"Contractors" Posts
How Lack Of Proper Management Systems Built ‘The Nightmare On Las Vegas Boulevard’
By Tom Ryan
We tell business owners that the best managed companies are “systems dependent” rather than “people dependent.” This is a truism, for both small and large companies. One of the best examples, of why this is true, can be found in the story of the ill-fated Harmon Hotel in Las Vegas.
It’s a tale of how a construction company failed to develop the necessary methods, systems, controls and procedures to ensure the quality of its work, causing a half of a billion dollar mistake—yes, half a billion dollars!
The Harmon Hotel and Residences was meant to be part of MGM’s $9 …
Where’s the Money
By 
By Douglas DeRubeis as featured in Construction Today
Successful contractors see the recession as an opportunity for improvement.
You were certain you had done everything right. You won the bids. You generated the sales. Revenue was great, even in this economy. You had dreams of finally taking that vacation. And then, the end-of-year numbers came in—and you actually lost money. You couldn’t believe it. You made the accounting department run the numbers again, but they were right. How could this have happened?
It may sound like a bad dream, but for too many construction companies, it is reality. They seemingly …
The Great Debate
By Al Bachman as featured in Construction Today
Do unionized contractors really hold the competitive advantage? Proper management – union or non-union – is the key
When a construction company struggles to succeed, it’s tempting for the owner to find a scapegoat. There’s certainly no shortage of them, whether it’s a soft economy, skyrocketing business costs, cut-throat competition or this perennial favorite: labor unions. Such finger-pointing, however, is an all-too easy way for poor managers to deflect responsibility from themselves. When an owner ignores the real causes of unprofitability long enough, the result is nearly always the same: One more …