# NF Excerpt - Construction WIP



## Pluralized (Sep 1, 2017)

I have fifty or so chapters completed in my little subcontractors' guidebook, which has no name nor no real direction at this time. It's intended to become something of a niche-filler, since there is little service given to the little guy and Construction Management curriculum is geared largely toward General Contractors. Most all of the subs that I know have learned their business through trial and error. The idea here is okay, just not sure on execution. I have lots of little excerpts I can share if anyone has the stomach for it - it's kind of dull and I think reads rather puerile. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on flow, grammar, composition, and subject matter. This book will cover everything from market research, bidding, ordering materials, negotiating contracts, installation and project management issues, through to mediation, collections, and closeout. If I can put the rough draft together I believe it has potential to serve a need in the marketplace. I have never really believed in my writing, so want to share and grow here if anyone can help me. 

Couple of snippets:

Building the same old scope can get rather dull. If you are accustomed to laying carpet, and that is all your company has done for thirty years, then you’re probably really good at carpeting. In fact, there’s probably no project you can’t handle. If you want to grow your business, you have three basic options, and only one of which is truly feasible: First, you can charge more for your services, and hope you continue to book the new jobs. This is only practical in the healthiest of markets, and even then isn’t terribly likely to succeed as a business model. All it takes is one market slowdown and your company will be unable and probably unwilling to revert to customary bidding practices (though obviously, when the market is healthy, you should strive to make a profit). Second, you can take on significantly more work, even beyond what you would call “really busy.” This is a nice thought, but again, only realistic when work is plentiful. You should always strive to be slightly overbooked, but know your limits. Taking on work does you little good if you can’t get it all done. Finally, as an option to enhance or increase your profitability, you can take on new and more lucrative opportunities. As a carpeting company, you may find your installers are well-versed in other types of flooring, or at least can be trained. After all, many of the same fundamental logic can be applied to ceramic tile, hardwood, or other kinds of high end durable flooring. This concept is not just applicable to flooring, however. Think of your typical exclusions list. Are you normally targeting your specific scope and leaving the general contractor to find other subcontractors to pick up the work that you exclude? What if you could offer them a comprehensive package which covers the entire specification section? In all likelihood they would prefer it, and you can step outside your comfort zone and open up market share. There is no reason not to, unless the risk is just not worth the reward. Obviously, if you take this concept and apply it too aggressively, you can fail miserably, but by taking on smaller forays into the unknown, you can enrich your capabilities as a subcontractor and service your customers with a larger footprint on their projects.

***

The standard construction progress billing system is a challenging environment to succeed in. You are constantly spending money to accomplish work for which you won’t be paid for months, if you’re lucky. By maintaining a proactive and tactful negotiating style, you can do everything possible to survive this process and make money, without extending yourself to the limits.When work is subcontracted, the materials and labor for a given scope of work are typically lumped together and subject to the same terms and conditions. Retainage, typically ten percent, is held on the entire subcontract amount, regardless whether related to materials or labor. Progress billing is a standard, slow process. There is an established deadline each month during the active phase of the project, by which you submit a payment application, with specific amounts to be invoiced for that particular month’s projected activities. This will include your materials, in-house labor, field labor, and other related items to your scope of work, as illustrated in the previously mentioned schedule of values. The payment application must be processed by at least two different parties in the general contractor’s office, then sent off to the other administrative entities responsible for verifying the accuracy of construction billings for that given month, which possibly will include the construction manager, project architect, and the owner’s representative. Despite having been in use for sixty years, for some reason standard billing forms (usually AIA documents) seem to confound some people and will inevitably face a hard, uphill path to approval. If proactive steps are not taken, your payment application may even be rejected out of hand based on disagreement with the amounts you’ve billed for or the format in which it is presented. The proactive step of issuing a ‘Pencil Draft’ can be important to avoid a delay in collecting payment for work performed or materials purchased.


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## ppsage (Sep 1, 2017)

I'm not your target audience, but some of my acquaintances and relations would be. I'm pretty sure none of them would automatically get what you mean by the term 'scope.' They'd figure it out okay, and it is really a germane referent, but maybe you should introduce it. --------- You might want to try shorter paragraphs and sentences. This is hardly puerile, at least from the point of view of literature, I think the writing is a bit complex for the job. ----------- In former and fitter years, I worked sometimes with a hardwood floorer to make ends meet. He would have benefited from this, but he'd never read fifty of 'em. ----------- Do you offer any case histories? Or quotes from interviews?


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## Kevin (Sep 1, 2017)

It's all what I live and have pondered. The quandary of expanding labor/ increasing volume of work, and thereby gross while not losing quality and efficiency is one faced by every service providing business.


