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.

I have a confession to make. I use spreadsheets. Yes, my company creates robust construction management software, and yes, we encourage people to use software designed specifically for the work they do instead of designing their own elaborate spreadsheet solutions. However, I still find myself using spreadsheets to track personal projects, experiment with data, generate simple reports, etc. The guilt was getting to me so I confided in a fellow business software colleague. Let me share his wisdom with you here.

When spreadsheets are right

My friend asked me, “Mark, when do you find yourself using spreadsheets?” I gave him some examples and he pointed out that these examples all shared common traits. I use spreadsheets to:

1. Perform individual tasks – for work that I don’t need to share with others.
2. Take information “offline” and manipulate it to serve a particular purpose.
3. Manipulate information without altering it in my business software.

“That’s why you use them and that’s why folks always will,” he said. “Because no application performs every task that every user needs.”

When spreadsheets are wrong

I enjoy a lively debate, so I replied, “OK, but then why not simply forget about enterprise software and let everyone use spreadsheets?” He responded by way of example.

“We had a spreadsheet to calculate our current earned value on jobs that a project manager intern put together for us. I remember how thrilled we were to drop our project information in, ‘turn the crank,’ and have this information pop out.

“The intern completed his term and it was then that we noticed the earned value snapshots being generated were not matching reality. We couldn’t figure why – the formulas he used were cryptic, and he wasn’t around to ask. Ironically it was our next intern who decoded the problem. Apparently, costs shared across jobs were not being accounted for properly.

“Anyway, we learned our lesson,” he said. From his story it became clear to me that while you can do powerful things with spreadsheets if you devote the time, you run into three serious risks:

1. Complex tasks require complex programming, something off-the-shelf spreadsheets aren’t designed to support (especially when it comes to troubleshooting).
2. Spreadsheet functionality is usually designed, built, and modified by an individual. If that individual leaves, their spreadsheet’s days are numbered.
3. Spreadsheets are optimized for an individual’s use. If there are many sources of input or requirements of output, shared usage becomes a problem.

Knowing when to use Enterprise Software or Speadsheets

What started as vague discomfort at using spreadsheets for some of my work turned into a lesson that I’m applying in my job creating construction operations software. Vendors like me should focus on our strengths – on delivering software that can be used collaboratively and that makes teams of people more productive. We shouldn’t try to replace the simple spreadsheet – we likely never could anyway. It will always be an important tool for individual use. We need to recognize that fact and build enterprise software systems that accommodate it.

Do you use spreadsheets for much of your work? Too much of it? Do you agree with the “rights” and “wrongs” I described? Please leave your comments!

Today’s topic? Social media! If you’re like me, you find it difficult to keep up with all of the social media sites and associated jargon running around out there. A new list of do’s and don’ts seems to be posted every week along with a new social outlet. While the rules of engagement and the various social media sites change, one thing remains – people everywhere use social media.

This new technology and medium for engagement and networking isn’t going anywhere. In fact, we’re more social than ever. A colleague of mine has even considered not calling his children when a family event occurs, because his kids have generally heard about it two days prior via Facebook. So you may be wondering, “Do I tweet or post or share or like, and most importantly, how does this affect my business?” I certainly don’t have all of the answers, which is why I’ve asked Gregg Schoppman from FMI to present a webinar on social media. I hope you will be able to join us on Wednesday, October 12, but if you can’t, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter – @dexterchaney.

Imagine if your son or daughter brought home a report card without a score above D. Did you know that the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has graded our infrastructure sectors with mostly Ds? According to experts at Onvia, Inc., a Seattle-based company that tracks and reports government spending, the report card reads like this: Aviation, D; Drinking Water, D-minus; Energy, D-plus; Roads, D-minus; Transit, D; and Wastewater, D-minus.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) reports that “across all sources, we (the U.S.) invest only $85 billion annually in our transportation infrastructure. However, estimates show in order to properly maintain the current system and expand it to meet future needs, we need to invest $225 to $340 billion annually.”
On September 30, 2011, the surface transportation reauthorization update (the highway bill legislation) will be up for a long-awaited vote. The outcome of this vote could have serious implications for the construction industry. AEM estimates that 35,000 jobs—many of which are in construction— are created every time $1 billion is invested in our infrastructure. Though there is much debate about how to fund the bill, most agree it would help stimulate construction growth.

