Category Archives: Construction

What is the Construction Forecast for 2017?

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The year 2016 is almost at its end and business honchos across various industries are trying to find out how the year 2016 was for them. This year may have been great for few industries and for the rest not that great. So since this year is about to end market pundits are busy contemplating how the year 2017 will be for them and what it will bring along with it. As far as the construction industry is concerned it was a busy year for this industry and is also expected to continue its legacy in the forthcoming year. Construction industry across various sectors has seen phenomenal growth in the past year particularly the commercial construction sectors which is considered to be in the most profitable zone and is also expected to growth at the rate of 6 percent per annum.

Well there are some industry experts who feel otherwise and they predict a slight fall in the commercial construction sector but will remain steady. So we will not have to fear about any job cuts and things like that. They also believe that the institutional sectors will fare better than last year. These estimates are coming from experts who have been studying the market for years and on the basis of some research they put their rationale. It is not always that they have to be correct with what they say about the market but construction industry far and wide likes to go with their study and follow their suggestions. The year 2015 was an excellent one as far as the US market is concerned. The demand of hotels, amusement parks, commercial spaces and stuff has only increased its demand further. This demand is not going to die down anytime soon and therefore we can expect a bright 2017.

More so, after Donald Trump becoming the President of the United States, the chances of the growth of the construction industry has grown to be brighter. Many believe that since the President has its hand in the real estate business, he will probably not let it go down by any means. Keeping the influence of politicians in the construction industry aside, there are still number of reasons why one should believe that the year 2017 will be a better one for newcomers as well as for the ones who have been in this industry for years. According to Dodge Data and Analytics it is presumed that the overall industry will grow from 5% to 713 billion dollar which will be an overall gain of 11%as compared to 2015 and 2% as compared to 2016.

It was the statistics of Dodge Data and Analytics that had also forecasted for 2016 and said the beginning will be a bit sluggish followed by a rise in the sector post the mid of 2016. Things were more or less correct as per their assumption and we saw some real big projects which includes the liquefied natural gas export terminal that has been set up in Texas. More projects like this followed real quickly and it shaped the size of the construction industry for better.

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Small contractors can quickly get small projects

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We usually have a belief that it is only the big construction companies that can make most of the monies in the construction industry. However, this belief of ours is no longer true and even small time contractors are able to make good money by taking small projects. Unlike big construction houses, who find it difficult to get projects, small contractors do not experience this issue so severely and always tend to get few projects at quick intervals. Projects such as constructing a small road or clearing up the garden are works that are not so difficult to get. However, these days many people tend to do the work on their own; but at times, they need help of professionals and this is when the contractors come handy.

The prerequisites that a small contractor should always keep in mind are mentioned below.

Should have good sales and marketing segment:-

In order to keep your business moving, it is very important that people should know about you and your business. If you want to keep your business limited within your city limits, you then have to ensure that the sales and marketing team of your company approaches people who may need your service. Since you are a small contractor, not everybody may know about you and this is why you need a strong sales and marketing team that will pervade the word to people and also check if there is anybody who is looking for a service that you are offering.

Goodwill of your company is the key for expansion:-

If you have made a good reputation in the construction market, be rest assured that you will keep getting work. Other than having a strong marketing team, goodwill of your company plays a key role in determining how soon you will be able to expand your business. Like every other businessman, you would want to expand your business and in order to do this, the goodwill can be very crucial. It is therefore essential that you maintain the quality of your work and try to satisfy your clients. Your clients will want you to give them excellent work by charging less. It depends upon your skill on how you negotiate with them and get the money that you deserve.

Have the right set of heavy equipment:-

A business moves on certain plans. You need to ensure that you incorporate the right set of heavy equipment in your business plans. Not having the machinery you need to get the work done will only lead to complications and that will cost you dearly. So before you start the job, do a survey of the field and check what you may need to complete the work. Also see how many days it may take to get the work done. You should not commit something and later on find yourself incapable of fulfilling it. According to the survey, you can arrange the equipment you may need for completing the job. Just in case, you don’t have heavy equipment with you, you can try to get it on rent so that it doesn’t cost you a lot.

