Construction Equipment Owner

Mike Horn, Foothills Paving & Maintenance, Wheat Ridge, CO, came to National Pavement Expo West last month to present what was (not surprisingly) a very highly rated seminar. He was working at the show and those who attended his “Maximize Crack Repair Profits!” seminar likely took home some darn good ideas about how to do just that.

But Mike didn’t stop working once his seminar was done – because he knows how to get the most out of a trade show. First, he brought a number of his employees with him – and they all attended near a full house (note the Las Vegas reference) of NPE West seminars. So far, so good, but a lot of contractors attending conference programs do that. By bringing more people you can cover more seminar topics and absorb more information.

What Mike did that was different is he scheduled what he terms a “debriefing” the week after the show. Mike brought everyone together and they compared notes. They shared what they learned, talked about what they shared, and, he says, got a little excited about where the company could go. So far, still good, but Foothills Paving & Maintenance took even another step, and this one was a giant step. At the debriefing they compiled a list of 41 points – 41! – the company wanted to act on or at least investigate.

“Some of the things we learned are immediate, things we can do and will do almost right away,” Mike says. “Others are short-term things that we can start working on and put in place relatively quickly. And still others are long-term things that we’ll probably hand over to internal committees to look into a little more.”

Whoa! I’m sure Foothills Paving & Maintenance isn’t the only contractor that uses educational programs in this way, but they sure offer a great blueprint to follow. We’ll check back with Foothills in the future to see what the status of those 41 points is.

Be honest now. How many undocumented immigrants are on your payroll right this second? Last season? The last couple of years? If you’re like many contractors you hire people who can do the work and don’t pay much attention to their documentation…or you look the other way even if you know.

And if you’re short manpower on a crew — for a day, a week, or even more — how have you handled that in the past? Many contractors turn to the pool of day laborers available in most markets of a decent size. These folks aren’t skilled pros, they’re warm bodies willing to put in a day of work, trading their unskilled labor for wages. Not the best situation for either party, certainly, but almost an essential part of the construction industry’s labor pool … Unless you work in Chicago.

An article in the Chicago Tribune reports day laborers are suing the city for harassment, despite the fact contractors utilize these folks every day. A touchy issue to be sure, especially with current concerns over immigration. But many paving and pavement maintenance contractors would have a tough time filling out crews were it not for some of these folks.

In the business of making and repairing tanks for 28 years, Dean Roberts Sales brought one of its sealcoating tanks to help contractors visualize what the customer-tank manufacturer can provide. Dean Roberts Sales provides skid-, truck-, and trailer-mounted tanks in addition drop-off storage tanks, in sizes from 300 to 11,000 gallons.

For contractors working from the ground up, H-MACH International Inc. introduced its Cross Blade Fine Grader, which relies on a 100-hp Caterpillar diesel engine and a 10-foot sliding moldboard. With a turning radius of 8 feet, 6 inches, the Cross Blade seemed to attract quite a bit of attention from contractors looking for a compact grader.

Wayne Sweepers used NPE West to introduce their new Gladiator broom sweeper to the industry and the many members of the North American Power Sweeping Association attending the show. A striking black floor model with a red slash along its side, Wayne says the Gladiator features “state of the art multiplexing,” an hydraulic-powered water pump, and a “super-efficient” oil coolants system.

The bane of the paving and pavement maintenance contractor has always been weather, and while you can’t control it a new service from Weatherbill Inc. might make you able to compensate for it. Another exhibitor that attracted a fair share of attention, Weatherbill Inc. is essentially an insurance program for the days when you can’t work and helps protect profits from too much rain, cold or heat. Owners can cover a day, a week, a month, a project — or an entire season – and Weatherbills are flexible so contractors can match their need and budget to the coverage.

Just like its sister show, National Pavement Expo West has grown steadily over the years and is increasingly recognized as the best way for exhibitors to reach contractors on the West Coast. How do we know? Because the exhibit floor continues to grow and because new exhibitors continue to seek out the event. In fact, NPE West 2007 boasted the greatest number of new exhibitors – 21 – in its history, and contractor attendance again topped 1100, with roughly 20% (based on informal hands-raised counts in seminars) being newcomers to the Las Vegas event. Those who attended had a chance to learn about these new companies first hand, but for those who couldn’t make I’ll roll out some information over the next few days on some of these first-time exhibitors.

