We put a lot of thought; money and effort into making our brand look solid and professional.  We want to put our customers and clients at ease, assuring them that they made the right choice in who they selected to build their dream home.  Our business cards look great, our trucks, our website.  In short, everything that speaks for us when we’re not around to speak for ourselves.  So why are our job sites a mess? Your client shows up after their workday to stop in a check the progress only to pick through the... [More]

Effective today, Prov Testing Company has updated the Code edition for West Virginia Exams. The 2009 International Building, Plumbing, Fuel Gas, Mechanical and Residential Codes will now be in effect for State Contractor exams, as well as the 2008 National Electrical Code being used for the Electrical Contractor exam. Update your books today!

I Got My Contractor’s License, What Now? Many new licensed contractors have worked for another licensed contractor and have seen what they need to do. However, just as many have seen what not to do. Often, an employee has seen an employer do all the wrong things and knowing they can do it better, they get their contractors license. Since, many trades and building licenses require four years experience for a qualifying party to obtain contractor license status, many new licensees have the trade experience to get by. And some, learned well enough to be good at their work. Often, a veteran contractor may be so good at his profession that he is in constant demand – in the good times! The following is for new licensees and veteran contractors who do not have enough business. ... [More]

Beginning March 1st, PSI will be administering the construction exams for the state of Arizona. Today a meeting was held at the Registrar of Contractor's location to discuss some of the upcoming changes. Although all of the details have not been finalized, here are some of the changes we do know about so far: 1.) There will be one testing location for the Metro Phoenix area: 5727 N 7th St., Ste 301, Phoenix. 2.) New exam fees will be $56 per exam or $106 for 2 exams. 3.) Solar exams will be given separately in addition to the regular trade examination where applicable. The solar exam fee will be $30 4.) There will be a 30 day waiting period for re-examination upon failing an exam. 5.) There will be a 6 month waiting period for re-examination upon failing an exam 3 times. 6.) Two fo... [More]

The next time you get ready to hire someone – make sure you KNOW THE NUMBERSBegin by deciding what you will pay for the new employee as base compensation.  Next, add the additional expenses that will become part of the labor burden for the new help. Base Compensation (Annual) $ 7.65% of Base for FICA* $ 1% of Base for Unemployment** $ 10% of Base for Workers Compensation** $ 2% of Base for each week of vacation you plan to pay $ 2% of Base if you pay Major Holidays (6 Major) $ .4% of Base for each additional day (Sick, Personal, Bereavement etc) you plan to pay $ ANNUAL Total for Health Care / Life Insurance if you pay for the Employee $ TOTAL   *Check current IRS code for salaries approaching $100,000 to ob... [More]

This is the final part of 3 no-no’s of Estimating. 3.    NEVER Choose a supplier based on the bottom line of his take-off.  I was so guilty of doing this.  I would have three suppliers provide a quote on the window and trim package.  When they turned in the quote, I would flip over to the back page and look at the final number.  I would then compare this number to the other two.  If one was significantly lower, I would most often choose him as my supplier.   Why not, they were quoting the same quality window and pretty much the same trim?If you look at most Supplier Quotes, the fine print will state “not responsible for omissions.”   In other words, if the supplier left out all windows on the second floor west e... [More]

Here is part 2 of our series on estimating. 2.    NEVER Use a spreadsheet without randomly checking the math.  As the old saying goes “trash in, trash out.”  This refers to information that is being entered is as only good as the person entering the information.  This statement is so true with regard to spreadsheets.  While many of us are extremely proficient with spreadsheet manipulation, are those we share information equally as knowledgeable with how to change information?  If we send a spreadsheet to someone for the purpose of allowing them to update information, it would only take one improper “deletion” to change the formulas to the point of disaster. I can remember early in my career as a home builder, we were preparin... [More]

This is a three-part article. Please check back to read the entire post. 1.    NEVER Depend solely on your suppliers to do ALL take-offs.   Understanding the fundamentals of estimating each component of what you do is critical to your success.  Although you may depend, for example, on your brick supplier to provide the quantity of brick you will need to perform a job, it is important that you understand how to do the estimate yourself.  I was personally guilty of doing this.  I would call the salesman and ask him to come by for a set of plans.  He would comply.  He would stop by, pick up the plans and head to the lot where the home was to be built.  He would return shortly with a line-by-line list of items I needed.The subcontractor t... [More]