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## Olly Buckle (Sep 3, 2017)

Your target readers mostly don't read a lot, my brother in law, a small builder, makes a point of the fact that he has only ever read two books. What they do read are things like assembly instructions, which are very ordered, so -:

Introduction,

Firstly, 

Secondly,

Thirdly,

Lay it out in separate paragraphs.

Then look at the ideas within the paragraphs.



Building the same old scope can get rather dull. If you are accustomed to laying carpet, and that is all your company has done for thirty years, then you’re probably really good at carpeting. In fact, there’s probably no project you can’t handle. If you want to grow your business, you have three basic options, and only one of which is truly feasible:

Doing the same stuff gets dull.
Doing the same stuff you get good at it.
Long term you get really good.

There are three ways to grow a business.
Only one of them works.

Straight away it is obvious they fall in two groups, and the relationship is not obvious, possibly the same stuff being dull makes one want to grow for variety? Decide ‘What is the point of making these statements?’ You imply growth and diversity may be a guard against recession later on in the piece. Knowing ‘why’ gives you the chance to decide if you have used the best examples, and to state reasons clearly.

If only one is feasible why do you give so much room to the other two? And which one is it? This is a case of sorting ideas, as I did above, then their ordering and degree of importance becomes much more obvious.

“First, you can charge more for your services, and hope you continue to book the new jobs. This is only practical in the healthiest of markets, and even then isn’t terribly likely to succeed as a business model. All it takes is one market slowdown and your company will be unable and probably unwilling to revert to customary bidding practices (though obviously, when the market is healthy, you should strive to make a profit).

Up charges
New jobs?
Healthy market?
Poor model.
Slow market, difficult to economise
Good market, make hay while the sun shines.

Looking at that I would order them; 'Up charges; poor model. Why? Need to find jobs, market changes ...’

See what I mean? It helps get things logical and find a natural order, at the moment it is a bit here there and everywhere, as though you have thought ‘Oh yes, and that wants to go in...’

Hope this helps and hasn’t just made lots of work.


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## Kevin (Sep 3, 2017)

I was thinking that you should have definite subsections with  titles for each. Some might only be a sentence.


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## Galen (Sep 3, 2017)

Pluralized said:


> I have fifty or so chapters completed in my little subcontractors' guidebook, which has no name nor no real direction at this time. It's intended to become something of a niche-filler, since there is little service given to the little guy and Construction Management curriculum is geared largely toward General Contractors. Most all of the subs that I know have learned their business through trial and error. The idea here is okay, just not sure on execution. I have lots of little excerpts I can share if anyone has the stomach for it - it's kind of dull and I think reads rather puerile. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on flow, grammar, composition, and subject matter. This book will cover everything from market research, bidding, ordering materials, negotiating contracts, installation and project management issues, through to mediation, collections, and closeout. If I can put the rough draft together I believe it has potential to serve a need in the marketplace. I have never really believed in my writing, so want to share and grow here if anyone can help me.
> 
> Couple of snippets:
> 
> ...



While I have not done any research into Small Contractors Guides, you may have found a niche market. You got my attention because several relatives are small construction contractors and I get to hear their stories of what it is like to be a small contractor.

In my humble opinion, many of us need a guide to a variety of trades.


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## Plasticweld (Sep 4, 2017)

As someone who been a mentor to other small business owners, I think you underestimate the appeal of what you have to offer.  In the last ten years I have mentored 7 or 8 young guys who have started out from nothing in the hopes of building a business.  I can say in all honesty that, just as you have done I merely shared the obvious "at least to me," with them.  I have found analogies and simple explanations and the ability to share a single concept in a variety of ways to be the most helpful.  Saying something once never really seemed to sink it.  I  often made a statement, then shared an example, then recapped by repeating the statement in a similar but different fashion then when I started out.  Also visuals work well, I am not sure but it seems as though most who are entrepreneurial tend to be visual in their learning methods which I often think makes the analogies effective. 

As far as marketing goes a series on YouTube could be effective, with enough hits it pays it will also give you a Googable name in the field for a publisher to look at. 


The only think that caught my eye that  I thought that struck me as a little off was the statement about comfort zones and risk.  From past experience there is really no such think as a comfort zone.  I often share that a successful businessman goes to be every night with at  least ten things he should have done and that the key to success is being comfortable in complete chaos. 

Risk has always boiled down to the bigger the risk, the bigger the return.  I have often encouraged other to take on far more risk than they are comfortable with.  Just as every cost seems to be under estimated so does every return in the beginning when you start your business plan.  Playing it even sort of safe tends to end up in a break even scenario, " in my experience anyway." 


Olly offered some excellent advice on format.


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