Back from National Pavement Expo West in Las Vegas and right off I’d like to thank those of you who took a few minutes to stop by and say hello – and there were quite a few of you. This is a great opportunity to for me to meet contractors, discuss the state of the industry in your market, learn how so many of you go about business in such different ways, and you can believe that I came back into the office with a head full of story ideas and a suit coat full of contractor business cards to call about them.

Lots of insights to report from NPE West and I’ll trickle them out over the next few entries, but let’s start with some of the comments from exhibitors. I won’t reveal the companies – I didn’t ask if I could quote them, this was just in conversation – but one sealer producer told me he’d had “the best first day” he’d ever had at NPE West. Another said he had “a great day” but was disappointed in himself for not getting a larger booth and bringing more equipment (he’s already planning for next year). Still another (actually two different exhibitors) said they were especially impressed with the quality of the people walking the floor, stopping to talk and learn – and buy.

Quality contractors, quality exhibitors, and I enjoyed talking with all of you.

How has your year been? Pretty good, I’d guess … unless your market focus is new residential construction.

A recent report by Associated Builders and Contractors finds that in the 12 months from September 2006 to September 2007 nonresidential construction spending grew almost 17% while residential construction spending declined almost the same amount, just over 16%. So contractors invested primarily in that market have felt the seat belt tighten and heard the tires screech as residential new construction slammed on its brakes, and those contractors probably are trying to decide what steps to take to make sure they don’t go through another year like this one.

While there are no simple answers – every contractor in every market has his or her own issues to contend with – diversifying the services you offer and the markets you do business in can certainly help smooth out the spending bumps in the uneven construction road.

I’ll be out at National Pavement Expo West in Las Vegas, this Thursday through Saturday, directing a conference program that just might offer some insights into how you can protect your business by helping you diversify, grow, or simply operate more effectively. If this week isn’t good for you check out National Pavement Expo, Jan. 30-February 2 in Nashville, which has even more you can learn. For more information on either show visit www.nationalpavementexpo.com.

My last blog entry dealt with Timothy Ferriss’s book, The 4-hour Workweek, and this entry builds on that (and on a comment from Nick Howell, T&N Asphalt Services). Delegating responsibility can certainly free up some of your time, and related to that, I think, is the impact subcontracting (Ferriss refers to “outsourcing”) can have on your business. By tying your company to reputable contractors who perform work you don’t perform, you can become more important to your customers and can solve more of their problems. You can not only sealcoat but pave; not only pave but stripe – and you can do it without buying a piece of equipment, or hiring or training new people. If you select the right company to work with – a company that is reliable and that does good work – there’s almost no risk for you. That’s the typical approach to subcontracting.

But another approach, an approach contractors often don’t think about, is to subcontract out some of your business management services. You probably already “subcontract” some of them if you have an accountant or an attorney, but many contractors have had success working with employee leasing companies. These operations offer a variety of services, from simply handling your payroll to advertising, screening, and hiring employees – all skills that are essential but can take up a lot of your time.

While Ferriss’s book is a bit much to me, it did make me think. If there’s a business or management book that’s made an impact on your business I hope you’ll share it and your insights with the readers of my blog.

OK, who could pass up a book titled The 4-Hour Workweek? Well, if you’re one of the thousands who, like me, took a shot at it (putting it on the New York Times Best Seller List for several months), shame on us. We should know better, especially in an industry that demands long days and hard, physical labor over anywhere from six to 12 months depending on the region you work in.

Of course, the title does pull you in. Who wouldn’t want to work just 4 hours a week? Of course the real key to working four hours a week is to work 4 but still get paid for the other 36 or 40 or 50 (stop me when I get close) hours many contractors put in regularly. The 4-hours-a-week work plan might be plausible in some other industries (though I doubt it) but it certainly doesn’t apply to the paving and pavement maintenance industry, even at its higher management levels. This industry requires continual involvement, especially in the smaller companies where an owner wears many hats (and all you many-hat wearers tip your hats).

But while this book isn’t worth your time – author Timothy Ferriss spends a great many pages writing about all the things he’s done and the places he’s been because he was able to work only four hours a week – it does contain a nugget that is probably worth all the panning to find. And that nugget is this (I’ve saved you all the panning): delegate and consider subcontracting. No, he doesn’t put it in those terms, but he does suggest outsourcing just about any work you can to free up your time. Fair enough. Extend that a little bit and take some liberties with his narrative and you get delegate and subcontract.

