Your construction website should be catchy

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In order to have your presence felt in the construction sector, you need to have a website. Without a website, your company does not truly exist. Well it does exist on papers though but for people to know you, they can only do it with the help of internet. You can’t expect them to go to government office to know more about your company’s existence but have to create a portal where people can find everything they want to know about your company. Now the most important question is why they will see you when they have plenty of other options available. How are you different from others that you will manage to catch others attention towards you. For that you got to play a bit smart. In order to reach out to the mass, you need to have a catchy website. Now catchy does not mean that you go casual in your approach while you design the website but it means that you try to make it as attractive as you can. Bring in innovative ideas that were not used by others but make a lot of sense if it forms a part of your website.

Post pictures of your work:-

Put as many pictures of your work as you can on your website which will allow people to know the business you are in. However, while you pose pictures on your website, you got to be clear with one thing and that is you make your website look like a construction website and not something that gives a different meaning to it. The pictures that you put on your website should speak aloud about your work and your achievements. Also it should speak about the benefits of people who invest their money in your work. For instance, you are developer who constructs buildings and sells apartments. What will make your website attractive is how you market your products and what benefits you have for the end users. This makes a lot of difference and works as the attraction part in your website.

Easily noticeable on the search engine:-

Ideally there are two ways by which you can be easily noticeable on the search engine page. The first one is you got to be exponentially famous to come up on the first page of the search engine and the second is the content, phrases or keywords that you put on your website should be quite common one so that when people enter those words, it also throws your website on the search page. In case, you do not fit in the first option, the second one should be for you and you got to work things out to fall in the second bracket. You have to put those keywords and phrases that pulls the attention of the search engines and it throws your website to the viewer. Rest your website should be catchy enough to take it from there. The viewer should find it interesting enough to not to leave it after having a single glance.

Go for repo heavy equipment to get them cheap

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There are basically two to three ways to get heavy equipment at cheaper rate. The first one is to buy used machines that was with one owner for a long period of time and then went on to other and now again getting resold to you. So when the heavy equipment changes hands the price diminishes. This was one of the scenarios. However, in the first scenario the quality of machine is not at all up to the mark and you feel that it is better that you go for something that works faster than this. Heavy equipment that are faulty are also sold at a cheaper rate. The owner of the heavy equipment for some reason do not want to spend on the fixture of the machine and therefore would like to sell it at a lesser price so that the prospective buyer can take the onus to change the parts that has ceased to work and get it up and running. This was the second scenario and it is accepted by people who have technical knowhow of the machine. Rest does not want to get themselves involved in this.

The third and probably the most accepted scenario is buying heavy equipment from banks at cheaper rate. Now the question is from when banks started selling heavy equipment. Well, they are not here to sell construction machines but are bothered about getting their money back by selling the stuff at a dirt cheap price. What ideally happens is they sell repo machines. The heavy equipment whose monthly installments are not paid and the primary owner of the machine also does not have any intention to pay the money are repossessed by the banks who then auction it so that they can make up the cost by selling it in the open market.

Are there any buyers for repo construction equipment? Well there are plenty of contractors, rental houses and construction companies who are always on hunt of such deals. They have their men working in close nexus with the guys in the repo team who informs them about such machines and when the banks will auction them. Once they get the news about the auction, they keep the money ready. They know that they have to be there with the money and bag the deal. Some contractors even have tie-ups with banks who facilitates the machines at cheaper price. They obviously take some cut from the deal. This may not be as per the guidelines of the bank but things happen and this is how it works out there.

Almost all kinds of heavy equipment can be repossessed by banks as long as they are not paid by the owner. Many a time, in order to save their machine from getting repo, people take another loan with higher interest rate and pay the dues. But that can have a strong repercussion on them as they have to end up paying more to the other lender.

Tips to retain construction workers

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Like many other industries, the construction industry too faces a lot of trouble regarding retaining their employees, especially the workers. There is always a demand and scarcity of construction workers, especially the skilled ones. The problem of construction worker shortage is something that the owners always try to cope with.

