If you’ve been with me these past two months, you know that I have finally begun to take the lid off our industry. It is no longer any secret that I believe contractors have been gradually taken advantage of by the purchasers of construction services. Congress began...
Risk Mitigation Thomas C Schleifer, Ph.D. Thirty-five years ago, I initiated research that resulted in ranking construction contracting #2 in business failure rate (restaurants are #1). That data inspired me to begin ongoing research into the causes of construction...
Big Small Business Thomas C Schleifer, Ph.D. The oldest known structure on earth Göbekli Tepe, the remains of a temple at an archeological site in Southeastern Turkey dated back to 9500 – 8000 BC marks the earliest example of what we now call the construction...
Experts Make Money Thomas C Schleifer, Ph.D. Because too many construction projects are priced through a low-bid auction process, contractors have only minimal control over their selling price. Expense inflation over the extended life of a project is hard to control....
Managing Working Capital Thomas C Schleifer, Ph.D. As we noted last week, the primary cause of construction business failure is running out of money. Why when contractors run out of money is it so often a surprise? Financing Growth American industry is addicted to...
Identifying Risk Thomas C Schleifer, Ph.D. Most contractors are guilty of failing to diligently identify the unique risks in every new job BEFORE they undertake it. One example I often site is a failed project that I dealt with for a surety. The otherwise successful...
