by Simplar | Dec 7, 2023 | Financial Management and Risk, Growth, Growth, Weekly Construction Message
Over my career as a contractor, educator, and consultant to the construction industry I have worked with hundreds of different contractors that were as dissimilar as chalk and cheese. They were short or tall, large or trim, but they were all self-confident. No one...
by Simplar | Nov 30, 2023 | Business of Construction, Growth, Growth, Weekly Construction Message
What is clear after 50 years of research into the business of construction is that construction professionals make business decisions based on their beliefs. Beliefs are firmly held convictions that go largely unexamined but nonetheless strongly influence our...
by Simplar | Nov 9, 2023 | Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Weekly Construction Message
Our ongoing discussion on the importance of managing the flow of cash into and out of a construction contractor’s balance sheet identified the two major financial risk factors that contractors face: (1) a chronic shortage of working capital; and (2) a highly...
by Simplar | Nov 2, 2023 | Business of Construction, Cash Flow (Getting Paid), Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Weekly Construction Message
The first rule in both baseball and golf is keep your eye on the ball. The best hitters in baseball say they can sometimes actually see the ball hit the bat. Ben Hogan, one of golf’s greatest, claimed that the visual image that stayed with him after he hit a …...
by Simplar | Oct 26, 2023 | Business Failure, Business Failure, Cash Flow (Getting Paid), Weekly Construction Message
The process of estimating and preparing bids is one of our most essential management tasks, including direct and indirect costs. Professional estimators have a detailed knowledge of construction materials, specifications, techniques, codes, and pricing trends as they...
by Simplar | Oct 12, 2023 | Business Development, Business Development, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Growth, Growth, Weekly Construction Message
Capital capacity is just a fancy way of saying having enough cash around to finance projects ongoing plus projects under consideration. The construction industry is grossly undercapitalized. This, I believe, is the primary risk factor that contractors deal with daily...
