In advance of GIE+EXPO, I’m going to depart from my normal column crammed with tables, charts and formulas to share a few thoughts on leadership and responsibility to our people and industry. If you live long enough, you get to see everything all over again. What I mean is that in business, there are predictable patterns that shape the future.... read more
Kevin Kehoe explains why you might be hitting your job-hour budgets but margins are down. He shares some tips to avoid overlooking this issue. read more
Use technology to be disciplined and detail oriented in your sales strategy. read more
In my business lifetime, I’ve experienced many innovations that changed the way I worked: the copier (yes, I’m that old), the computer, the laptop, the Internet, the cell phone and the smartphone. These technologies were all once considered groundbreaking and are now the norm. In the five short years since I started a technology company, I can see firsthand just... read more
Even the most astute contractors struggle to understand and manage pricing. There are clear principles you can apply—with some amount of science and art—that can help you handle this more confidently. The principles are: Pricing is a function of item costs (labor and materials) plus a markup and a profit margin. All overhead is recovered through markups on item costs... read more
It’s the end of renewal season, and spring work is about to commence. While sitting at your desk late in the day, you receive an email. The message is from a customer. It essentially says, “Thanks for your service, but you’re fired.” After considering some options, like begging or “getting a drink,” you might want to consider, “Is this good... read more