Why is there a worker shortage?

Construction worker shortage is a persistent problem in the construction industry and there are many reasons, why this takes place. These include –

  • Lack of advancement and growth
  • The fear that this is a dangerous job
  • Being displeased with the job or the company and employers.

Some of these causes are general that any other industry would encounter and some of these are specific to this industry. Whatever the cause or type of cause may be, the employers need to take specific measures to retain the construction workers to the company.

Things to do to retain construction workers:

In order to retain the construction workers to do the construction work, the employers need to –

  • Offer Job Training:

 

The workers must always be offered job training. Job training is important for any worker in any field as it offers the employees and workers the peace of mind and confidence about their capability. This also gives them the chance of growth in the years to come. Without training, they will lack confidence.

Besides, the training – both practical and software related training, helps the workers to feel safe in the construction working environment. Otherwise, they feel vulnerable to work in this industry.

  • Offer Effective Communication:

 

In most cases, the construction workers have to work in the field. Hence, they often feel that their needs and demands are not being heard of. Hence, the employers need to make sure that the workers get to communicate with them. The managers and team leaders should be open to listening to their needs and demands.

Using monthly newsletters to communicate with the employees and welcoming representatives of the workers to be a part of the project meetings will help the employers to feel that they too are a part of the company and understand the projects well. There are various tools and devices that help in the communication and as an employer; you need to offer these things.

  • Pay Them Well:

 

There is no alternative to this tip. Regardless of the industry the workers are working in, good pay is the single basic thing that will help you to retain your workers and employees. Along with the monthly salary, you need to benefit the employees with bonus. This will keep them happy and satisfied and they will not think of leaving your company. In fact, pay time and attention to the other financial benefits like insurance.

If you keep these things in mind, you will not face trouble in retaining your workers. All that you should be careful about is that the recruitment of the employees is proper and you choose only the best, trained and qualified employees. This will help in the outcome of the construction job.

 

Manage your profits wisely

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It takes a lot of time for a person to start making profits in a business. It is evident that a person can’t expect to generate profits right from the moment he starts up with a business. He will take time to first understand how the business works and slowly he will begin to see monetary inflows. There may be situations when he will run into losses right from the time he ventured. But things will improve and most importantly the owner of the business needs to learn from each of his mistakes. That will take him closer towards his goals. Now by the time he/she starts earning profits, he/she needs to be more cautious with the money he/she earns as profits. Normally, we have the tendency to spend on ourselves and our loved ones the moment we find monetary gains happening in our business. Well, you can definitely spend some amount buying items for yourself and for the people you care for but you also should be cautious about your spending as you may need the money for future investment.

A person who is engaged with the construction business and is now at a formidable position can very well tell you how difficult it had been for him/her to reach where he/she is from nowhere. No wonder he must have been very hard working but there is something more than just being hard working. You also need to care for the hard work that you have done all the years. In other words, you got to respect your work by thinking what more you can do to make things simpler and achieve what you want to without having to go through the same trouble again. This is where managing your profits come into picture.

Construction industry unlike many other sectors is a volatile business. You may have a good time running the business and then all of a sudden things might turn upside down for you. The orders that you have in hand may get revoked and the prospect of your existing project may also get hampered. There are many such companies who have suffered huge losses from something that they failed to envisage and this can happen at any point in time in this business. In such a bad phase of your business it is perhaps the money that you have saved will come to bail you out.

A contingent fund is a basic requirement that should not be avoided. You make this contingent fund out of the profits in your business. Try to set aside an amount every time you get money after the completion of the project. You may unable to do it on a monthly basis as you may not even earn monthly. Do not end up spending on things that you have temporary use. Look at the bigger picture before you buy any commodity. Heavy equipments play a crucial role in the construction business and it should be well maintained. It might eat up a lot from your profits through means of repairs. Keep a tab on your expenses and save your profits for some better use.

