Construction Equipment Owner

Let’s say you just finished a stamped residential driveway for a client, or maybe a backyard patio slab. The job is over, everyone is happy, and the homeowner turns to you and says, “What do I owe you?” Then you say, “I don’t know, you tell me. Pay me what you think this job is worth.”

Crazy! That’s certainly not something that would happen in the concrete industry, or many industries for that matter. People need to eat and buy shoes! But recently, music group Radiohead released its latest CD online and is allowing fans to download the entire album for whatever they think it’s worth.

I think it’s important to know what your clients are willing to pay for work in you market, but not necessarily what they WANT to pay. Don’t take business management advice from the music industry. Instead, check out the Running Your Business section at ForConstructionPros.com, where you’ll find helpful advice and articles from business management professionals.

Some interesting comments from Darrin Thornton, PolySteel Alternative Building Systems, caused me to think about paving and pavement maintenance crews and how they look in the field. Thornton decided several years ago to use his vehicles as “mobile billboards” by for his local ready-mix supplier. The result, not surprising to many marketing pros, is increased recognition throughout the market and increased sales.

This sounds simple, but it’s amazing how many contractors do little or nothing to help themselves make an impression as they work on a job or even drive down a street to a job. Take a look at the next crew you see working. Can you see the company name? A logo? A phone number? An address? Does the equipment look like it all belongs together - like it’s part of a fleet - or does it look like juts a motley collection of pieces? How much better, how much more professional, would that crew look if all the equipment matched? And what impact would that matching equipment have on the customer who takes a look out his window and sees an actual fleet on his job? And what about a future customer driving by, seeing a fleet on a job, with a big easy-to-read logo to remember?

Your reaction as you look at this jobsite will be much like the reaction of a customer or potential customer who sees the same crew at work. Then, think about how your crew looks on the job - or better yet take a drive by one of your jobs, then ask yourself the same questions. If your reaction is a positive one, good for you. But if it’s not, fixes are not that difficult or expensive.

Logos, complete with phone numbers, should be on all your trucks and equipment. You can use magnetic signs, which you can easily switch from one truck to another, but applied or painted-on logos look even better. And consider painting your equipment so it looks like it belongs together. Select a color none of your competitors use, then paint all your equipment that color. You can tie everything together using the color as a focal point of your direct-mail marketing efforts. Then when a direct-mail piece lands on a prospect’s desk, flashing the same color and logo, the connection is made: “This is a professional operation and if I’m going to get that type of work done I’m certainly going to give them a call.”

As the offseason approaches now is a good time to consider taking this step. Your equipment will soon be in the shop for maintenance and repair, so what better time to consider painting it?

This is not to say that contractors without matching equipment or without logos don’t do quality work or aren’t professional operations. That is certainly not the case. But all things being equal, assuming most contractors know how to get the job done, you’re selling professionalism, reliability, security, quality, peace of mind - in a word, integrity. And making sure your on-the-job crew looks like it guarantees that is a first step to getting the job.

Or maybe, my headline should have been, a weakening construction employee workforce. The vast majority of contractors, consultants and other people within the construction industry that I have spoken with have all made clear that one of their biggest concerns for the future is the lack of skilled labor coming into the construction industry. The last I heard, the average age of a construction worker was 50+. This means there is going to be a lot of turnover in the near future and a growing concern as to who will fill these positions.

When I inquire about why owners feel this is a problem, many are quick to point out that there is no longer any encouragement given to a career in labor. Kids are being told to go to college, work in an office. In addition, many programs and opportunities at schools, such as shop-type classes are the first to be cut when budgets get tight, which limits the exposure the blue-collar careers.

This is why it was encouraging to read an article about how hands-on classes are making a comeback. There are students who want to pursue a career in construction or would be best-suited to follow this path - as many construction jobs pay much better than what students will make coming out of college with four-year degrees. Without a certain skill set or background, it would make entry into this career even more difficult. Not to mention task construction businesses with having to develop workers with zero experience.

And why should they be required to do that? You don’t expect accounting firms to teach their new employees how to use calculators. High schools have lost the focus that they need to develop and provide opportunities for its students for all facets of life once they graduate, and not just going to college.

Data recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that nonresidential construction continues to boost the U.S. economy amid the residential downturn. Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), estimates that about 400,000 specialty contractors formerly working in residential have shifted into the nonresidential arena.

Many of the concrete contractors I’ve talked to in recent months say they’ve had to shift to more commercial work to keep their crews busy. There are challenges in taking on more commerical work, especially if your company is set up for mainly residential work. Whether you’re performing traditional concrete work or decorative work, you’ll find commercial jobs are larger and may require more equipment and employees on site to complete the job. With commercial projects it’s more likely you’ll work for a general contractor than directly with the owner as you might on a residential project. The bidding process is more involved in commercial work. And you most likely will have to wait longer to get paid when working on commercial jobs.

