Executive Summary There’s power in simplicity. Harness the power to more efficiently communicate in-house and with your clients. What’s in a Task? Each day we all show up to work and have to accomplish a task. There are usually two main components of a task: the speed at which it […]
Financial Protection for the General Contractor & Owner: Two Ways
Executive Summary When making regular payments throughout the lifespan of a construction project, there are two main ways a general contractor or owner can achieve a significant level of financial protection: the joint check and/or the lien release. The Payment Process Most construction projects pay on a monthly basis. Payments […]
How to do a Job Cost Projection: Cutting through the Fog – Part 2
You can find Part 1 here. Let’s run through an example. Let’s do an example so you see some of the challenges. Let’s take one cost code in your budget – let’s look at roadway subgrade. Below we have the budget for this cost. You can see the cost code […]
How to do a Job Cost Projection: Cutting through the Fog – Part 1
Executive summary. An accurate job cost projection is vital to Company survival. And it’s not too complicated if you know the budget, the timing of your costs, and can do a little bit of estimating. It’s NOT about blindly relying on quantities completed! What’s a projection? It also carries different […]
Mistaken Taboo: Project Overhead
Executive summary. Field overhead carries different names with different contractors and owners. Discussed here is what field overhead is, and why it’s important for owners to understand. Project estimation. When a construction project is estimated, a good estimate will be one that captures all costs related to a project. These costs include, […]
Bond Premium and the Project Time Extension
Executive summary. Most traditional bond rates have two variables in their cost: the contract value and the time threshold. Do not forget to include both in time extension negotiations. What’s in a bond rate? The bond rate from your surety agent comes in two parts: (1) the cost as a […]
Designing with Cost in Mind
Executive Summary. Contractors are often brought into a project in the design phase to minimize cost. Here are some guidelines on infrastructure project cost cutting measures from a Contractor’s viewpoint – it’s advice to a design team. How estimating is done. In civil infrastructure work, most contractors use crew-based methods […]
Embedding Cost Control Culture into the Project Cycle
By Scott Jennings, P.E. This article was originally published in CFMA’s Building Profits April 2019 Sometimes financial situations can cause a contractor to fail. But these mishaps can likely be avoided. Forecasting and managing the timely implementation and execution of cost controls can considerably impact effective bidding. In fact, cost […]
Customized Programming: Easy Access and Low Cost
Executive Summary: There are no perfect software solutions out there for many industries. Many companies must settle for “close enough” to achieve their control goals. If you have relatively simple needs, considering a custom program may vastly improve your efficiency for less cost than you think. What do you mean, […]
Cost versus Price
Executive Summary: Cost and price are two different measures of money in a construction bid. Knowing the difference is fundamental and can improve profit. What is cost? Cost is the expense associated with an activity or item. It is just cost. It has nothing to do with price. In construction […]
Build your Business into a Machine
Download PDF Executive Summary: Without solid processes and controls in place, too many decisions can be left in the hands of employees who approach things in very different ways. The end result is that executive management has no consistency in the data presented to them. Lockdown processes to establish consistency – […]
The “All Zeroes One” Code Prevents Lost A/P Invoices
Executive Summary: A key component of job cost reporting is accurate posting of accounts payable (A/P). The time between receiving the invoice in the mail and posting it to your job cost reports can be fatal to a job, or a company. The answer is to not let the invoice out of the […]
The Importance of Construction Cost Estimating for Civil Engineers
In episode 066 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, Anthony Fasano talks with Scott Jennings, P.E. principal of SJ Construction Consulting, LLC about the importance of cost estimating for civil engineers. Here are some of the questions asked of Scott: Can you walk us through the process of putting together a construction […]
RFID (and NFC): What is it & how can it help you?
Executive Summary: RFID is defined and the differences between RFID and NFC are explained here. Also discussed is how they can help your company. RFID defined. RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. It’s a process. It is a process where items can be uniquely identified using radio waves. By taking […]
Owners Need to Stop Expecting Filet Mignon on a Hamburger Budget
Executive Summary: An August 19th, 2017 cover page headline in The Economist magazine reads Construction: the least efficient industry. Their general position on our industry’s efficiency I didn’t think was far off, but the blame was misplaced. Owners need to help turn this industry. For their own sake, not just […]