CM Search | Them

This Bonus Sucks! Source: Blogs
Bonus programs can really suck. Whether you want to call them bonus or incentive programs almost every company has them, but if they are not administered properly they can reall...

Construction Customer Service Source: Blogs
In my last installment I talked about performance in relation to holding people accountable for what they accomplish and not what they do. Let's look at the bigger picture of wh...

Bid Work? Risk Taker, Price Taker! Source: Blogs
If you are bidding work out there, you are going to be a price taker and not a price setter. In fact throughout the construction industry whether it is bidding, negotiated, time...

Where Have the Good Craftsmen Gone? Source: Blogs
One of the largest complaints I hear is "the quality of the workforce is not what it used to be". Whether I am talking to union or non-union, family owned or large business, the...

Cap and Trade, What to Expect Source: Blogs
With Copenhagen behind us and health care on the ropes, will Cap and Trade be on the block? The US House of Representatives have passed a bill, but the Senate has not taken it u...

Referral Program Source: Advertisements
Think Construction Monkey is a great solution? Want to earn your way towards free services? Receive a $20 credit towards your account for every company you refer for each servi...

Subcontractor Projecting 2010: Part 2 Source: Blogs
In Part 1, we talked about how to start coming up with a realistic look at 2010 by looking at your continual or flow work. In this part, let's take a look at the next part of th...

Need a Safety Program? Try a Culture First. Source: Blogs
As one of the most dangerous industries on the planet, construction focuses significantly on safety. Our industry is focused on the health and safety of our tradesmen and for go...

Keys to being a Great Estimator Source: Blogs
So what does it take to be a good estimator? Being great with numbers? Having a desire to color on drawings all day? There are a few key traits I have found in my career that ...

Revit: No Place for Amateurs Source: Blogs
Revit: No Place for Amateurs Let us look at the typical building information modeling services firm and how things are done. Typically, a CAD manager is hired to create all of...

Customer Service, It is About the Little Things Source: Blogs
Customer service in a service industry is the key to success. As specialty contractors, the service we provide is sometimes the only thing that makes us different than our compe...

New Year, Let's Accomplish Something! Source: Blogs
No matter where you sit in your organization I would like for you to take a different look at your job duties. Over the years the titles for different positions have become pret...

Best Way to Win that Next Project Source: Blogs
It appears as if the market is recovering (at least there are more projects out there to be bidding on), so how can you win that work to turn it from an opportunity to revenue? ...

Is ObamaCare Good for Subcontractors? Source: Blogs
Even though the health debate is not yet over and the full scope of health care reform is not known (or even if there will be reform), I think it is important to look at how it c...

Boating from an Owner's Perspective Source: Blogs
If you read the first part of this series, you have looked at the photo of two boats and hopefully gained a different perspective about the photo that has been circulating around...

We are selling Trust, That's It! Source: Blogs
In the previous part to this series, I made the claim that customers look towards the subcontractors to find the best "expert" in the field (or group of them) and then select fro...

Tracking Productivity is the Key to Productivity Source: Blogs
Productivity is defined by economists as the amount of output per unit of labor. For example the number of light fixtures installed per labor hour worked. As a subcontractor I ...

Is the Economy Affecting Your Ethics? Source: Blogs
Contracting is a tough business. Our industry has a reputation among the community of having little or no ethics. That reputation is earned due to our poor communication, but d...

Quality Control, Be in Control Source: Blogs
When you ask Owners what their top priorities for their next construction project, quality control is always near the top if not at the top. With the slow down in the economy th...

Construction: My Valentine Source: Blogs
As I sit here and package up chocolates for the wife and hope she got me that hoodie-footie I have been seeing so much on TV, I have been thinking about my 2nd love Construction....

Life of An Estimator, Tougher than You Think Source: Blogs
For those of us in the construction industry we know the Estimators that are more cynical than the average Joe. They appear to be more prevalent than the fun loving young estima...

What Makes A Good Estimate? Source: Blogs
Construction companies stand on three (3) pillars that define good business; Get Work, Do Work, and Monitor Work. If all three of them are done correctly and efficiently than th...

What Can the Rig Disaster Teach a Subcontractor? Source: Blogs
Last month a terrible accident happened aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, killing 11 workers on the platform and creating an oil leak that is still no fully contained. The i...

Will Anti-Immigration Law Affect You? Source: Blogs
Arizona recently took an unprecedented step in passing a law that required the state to action on a federal issue. I am not going to get into the middle of the political ideals ...

Is PM software a Waste of Money? Source: Blogs
Almost every construction company out there sees the value in Estimating software and utilizes some form of it. I will agree that not every company is utilizing a specifically d...

So What Does the Project Manager Do Anyway? Source: Blogs
At the expense of offending Project Managers as wells as the Monkey: A woman was looking at the animals on display in a pet store. A few minutes later, a man walked in and sai...

