Industry Game-Changers

Typically, disruption in the workplace is counterintuitive to productivity. But in terms of creating innovative ways to manage people, processes and technology, the concept of “disruption” isn’t such a bad thing for the construction industry. Change is stirring whether contractors are ready for it or not, and firms that have adopted new ways of managing scheduling and workflows are seeing stellar results—earning the accolades of repeat projects for key clients, as well as happy project partners.

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Best Practices

Surviving the Economic Downturn: A Tale of Two Contractors

Although the general economy shows signs of a slow recovery, construction spending remains below November 2006 levels. When the construction playing field changed drastically as a result of the 2008 financial crisis, contractors found themselves spending more money chasing projects with significantly more competition and lower profit margins. Many were not financially or operationally prepared for this shift. Some did not survive, but many did through careful planning, confident leadership and solid decision-making. A key to survival was a close partnership between contractors and their critical advisors, including accountants, banks, insurance agents and sureties.
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Best Practices

Succession Planning Q&A

Tim Hughes, Attorney – Bean, Kinney & Korman, PC, Arlington, Va.

What are the benefits of having a succession plan?
Failing to plan is planning to fail. That applies not just to establishing a business plan and implementing it over time, but also to providing for the sustainability of that business over time. We all face threats to our businesses, whether from the economy or life events, including death, disability and people at the top of the company moving on. Unless you think through the ramifications of these possibilities, you’re putting your business in a very precarious position. Every company needs to think about the long-term growth trajectory to develop leadership that will keep the ball moving down the field when current leadership moves on to other things. Smaller companies that rely on their founder will face a real challenge when that person is gone if they don’t prepare for it. Companies with a bigger, more established national presence that are much more corporate and have more stock ownership especially need strategic planning to develop future leadership. Continue »

Business Development

Re-Activating the Multifamily Market

Oddly enough, some of the most positive news emerging from the nonresidential construction industry involves one of the sectors that caused many local economies serious heartache in the not so distant past: multifamily construction. Continue »

Managing Your Business

Snuffing Out Equipment Theft

At a construction site in suburban Houston, after all the workers have gone home, a pickup truck pulls up to the poorly lit back entrance. Someone enters the site through an unlocked gate, returns to the truck with a small load of wallboard and drives off. The next day, he’ll be back—to go to work. Continue »

Contracts

Developing an Effective Scope of Work with Job Order Contracting

The old adage “a good beginning makes a good end” proves true in the construction process. The goal of any scope of work is to create a detailed account of the tasks, procedures and specifications for each construction process. A good beginning—clear communication between all parties involved and accuracy in the detailed scope of work and price proposal—will lead to a good end product. One way to begin on the right foot is by using job order contracting (JOC), an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity procurement method that enables facility owners to complete a large number of repair, renovation and minor construction projects with a single, competitively bid contract. Continue »

Managing Your Business

What to Do When a Team Member Pulls Out of a Project

Construction projects require collaboration among many parties to ensure the work is completed. When one of those parties files for bankruptcy, finishing the project can be very difficult. Continue »

Best Practices

Evolving Legacies: Family-Owned Contractors Prepare for the Future

Though Ted Benning is the third-generation owner of Benning Construction Company, Smyrna, Ga., he didn’t want his children to feel obligated to join the construction industry. So when his kids took professional paths outside the family company, he decided the best course of action would be to initiate an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Continue »

Accounting

Planning for the New Medicare Contribution Tax

Given the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), one of the provisions scheduled to take effect in 2013 is the 3.8 percent Medicare Contribution Tax (MCT) on net investment income.

The tax will apply to everyone with net investment income and modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) above $250,000 if married and filing jointly or $200,000 if filing as a single taxpayer. Continue »

Best Practices

Meeting Floor Assembly Fire-Rating Requirements in Multifamily Construction

Each year, more than 100,000 fires occur in multifamily residential buildings—causing an average of 390 deaths, 4,050 injuries and $1.2 billion in property loss, according to data compiled by the U.S. Fire Administration. Continue »

Legal

Corruption Awareness is Key: New Guide to FCPA Released

Construction Executive's Managing Your Business eNewletter

“A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” a 130-page compilation of information about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), was published jointly on Nov. 14 by the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Continue »

Best Practices

Financially Evaluating Contractors After the Great Recession

As contractors and specialty subcontractors emerge from the recession, many face equity levels that have eroded during the last three to four years. General contractors and owners need to know more about who they are hiring; simply relying on reputation is no longer good business. Continue »

Strategic Planning

Preparing for Onerous PPACA Provisions

When the U.S. Supreme court voted 5 to 4 to uphold the individual mandate included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), it ruled that it was under Congress’s broad authority to impose taxes on the American people. Continue »

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