Construction Equipment Owner

The American Subcontractors Association is currently offering a free podcast entitled “10 Survival Tips for Contractors in Lean Times.” Hosted by Donald Gregory, Esq. of the Columbus, Ohio-based law firm of Kegler, Brown, Hill and Ritter, the 15-minute podcast addresses topics such as preserving lien rights and cost-cutting. You can listen to the podcast through your computer or download the program to your iPod or MP3 player. Access the podcast at the ASA’s website.

We’ve been stuck in a bit of a cold snap here in Wisconsin — a nice time to kick back on the couch under a blanket with a warm cup of tea for some easy reading. “Easy reading” for me no longer means a steady diet of knitting magazines and Tony Hillerman novels, but instead topics like pervious concrete and sustainable construction. A few great reads I’ve recently taken in include two white papers from L.M. Scofield — “How Concrete Contributes to Today’s Green Designs” and “Design and Construction of Pervious Concrete Pavements.” If you’ve got a little time and want to increase your knowledge base on either of these topics, I encourage you to take a look at these publications.

I recently received some pretty interesting underwater photography … of bending rebar! The photos were taken on a jobsite offshore in the Bahamas. The contractor was hired to refurbish a couple berths in the port. He wrote of the project, ” We have to custom build cages which requires drilling, doweling and epoxy to make the structures. We have to bend the rebar in place to customize each cage, then build a form around it and pump concrete in.”

Underwater bending was performed using EZE Bend equipment. Brad Rozema of EZE Bend explains, “Using radio communication to activate the hydraulics, the diver completes rebar bends underwater.”

I was reading about the recently announced Doosan Fuel Duel, in which Doosan will give eligible contractors $2,000 for tracking and submitting fuel data. It got me thinking about fuel savings and the things people can do to conserve fuel. I work from home when I can, which at today’s current gas prices saves me roughly $7 each day I avoid my commute into the office. I have a good number of friends in my neighborhood, and we make an effort to pick restaurants within walking distance for our get togethers.

Several months ago I started asking contractors what they do to conserve fuel. Many of them mention carpooling to jobsites, or even choosing more energy efficient vehicles for their fleets. Others carefully plan travel routes or use GPS systems to monitor their work vehicles. What are you doing within your company to save fuel? Comment back to this post with your ideas for cutting fuel costs with your commuting or towing vehicles and your work site equipment.

I made a trip to Northern Wisconsin over the Labor Day holiday weekend and couldn’t help but make a quick stop at the Wisconsin Concrete Park in Phillips, Wis. The park is home to more than 200 concrete sculptures by self-taught artist Fred Smith. Smith built his sculptures out of wood frames wrapped with wire then covered with hand-mixed concrete. He added broken glass, mirrors and other found objects to decorate his art. The sculptures tell stories of local, national and world history. It’s a fun place to explore folk art and nature, and a unique way to look at concrete.

Concrete artists of today, such as Buddy Rhodes, Fu-Tung Cheng, and the countless other concrete contractors creating beautiful decorative concrete in bathrooms, kitchens and outdoor living areas across the country, have a different take on concrete as art.  But like Fred Smith, today’s concrete artists appreciate the versatility of concrete, it’s connection to recycled and found materials, and it’s ability to transform an artist’s dream into reality.

Take a few minutes to check out this podcast ForConstructionPros.com Editor Sam Simon conducted with Buddy Rhodes of Buddy Rhodes Artisan Concrete. The two discuss emerging trends in decorative concrete for both residential and commercial applications.

 Talking Decorative Concrete with Buddy Rhodes [4:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (309)

Concrete has been instrumental in the building of many beautiful and architecturally progressive structures, such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and the Sydney Opera House in Australia. The construction world’s latest concrete masterpiece comes in the form of Chicago’s Trump Tower, the city’s second tallest skyscraper and North America’s tallest concrete-reinforced building. If you want to learn more about the construction of Trump Tower and read some interesting facts — such as how many cubic yards of concrete were used in building the behemoth – read this article about the completion of the building.

I recently attended the Concrete Foundations Association (CFA) Summer Meeting in New Mexico. The theme of the meeting was “Surviving a Down Economy.” Many of the seminars and lunch table discussions focused on business strategies contractors are using to stay profitable despite the current new homes construction market. The strategy most people are finding success with is diversification, including the CFA’s Contractor of the Year, K-Wall Poured Walls out of Traverse City, Michigan.

K-Walls owner Rich Kubica said the residential market in his area is really struggling, but his company has stayed above water because of diversification. Several years ago the company branched out from traditional concrete work and added decorative concrete and epoxy floors. Other services include foundations, flatwork, pool construction, waterproofing, insulated walls and underlayments. The company also recently opened a branch in North Carolina, diversifying not only its services but its geographical market, too.

Diversification is a business model with which just about any company can find success. If your company has taken diversification to heart, post a comment to this blog and tell me about your success.

“Green building” is a popular buzz phrase these days, but does anyone really know what it means? I think of it as a broad term, encompassing many different definitions depending on the context in which it’s used. Generally it refers to a building process that lessens the impact construction can have on the environment. For instance, it may mean designing a building to maximize daylighting to reduce electricity needs; or it may mean choosing sustainable flooring materials such as bamboo or cork in place of hardwoods; or it may simply mean recycling construction materials to minimize the amount of waste that ends up in a landfill at the end of a project.

Much of green building focuses on reducing energy use or choosing recycled or sustainable materials. Another definition of “green building” can refer to it’s affect on the people who live and work in those buildings or attend school in them. The PCA’s most recent Concrete Homes Newsletter highlights the KC Health Home – a house built with indoor air quality in mind. The builders used an efficient HVAC system and chose products with low toxicity levels to help keep air pollutants in the home at a minimum. As consumers become more and more educated about the buildings they work and live in, builders will need to meet their requests with structures that incorporate energy efficiency, indoor air quality and use of recycled materials more and more. As a business owner, it’s in your best interest to stay informed of these trends and technologies and know how you can implement these requests on future projects.

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.

 Preparing Job Site for OSHA Inspection [12:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (554)