Construction Informer

Marketing With Topical Messages: A new initiative in New York is offering to answer a lot of questions about green building. This is unique because it isn’t a government effort but rather a grass roots business effort. Named The Hamptons Green Alliance the site is claimed to be the first ever consortium formed by local building companies that is committed to green initiatives in building. Designed with consumers in mind the site features articles on the diverse topics of alternative energy, insulation, smart home electronics, HVAC and natural landscaping.

This is an interesting concept since it brings builder and trades together in a single marketing effort that directly targets topical information that is very much on people’s minds these days. It could be as construction businesses continue to find value in more transparent business relationships with each other, more of these efforts will surface. From the perspective of someone who wants to have a home built there is a certain comfort in knowing all the players who will be doing the job are working as a team, and something like this illustrates that to a certain degree.

Tax Break Gets Extended: There is of course a whole lot more in the “bailout” bill than most people probably realize. Some of it makes sense. For example, anytime the government gives people a tax break to do smart things I tend to gauge that as making sense. One of the things in the bill that got included was the cancellation of the expiring energy efficiency tax break for commercial buildings as reported on in this post. Figuring out to about $1.80 per square foot, the deduction could be just the ticket to get some owners to consider moving forward with their plans.

Do You R&D? In construction it may be overlooked but there are efforts that those in the AEC fields do regularly that might qualify as research and development. New processes, and new designs and improvements on existing processes and designs could all qualify for the now-extended R&D tax credit. Even testing and investing in research and development could not only be beneficial from an operational point of view, but also from a tax point of view. With this credit being extended until the end of 2009 there may be enough time to continue with, or start new efforts in this area that could be brought to fruition before the expiration date.

Construction projects are always stalling for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the plans are a “wee bit” too energetic, like the Seattle luxury condo hotel that discovered it couldn’t sell but 21 of the planned 176 units. So it was scaled back to just 44.

Other times the market is blamed like when another condo project in Ocean City, MD, barely got past the groundbreaking when it came to a halt. In that case local property owners have had to deal with runoff from the site and the whole issue has become a side show that is fascinating the community.

A community center under construction at Ramstein Air Base in Germany crash landed because of a dispute between the U.S. and one of the contractors over change orders. So, the German government has stepped in and offered a special funding account so subcontractors can be paid and then get back to work.

In NYC the construction of a ticket booth in Times Square that was supposed to be completed in 2006 is still up in the air and according to some sources the officials there have not been interested in revealing what the delays are about.

Now, some are claiming there is a dearth of stalled projects because of the housing crises and the drying up of that prodigious stream of credit that fed unprecedented construction activity for almost a decade.

Claiming the subtitle of, “Finishing Today’s Projects for Tomorrow’s Business,” the Unfinished Construction.com people are now listing projects in need of completion and trying to match finishers with them. Owners and brokers pay to advertise their unfinished projects on the site. Looking oddly like archaeological finds with a modern flare the stark block walls without roofs evoke the feeling of great plans gone awry.

Failed projects will always be with us since in some cases there isn’t enough after-the-fact maneuvering in the world to overcome one that is poorly planned and executed, and also because sometimes things just don’t work out.

In the course of busy days it’s often difficult to keep up with your partners\subs and have your finger on the pulse of just what’s going on in their little corner of the constructing world.

Why would you want to know that? Just because each trade faces its own challenges and if you know those you can understand why some things aren’t working, but more importantly you might be able to get a glimpse of things that will affect their performance. Like having your own crystal ball in a way.

To get info about particular trades you can tune into publications and web sites that cater to them.

For example, if you had read the 2008 Profile of the Electrical Contractor published by Electrical Contractor magazine you would have found out that about 60 percent of electrical contractors are concerned about the effectiveness of counterfeit products and their ability to meet codes. Apparently there are knock-offs out there that aren’t really built to last and contractors can’t easily tell when they have purchased and subsequently installed them. This is leading to warranty issues they have to address.

You also would have discovered that 80 percent of electrical contractors say they receive incomplete plans and specs. This is nothing new. This affects everyone who builds, but in knowing that little piece of info at least you are reminded they face the same issues you do. Could you be a bit less prone to jump to judgement because of that knowledge? Maybe.

