Building a business takes a lot of work, and ideally, you build a business that you can be proud of.  As a construction business owner, you want customers (both current and potential) to see your business in a specific way.  So what do you do?

Sure, you work hard and get the job done right.  You conduct business fairly and treat people with respect.  But you also have to actively create your company’s corporate image.

While some of your company’s corporate image will come about naturally based on the work that you do and the manner in which you do it, companies that have a specific plan in place to create a corporate image have much more control over how they are perceived.  They also have more opportunities to highlight the strengths of their business and their culture.

Once you build your corporate image, you can showcase it.  For instance, my company has a very strong culture and we’ve been operating on the same values since our inception in 1985.  So this year, we are running ad campaigns that highlight these strengths.  The one below features my father and me, and definitely represents our corporate image.

So think about how you want the world to see your business, and then make the most of it.  Use it in marketing, in sales, and in conversation.  You’ll be surprised what a pride in your company and a strong image will do for your business.

I mentioned last week that I was busy preparing for the World of Concrete trade show in Las Vegas. Well, I’m now in Vegas, and as some of you may already know, Dexter + Chaney has a new product line! I don’t usually discuss Dexter + Chaney’s products, but I am too excited after the many months of hard work and interviewing industry experts not to introduce Venture Project Collaboration Software. So bear with me while I crow a bit about our new addition!

Venture Basics

Venture is web-based project collaboration software built around the needs of construction project teams, not individuals. Most of the construction operations software available today is designed for individual use and focused one specific function. Venture is designed for the entire project team and provides tools that help folks work together throughout the entire lifecycle of a project. Venture tools are built to give contractors visibility and control over three key areas of construction operations:

• Documentation
• People
• Communication

Document Management

It’s no secret that documents play a vital role in the construction process from beginning to end. But all of those documents and versions of documents are difficult to keep track of, not to mention expensive to print and distribute. Venture allows users to control document distribution, usage, and versioning from within one application.

Build the Best Team

When I played basketball, my coaches routinely told us “There’s no ‘i’ in team.” Similarly, construction projects aren’t completed by individuals. From start to finish, it takes a team working together to complete a job. Venture helps you manage your contacts using construction specific criteria, invite potential partners to bid on work, and even prequalify subcontractors, so you create the best team for the job.

Project Communication

I remember the amount of time I used to spend as a general contractor following up on project notifications and issues. Venture connects project participants inside and outside your company with the latest project information. When you send a notification, you can see who has opened and responded to it. With the ability to access information from anywhere, at any time, and track responses to notifications, your project teams will be able to communicate more efficiently on projects, saving time and money.

So now that I’ve done a little bragging, I’d like to know what you think. Please let me know your thoughts on Venture by commenting below.

Hello from Las Vegas! It’s been an exciting week here at World of Concrete, and I’m proud to announce that the latest version of our construction management software, Spectrum Construction Software v14, was launched this week. I don’t usually talk about Dexter + Chaney’s products, but given that this new version drastically changes the way users operate and interact with the software, I couldn’t help myself.

What’s New in Spectrum version 14?

In the last year or so, there’s been a lot of talk about “The Cloud,” and how it is going to change software. We’ve also seen increased use in mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablet computers, with easy to use interfaces and applications. With all of this in mind, we’ve designed Spectrum version 14 to be easy to use and access.

Accessibility

Our customers told us they wanted to be able to access Spectrum anywhere – whether they were in the field, the office, or snowed in at home. Because version 14 is web-based, there is no software to install, upgrade, or maintain. The user simply needs to login on an Internet connected device.

Information a Click Away

Spectrum’s user interface has been completely redesigned to give it the look, feel, and usability of other web applications. Simply put, all the information you need is one click away. In Spectrum v14, you start with a dashboard that you can customize with the apps you need to do your work. Once you pull up a job screen, you’ll instantly see all of the links related to that particular screen, such as vendors, subcontracts, and cost projections. Just as you can open web links in tabs, Spectrum v14 allows you to open multiple tabs or screens so all the information you need is in front of you.

