Contractor's Best Friend: Page 7

Labor & Workforce Development

How Skill Training Plays Into Worker Retention

It’s important for contractors to recognize that providing educational opportunities, training classes and personal development for all levels of the workforce can directly impact the retention of workers

Mentor Train

Coaching & Consulting

6 Tips to "Making" Your Next Construction Estimator

The making of your estimator will enable you to move your business further down the road of performance and profitability

The making of an estimator, your estimator, will enable you to move your business further down the road of performance and profitability.

Personnel Management

The Making of a Leader: The General Manager

The construction general manager must be engaged and active in leading, directing and motivating all the right people and processes to produce a profitable result

The role of general manager is a role that is designed to be active and engaging.

Project Management

7 Tips to Keep Your Construction Company Thinking from Going to the Dogs

How can we shake up our construction workers to be more active in their thinking and to think more clearly, objectively and effectively?

Even good people can fall prey to not taking the time to make good decisions, or worse, ignore important and available information that would have led them to a better decision.

How to Retain Construction Employees Using Engagement and Participation

The earlier and more consistent a contractor is in getting a new worker engaged and participating in the company, the more productive and motivated that worker will be

Engagement and participation is not hiring a new worker and then putting him immediately into the work process and expecting unbelievable results right away.

Coaching & Consulting

The Making of a Leader: Construction Foreman

Vision (1-2 weeks), state of their crew, and proper equipment and tool management will point any construction foremen in the right direction

construction foreman leadership

Holiday Cheers for Customer Service “Plus”

Give all of your customers this year a special gift — an incentive really — to do more work with you next year

It is in the spirit of Christmas that I would like to encourage you in yet one last customer service tip, let’s call it, Customer Service “Plus.”

Winter is a Great Time for Contractors to Develop a Business Plan

Effective business planning is more than simply putting some goals out there and then making a mad scramble to reach the goals

If you have never developed a business plan then consider this winter season to do so. If you have a business plan, consider revising it, updating it, strengthening it to be more realistic and more useful for this next business season.

Labor & Workforce Development

What to Look for in a Construction Estimator

Without a doubt, future estimators will be more “techie” than ever and need to be well versed on many of the software options available

A construction estimator must have an understanding of numbers: both the numbers of measurement (i.e. quantities) and numbers of value (i.e. dollars).

Contractor's Best Friend

What Can Construction Contractors Learn from 'Trick or Treat?'

Do not "trick" your customers but rather provide a "treat" that the customer can trust in and count on

In this economic time it is sure tempting even for the most honorable of contractors to consider offering their own “trick.” Instead, provide them a 'treat'.

Preparing for Conference Season

No matter your construction focus, attending an annual conference is not only a great idea, it can and often does provide you with profit-increasing and production-improvement ideas.

How Responsibility Enhancement Fits Into Employee Retention

Responsibility Enhancement is less about dumping more “stuff” on workers and more about contractors recognizing workers are ready for growth and additional responsibility

The contractor who takes time to study an employee’s strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes and goals and expectations is the contractor who will be much wiser in preparing workers for greater responsibilities and retain workers longer.

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