Selling technique is what matters while selling heavy equipment

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Any successful salesman who is into selling heavy equipment will speak about his own unique selling technique. His technique might be different from others and perhaps that is the reason why it is called as unique. So the technique which one salesman uses to sell his products may not go well with the other salesman. He may try to adopt his selling technique but it may backfire and he will eventually end up losing confidence of selling the product. Therefore it is a must to produce your own technique rather than adopting others. More importantly, you should make a note of the selling technique of different salesman and try a combination of it. You should not just copy it entirely but use your innovative skills and prepare a technique that goes well with your persona and your way of communicating with others.

People who are into selling heavy equipment will often share with you their unique technique to sell heavy equipment and may also add a disclaimer that will speak about how difficult it is to sell construction machines to companies and contractors. But at the end of the day, they all manage to do their part well and end up making a sale for their company. This is what matter to them and they do this with the help of the selling technique they have developed over the years. This also suggests that selling technique is not a one-time activity and one has to keep on using some or the other permutation and combination that goes well with the buyer and he buys the product. So you got to keep on trying things and check which sounds to be the perfect one for you.

Never stick to one particular selling technique:-

As no two individuals are the same, so is the selling technique. You can’t restrict your selling ability to one particular technique and have to keep on bringing new techniques that are innovative and can impress an individual to buy the equipment. It is not always the features of the heavy equipment that makes the sale, but it is the way the salesman put it across that plays the trick. So as long as you do not use different methods, you may not taste much success. You may be able to sell your stuff to few people but when you move to a bigger crowd, you may experience hurdles.

Be innovative with your approach:-

Any activity that does not have any kind of changes in it can soon become monotonous and then gradually you will feel like moving into something else. It will not be fun any longer for you. Similarly when you do not change your selling style, you will find it to be boring and will have trouble pitching products. Moreover, heavy equipment at times becomes a boring subject for many so as long as you do not bring any innovation in your selling approach, you may cease to like what you have been doing and that will also reflect on your sales figure.

Heavy Equipment Safety videos

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It is very important to ensure that the items you use for your business are always in order so that when you put them to use they function like they should and also does not cause any harm to others. When we talk about causing harm to others, we specifically relate it to items that are important for your business but at the same time if not maintained properly can turn to be injurious to the user or to people who are involved in the work. In order to ensure that the materials are safe to use, one needs to be first trained to keep the items safe. Only when that is done the owners of the business can expect no casualty as far as the item is concerned.

Training here plays a pivotal role in making sure that the necessary safety procedures are followed. In the construction business, safety of heavy equipment is of utter importance. The people in charge of the safety of heavy equipment should be well trained with their work as it can have a larger impact on the machines if they end up doing a shoddy work.

How can you train the guys to keep your heavy equipment safe? You can get ample of literature and reading materials on the internet that will speak volumes about how to keep the machines safe. One can go through those items and if they can grasp things that are helpful to them they should continue with that. But you also have an easy way to learn how to keep your heavy equipment safe. You can download some heavy equipment safety videos which will help you to understand how actually things are done. When you read books it may confuse you but when you see the videos you will be able to grasp things pretty quickly. Construction companies should keep some of the videos in their archive so that when they form a team of guys who will be given the responsibility to keep the machines safe they can be trained showing the videos.

Videos help you to catch things faster:-

People watching videos can catch up things faster than reading training material. When you see things you tend to remember them. You can visualize what you have seen in the video and try to implement it in the ground level. This will help you to learn things faster and also you will get to know the various other ways to keep the heavy equipment safe.

Every machine is different:-

Not all machines react the same way when you try to use certain safety measures that you have read in some books. Remember that every machine is different and therefore the treatment required to keep them safe is also different. The safety videos shall also talk about how to work on a particular machine and not to try that on others. Watching heavy equipment safety videos is highly recommended to construction as well as heavy equipment manufacturing companies so that they do not end up losing an expensive item just because they failed to take proper care of it.