Affordability

Perhaps one of my favorite aspects of Spectrum v14 is that it’s more affordable than ever. Because Spectrum v14 is web-based, users don’t need to purchase, maintain, and constantly update hardware, operating systems, and databases just to use our product. With v14, users don’t need to install software and maintain the software on every user’s computer, because it’s all accessed from the web.

I hope you find this dramatic change in construction software as exciting as I do. We also happened to launch a new product for construction operations at the World of Concrete, but I’ll let my colleague Mark Reich explain this new addition.

Anyway, enough about me – what do you think about the changes we’ve made?

Mid-January is a time of reflection for many contractors.  They’re starting a fresh new year, and wrapping up their year-end which is a task in itself:

• Preparing W2s & 1099s
• Creating year-end financial reports
• Closing your general ledger
• Rushing to get that last payroll out in December because you are unable to work between two fiscal years
• Looking at Over/Under Billing and posting the adjustment to the year-end financials
• Preparing Sales & Use tax reports for sales tax authorities
• Querying different type of jobs in job costing to look at profitability by type

If you have had trouble with any of these items in past year-ends, ask yourself, “Am I willing to go through that again next year?”

If the answer is no, then now may be the time to start looking into new tools and software programs that can make your job—and your life—easier.  There are plenty of construction-specific accounting packages that work the way construction does and can efficiently prepare W2s and 1099s and year-end financial reports.  Some systems are even date-sensitive and allow you process payroll over different periods, and even years, so you don’t have to rush to get that last payroll done.

What I’m getting at is this—year-end doesn’t have to be this painful.  Do some research and check out some of the resources, tools, and software programs available to you.  It can make your next year-end, your job, and your life easier.

The owner of our company conducts quarterly meetings with the entire Cahaba Media staff where he and each of the managers have an opportunity to give everyone in the company an update on each area of the business.

In one of our recent quarterly meetings (in the fall of 2011), he had a special surprise for us. During the first part of the meeting, he presented us with a video of Nick Saban, the University of Alabama’s football coach, giving a speech to a group of 1,000 8- to 13-year-old boys attending Coach Saban’s football camp in June 2011. My boss said this speech by Coach Saban could just as well have been given to a group of business people, so he decided to share it with us.

My boss brought out many lessons we could learn from that video. Some of the ones that especially stuck out in my mind include the following:

-Character and attitude do not require ability. Working hard is about putting forth effort, having mental toughness and being responsible for your own execution. It doesn’t take ability to give effort. And you have to take accountability for your own performance.

-Success involves consistent performance, established goals and a commitment and passion about what you do.

-You must invest time, not just spend it. You only get out of something what you put into it. Remember that the things worth accomplishing can be difficult to accomplish, but you’ll be glad you persevered in the end.

-Always learn from the mistakes you make along the way. And listen to constructive criticism and feedback from others.  

-Be disciplined. Discipline is about doing what you are supposed to do, when you are supposed to do it and the way it is supposed to be done.

As a construction business owner, you must be motivated to do the best job you possibly can do, and you need to regularly motivate your staff. In your next staff meeting (which I encourage you to conduct regularly), share this video and advice with your staff. From time to time, employees need to hear words like these from an objective perspective.

 Also, share with me what other methods you use to motivate your employees. We want to hear about what’s worked for you.

You know the old adage that you have to spend money to make money. Nowhere is that more true than the construction industry. Without spending money bidding projects, you can’t get jobs to make money building them. A few years ago, the ramp-up to a new construction season was an exciting time of year. Not so these days. With more people bidding on fewer jobs, the market is much more competitive. Perhaps the toughest part, though, is that even if you bid a job and don’t win, you still incur costs to compete. While many of these costs are easy to identify, some are not, so just what are some things that keep bidding costs up?

Document Management

With the current levels of detail required by industry standards, code compliance and also by the different disciplines, the number of documents required for a project is huge. Obviously to bid a job, you have to access the documents, which can be costly to say the least when you consider the costs of plan room memberships and purchasing and printing documents. Keeping track of what’s current in that huge set of documents and making sure others on your team are using current documents are critical. It can also be very time consuming and expensive.