Where do you stand on this issue? Let us know!

Zillow.com recently reported 2011 Q1 results for the national real estate market.  As the owner of a firm that is both licensed as a builder and is home to a Real Estate sales brokerage as two parts of our three main service offerings, these stunning statistics hit home to me.  Right square in the backside! I can only be discouraged by the continued erosion in demand and pricing as well as the astounding statistic of 28.4% of homes considered “under water”.  Negative equity is not a good sign for any segment of our market – new construction, existing home sales, new construction, commercial work as well as the support services that cater to the real estate market.  A real estate recession has reach far beyond the housing market alone.  The full result can be found at http://www.zillow.com/local-info/

On the commercial side, there are plenty of Private Equity funds set up to purchase Class A facilities.  The trouble is that banks often don’t have the capital cushion to foreclose on large properties and take the hit against their lending limit.  So they don’t foreclose or pursue the property.  This may be the first time in history in which the struggling or defaulting borrower can’t get a return call from their lender!  Whoever would have thought the day would come when a borrower in distress couldn’t get their lender to talk to return a phone call?  This leads me to think that the best intentioned government programs, such as the first time homebuyer credit, only served to temporarily prop up the market and sustain the situation for an even longer period. The fact is we need to get rid of this inventory before demand will increase.  Enough said about that.

Topline National Results )from the Zillow.com website):

• U.S. home values posted their largest quarter-over-quarter decline since Q4 2008, falling 3 percent. Home values have fallen 29.5 percent from their peak in June 2006.
• Negative equity reached a new high with 28.4 percent of all single-family homes with mortgages underwater, up from 27 percent in Q4 2010, due to accelerating home value declines.
• New data reveals bottom in home values unlikely to appear in 2011. Zillow has revised its forecast and now predicts a bottom in 2012 at the earliest.

What this means for us as constructors is simply this – projects will continue to be scarce and the competition for these projects will continue to be intense. And here comes my opportunity to discuss the obligatory “Business Fundamentals” that I have yapped about for 3 years in this blog.  If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to hone your processes to the point where you are making profit on even small projects.  Continue to review from top to bottom the manner in which you deliver your service or product to your client.  Cut waste where necessary.  Invest in technology tools that will help you become more efficient.  Get educated on the bleeding edge products and science in our industry.  Become an expert.  Invest in staff training from the newest helper to the most seasoned project manager.  Remember, doing things right once costs much less than doing it twice incorrectly.  Don’t assume your carpenters know how to hang a door – give them a class so that you are all operating on the same principles with the same toolkit.

Also, we have to continue to get our staffs involved in our marketing efforts.  No, that doesn’t mean they have to go on every sales calls with you, but occasionally doing so is not only a great morale boost but also conveys the importance that they play in marketing your company and generating leads, referrals, sales and revenue.  The best salesman in the world cannot overcome shoddy workmanship and poor field processes.  Likewise, the best run field operation will sit idle without a quality sales program managed by good salespeople.  It truly is a team process and every member of the team needs to be on board in generating leads and jobs.

At the end of the day, I feel as if all I write about is bad news.  But I hope you don’t take it that way.  To the contrary, those of you still in business are the top notch performers in our industry. Those of you still getting leads, converting those leads to projects and projects to sales already must have excellent fundamentals.  But don’t rest on those successes, because our market is due to change again.  Define your processes, refine them, jettison the awkward and unprofitable components and guerilla market whenever possible.  Remember that the best marketing program must be backed up by unbeatable service or you will be spinning your wheels.  Even a lion can’t rest after a wonderful meal, but must continue to tune up for the next hunt. In this particular metaphor, I would much rather your organizations behave like the lion than the caribou.