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The first few years decides your future in the construction industry

Worldwide, construction industry shows an enormous growth potential. It is a good career option for those looking for job satisfaction and lifelong learning opportunities. It involves variations in jobs such as constructing a residential apartment/house, institutional and commercial constructions, heavy industrial construction and civil engineering such as building of bridges, dams and highways. The construction process can be summarized as comprising of design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and demolition. It is important to understand that construction industry is very different and complex as compared to other industries since it has a number of variables. Each project is unique with different nature of work, placed on different locations, involves different types of skilled and unskilled labours, and produce different types of products. In the modern era, the large scale projects make use of increased automation and more complex processes. Due to its extremely challenging nature of work, there is existence of hazard during every project. Thus, construction industry is regarded as a high risk work environment as compared to others.

 

Although this being the case, in last few decades construction industry has shown a speedy growth. The initial years are very important for ‘a beginner/starter’ in order to have good future. Since it directly impacts life of people, hence building strong and reliable structures becomes necessary to gain life-long confidence and trust of people. This leads to increase in number of customers and thereby generation of a brand name. However, this journey may not be easy due to number of variables.

The following are some of the important variables which need to be considered for gaining initial success in the construction industry:

  1. Good and ample financial resources.
  2. Study of the location and the climate conditions. Be aware of the potential dangers.
  3. Employing professionals with construction management degrees: they have knowledge about building a structure. They are analytical and have good problem solving abilities.
  4. Employing educated and skilled laborers with an aim to retain them permanently rather than on contract.
  5. Due to rapid evolution of technologies training needs to be imparted to the workforce (labor, professionals and management).
  6. Encouraging good partnership, leadership, and teamwork
  7. Investing in R&D activities to enable high quality construction
  8. Good planning and effective execution so that work progresses in a smooth way.
  9. Health and safety of construction workforce is important to avoid fatal injuries/deaths. This will benefit in terms of time, cost and daily operation. Hence, it is essential to set up a safety culture for good working environment.
  10. Affordability, delivery on time and few occupant related illness and injuries.
  11. Constructions should be environmentally safe, healthy and fulfilling human needs.

Among these, the construction quality and occupational safety and health are fundamental issues to be given priority. When all these variables are considered and accordingly work is planned, it will lead to 90% success in the construction activities and lead to safe and healthy constructions. This enables to win customer’s trust and will guarantee success in future of construction industry.

The importance of IT team in the construction sector

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The world that we live in is driven by computers and software and most of our businesses are completely dependent on the software. If anything goes wrong with any of the software then it can take a toll on our business and therefore it is a must to ensure that the computer related things are always in place. You name any industry on this planet and you will find them associated with technology and software. So when we are so dependent on such an important stuff, it becomes our prime responsibility to ensure that they do not go wrong at any time and just in case if the systems fail to perform the way it used to then we deploy people who can take charge of the situation and rectify the problems. This is where the Information Technology (IT) guys come into picture. They are the ones who perhaps develop the software and then also provide necessary support to it so that if it develops issues at any given point in time then they can fix it and make business run as usual.

The significance of the IT team is felt in all the industry and so it can’t be ruled out that the construction industry also needs them the most. There are big construction houses that have a permanent IT team who will help resolve any issue pertaining to the software or any technological problems that has occurred in the jobsite. These guys knows the best to resolve the problems as they have either developed the software or have probably studied about it and understands the intricacies of it through which they can easily identify the issue and can therefore resolve it.

Software has caught some bug:-

We all know how a bug or virus can prove to be lethal for the software and if care is not taken to uproot the issue then the entire system may collapse. This means that if you have the gate of the jobsite connected to some software which allows it to open automatically just with the press of a button, with the attack of the bug you will not be even able to open the gate. Virus can cause severe damage to the software which in result can become completely defunct. In this scenario, you need the IT team to take care of the situation. They will work things out for you by installing some kind of anti-virus and remove the bug that has harmed the system. Moreover they will keep the software updated which means that the chance of virus hitting the software is lessened.

Computers not working:-

Construction companies have teams who have to continuously monitor the stock of materials and also need to make sure that they never go out of stock. There have been situations when for some reason or the other their computers stop working. This is again handled by the IT department. People from the team attend to such issues and try to fix the problem. They can either replace the computer if that has stopped working or will replace the software if it is a software related problem.