Team Prequalification

I was in a conference room full of general contractors a couple of years ago, and the presenter asked, “How many of you prequalify your subcontractors?” I was surprised at how few hands were raised. In today’s market, knowing the companies you work with is essential. Do they have the financial resources to complete a job; is their insurance up-to-date; how does their safety record look; what do their references say about their recent work; what experience do others in my company have with them?

Now more than ever prequalification should play an important role in deciding who gets to play on your team. With so many businesses struggling just to keep the doors open, you never know if a team member is going to make it through a project, or if they need a project just to keep the doors open. While it’s simpler (and cheaper) to bypass prequalifying your team members, not doing so could result in your team falling apart in the middle of a job when the pressure to perform is high.

Administrative & Communication Costs

While documentation management and team member prequalification may seem fairly obvious sources of added costs and risks, administrative costs may not seem so obvious. When I was a general contractor, I sent out invitations to bid, but the communication didn’t end there. Every time the plans or specifications changed, I needed to make sure the subs I invited knew about the changes and were using the current documents to prepare their bid. Back in those days, communicating this information required a phone call or a fax followed-up with another phone call. At other times, I wasn’t sure if I had enough subs bidding in order to get competitive numbers for my own bid. So, as bid day approached, I got on the phone and fax machine again to make sure that I didn’t need to invite more subcontractors to bid. No matter who did the calling or faxing, the time spent used up valuable resources, and was very expensive.

Reduce Bidding Costs

Although there is no silver bullet to reduce bidding costs, or even finding more jobs to bid, you can do a few things to limit your bid preparation costs. First, bid on jobs you have the best chance of winning. While a large job is ideal, if you know you can’t compete, bidding is like throwing money out the window. When do you bid, streamline communications so that it’s easy to notify and check on bidding subcontractors and vendors. Use a system to manage the documents you and your subs use to prepare bids. What are your biggest sources of bidding costs?

www.dexterchaney.com

The end of December didn’t just bring about New Year’s resolutions – it brought the end of the yearly accounting cycle. Needless to say, most accounting departments are rather busy right now. While talking to some other accountants, I was surprised to learn how many people still don’t file electronically.

Whether you have a simple accounting application, or a specialized construction accounting system, you should be able to file your taxes and payroll information electronically. Not only will this save you time, you’ll reduce the chances of making a mistake that could cost you later in the way of penalties and fines.

Electronic filing shouldn’t just be limited to your taxes, though. Keeping documents as electronic files reduces paper waste and clutter in your office because you can get rid of the filing cabinets. Electronic filing also gives you the ability to search with simple keyword terms, so you can find documents faster. Are you doing any of the following electronically?

• Archiving documents
• Filing payroll taxes
• Filing W2 forms
• Managing 401Ks

If the answer was no to any one of these, you have an opportunity to make your accounting office operations much easier. So my suggestion as you go through year end is stop and think of how you’re doing things currently, and investigate some tools and practices that will improve your processes. Be sure to make your accounting software work for you, and while you’re at it, reduce the time and resources you and your staff spend filing.

www.dexterchaney.com

Happy New Year!

As you know, I’ve been reading Steve Jobs’ biography.  I think there are some pretty good lessons in there, particularly for the start of a new year.  While I was reading, I came across Jobs’ explanation for why he wore a black mock turtleneck and a pair of blue jeans almost every single day:  because it was one less decision that he had to make.

Photo via Farhad Manjoo on www.fastcompany.com: Clay McLachlan/Reuters ('98); Getty Images ('99); Gabe Palacio/Getty Images ('01); Justin Sullivan/Getty Images ('04, '05); Peer Grimm/dpa/Landov ('07); Paul Sakuma/AP Images ('08); Robert Galbraith/Reuters/Corbis ('09); AFP/Getty Images ('10)

Now I’m not telling you that you should wear the exact same thing every day for the rest of your life, but why not make your life easier by minimizing the amount of decisions you have to make?  As a construction business owner, you put a lot of time and effort into making critical decisions.  Additionally you sometimes get drawn into trivial matters that should really be handled by others in the company.  To get to the point, you have to simplify by getting two things in place:  people and processes.