Zillow.com recently reported 2011 Q1 results for the national real estate market. As the owner of a firm that is both licensed as a builder and is home to a Real Estate sales brokerage as two parts of our three main service offerings, these stunning statistics hit home to me. Right square in the backside! I can only be discouraged by the continued erosion in demand and pricing as well as the astounding statistic of 28.4% of homes considered “under water”. Negative equity is not a good sign for any segment of our market – new construction, existing home sales, new construction, commercial work as well as the support services that cater to the real estate market. A real estate recession has reach far beyond the housing market alone. The full result can be found at http://www.zillow.com/local-info/
On the commercial side, there are plenty of Private Equity funds set up to purchase Class A facilities. The trouble is that banks often don’t have the capital cushion to foreclose on large properties and take the hit against their lending limit. So they don’t foreclose or pursue the property. This may be the first time in history in which the struggling or defaulting borrower can’t get a return call from their lender! Whoever would have thought the day would come when a borrower in distress couldn’t get their lender to talk to return a phone call? This leads me to think that the best intentioned government programs, such as the first time homebuyer credit, only served to temporarily prop up the market and sustain the situation for an even longer period. The fact is we need to get rid of this inventory before demand will increase. Enough said about that.
Topline National Results )from the Zillow.com website):
• U.S. home values posted their largest quarter-over-quarter decline since Q4 2008, falling 3 percent. Home values have fallen 29.5 percent from their peak in June 2006.
• Negative equity reached a new high with 28.4 percent of all single-family homes with mortgages underwater, up from 27 percent in Q4 2010, due to accelerating home value declines.
• New data reveals bottom in home values unlikely to appear in 2011. Zillow has revised its forecast and now predicts a bottom in 2012 at the earliest.
What this means for us as constructors is simply this – projects will continue to be scarce and the competition for these projects will continue to be intense. And here comes my opportunity to discuss the obligatory “Business Fundamentals” that I have yapped about for 3 years in this blog. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to hone your processes to the point where you are making profit on even small projects. Continue to review from top to bottom the manner in which you deliver your service or product to your client. Cut waste where necessary. Invest in technology tools that will help you become more efficient. Get educated on the bleeding edge products and science in our industry. Become an expert. Invest in staff training from the newest helper to the most seasoned project manager. Remember, doing things right once costs much less than doing it twice incorrectly. Don’t assume your carpenters know how to hang a door – give them a class so that you are all operating on the same principles with the same toolkit.
Also, we have to continue to get our staffs involved in our marketing efforts. No, that doesn’t mean they have to go on every sales calls with you, but occasionally doing so is not only a great morale boost but also conveys the importance that they play in marketing your company and generating leads, referrals, sales and revenue. The best salesman in the world cannot overcome shoddy workmanship and poor field processes. Likewise, the best run field operation will sit idle without a quality sales program managed by good salespeople. It truly is a team process and every member of the team needs to be on board in generating leads and jobs.
At the end of the day, I feel as if all I write about is bad news. But I hope you don’t take it that way. To the contrary, those of you still in business are the top notch performers in our industry. Those of you still getting leads, converting those leads to projects and projects to sales already must have excellent fundamentals. But don’t rest on those successes, because our market is due to change again. Define your processes, refine them, jettison the awkward and unprofitable components and guerilla market whenever possible. Remember that the best marketing program must be backed up by unbeatable service or you will be spinning your wheels. Even a lion can’t rest after a wonderful meal, but must continue to tune up for the next hunt. In this particular metaphor, I would much rather your organizations behave like the lion than the caribou.

