Tag: 2007 February Issue

Federal, state and local governments require surety bonds in order to manage risk on construction projects and protect taxpayer dollars. However, surety bonds are not limited to public construction. Many private project owners stipulate bonding requirements on their projects, and prime contractors may require subcontractors to obtain bonds. In today's competitive construction environment, a contractor's ability to obtain surety bonds has a significant effect on that contractor's ability to acquire work.

This is the first article in a series provided by HR Limited, a human resource and training consulting firm.

 The Fair Labor Standards Act is the federal law that governs employees' pay.

Construction Business Owner, February 2007

Editor's Note: Following is the eighth in our ten part series "Technology Traps and Mishaps" by Fred Ode, CEO, chairman and founder of Foundation Software.

In my world, finding time to relax and watch TV is a luxury I don't often have.

Construction Business Owner, February 2007 

What is great customer service? Maybe a more critical question contractors should ask is, "Can I afford to deliver great customer service in the highly competitive construction marketplace?"

Construction Business Owner, February 2007

Public contracting assumes that open competitive bidding for fixed price construction contracts ensures fairness and maximizes the return on the taxpayer's dollar.  To promote competitive bidding, states have adopted extensive statutory and regulatory schemes designed to ensure that public construction contracts are awarded to the lowest eligible and responsible bidder.

Construction Business Owner, February 2007

A contractor hiring a subcontractor may prefer arbitration to litigation in cases of dispute.  But when the contractor has issued a payment bond, the sub has a choice of payment sources-either from the contractor or from the surety who issued the contractor's payment bond.

Construction Business Owner, February 2007

The beauty of a well-designed employee incentive program is that as employees meet their physical and financial goals, you, as the owner, attain your goal of making your company more valuable and, perhaps, more marketable.

Construction Business Owner, February 2007

Editor's Note: This is the second in our 2007 series of The Business Owner Toolox written by our regular columnist George Hedley.  Each article is written to provide you with practica, immediately applicable business management tools to assist you on your path to building a successful, growing business. 

Several years ago, I made a New Year's resolution to take charge of my business life, put my priorities first and focus on building loyal customer relationships. I committed to:

Construction Business Owner, February 2007

The role of the construction estimator has changed dramatically over the years, particularly for those employed by general contractors (GCs) or construction managers (CMs). It used to be that the estimator's primary responsibility was to perform a complete quantity "take-off" and price the entire project before accepting subcontractor and vendor bids. Now, particularly for large GCs and CMs, estimators are expected to do much more. Expectations now include "filling in the blanks;" defining scopes of work; assessing alternative materials, systems or methods; and managing the intent of the design team and desires of the owner.