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  The Dangers of a Challenging Job Environment: Construction Professionals Take a Physical & Emotional Beating   The construction industry is no walk in the park.  On the job, you are subject to managing and performing in a high-pressure environment filled with regimented schedules, tight budgets, and excruciating manual labor – all while delivering high quality work day in and …
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Customer Reviews Online – Take the Good with the Bad in the Construction Industry When people research companies today, they often use the internet as both a search tool and a fact-checker to qualify their product or service options.  Review sites like Yelp, Google Business Listings, and Amy’s List can be powerful listing tools that put your best foot forward; …
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Technology on the Jobsite  In today’s digital world, the tiny smartphone in your pocket has twice the computing power that desktop computers had just 10 short years ago. Smartphones and tablets are so integrated into our daily life that it is shocking when you hear about someone “going off the grid,” or being completely isolated from connected tech devices. These …
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Marketing Yourself…as a Contractor There’s plenty of skilled contractors out there in the world that are incredibly gifted and innovative in their trade.  However the problem in this industry isn’t skill level – it’s competition.  There are just so many options under the sun that it is difficult to separate reputable individuals from the clutter.  In our current digital world, …
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Handling Rejections in a Tough Industry Everybody knows the story…you put a lot of time and detail into a proposal, assessing all the angles, hand-picking materials and methods, doing your homework on labor and cost, and the customer comes back with a resounding NO.  Of course it is frustrating to put in effort and lose the bid – but how …
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This Isn’t Your Dad’s Job – The Construction Business is Changing When the housing market started to dry up in the early 2000’s, thousands of construction workers were left jobless, looking for work in other sectors.  The National Association of Homebuilders estimates that nearly 30% of the national labor force in the construction industry changed careers when new developments and …
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  If you’re working in the construction and skilled labor industry in the current year and you don’t have your general contractor’s license or trade certification, then you’re walking on thin ice. The Department of Consumer Affairs Contractor’s State License Board (CSLB) has been getting aggressive with sting operations within the state, targeting unlicensed and fraudulent contractors that bid for …
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It’s November which means that you are probably looking towards 2017 wondering if this is the year that you become a licensed contractor. Without a doubt, this is a big step in your future. With most high schools retaining vocational classes as part of their curriculum, the labor pool is being rapidly depleted of quasi-skilled labor. This means that the …
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Over the last 8 years, the construction industry has seen a steady decline in national unemployment rates. Starting with the disruption caused by the housing crisis and exacerbated by natural disasters in the Southern Atlantic States, the need for construction employees has taken several hits over the last few years, but many states have started to come back from the …
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So you want to become a contractor.  Maybe you went through a trade school or spent your youth on construction sites working through apprenticeships and now you think it’s time to become your own boss. First off: Congratulations on your ambition! Taking the step to business ownership can be highly rewarding and, eventually, pay off in great dividends. However, there …
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So today is the big test day. Your guts are in a knot, your palms are sweaty, and you’re remembering back to Mrs. Smith who always seemed to be eyeballing you during exams in high school. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Like hundreds of people before you, you have been struck by test anxiety; a ruthless affliction that has hampered …
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As a contractor working with residential customers, it’s important to keep relationships at least marginally alive, even after the work is done. Most of the time, this is accomplished with newsletters or mailers showcasing recent or current projects. The idea is to keep your company name high in your previous customer’s mind in case they need more work or, more …
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In 2009, a group was formed to provide research on plumbing and flow efficiency in drainage and waste systems. This group consisted of members from five major organizations including: The Alliance for Water Efficiency, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, the International Code Council, the Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors, and the Plumbing Manufacturers Institute. Moving forward with the …
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It’s hard to travel through the extensive land of Youtube without running across 2.5 tons of DIY projects that the average schlub films in his backyard. The viewer gets to watch the maker goof a few times here and there before finally turning out a project that almost looks decent. Rarely are there videos for the DIYourselfer that show how …
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In one of his Dirty Job’s episodes, host and itinerant worker Mike Rowe featured a collage of episode snippets that prompted the eventual Dirty Job’s motto of “Safety Third”. He went on to explain that the motto was not intended to mean that safety should be relegated to a lesser importance than anything else, but that it should always be …
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It may seem absurd to advertise for winterizing services in the middle of September. After all, the cold months are well…months away. Why spend your advertising dollars now on a service that won’t be utilized for almost a quarter of a year away? For the same reason that Wal-mart and Target start putting up Christmas decorations in September or Valentine’s …
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