Doug Witte, partner with Melli, Walker, Pease & Ruhly, discusses best practices that will minimize the affect an OSHA inspection has on your crew. Witte also shares some insights on how to handle the inspection as well as what to do and what not to do.
To contact Doug about this or other legal issues including labor, employment or construction, e-mail him at dougwitte@melliwalker.com.
The U.S. Small Business Administration is currently offering two free online courses to help small business owners in the area of borrowing. The courses are “Finance Primer: Guide to SBA’s Load Guaranty Programs” and “How to Prepare a Loan Package.” The free, 30-minute courses can be taken online anytime through the SBA’s training website.
I talk with contractors almost every day and I talk with manufacturers every week. By ruminating on all that anecdotal information and by comparing notes with our sales folks and Kim Johnston, our associate editor, I like to think I’m able to keep Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction and seminar programs at the two National Pavement Expo shows on track.
But I want to make sure, so several times each summer I make it a point to visit contractors to find out how they’re doing. Kim Johnston (more on her next week) does the same thing, as do all the editors on our magazines. By visiting contractors specifically to talk about their business, their market, their problems and concerns, and their long-term outlook, we have a better grasp of the issues of concern to our readers. That helps us plan issues, articles, and seminars because we have a better grasp of the types of questions we need to find answers to — so readers can improve their business.
Some of these visits end up as articles in the magazine, some visits turn up potential speakers for NPE or NPE West, and some simply provide fodder for future articles or seminar topics. But everything we learn helps us make sure we’re doing what we need to do to make sure Pavement, NPE and NPE West, and our ForConstructionPros.com website are valuable to the industry.
So tomorrow I’m headed out to start some of my 2008 reader calls, to ask the most important reader call question: “What keeps you up at night?”
I’ll let you in on what I learn when I return next week.
The new myDanner program from Danner Inc. is a great opportunity for those who like to display a bit of individualism in their work site wear. myDanner allows each customer to personalize their boot down to the eyeholes (hardware) and custom text on the tongue - unfortunately its an eight-letter limit so ForConstructionPros.com won’t fit.
The price ($600) is a bit on the steep side, but no one ever said style is cheap. But don’t settle for simply ordering online and having your boots magically appear, take advantage of the premium package that includes a two-night hotel stay in Portland, private factory tour, custom boot fit and more.
So, what does your boot look like? Here’s mine:
Want to share what your boot looks like or other personalized work site wear? E-mail me with an image of your personalized shirt (I’ve seen some pretty creative shirts that are worthy of world-wide recognition), hard hat, etc. and I’ll post them in this blog.
Josh Kanner, co-founder of Vela Systems, is the guest on the latest episode of the Construction Equipment Owner’s Podcast. Josh takes a look at the recent crane collapse and talks about how the application of mobile field software can aid in minimizing the probability of a future accident. He also discusses the use of mobile field software for the purpose of general safety inspections and how implementing a system like this can benefit the contractor throughout the entire construction business.
If you’ve been putting off writing that business plan because you’re just not sure how to plug-in future dollars and cents, a recent article in June Money magazine says don’t sweat the numbers.
“The most crucial aspect of your business plan is you: your skills and experience and your ability to make the case for your business,” writes author Kathleen Ryan O’Connor in answer to a business-planning question.
Fred E. Wainwright, executive director of the Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, says the relationship between an entrepreneur and investors is like a marriage. “Rapport, patience, and communication skills are essential,” he says.
Next in importance in your business plan is market size so you can generate confidence and show that your plan and business is worth the investment, and you should back up your market size assumptions with focus groups, surveys, industry reports, and customer feedback.
Don’t, Wainwright says, try to impress potential investors with numbers you can project — but not accurately predict. “Nothing makes an investor’s eyes glaze over like financial projections five years out that are in dollars and cents,” he says. “Investors like having the sense that the entrepreneur is committed to underpromising and overdelivering in financial performance rather than attempting to guess or impress with faulty estimates.”