CAT is moving aggressively in global markets with new heavy equipment

We are living in a world where in order to grow we have to move out of our domestic horizons and need to explore opportunities in other markets. When we talk about moving out of the domestic horizons it can also mean leaving your homeland and look out of opportunities in foreign land. This is what many big companies have been doing. They tend to consolidate their position first in the domestic market and then once that is done they try to venture out. It is nevertheless important to understand the foreign market well before you actually go out there and set up your business. A lot needs to be understood and done before you actually establish your business. You may need help of various types of intermediaries at various junctions and have to simultaneously get rid of issues that crops up at any given point in time.

This is exactly what CAT as a company is doing. They have spend good number of years consolidating their position in the domestic environment where they have managed to beat all types of competition and have already went to foreign shores marketing their products quite aggressively. Off late it has been observed that CAT is ramping into countries where it did not have its offices or where its operation was quite limited. They are moving in there with new heavy equipment that did quite successfully in US and they have high hopes that those machines will have a big market in other countries as well.

Some of the new heavy equipments that they are aggressively marketing in foreign shores are the 424B backhoe loader, 336 F series excavators and especially the 336F L excavator which has been introduced in the year 2017. They are also marketing rollers and other big machines that are extensively used for works related to road construction and building townhouses. CAT is trying to collaborate with major construction companies all around the world and only when a deal is signed where the construction company promises to procure heavy equipments from them, the shipment of the consignment begins. Now the marketing team tries to rope in many more construction companies which have large scale operation all around the zone. This is how they consolidate their position first and then slowly and steadily they try to get permission of the government to set up their business in that country.

Cat has come up with its new fleet of heavy equipment and they want it to be used by their foreign partners. This is the reason why they have also instructed their dealers to promote the new set of machines. This however does mean that they will do away with the older ones. It is just that they want to promote the new ones aggressively. Countries in the Middle East and few in Asia and in South America have been their target zones. They see huge potential in these countries and hence want to expand their business to the tilt.

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Have questions on line boring heavy equipment

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Questions pertaining to heavy equipment are quite evident in the construction sector. The person operating the machine may come across a number of issues and that becomes his questions. He needs answers to them in order to resolve the problem. At times he experience some sort of challenge in working in a situation that he has never worked before and he probably does not know how to go ahead with it. This also acts as an obstacle and he wants someone to address that issue or give him some kind of solution so that he can overcome the issue and get up and running. Line boring work is a very different kind of work but it will not be proper to call it at all difficult. Just because it is little different than the rest of heavy equipment people find it to be difficult and have questions on how to get the line boring heavy equipment to work. All you need in this case is a bit of patience to know the new stuff and perhaps some amount of concentration.

Ideally when a person who worked on heavy equipment doing things other than line boring will not have the knowledge on the subject and therefore the first thing will be to acquire some knowledge on how the pivots work and work together with other pivots on the heavy equipment. One should also learn to set up the bars level parallel to other pivots. Now this is something that you will only learn with time. You also need bit of experience and you will steadily see your skill getting honed. Remember the first time you started learning about heavy equipment you found that to be way too difficult and many also had thoughts of giving up the learning and do something else. So when you deal with something new you are bound to have questions and you got to seek for the answers.

While working on line boring heavy equipment you should fair deal of idea on how to measure a bearing or pin and from that assume the size the bore should be. These all are pretty basic and will not take a long time for you to learn but definitely the initial phase will not be rosy at all. You got to struggle a bit and will also have questions. What you can do is put forth the questions that you can’t derive an answer to someone who is pretty experienced in the stream and take his opinion on the matter. Experienced people can get you workarounds that you can’t even think of that being a possibility. It may amaze you for sure and will also be quite a handy thing for you.

Other than that you can place your questions on a blog for the experts to answer them. These days there are so many people who have turned on to the virtual world to get answers for their questions. You can also depend on it a bit and will find it to be really helpful.