So, you ask, who has the time? Well, you could use RSS. Once you find a site that showcases information about a particular trade you can subscribe to its RSS feed. Whenever new articles or news items are posted they will show up in the feed and you can peruse them as you have time.

Not all sites are doing RSS feeds, but many do. The feed for the one above is this. You can use your favorite browser to view it, or, there are specialized feed readers like News Gator and Google Reader.

Information can change your perspective, and ultimately the outcome of your days.

In the world of construction where people end up being scattered all over the place throughout the day it’s often a nightmare to get some face time, or to get everyone together for a meeting. By pulling people to a central place to attend a meeting not only is their time tied up for the meeting itself, but often there is some kind of a commute involved. Besides time, that also uses fuel.

There are a growing number of online meeting options springing up where you can call a meeting via email and at the designated time everyone logs into the meeting. During the meeting the presenters can be alternated and also anyone can put documents on the screen. Citrix’s GoToMeeting is one example where you pay a monthly flat fee starting at $49 and you can have up to 1000 meetings with up to 12 people each. The person calling the meeting sends a link with the meeting notice. The attendees click the link at the appropriate time and everyone gets connected. The screen shot below gives an example of the work space.

Over at Microsoft there is Live Meeting with voice and video ability as well as the usual characteristics like on screen collaboration and file sharing and editing. Microsoft lists the advantages as reducing travel, increasing productivity, reducing costs and accomplishing training - and all of this in a very immersive way.

What’s really interesting about this option is that when there are several participants in one room they all show up in video in a panoramic view, just as if you were looking at them in a conference room. This takes a piece of hardware that sits in the middle of the conference table and plugs into a presenter’s computer. Meanwhile, those remote participants show up on each person’s computer in a side pane. On the common screen people can share documents, web pages, screen shots and can work on a white board as well as take polls. Live Meeting costs from $4.58 to $15.42 per month/per user just depending upon how many you want in the meetings and whether or not you want the recorded meetings stored for a year. There are other options as well for volume purchasers.

Other options include Webex, Packetel and OfficeScape to name just a few.

There is a continuing drive to make more and more things very visible on construction sites. From remote web cams to surveillance trailers equipped with everything necessary to make a site a 24-hour live TV show the sky is the limit when it comes to just how much you want to know about what goes on when you aren’t there.

A lot of people just plain don’t like the idea of being watched at work. It’s no wonder when you drive by site after site and see five people talking and drinking coffee while one person works. But it isn’t just human productivity at issue.

People steal stuff. I’m not talking about the occasional pen or clipboard or even lumber scraps. I’m talking about large quantities of things like steel, lumber, nails and even tools. It would be interesting to see if those who do the stealing would mind if someone took some of their stuff, but that’s a whole other trip into the study of human behavior. Suffice it to say if you own something there is probably someone who wants it…for free.

But there are some other compelling reasons why managers are electronically spying on their sites. A video record can help tremendously in disputes with clients, sub-contractors and even inspectors.

When getting into this activity you need to make sure you first of all know just why it is you want to have surveillance. Then, unless the budget is not an issue, you need to identify the highest priority locations on a site you want to have observed. Do you have someone in-house who can handle a do-it-yourself setup, or do you need to outsource? How are you going to respond to the things you find out?

What if you discover a very trusted employee has not deserved the trust you have extended? If that employee is a key player how will you handle your new found knowledge and still be fair to everyone else? What level of theft are you willing to put up with? Will you fire someone for taking three, two-foot long lumber scraps, or will you give them a warning? How will you deal with people shown taking excessive breaks, or working at half-speed? How will you respond when you catch people on tape doing excellent work and watching out for company property? You would be best served if you really thought out all the scenarios you might encounter and come to an understanding of where your limits are and when you feel action is necessary.

To get an idea of the kinds of equipment and costs you will be looking at you might consider checking out Spy Cam or WebCamProShop if you are inclined toward the DIY route. For solutions you can rent, lease or buy there are examples at SiteSeer. OxBlue is now offering a line of professional grade solar-ready construction webcams with rugged solar power stations to run them.