First, get the right people in place.  This is easier said than done, and comes in two parts.  Invest the time in finding people with the aptitude to do the job, and the right attitude to fit into your company.  The second part means getting rid of people who do not fit these requirements.  As hard as that may be, having the right people in place will increase simplification.

Second, get your processes in order.  Create a plan that makes sense.  In the mid 1990’s when my company was growing, I hired a president.  As fortune would have it, this person was an incredibly good manager and truly organized our daily processes.  This created new opportunities for the business and for our vision because I was able to focus on the big picture.

Getting people and processes in place is like Jobs’ wearing the same basic outfit—it eliminates minor decisions and troubleshooting so that you can focus on bigger decisions, ideas, and growing your business.

Now that the holidays are over and all of the massive amounts of breads, cookies, candies, and pies have suddenly disappeared (at least they have from my office) it’s time to make those New Year’s resolutions. While the majority of personal resolutions aren’t kept, I came up with three attainable resolutions construction operations professionals should make this year.

1. Evaluate Bidding Strategy

It’s tough out there. There are fewer projects to bid and what projects are available are being bid by more people. Consequently, the bidding climate is very competitive with some work going to people bidding below cost. One way to bid more work, without giving your estimator a quick trip to the funny farm, is to identify additional sources of project bid lists. Check out McGraw Hill’s Dodge Plan Center and their Network Express site. There are also local, regional and even national plan centers that have bidding project information that might help.

2. Project Team Communication & Effectiveness

A big part of the bid process is assembling the team you want, and getting them the information they need to prepare competitive bids. Keeping track of the team (especially one in the bid process) can be a lot like herding cats (very independent cats at that). Develop strategies to keep track of the information your team members need and make sure they’re getting it in a timely fashion.

3. Stay Connected

When you do get a job, running the job efficiently is more important than ever. In many ways, communication with your team members is one of the keys to a successful, efficiently-run project. Communication has gotten better with the introduction of cell phones and the internet, but this increased communication has also created new issues. Everyone’s day is full of information that needs to be processed and tracked – email and voice mail alone have caused serious information overload. Keeping track of it all is difficult, if not impossible. But if you don’t track it, you can lose money or, worse yet, get sued.

I hope these ideas help as the year starts and we get closer to the construction season. In the meantime, keep in mind that spending a little time planning now can pay off in increased efficiency and better job performance later.

www.dexterchaney.com

Happy New Year! As we begin the New Year, many of us are also starting new resolutions – lose weight, exercise more, spend more time doing a hobby, etc. I know I’ve noticed a lot more people at the gym in the last few days. There are numerous personal resolutions to make, but have you ever considered the resolutions that your business should be making? I started thinking about how business owners can better manage their companies, and so I created my own short list of New Year’s resolutions for better construction management.

Close the Budget vs. Actual Gap

It’s often easy to bid on a job, start work, and miscalculate how far along in the project you are versus the amount of money you’ve spent. This year, I encourage you to close the gap between your bids, your projections, and the actual cost of the project. Know your cost to complete and keep track of how far along in a project you actually are. Carefully monitoring these numbers will help you preserve profit and build more accurate bids on future projects.

Connect the Field to the Office

Yes, I know this buzz phrase has been around for a long time. But, much like the majority of resolutions, we can end up talking about it rather than doing something. Implement technologies and processes so that project managers and other field staff are better connected to the financial side of your business. Better connections will result in projects that are tracked with greater accuracy and regularity.

Prepare for Growth

I heard a number of years ago that roughly half of the buildings that will exist in 2030 will have been built after 2000. While 2030 may be a number of years away, we have a lot of building to do between now and then. The current state of the construction industry may seem dismal for some, but the fact is, the industry will rebound. When it does, construction companies need to be prepared with work processes, trained workers, and an understanding of where the industry is headed.

I wish you all the best this coming year, and good luck keeping those resolutions. What are some other resolutions you’re making for your company?

www.dexterchaney.com