One part of our industry that I simply cannot get my head around is the oftentimes adversarial relationship that exists between the building design professionals and the building contractors on a particular job. Now, before any of you feel that I am speaking directly to you, I assure you that I am not – this is an observation made over time, not from a single snapshot.
I recently read and became part of a discussion in the past few weeks that took place in a “group” I belong to on the professional networking site LinkedIn. The discussion was begun by a home designer that had been hearing whispers in the wind that some municipalities are considering requiring all homes to be designed by a Registered Architect. Let’s not belabor this point, although we could. My point focuses directly on some of the dialogue that occurred in that particular discussion.
Many of the contractors immediately shot down the concept with the age old line of questioning that pertains to the architects’ inability to draft an affordably reproduced plan and a perceived desire to be the next Frank Lloyd Wright on a modest budget. Some of the architects, as could be expected, questioned the contractors’ ability to reason and think with both hemispheres of their brain. Points were raised, counterpoints were tossed about; examples from both extremes seemed to be chiming into my inbox daily. As is most often the case in tenuous debates, the extremes get most of the floor time while the reasoned middle is left wondering which team to join.
I was left wondering how, in the year 2011, architects and constructors still can’t consider themselves on the same team. Why must this relationship continue to be so adversarial and so full of tension? Do we not see plainly that both professions (or better yet, our singular “profession” – construction) absolutely need each other in order to survive? I found myself wishing that there was a neutral corner to which each opposing viewpoint could be sent for a standing eight count in order to clear their minds and start the discussion over.
I could write many pages on this topic but will boil it down to a singular point. The design profession and the construction profession absolutely need each other. This should not be an adversarial relationship from the onset. Both sides of the issue have things to offer and also should know that we could stand to listen to an informed dissenting opinion. Rather than the Hatfields and the McCoy’s, our relationships with architects, engineers and designers may very well be the life’s blood of our organizations. Treat those relationships well.

I am incredibly proud of my time of service in the Army. I often tell people that I was very happy to be enlisted in the service, but perhaps even happier to get out! On this Veteran’s Day, I thought a mildly military themed post would fit nicely.
Many books and articles have been written on equating military leadership to business leadership. Most of these writings deal with big picture items, determining who to attack or defend from, how to do it and with what resources. Logistics; strategy; politics – they are all interdependent.
But as a former enlisted soldier, I like to drill down from the big picture themes once in a while and focus on smaller units. The smallest unit in the Army is the Squad. As the leadership develops strategy and plans to harness it, information must ultimately get down to the squad level to be implemented. It is in this small group of soldiers that the work of the great strategists gets done. Without their buy in, the best military minds in the world are powerless.
There is often a lot of effort put into managing our businesses and learning how to make it prosper. As any of you who have read this blog before know, I am a strong advocate of developing strong business fundamentals and practicing them over and over until these good practices become second nature. It is only with practice that we lose our poor behaviors and supplant them with sound behaviors. But while focusing on the big picture is important, it is also important to focus on the small units within your company – your crews – that actually implement your strategy. Strong business fundamentals involve everyone in the organization. Are they being trained? Are they receiving sound guidance from you? Do they have a path to grow in your company or is it a dead end job for them? As tempting as it is, we can’t simply mumble to ourselves that our staff should feel lucky to have a job and leave it at that. Growing your people and involving them in strategy sessions helps them buy into your ideas and make the entire company work as one cohesive unit. In fact, explaining your company’s core strategy and how their day to day efforts fit into that strategy is an incredibly helpful training moment.
Does everyone need to know the bank account balance? Of course not. Should everyone? No way. But your “squads” also need to know what the overall goal is of your company. Why are they sweeping up at the end of each day and keeping an orderly jobsite? Why are they using a port-jon when a perfectly good washroom exists in the client’s home or office? Why are you using high quality (thus more expensive) materials? Why is a miter a few degrees off on painted trim work not acceptable? They need to know and understand why the little things that they do each day help us to develop and follow through on our core company strategies and define us in the marketplace. People may initially sign with your firm because of the work you and your sales staff does. But they will return to your company based on the work that your smallest units – your jobsite crews – accomplish and how they present themselves.
Thinking like a general is important – but please remember to think like a squad leader as well. Your crews are the tip of the spear as far as client relationships go. Give them an opportunity and the training to shine, and your company will shine as well.

