Mon.Jun 18, 2018

article thumbnail

How Smartphones Impact Your Construction Business

Construction Business Owner

People have more ways than ever to connect—social media, virtual meetings, online chat rooms, texting, email, etc.—and with smartphones at our fingertips, we can stay tuned in to the web anytime, anywhere. The question then becomes: How do all of these methods of communication impact customer preferences and expectations? Surprisingly, the preferred method for clients to interact with businesses remains the phone call.

article thumbnail

Leveraging BIM in the prefabrication space

Construction Dive

By improving project visibility and coordination between the trades, 3D models can reduce design errors and save offsite construction firms time and money.

BIM 119
professionals

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

12 Steps for Developing and Driving Stronger Business Strategies

Construction Business Owner

Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” The purpose of business planning is to set overall goals for your business and to develop a strategy to achieve them. This includes implementing deducting and balancing approaches, making decisions, setting a destination or direction, and action planning. However, many construction companies have no long-term plan, with some even touting, “We just bid and pray.”.

Bidding 235
article thumbnail

How BIM boosted efficiency, collaboration in San Francisco mega project

Construction Dive

Designers, engineers and contractors behind the two-million square-foot Oceanwide Center used 3D modeling software to execute complex design details within an efficient timeline.

article thumbnail

Optimize Operational Processes With an Industry-Specific ERP

As the use of Enterprise Resource Planning systems in the construction industry is critical to optimizing operations, it's critical that decision makers conduct a thorough software evaluation to find the one that best aligns to their needs.

article thumbnail

How Contractors Are Making the Most of Video

Construction Business Owner

For years now, video has been a leading marketing strategy for small businesses—a cost- and time-efficient way to get the word out—and for much larger Fortune 500 companies, carrying their message in “viral” efficacy across the globe.

More Trending

article thumbnail

How You Could Pay the Price for Exhausted Employees

Construction Business Owner

Construction remains one of the most dangerous industries to work in. According to a 2016 Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) report, construction led all other industries in fatal work injuries at 991—a rate of 10.1 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.

article thumbnail

Report: US construction industry has a bright future

Construction Dive

The Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation predicted industry growth of 5% from 2017 to 2018.

article thumbnail

How to Gather and Utilize Customer Feedback

Construction Business Owner

During the 1980s, the mayor of New York City was the famous and outspoken Ed Koch. One of the interesting facets of his tenure was his affinity for asking his constituency, “How are we doing?”.

article thumbnail

AGC: Material prices growing fast, tariffs threaten more increases

Construction Dive

The Associated General Contractors of America said the effects of the new steel and aluminum tariffs can be seen in ballooning material prices.

article thumbnail

The Ultimate Procurement Software Buyer’s Guide

Choosing the right procurement software is a crucial step in ensuring third-party risk management, process governance, and bidding efficiency. With so many procurement solutions to choose from, it can be overwhelming without a frame of reference and a solid starting point. This free buyer’s guide will cover: Benefits of Procurement Software –– Why do you need it?

article thumbnail

Why Email Is Still a Top Marketing Strategy

Construction Business Owner

Contrary to popular belief, email is still one of the most effective marketing channels. Why? Because email can reach individual decision-makers at a relatively low cost in comparison to many other marketing channels. Email can be measured easily and can drive lead generation. In fact, email is growing steadily. A recent McKinsey study (mckinsey.com) found email to be 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined; however, it must be executed correctly to achieve these results.

article thumbnail

In the battle of suburbs vs. cities, could both be winning?

BD+C

Five years ago, I wrote a blog about changing patterns of urban and suburban growth, inspired by two presentations I’d recently seen. At one, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) had explained why downtown cores could expect a bright future of significant growth while suburban growth would stall.

ULI 85
article thumbnail

Should You Fire Your Insurance Broker?

Construction Business Owner

Why you should work with an insurance broker who understands & takes steps to protect every aspect of your business operations. If your insurance broker is simply negotiating pricing and accepting the terms and conditions offered by carriers and underwriters, it is time to hire a new broker. .

Insurance 200
article thumbnail

'Athleticscapes' give colleges a recruiting edge

BD+C

It has long been apparent that colleges and universities are engaged in an arms race to attract top student-athletes, with ammunition that includes extravagant training centers and stadiums. John Robertson is on the front lines of those battles. As CEO of Advent, a Nashville, Tenn.-based branding consultant that has worked with a wide range of AEC firms, he sees many colleges whose recruiting strategies are based on having the largest, most state-of-the-art athletic facilities.

article thumbnail

Stop Making These Mistakes and Start Scaling Your Specialty Contractor Business

Anything that is built on a poor foundation will soon crumble from the ground up. This is literally the case in the construction stage of projects and it applies just the same during the pre-construction stage. This free eBook is your ultimate guide to scaling your business with customizable software as early as during the bidding stage.

article thumbnail

How Automating Workforce Management Tasks Can Increase Productivity

Construction Business Owner

With today’s labor shortage, it is essential that construction companies streamline business processes and eliminate time-wasting tasks, so staff can focus on important work. Automating workforce management processes, such as timekeeping and payroll, is a great way to free up some misspent time and increase productivity.