Construction Production, What to Track Source: Blogs
In my last blog, I discussed the need to track productivity to increase the performance of the company which now comes up with the natural question: What do we track? It is actu...

Three Most Important Things to Being A Contractor Source: Blogs
In retail and real estate there goes a saying that the three most important things are location, location, and location. In construction there is a similar truth that the three ...

Want to Win Better Projects? Source: Blogs
Given the turmoil in the marketplace over the past 2 years, I have heard repeatedly from different contractors that they are looking to move into different markets. We need to...

What Does Earth Day Mean for Construction? Source: Blogs
Yesterday was Earth Day, a yearly mark that is growing in significance around the world. It is a time for us to understand the issues about our impact on the environment. I am ...

Analytics, the Best Way to Improve Your Business Source: Blogs
Analytics is simply the science of analysis. In construction, and probably more specific in the subcontractor community analysis of data is few and far between, even though our ...

Basic Site Navigation Source: Help System
Below are some basic navigation functions of Construction Monkey. Home Screen To access your home screen at any time, just click the Construction Monkey logo in the upp...

What can I see/do on my Project Management Dashboard? Source: Help System
Your Project Management Dashboard is your main PM page where you can view and access all of the projects you have entered into the Project Management system. How do I access m...

Defective Specifications Source: Library Letters
Since the award of this contract we have worked diligently to perform the work under this contract. However, we have found that we cannot perform the work due to the following d...

So What is BIM? Source: Blogs
Building Information Modeling (or BIM) is all the rage in today's commercial and industrial construction markets. I am unaware of many large General Contractors that haven't inv...

Where is 2010 going? Source: Blogs
Well 2010 is finally here. It couldn't come quick enough with the difficulty and challenges we all had to deal with in 2009, it feels good to have a "fresh" start on a new year....

Contract Sales: How to Understand Your Performance Source: Blogs
Last week we bid a few jobs. This week we bid a few jobs. Next week we will bid a few jobs. I am sure we all know which ones we won and which ones are lost, but do we really k...

How to Improve Construction Productivity Source: Blogs
pro·duc·tiv·i·ty (prō'dŭk-tĭv'ĭ-tē, prŏd'ək-) n. The rate at which goods or services are produced especially output per unit cost of labor. Or if you prefer how much does it c...

Risk Mangement, What is Your Role? Source: Blogs
In construction, talk to anyone about the single greatest challenge in surviving in the industry and it is risk. "Based on the risk, add more profit to it." "I am not goi...

Will Hiring A Safety Manager Matter? Source: Blogs
The vast majority of subcontractors in the country do not have a dedicated Safety Manager, so will hiring one make a difference? Short answer, yes. The real answer is much long...

The Art of Estimating Source: Blogs
Sun Tzu wrote the Art of War in the 6th Century BC. Since that time military experts have considered it a complete view on how to operate a military machine and business scholar...

Are Trade Shows a Waste? Source: Blogs
As spring approaches so does one of the two trade show seasons. With the economy difficult, it begs the question: Should we spend money on attending a trade show? Just a busine...

Can Contractors Change? Source: Blogs
The past two years have been the worst global economic times in more than a generation and it is anyone's guess if we are coming out of it or if there are more challenges ahead. ...

Interesting News 7.27.2010 Source: Blogs
Some of the news over the past few days that we found interesting:Report: UnitedHealth nears $1.5B acquisitionOn Tuesday, July 27, 2010 National Business News - Local Business Ne...

How to Create More Construction Jobs Source: Blogs
The biggest single thing on the minds of the American public is jobs. With unemployment over 10% and the possibility of that rising to 12% this year, it is a very real concern. ...

News U Can Use: Feb.3.2010 Source: Blogs
In a new weekly installment, we will be scanning the news sources to find the most interesting news items for contractors and summarize what it means to them. For our Februrary ...

Cost Control is Construction's #2 Rule Source: Blogs
In Construction the #1 rule is safety. Without the principal of safety, the things we build and the people we employ will not be around once we finish. I hope that fact is not ...

Project Management Made Simple! Source: Advertisements
Use our PM Service to simplify Project Management! Manage your projects easier with Construction Monkey! The Project Management Service allows you to: Improve Comm...

Bid Calendar Source: Advertisements
View your Bids on a Calendar Most of us have utilized Excel, Word, Access, or even raw paper or whiteboard to track our bids. These manual methods provide for several...

Twitter Source: Advertisements
new TWTR.Widget({ version: 2, type: 'profile', rpp: 3, interval: 6000, width: 'auto', height: 300, theme: { shell: { background: '#61544b', color: ...

The 5 W's Source: Advertisements
Who is it for? - The Bid/Sales Management system is for the entire specialty contractor community. More specifically, it is meant for your company’s preconstruction depar...

Are you trying to do more with less? Source: Advertisements
In today’s economy, there are a large percentage of companies in the construction subcontracting industry trying to do more with fewer resources. Are you one of them? Many are ...