Contractors, especially contractors who own their own smallish business, have a tendency to wrap their hands and arms around just about every job that needs to get done and it can take near disasters, perpetual prodding, Brad Humphrey seminars at National Pavement Expo, and more to get them to loosen their grip. But loosen they must, and then delegate they can, freeing themselves up to spend more time in blue sky mining or on other areas of the business that might need their attention.

It must be autumn as we’ve started to get our annual run of phone calls from property managers and contractors who want to know if they can still sealcoat pavement. Property managers want to know if it can still be done in the fall; contractors want to know what the temperature specs are for sealing in cold weather.

Here’s what we tell them. First, the rule of thumb is that the temperature should be 50°F and rising…and rising is the key. If it’s 50°F and falling or if it peaks at 50°F and you apply sealer you are opening the door to a variety of problems that could affect the life or effectiveness of the sealcoat. The second thing we say (to property managers) is to rely on their contractor. The second thing we say to contractors is to rely on their sealer supplier. The supplier knows his material the best and can give the best guidance on what your concerns should be. The third thing we suggest, if there is concern about applying sealer, is to play it safe and try to schedule the work for spring. This isn’t always possible, but it can help avoid problems and should at least be considered as an option.

It’s always tempting, and sometimes it’s even necessary, to get those last few jobs done. By extending your season you’re obviously generating more income and driving more dollars to your bottom line. But if you add those profits at the expense of a customer, or if you push the envelope just a little too much and have to go back to redo the job next spring, what have you really accomplished? So property managers, rely on your contractors; contractors, rely on your suppliers. It’s in everyone’s best interest to make the right sealcoating decision.

Sometimes things kind of hang around in my mind, gestating, waiting to be written about, nudging me to get to them. If I’m not sure what to write I hold off, hoping to plug in to the idea I can focus on. It’s been that way for a couple of topics in recent days, so let’s give this a try and see where it leads.

My father-in-law died last week, age 87. He was one of a disappearing generation of people who for one reason or another came to the United States in hopes of improving his lot in life. Chester emigrated from Poland, via Germany, after World War II, having enlisted at age 19. He spent the bulk of the war as a prisoner working on a German farm replacing the farmer’s three sons who were fighting for Germany. Married shortly after the war and with a one-year-old daughter (my wife) he came to Chicago, sponsored and with a job, and raised two daughters. It’s a true American Success Story, similar to thousands of others, and he told us all a lot of stories.

He died shortly after I’d finished watching all the episodes of Ken Burns’ PBS documentary, The War. (I had recorded it on a DVR so I could watch it around baseball’s playoffs; Me, 1, Technology, 0.) I watched the series initially from a historical standpoint, but it gradually became much more than a history lesson. Despite years of American and World History in school I didn’t have a real sense of the chronology of The War. I didn’t realize Baatan was early, and I didn’t realize where the Allied African campaign fit, nor how the Allies moved through Italy. I didn’t realize the complexity of waging a war in several parts of the world simultaneously, and I didn’t realize why the Battle of the Bulge was called that. I did realize the sacrifices made, but this film helped me feel those sacrifices, much as I felt the sacrifices Chester (and his wife, Emily) made. Burns’ approach of tying The War narrative to four U.S. towns and their people brought the fighting and political aspects to a human and almost personal level, to a level much like Chester’s.

Last Monday I heard Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play at Chicago’s United Center. He has an uncanny ability to connect to his audience, with even people in the Bob Uecker seats standing, singing, pumping their fists in the air during “Badlands,” “Born To Run,” and “Thunder Road.” His connection is visceral, emotional. But that’s the public connection. The private connection, the more personal connection, is his view of the America he wants his three children to grow up in. He’s a firm believer in the United States as a “shining beacon on a hill,” a land of opportunity, and his songs, at least many of them, turn on that point. He believes in independence, freedom, individuality guided by collective goals and desires. He believes in the country Chester immigrated to, worked in, succeeded in, died in. He believes in the country that sacrificed its young men to defend its ideals in World War II, a believer in the country that Burns unveils in his documentary.

If you haven’t seen The War I highly recommend it. To be sure, it is a big investment (at some 15 hours) but the investment is minimal once you realize the story being told. If you haven’t seen Springsteen, I highly recommend his concerts, whether you approve of his politics or not as his connection to his listeners is based on something other than that.

You’ll just have to take my word about Chester.