Employees

• Controlling Whole-House Remodeling Costs

  Managing customer and architect expectations can head off problems in a remodeling project.

   
• 

  A Simple and Effective Contract for Subs (Subscriber content)

  Spelling out the project scope and your company's administrative procedures keeps the job running smoothly.

   
• 

  More American Workers Sue Employers for Overtime Pay

  Americans were pushed to their limit in the recession and its aftermath as they worked longer hours, often for the same or less pay, after businesses laid off almost 9 million employees.

   
• 

  Why You Should Cross-Train Your Employees

  Temporarily moving your employees to different jobs will get them enthused about both your company and their job.

   

• When the Homeowner Does the Demo (Subscriber content)

  Q: I'm considering a job remodeling a kitchen on a pre-1978 house. The budget-conscious client wants to save money by doing the demo work himself, which I understand he can legally do in his own home. Can I come onto the job afterward and work without following lead-safe work practices, since I...

   
• 

  Reach for the Sky: ReechCraft PowerLift

  Achieve easier access to work at height indoors or outdoors with the 20-foot reach of the PowerLift personnel platform.

   
• 

  Getting Started With Strategic Planning (Subscriber content)

  It's almost 2012 and time again for annual planning.

   
• 

  Tracking Changes With Variance Purchase Orders (Subscriber content)

  This month I want to talk about one of the most important aspects of a purchasing system: the ability to accurately capture, manage, and minimize unwanted job-cost variances.

   

• Alabama Contractors Scramble to Replace Hispanic Workers

   

• New Jersey Towns Waive Permit Fees in Flood Recovery

   
• 

  Put Your Construction Business Purchasing Systems to Work

  In July we discussed the basics of a purchasing system, and how it can help you control costs and improve the quality of your projects.

   
• 

  Control Costs With a Purchasing System

  For the past several columns we've been talking about the importance of gross profit and contribution margin, or the amount that each job "contributes" toward overcoming your annual fixed overhead expenses and reaching your profit target.

   

• FEMA Takes Over Thousands of State Farm Flood Policies

   

• Plot Thickens in South Carolina Builders Liability Brouhaha

   
• 

  Make More Money By Controling The Growth Of Your Building Business

  When I was a young builder in the early '80s, there was an old-timer in town who worked with a couple of his sons, a small crew, and a handful of good local subcontractors.

   

• GE Lighting Revolution Tour

  GE's Lighting Revolution Tour is visiting 47 U.S. cities from March through Nov. 2011. Vignettes on board this mobile exhibit explain GE's latest thinking on retail, office, outdoor, municipal, and architectural lighting as well as the items today's practitioners must be aware of such as energy...

   
• 

  Convoluted Layers in the Lighting Supply Chain

  How and why it came to be this way.

   

• JLC Report (Subscriber content)

  Outsourcing paperwork with a PEO; high-school building program faces closure; defective-drywall guide raises eyebrows; more

   
• 

  Protecting Profits in Your Construction Business

  Let's begin this month by reviewing some basic financial concepts and benchmarks.

   
• 

  JLC Report

  OSHA moves to limit alternative fall protection; Senate votes to repeal much-criticized tax provision; Californians snap up smog-eating tile roofs; more