One of the topics of this month’s issue of Roofing Contractor is “Distribution and the Supply Chain,” the area of the industry this editor has worked in for the past quarter century. In addition to being an observer of the roofing industry overall, I have a keen interest in the supply chain.
Liquidated damages are a fact of life in modern construction contracting. However, even if your contract contains a liquidated damages provision and the owner has assessed liquidated damages, that does not mean the assessment is valid or enforceable.
Some of you might be a little puzzled by the headline to this article. What does “spike” mean in this context? It’s derived from journalism jargon in which editors commonly refer to spiking a story - that is, killing it for whatever reason.
The initial cost of a roof system is typically 10 percent of the total building cost. However, over the life span the building the roof could account for nearly 60 percent of the building’s total maintenance costs.
During the past few months, I have been zooming around the country teaching seminars and speaking at roofing conventions. On several occasions, I was speaking one-on-one with roofing contractors who commented about their strong administrative help.
The first car I ever owned was a 1969 VW Beetle, and it came with full shoulder/lap harnesses. Without any pressure from the government, I made the choice to use the seatbelt.
During a recent seminar in Toronto, I asked the group if anyone could tell me how they define “marketing.” I received an answer that was unlike any I’ve ever heard before. One of the participants said, “Marketing is making sure all of your employees know your company story and how they add value to the message.”
For most roofing contractors one of their largest and perhaps most frustrating expenses is workers’ compensation insurance. Roofing contractors pay more for workers’ comp than nearly any other contractor and as a result learning how to control that cost is essential to running a successful roofing business. The key to controlling your workers’ comp cost is controlling your experience modification factor.
The images tend to be memorable and camera-friendly - federal agents stage a well-publicized bust on a jobsite and cart off hundreds of undocumented workers. Today, however, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) have shifted their focus away from undocumented workers and are targeting the employers who hire them, often through audits and lawsuits.
A reader to Roofing Contractor wrote me and noted that my articles regularly focus on residential sales and appropriately requested that I offer some insights into commercial sales. Only a few days later, I was conducting a seminar at which one attendee expressed frustration about his wasted time in the plan room of general contractors, which resulted too frequently in lost bids. My advice: Get past the plan room.
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