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A scraper can generate decent rental income

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If you have heavy equipment that are not in use and you do not know what you should do since you do not wish to sell it off, the best option you have is to rent it to people who need them for their construction business. There are many construction companies who are having a hard time to carry on with their business as they encounter unavailability of heavy equipment. They can’t afford to buy every kind of heavy equipment under the sun but still needs to continue with the project. This is where they need machines on rent. They understand that by taking the equipment on rent, they have to pay the rental money every month which is something that they can easily afford. Other than that, brand new heavy equipment are way too expensive and do not make sense to buy them for just one project. You never know if you will need them again for the next project as there is a possibility that you may have to use some other equipment.

A scraper has the potential to generate decent rental income. As a matter of fact, any heavy equipment has a lot of value attached and can be a good source of rental income to its owner. Therefore if you have a Scraper which is not in use and you expect to not use it for the next couple of months or years, you can let it out to someone who may have some use of it. Scraper is quite useful heavy equipment when it comes to moving dirt. Scraper is widely used in big construction as well as mining sites. You will get to see different types of scrapers in any mining site. Therefore it is never a liability when it is not in use. There are different types of scrapers and each type has its own specific purpose. There are these Coal Bowl Scrapers which are predominantly used in mining sites or the open Bowl scraper which is self-loading hauling system and it is used in almost every site.

A machine with so much use attached to it can fetch you good rental value. All you need to do is keep the machine in good working condition so that people are ready to pay the money just by having a look at the equipment. Keep the machine well maintained by servicing it at regular intervals. Replace any part that has gone faulty. Change the engine oil regularly and do everything possible to ensure that the equipment stays healthy and performs better at the jobsite.

You can list the scraper on any online portal that primarily deals with sale/rent of heavy equipment. They might charge you a bit for listing the item but that is worth the deal. You should mention about your machine in details in the description section and also add the intricacies like the rental amount and the period for which you wish to rent the stuff. Post some pictures of the item and put it on the listing. This will attract viewers who are more likely there to take scrapers on rent.

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Be ready to pay heavy penalties if fail to protect the workers

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An employee joins a company expecting that the company will protect his interest and he will work in a safe and sound environment. But if the employer does not follow the safety norms and plays with the life of the employee, such employers are bound to pay heavy penalty for risking the lives of its employees and should also affect the license to conduct any further business. This law should be applicable to every industry and should not be industry specific.

Also, there should be a governing body which will regulate the laws and will work for the larger interests of the workers. The law of the land should also be stringent enough and the convicts must be dealt severely. Here in US, we have quite stringent laws when it comes to protecting the rights and interests of employees and if an employee meets an accident that happened due to employer’s negligence resulting to the injury or death of the employee, employer should be ready to face the brunt of the law.

Construction companies in US have to be particularly sure that they are providing all necessary safety accessories to the workers because if they fail to do so and if it results in an accident the company will have to pay the price for it. Construction sector is by all means is considered risky for its employees. Right from operators to engineers and welders to construction workers, none of them are safe as long as all the precautionary measures are followed by the construction company.

Penalties can lead to thousands of dollars:-

If there is an incident that occurs on the jobsite which results to grave injury or death can lead to severe penalty on the company. It will have to pay good sum of money that can be thousands of dollars to the victim of the accident. Therefore it becomes extremely crucial for the construction company to ensure that it provides safety accessories to one and all. No employee whether permanent or contractual will work without wearing proper safety accessories. The contractors need to ensure that the safety measures are followed and that no employee violates safety procedures. If an incident takes place, the company not only loses a valuable resource but also good sum of money.

License may get cancelled:-

A construction company also needs to keep a thorough check on the number of incidents that has happened on the site. There are chances that the company may lose its license if it fails to follow the safety norms and if the numbers of accidents are on the rise. The law of the land is quite strict when it comes to things like these and no one can play around with the lives of young men irrespective of the nature of job that they are in. One can understand the consequence of the license getting cancelled and the amount of loss the company will have to bear.