I gave a presentation to a graduate accounting class at a local university near my home a couple of days ago. It was a basic primer on how the real property consulting business I work in integrates with what these future CPA’s, CFO’s and Controllers will work into their daily work. The presentation went fine, some interest here and there – but the interest spiked when I got to the part about Green Energy tax credits. Many hands went up, questions were asked and opinions presented when the topic turned to a shade of “Green”.

As a general contractor, we are often inundated with the new gadget of the day. Suppliers try to sell us on the latest and greatest and work to have us market these systems to our clients. In the case of Green products, the list of products ranges from vacuum cleaners to roofing materials. Every one wants to catch up on the Green trend of the day.
I have no doubt that this greenwashing we now see will someday come to an end. What I hope is left in its place is a thorough understanding of our responsibility to reduce and eliminate waste, make our building tighter (yet introduce fresh air) and generally understand even better our responsibility to use resources wisely.
At the end of the day, regardless of what your opinion may be on green products and systems, this is what our clients are interested in. It is well worth gaining as much knowledge as you can in the various topics so that you can become or remain the trusted advisor to them as they navigate the various green landscapes. Don’t be afraid to have an opinion as to the merits of certain products, but remain informed and as expert on the topic as you can for the sake of your client. It always comes back to the basics of business – provide a service that your competitors can’t or won’t commit themselves to. You don’t have to sell green in order to be an expert. Explaining the benefits vs. the cost is equally as valuable.

I’ve always been somewhat of a Green builder.  Growing up and coming of age in a cold climate, I learned to  prefer 2 x 6 exterior walls for additional insulation.  We use to catch rainwater in an old cistern and pumped it out to water the garden.  We were squarely in the working class, so we re-used nearly everything and built for function way more than form.

Green idealism has been around for years.  But it wasn’t until recently with the surge in energy prices and the discussion about global warming that becoming Green is a necessary business strategy.  Customers look for some kind of tangible “green” symbol on anything and everything.  They now care about where the product was sourced, where it was built, the sustainability of the materials involved, etc.

I have always felt much of the recent green trend is just that – a trend with a defined shelf life.  With that sentiment, I do think a realistic greening of our industry is upon us.  This is an important shift in public perception.  I recently joined the U.S. Green Building Council and am diligently working towards the LEED AP certification.  Sustainability is upon us, and fighting the tide is a losing battle.  Although I could tell clients that Building Science has been a passion of mine since I was a teenager, there is nothing like the proverbial letters after one’s name to verify and qualify that statement.  I am beginning to feel like a credential collector, which is something I never thought I needed in this industry – but I believe that sentiment is no longer correct.

Our clients don’t just want a contractor – they want an expert partner that can guide them through the maze of questions and regulations.  They want someone who understands tax credits enough to point them in the right direction.  They want a contractor that cares about where the product was sourced, how sustainable the process was in both harvesting and building the end result.

As contractors, we can never be educated enough.  Building scientist (BS), renewable energy guru (REG), tax credit understander (TCU), sustainable product sourcer (SPS) - and, oh yeah – be able to build a facility on time and within budget with no punchlist.  Sheesh!  These are all letters that we now must, in some way, put after our name.

It is unfortunate in some aspects, but true and incredibly exciting in others - our industry has grown up and continues to do so, and we are quickly being considered more of a professional service than anything else.  We always use to wear multiple hats in our companies, now we may need multiple heads to wear all of them that people expect of us.  Let’s not fear these new expectations put upon us, but rather embrace them as a sign that we are succeeding at our goal, and are looked to for expert guidance and advice.  That alone is a powerful change in perception.  Trust me, it will take some time to get used to.