Construction Informer

Even in this era of nail guns there is still a lot of nailing that goes on using the old standby – a 16 ounce claw hammer (20 ounce if you aren’t a lightweight and you desire just three hits for a 16d nail). For those small nails though you might save your other nails from damage if you use the ThumbSaver Magnetic Nail Setter. These items have been out of stock all over the place because of a glitch at customs, but sources say they should be available again starting today.

A lot of construction workers like to travel light when it comes to keeping things in their pockets on the job. So, a money clip can easily serve the purpose of holding some cash along with an ID and eliminate the bulk of a wallet. This is one nifty money clip that has construction written all over it. Plus it comes in a variety of colors.

There’s just something soooo efficient about tools that do multiple things and construction people like efficiency especially when it saves them steps or the time involved in looking for a particular tool. So while this is a tool that’s been around for awhile it still bears strong consideration when trying to pick a gift. It’s the multi-tool. They are made by many companies but they all have some similar items in their handles. This particular one even includes a couple of saw blades and metric and standard rulers.

For contractors that do some, or all, of their own designs, and for designers and architects, there is now a tool that will help with picking and recording colors on the job. Called Color Savvy, this tool matches up to 23,000 colors from major paint manufacturers. But, that’s not all, since you can also use it to scan colors and textures and then it will suggest coordinating colors.

There is a great book out this year that has a lot of information that anyone in construction management, architecture or engineering would leave dog-eared in short order. It’s Choosing Project Success by J.F. McCarthy. For those who might spend their days driving nails but in their spare time they are studying to move toward management or other positions that involve designing and planning this book is a must have.

I recently spent some time with J.F. McCarthy’s excellent book, Choosing Project Success. If ever there was a volume that speaks to the person who loves to build this is it. McCarthy covers some very in-depth information while keeping the reading task manageable. Early parts of this book take you on a journey to discover the key elements that make up the beginnings of a successful project. From there you are succinctly treated to some insightful approaches to estimating, project scheduling and the other necessary processes you go through when building. Later on, there is an immense degree of detail related to all the nuances of how a building and the components that make up the building interact with each other. You may think you know a lot about building, but you will find things here that will definitely make you stop, think and re-evaluate how you view not just the building process, but the beliefs about those things that go into those buildings. I will be doing an in-depth review to be posted on Construction Software Review in the very near future and hopefully an interview with the author right here.

Pawel Gotlib, a construction pro who is currently finishing up some construction management studies, created a tool that construction companies can use to assess their financial health, and perhaps lend some insight into things they might do to strengthen their companies. He has offered it as a free download here. You will need MS Excel to use it, and for anyone who might be curious about how their company stacks up from a financial perspective this is definitely a worthwhile tool to try out.