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Risks of not following safety instructions

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Till date, there have been a number of incidents where a sudden unexpected explosion or a fire takes place in a chemical factory, and leads to numerous deaths and heavy financial loss. Also on daily basis the machine operators meet with either minor or major accidents (where the worker loses his hand or even his life). This reason why such unfortunate incidents occur is due to failure to follow safety instructions at the work place. There are dangers associated while performing certain tasks. If appropriate care is not taken while performing these tasks, they turn out to be risky for life. Hence, care needs to be taken by following safety instructions. Safety instructions make a user/worker aware of risks in their work and guide them how to avoid injury while performing those tasks. Failure to follow the necessary instructions can cause serious injuries or even lead to death.

Manufacturing, construction, mining, production and warehousing represent a few examples of industries where a number of daily tasks are full of risks. For example, welding work generates fire of high temperature, drilling requires use of heavy equipments, use of heavy machinery to lift, load and unload and destruct things on construction site, working at heights and so forth. There is risk associated with most of the tasks, hence the worker needs to follow the safety instructions and use safeguards such as the use of safety glasses along with a protective shield, footwear, protective suit while entering the boiler cabin and hearing protection. Chemical industries use different types of chemicals. Some chemicals are marked with ‘X’ on them, indicating that they are poisonous and hazardous and safety instructions are written below them. The user is required to follow them while using these chemicals. Some chemicals are to be opened only in a chemical hood. Similarly every chemical has a specific storage condition. Failure to follow the safety instructions leads to permanent damage both to the user and others too.

Therefore, it is necessary that safety instructions should be documented at work place for risky procedures and implement training for hazardous tasks. While making these safety instructions they need to be reviewed by experienced workers. Proper implementation of safe procedures involves training and supervision. The workers should not just read it but also follow it. To ensure the same supervisors or managers will need to constantly instruct and monitor the workers. If the worker does not follow the safety instructions then he needs to be counselled and trained again. If the risk associated with a procedure can be minimized then it should be implemented. For example, if instead of manual drilling work, if mechanical lifting device can perform the same with safety, then it should be used. Similarly if less hazardous solvent serves the same purpose as the hazardous, then it should be purchased. Further the work procedures need to be reviewed periodically and modified.

Thus, safety instructions when followed, allow to perform the risky work with care and minimize accidents and lead to a safe work environment.

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Construction and drones, how they work together on a jobsite

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Modern technology is the need of the day. The industry and our businesses will not flourish if we do not accept technology as a part of our daily lives and the incorporation of it in our businesses will take it to the next level. The growth of the business is to a larger extent dependent on how open we are in adopting technology in our lives and simultaneously in our business. For people who are owners of big construction companies, they might find it extremely difficult to go to every jobsite that is running parallel in different places of the state. It is virtually impossible for him to make a trip to each of its jobsite if they are located in different cities and states. So what can he/she do to get an updated report?

Well, he/she has 2 options. They can either rely on the reports that are sent to them by their men/women or can put in a camera to check in the status of the work in a timely manner. Now again it is not possible to put cameras all over the site and the cameras will all be stationed at one place. They will not be moving which will not portray the correct picture. This means that installing cameras at different locations on the jobsite will not do any good to them as long as they have something that can move throughout the location and can give live updates to him. Here comes the importance of drones. These flying machines can be used to get live pictures of the work happening on the jobsite. The camera of the drones will be always rolling allowing the business owner to see all the progress that is happening on the site and then compare it with the report he/she has received. It is just that the drones are used to provide ground report which can be then compared with the report he/she has on his table.

Allows you have better control on the project while you are holidaying/vacation:-

It is a fact known to every person in the construction industry that owners of big construction houses do not get to spend quality time with their family. It is always business for them and at the end of the day they are so tired that they have nothing left for the family. Now suppose that you have a long planned holiday/vacation and this time you have decided to finally take your family for a vacation. However, you also have an important project going on whose progress you can’t miss to check. You can make use of drones to catch live pictures and correspond with your employees on the ground. In this way you can spend time with your family holidaying in Hawaii and also keep a close watch on the progress of the project.

Using drones can prevent delays in the project:-

By getting regular live pictures, you will be able to identify mistakes happening on the jobsite. You can jump in straight and point it out to the respective supervisor and ask him to correct that rectified. Had this skipped your attention, it could have taken the project on a ride and have caused delays in its completion.