Have you been picking up more commercial work to stay afloat in the current construction market? What are some of the challenges you’ve faced with an increased number of commercial jobs? Do you have advice to offer other contractors looking to take on more commercial work? Post your comments to the blog — I’m interested in hearing your thoughts!

Recently I was invited to attend an event in which Caterpillar unveiled its new 993K Wheel Loader. Though this size of equipment will primarily be used in the mining industry and is larger than the equipment used by the majority of this audience, I still wanted to make you aware of this unit and share some highlights and pictures of it with you.

Highlights

The 25-ton 993K is a completely new wheel loader model and offers a new size class to the Caterpillar line. The unit matches with the 777 and 785 off-road trucks from Cat, filling the 777 in four passes and the 785 in six passes. The unit replaces the 992K and 993K and is added to the large wheel loader line-up which includes the 994F, 990H and 992G. However, the 992G will go out of production in 2008 due to emission standards.

Built on an all-new platform, the new loader features Z-bar linkage, hydraulics and power train that deliver 20 percent more breakout forces than the 992G. The increased performance and capacity result in a 15 to 20 percent improvement in productivity compared to the 992G.

Click on the photos for larger versions

The Caterpillar 993K (right) sits next to the 994F - the biggest wheel loader Caterpillar manufacturers.

A vertical view of the 993K.

A view from just outside the cab of the 993K to the ground.

Cat customers attending a mining forum line up to take a picture in the bucket of the 993K and 994F wheel loaders.

Hello, welcome to my blog and thank you for reading. My name is Sam Simon and I am the editor of ForConstructionPros.com. I’m joining my colleagues Rebbecca Wasieleski and Allan Heydorn in the blogosphere providing the online audience of construction professionals with insights, issues and other topics from all over the industry.

I plan on using this blog to share in my ventures through the different aspects of the construction world. Part of my job allows me to meet with contractors, equipment manufacturers and a host of other people who have a hand in construction in their own way. Only so much information can be relayed in articles, podcasts, video broadcasts, etc. so this is a perfect forum to relay some of the other bits of information that may fall through the cracks or not get the attention they deserve.

I also hope you take ownership of this blog and initiate conversation, post comments or use it as a way to communicate to me and/or other contractors. The easiest way to do this is use the comment link at the end of each post. But if you’d like to e-mail me, are interested in having a post of your own put up in this area, are interested in starting up a forum discussion or who knows what else, let me know how I can accommodate you.

And whoever knows me, knows I like to have a good time, so this probably won’t be all business. I’ll mix in some fun and games as I can. Thanks for stopping by, and make sure to come back soon to read future blog posts. Just to wet your appetite, I recently visited Caterpillar as they unveiled a wheel loader and there are some interesting developments on that machine I’d like to share - so you’ll probably be seeing that next.

This blog provides a great opportunity to write about a lot of things, some of which might be interesting to you folks and some just fun to write about. But one of the things I just realized is it enables me to publicly thank some of the people who help us out, at National Pavement Expo, for example.

So thanks to the handful of members at the North American Power Sweeping Association (NAPSA) who help put together and host the annual “Best Practices” workshop, which is fast becoming one of the best-attended sweeping sessions at NPE. Uri Ben Yashar, East Coast Lot & Pavement Maintenance, was a driving force behind the concept and serves as the moderator each year, but he couldn’t do it without a number of NAPSA members stepping up to direct one of the discussions of one of the six topics covered during the 3-hour session.

The program (offered at a special $75 rate to NAPSA members) is organized in a roundtable format, literally around round tables, where participants exchange ideas and solutions about a topic, then switch tables (and topics), and do it all again. Results from each group are reported back to the entire group, so anyone in attendance gets some darn good analysis, insight, and suggestions on six different sweeping-related issues, making the session one of the most cost-effective of NPE.

Anyway, this isn’t meant to plug the session but to thank the six NAPSA members who volunteered to facilitate the topics. They don’t get paid, though they do get free admission to NPE, but that doesn’t come near reimbursing them for their efforts in planning and coordinating the discussion of their respective issues. So thanks to:

• Carl Barton, Aardvark Sweeping Service
• Ray Confer, C&J Parking Lot Sweeping Inc.
• Debbie Jacketta, Jacketta Sweeping Service
• Gerry Kesselring, Contract Sweepers & Equipment
• Mike Lucht, Progressive Sweeping Contractors Inc., and
• Gabe Vitale, C & L Sweeper Service Corp.

for stepping up to direct these sessions. This type of program couldn’t happen without their involvement. Thanks, too, to Amy Allen, NAPSA administrative director, who is tasked each year with coordinating much of this with Uri and me.

For more information on the “2008 ‘Best Practices’ for Contract Sweepers” workshop, to be held Friday, Feb. 1 at NPE, contact NAPSA at www.napsaonline.com or visit www.nationalpavementexpo.com.