Products 195
article thumbnail

A Massachusetts research building is the first to meet WELL?s Gold standard

BD+C

An R&D building on the Billerica, Mass., campus of EMD Serono, a biopharmaceutical business of Merck that focuses on specialty care, became the first in the United States to receive Gold-level certification for New and Existing Buildings from the International WELL Building Institute.

article thumbnail

Why You Need to Audit and Update Your Standard Operating Procedures

Construction Business Owner

Whether it is to mitigate the risk of security breaches or simply to provide new features, the ubiquity of updates and upgrades has become ingrained in the way society uses everything from smartphones and tablets to video game consoles. Unfortunately, this culture of consistent renovation does not automatically transfer to business processes. One document rarely sees the prevalence of such renewal: the procedures manual.

article thumbnail

?Was Not? versus ?Is So?: Court Clarifies Whether Exceeding Monetary License Limit Affects Contractor?s Recovery

Best Practices Construction Law

After a great extended weekend on the beaches of Florida, we embarked upon the drive back to Nashville with six kids. Despite the clearly defined travel rules, the antagonizing kid was putting his feet on the emotional kid. The creative kid was writing on the seat with markers, while the perfect kid screamed foul. The lazy teenagers slept. Mom and dad were triggered for eight hours.

article thumbnail

The Specialty Contractor's Guide to Job Cost Accounting

Supply chain challenges and rising material costs are forcing specialty contractors to pay more for what they need to complete each job. Following a simple set of principles, this easy-to-follow guide can help you manage job costs, ease the pains of accounting, and run a more profitable businesses. If you are a Specialty Contractor or Self-performing GC, you do not want to miss out on this essential guide!

article thumbnail

What Makes Online Auctions Successful?

Construction Business Owner

The internet has revolutionized the way we buy and sell. Many purchases that used to demand in-person transactions have evolved—and improved—into virtual services. Wasted time and travel results in wasted expenses and increased opportunity costs. The internet has brought immediacy, efficiency and greater selection to many traditional markets and new alternatives to the equipment remarketing and auctioning world.

Travel 174
article thumbnail

Cube-shaped AmorePacific headquarters building completes construction in Seoul

BD+C

After eight years of construction, the AmorePacific headquarters building in the Yongsan-gu district of Seoul, South Korea was officially completed on June 15. The Cube-shaped building comprises 30 floors and 216,000 sm of space.

article thumbnail

Why Your Insurance Policy Should Cover More than Damage

Construction Business Owner

In an alert issued April 16, 2018, the United States and the United Kingdom published a report advising organizations and individuals worldwide that Russians were attempting to access devices controlling the flow of internet traffic. One day later, the Federal Reserve reported that during last year’s record-breaking, weather-related disasters, 65 percent of affected companies attributed their financial losses to power or utilities outages.

Insurance 174
article thumbnail

Vancouver airport kicks off CA$9B expansion program

Construction Dive

Vancouver International Airport's 20-year capital program, which has increased by $3.5 billion Canadian dollars since 2017, includes 75 projects.

article thumbnail

Report: Optimism for Construction Growth in the Next Year Remains High

Research reveals 96% of respondents are very or fairly optimistic about their organization’s growth prospects for the next year. The InEight Global Capital Projects Outlook also finds over half see digital technology as the greatest growth opportunity. But these are only some of the findings. Don't be kept in the dark when it comes to the future. Read the report today!

article thumbnail

Solving Working Capital Challenges with Supply Chain Financing

Construction Business Owner

Payment terms are lengthening in nearly every industry as buyers seek to make the best use of their capital, and construction is no exception. Project owners are implementing longer payment terms, which is especially challenging for the subcontractors performing the work.

Finance 168
article thumbnail

AI is the path to maximum profitability for retail and FMCG firms

BD+C

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the next big step for retail and FMCG companies following the implementation of advanced big data and analytics (BDA) solutions, which can unlock huge data volumes in an automated way in real-time and ultimately lead to maximum profitability, according to data and analytics company .

Retail 56
article thumbnail

9 Tips for Hiring Talented Employees in Construction

Construction Business Owner

I recently received the following message:

article thumbnail

Design, cost and contract issues plague $1.3B StratCom HQ

Construction Dive

The U.S. Department of Defense unveiled that the Kiewit Corp.-Hensel Phelps joint venture project at the Offutt Air Force Base has been subject to more than two years of delays and at least $53 million of cost overruns.

Defense 50
article thumbnail

Discover 7 Ways to Cut Construction Inefficiencies

Construction sites are often just-barely-controlled chaos. Without clear coordination, you risk everything from clashes to delays, cancellations, and missed deadlines. Get the free eBook & learn how to solve the biggest challenges in construction!

article thumbnail

What Competitive Bidding Strategy Works Best?

Construction Business Owner

Marcus Mooney, AIA, DBIA. Director of Design Build, KAI Design & Build.

Bidding 227
article thumbnail

Update: Epiroc Becomes Fully Independent Company

Construction Equipment

. . Shares of Epiroc AB, a leading productivity partner for the mining, infrastructure and natural resources industries, have started trading on Nasdaq Stockholm in Sweden. This marks the start of Epiroc as a fully independent company following its separation from the Atlas Copco Group.

article thumbnail

Building a Database of Tire-Maintenance Information

Construction Business Owner

Tires are complex, highly engineered products that can be important contributors to construction equipment productivity. They also account for a substantial capital investment. That’s why it makes sense to do everything you can to ensure that you are using the right tires for your application and that they are performing correctly. Building a database of tire maintenance information is one of the best ways to accomplish this.