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Start picking up star performers in your company and reward them to keep them retained

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The top performers are called as the ‘Star’ or ‘A’ performers, are the most important assets of any company. They possess the most valuable skills and move the business forward. Hence, it is necessary for any company to identify them, understand their career goals and reward them suitably. This approach will enable to retain the best talent which in turn will ensure stability of organization and allow its rapid growth

 

Star performers can be identified possessing the following characteristics:

  1. Capability of taking a responsibility in short span of time: They volunteer for handling new assignments. They are professionals who deliver strong and high quality results by means of an efficient teamwork.
  2. Unquenchable thirst for knowledge: They like to know how the things work. This quality gives them an advantage of improving troubleshooting skills. They master new types of expertise.
  3. Good communication skills: This ability allows them to deliver their ideas in an effective way. There is very little misinterpretation which avoids failures.
  4. Trustworthy and reliable: Senior managers and colleagues seek star performer’s advice and they are considered as good confidantes. They forge strong relationships and their opinions are always valued.
  5. Willing to take calculated risks:They weigh ups and down of a particular situation and take their decisions.
  6. Exhibits a well rounded effort: They are good both personally and professionally. If they are good at home, or at sports, they will undoubtedly be good at the workplace too. They serve as role model and mentor for others. Thus, they achieve excellence in most of the spheres of life.

 

Losing high performers is painful, both personally and professionally. Hence, it is very important that they be retained by the employer in the following ways:

  1. Give them opportunity to head or control a project: They need to take the core responsibility of a project where they get chance to present their ideas and they can take their decisions.
  2.  Leaders should interact with high performers and understand their passion and career goals.
  3.  Present them with challenges: High performers always like challenging projects. Hence the company should entrust them with interesting and difficult projects to keep these performers motivated to work.
  4.  The managers should ensure that the star performers trust their leadership capabilities
  5. Offer regular feedback : Weekly meetings should be held to let them know about their work performance and areas of improvement.
  6. Reward for great work : To recognition their efforts that have made a significant contribution to goals and objectives.  a.  Recognition memo from the Manager  b.  Send out a weekly email of the employee’s achievement to the entire company.  c.  Award the employee of the assignment they were interested in working.  d. If they are very outstanding in their work then to reward them handsomely as An Award to be given, Letter of Appreciation, Announcement as Employee of the week/month in Town hall meetings

 

When the top performers feel respected, honored and recognized for their efforts that their performance and confidence increases. This enables to retain the top most talent for a long time ensuring success of that organization.

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Starting an excavation company

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There are not many industries where you need not have a thorough knowledge about your subject and still can earn lot while you work. Experience teaches one everything and hence you will also learn once you step in. Having a basic knowledge on the subject is sufficient. But if you are looking to speed up the business then you need to learn more and work harder to gain more knowledge. Just depending upon the basics will not help you to augment your business plans. For instance, starters who want to try their hand in the construction sector can take up work like excavation where they need to know how to operate heavy equipment and particularly an excavator. You may not know a lot of technical jargons that is related to the machine. You just need to know how to work on the machine and that will be it to help you survive.

Working for an excavation company and starting an excavation company are however two different things and therefore in the later one you may not be able to proceed any further if you fail to have expert knowledge in your domain. The operator that you have employed to excavate earth may not necessarily know stuffs about the business but you on the other hand who is responsible for the growth and sustainability of the business is required to know as much as you can about probably every possible aspect that is connected to the business. Therefore when it comes to starting an excavation company the first thing that you should be doing is some research work. The research work may involve things right from knowing about different kinds of heavy equipment required in an excavation company to getting more businesses. You also should know the kind of staff you need to run the business. So you got to have some experience in dealing with your employees as well.

Government permissions and paper work is another big task that you have to take care of. You can’t function or conduct any business without the approval of the government of your state; however small the business may be. So before you start working to set up an excavation company you should keep your papers ready. You have to register your company with the government so that they know the type of business that you are in. Now in order to get legal approval, you will have to hire an attorney who will work for you and try to get all the legal documents in place. You only have to provide him with the documents that he seeks. In case, you do not have them then you have to get them or check if there can be any alternative.

Once you are done with the paper work, move to acquiring heavy equipment for the excavation work. You can buy or take machines on rent. It completely depends upon your financial position and stability. You can consult that with people whom you trust and who have been a part of this industry for long.

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