Sell your heavy equipment on internet

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Internet has given us all a new way of conducting business. There are millions of people who do not go out of their homes to work. All they do is turn on their computer and have their internet connection on. They do their business from that small equipment and make good profits. We can make use of the same technology to sell heavy equipment and still expect good profits. One may be forced to ponder that how somebody can buy construction machines by not even seeing it in person. Well, they can at least select the product online and then they can personally come down to check the stuff. This idea of selling heavy equipment online has been a big success throughout the globe. Be it developed economies or developing economies, all are making ample use of this technology to make their business successful.

We will be talking a bit in detail on how one can conduct this business without even stepping out from their home.

Become member of an online portal:-

There are number of online portals available that are into selling heavy equipment. Not just heavy equipment, they also sell heavy equipment accessories. An online portal is nothing but just a platform provided to both buyers and sellers to come to a common ground and do business there. So the seller simply lists the items that he wishes to sell with the price that he expect to get and if any buyer who is looking for similar stuff likes the item, he can buy it online and pay for the stuff using his credit card or through internet banking. All they have to do is become a member of the online portal to begin business on the website.

List items giving detailed description:-

When you are listing your product on the online portal, you should be aware that people are not able to personally see the machine though they can see the picture of the product but not the product itself. Therefore, you should give a detailed description of the product on the portal so that the readers get a fair idea as to what they will be dealing with. Mention every intricacy, sophistication of the heavy equipment on the listing. Viewers will want to know more about the product if you mention the intricacies. They might get attracted towards the product and might contact you so that the process can be initiated further.

Accept the payment via the portal only:-

Once you finalize the deal, please ask the buyer to pay for the equipment via the portal. It gives both the parties the required security that they are looking for in the transaction. It protects the interests of both the buyer as well as the seller. You may have to pay some amount to the online portal for listing the item and some fees if the item is sold successfully but it is really worth the security that you get from them after the deal is done.

Construction Companies using Drones

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Technology is often used to make things simpler and easier for you and no one can particularly set its limits. So you can go to any limits by not harming the nature or any living entity and use technology to its fullest to achieve goals. As far as the construction segment is concerned, the use of technology in many advanced countries has not been accomplished to its complete potential. They may use the best of raw materials and the best of designs and the infrastructure needed to complete those designs but much can still be done in the sphere of technology.

Construction companies can now make use of drones to monitor their work and make their lives simpler. One can only imagine how a mighty construction house that has its hands into vast projects is able to keep everything under control. Well, they know no magic but rely heavily on technology. They ensure that they use drones to get latest updates of their project and where it is heading. They can manage to have a bird’s view on the entire project and get all the details that they need to show the progress of the work to their clients.

Man management becomes simpler:-

When it comes to better man management, you can do it only when you know things that are happening on the ground. Getting updates from the heads of different departments may at times can’t give you a clear picture of the real ground situation. You have to monitor the situation on your own and then analyze to take better decisions. This is normally known as taking informed decisions. A drone can help you take informed decisions with accuracy. You only have to send the drone on the site and it will get all the pictures for you. It helps you to do a quick survey of the entire site which also invariably saves a lot of your time. You do not have to go in person to the jobsite and still get to know the ground situation.

Saves money on employing human resource:-

Buying a drone is anytime less expensive than employing a person with skills. You have to pay the guy good salary for his work and this will be a recurring expense. On the contrary, you buy a drone and get the work done at half the cost. The maintenance of the machine will again be less expensive than paying salary to the employee on each and every month. It will also provide you with more accurate data than what you can get from an individual.

Sharing the progress report with your clients:-

Your clients must be as busy as you are and it may not be possible for them to make their presence felt at the jobsite again and again. In such a situation, you can make use of drones to give them the real time pictures of the areas that are in progress and the areas where you have already completed your work. This will not only save yours as well as your clients’ time but will also win their confidence on you.