Last week a select group of media were invited to the Case Customer Center located in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. I was one of the lucky people chosen to attend to receive small-group walk-arounds and stick time in the new equipment released by Case since the beginning of the year. Case was also gracious enough to allow me to record the product demonstration they put on, so look for highlights of that yet this month in our video network.
In addition to the activities involving the construction equipment, Case held a Ground Breaking Ceremony for a new Product Review Center that is to be constructed at the facility. The new building will provide climate-controlled viewing to the product-demonstration area where guests can see the full line of Case construction equipment in operation, from the smallest skid steer to the largest excavator. When completed (slated for November), the 3000-square-foot building will comfortably accommodate up to 100 people.
The city’s mayor, Bob Lee, was on hand, along with Jim Hasler, vice president of Case; Jim VanStrydonk, representing the general contractor; and Gerry Kole, manager of the Case facility. The four started excavation for the footings with three golden shovels and a Case CX210B excavator - operated by Gerry Kole. Watch the video of the Ground Breaking below.
But what is probably of most interest, especially to someone as involved in technology as I am, is that the Product Review Center will be equipped with a state-of-the-art audio-visual system that will enable operators running equipment in the outdoor presentation area to communicate with the customers inside the building. One of the main features will be a “helmet camera” that will provide a big-screen display from the operator’s point of view so customers can see the instrument displays and exactly what the operator’s hands are doing when they perform different tasks bringing a whole new perspective to equipment demonstrations.
Greetings from the baseball center of the Universe! The Cubs are in first place in the NL Central with the best record in baseball, the White Sox are in first in the AL Central, and at least one Chicago paper — reflecting frequent bar, restaurant, and on-the-street chatter — is already writing about an all-Chicago World Series.
And there might be something to at least half of that, according to an article in June SmartMoney that draws correlations between the stock market and the success of the Cubs. The article points out that in 1907, with the U.S. financial markets facing disaster, the Cubs won the World Series, and they won it again in 1908. Following the Asian financial crisis of 1997 the Cubs made the 1998 playoffs, and when hedge funds tumbled last year the Cubs won their division (okay, so they got swept soon after by the Arizona Diamondbacks, but they got there).
A spokesperson for the Cubs terms all this “an interesting coincidence,” but doesn’t put much stock in it. But what Cub fan wouldn’t be willing to weather a tough stock market for just a few more months if that would carry the Cubs to the Series?
Well, my driveway is finally sealcoated, and the contractor did a nice job. He battled through lousy weather, scheduling and canceling twice before scheduling a third time and finally getting the work in. A two-person crew showed up on time, one wearing a t-shirt with the company name, logo and phone number on it (we didn’t ask where the other fella’s t-shirt was)..
One person started cleaning the driveway with a walk-behind blower while the other filled a wheeled buggy with sealer, then pushed it to the back where he began edging. Both men squeegee-applied the sealer, and they did a nice job paying attention to the edges, as you can see from the photo.
Six contractors called, two bids considered, and a job well-done. Now I can stripe the free-throw and three-point lines!
SBA has created an online tax savings resource center to help small businesses understand how they can benefit from the 2008 economic stimulus package signed into law by President Bush earlier this year. The package includes the following tax incentives for businesses: a 50% bonus depreciation allowance on equipment purchased and placed in service in calendar 2008 and an almost 100% increase in the amount (from $128,000 to $250,000) that a business can expense for equipment purchased and placed in the business tax year beginning in 2008.
The center, located on www.sba.gov/stimulus, contains three resources on the package:
1. Fact Sheet The fact sheet provides a clear explanation of the small business tax benefits.
2. Deprecation Calculator This useful tool provides an estimate of the first- year depreciation available under the provisions.
3. Online Seminar This brief tutorial summarizes the tax benefits and concludes with the depreciation calculator.
These resources should help small businesses take advantage of the stimulus package. However, because there are exceptions and additional requirements, small businesses are encouraged to contact their tax advisor to determine exactly how the provisions and implementing tax code of the 2008 economic stimulus package apply to their business.
Also read Gary Bartecki’s “Incentives to Spend” where the Contributing Writer to Equipment Today leads a discussion determining if a benefit is provided for you or your company by changes in the tax code.
