Category Archives: Business

You can’t afford to lose efficient employees in the construction business

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Human resources are perhaps the most important resource in every industry. You can have good machines, may be rich with financial resources but as long as you do not have humans to control them and work on them, it is futile to have so much of resources at your disposal. It just does not make any sense. There should be a blend of all the resources to run a business which also involves humans. So when we talk about human resource, it should be limited to men who have the capability to perform the work given to them. You can’t expect anybody to do anything. For instance, you can’t expect an engineer to operate a machine for you. He is just not meant to do that work. His expertise lies in some other trade and you have to give him that work. Precisely in the construction sector as well, you are expected to follow the same rule. You should hire labor according to the nature of work and as per their expertise level.

Once you have hired the efficient workforce you should be cautious and treat them well so that they do not leave you for a better company. Just by paying them a high salary you can’t keep them content. They need a better treatment from you and if they get what they want then there is high chance that they will stay with you for long. Moreover, you also can’t afford to lose your men especially when they are skilled and hold an important position in your company. A good supervisor is very hard to be found. He is the one who has his grip on the labor. In order to get the work done, he will tighten the grip and when there is less work or no work, he will ask his boys to relax. He is also a person who has earned the respect of his boys and his boys will not say no to him when asked to work beyond working hours. This supervisor is an efficient employee for you and you can’t let him go for any trivial reason.

Be a boss with a friendly nature:-

When it is about people management, you can’t afford to be bossy with them. Professionalism is expected in every professional industry but at the same time one much also keep in mind that the guys with whom he will be dealing are men like him and they will delightfully do a work when asked in a friendly manner. If you maintain a friendly attitude towards all the employees of your company they will indeed work harder for you and will not want to leave you.

Increase the pay on an annual basis:-

It is needless to say that we all work for money and one expects a slight increase in his salary at the end of each year. At times, you have had a bad year with no much business and hence have not earned enough profit. In such a situation, you should take all of them into confidence and explain the reason why there will be no increase or a minimal increase in their package. There is high chance that they will understand your position and will stick to you.

Look for promotions in the construction business

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We never want to work in the same position as it gets a little monotonous doing the same work every day and over and over again. We do not work only to get money at the end of the week but we also work to get a sense of satisfaction from what we do and this is what drives us ahead in life. Moreover one should never make a comfort zone and live in it. That can be dangerous especially when it comes to forming a great career. Great careers are never achieved by living in the comfort zone. One needs to get out of it and strive hard to achieve something in life. Promotions are given to only those who want to do things differently and have the ability to work in an environment which is not so friendly. This is what most entrepreneurs look for in an employee. They want people who can take up challenges in life and can convert every calamity into an opportunity.

Promotion can bring a rise in your salary:-

There are 2 ways to bring a rise in your salary. The first is not an advisable one but still worthy in few scenarios and it is to leave your current company and move to the next one in search of better package. The second one sounds to be more logical which is to work hard and take a raise in your levels. Whenever you get a promotion, your package is increased. Other than the annual appraisal that happens in most of the construction companies, any hike due to a rise in the position is phenomenal. This is what your aim should be when you join a company. Try to know the different levels of promotion and how hard you have to work to get to the place you want to see yourself.

You are known and respected because of your work:-

If you perform and deliver high end results, you will be known amongst the various levels of management. Once that is done they can pitch in for you when asked about your performance and will give positive feedback. Many companies follow the tradition of checking with various departments about the performance of an individual before promoting him to the next level. Only if they get positive responses from basically all the levels of management, they go ahead with the promotion. Once you are known and you continue to carry the good work, you will be also respected for it. As and when you attain seniority in the company, the respect that you have amongst the masses will only grow.

Generating a good rapport with almost everybody in the company:-

Promotions are also given to a person who is a team’s man. If you are a person who can gel up well with your team members and with members of other teams, you are gaining popularity. Good rapport always comes handy during good and bad phases on life. So always maintain a good rapport with almost everybody and ensure that people know you for good reasons. This will help you to climb the ladder quickly than ever.

How to evaluate the performance of your employees

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It has been always difficult to evaluate the performance of an individual who is working in your company or organization. You may have certain expectation from him and if at all you find the person to be anywhere short in fulfilling those expectations then you presumably mark him down in that parameter. However, he may have been exceptional in all other activities and therefore perhaps do not deserve the score. Therefore while you evaluate a person you should take into consideration his overall performance and not single out instances where he was not able to fare well. it actually does not go well with anybody who have been working from the core of his heart and then in the end gets to know that he is marked down on one such instance which was in no way crucial or have caused any harm to the prospects of the organization.

In the construction business where you have a lot of men working for you, it becomes tougher to evaluate the performance of every individual. It is just impossible to keep a track of the performance of all the employees and then rate them. This is why you got to create a system where you can easily track the performance of your employees and can justify the scores that you give to them. Supervisors should stringently monitor the performance of the employees in their respective teams and present the report to their managers. The managers in turn will approve the ratings and will decide the rise in pay of the employee.

Punctuality should be a crucial check:-

All the employees in the company should adhere to their respective shift timings and late comers should be tolerated. The message should go loud and clear to all the employees in the company. Construction workers who arrive late at the site can eventually become the reason for delaying the work. Any delay will then have to compensate by overtime which means the company then needs to pay its employees more for allowing them to work for extra hours for the fault of few guys who had arrived late at the site. The company should take this very seriously and must mark down the latecomers during their evaluation.

Their overall behavior and willingness to work:-

Employees who have worked hard for the success of the company should be rewarded and it is the onus of the supervisors to pluck out people who have made commendable contribution. The supervisors should keep a close watch on the employees and check who is willing to work harder. Guys who have the quest to learn more about the business are the ones who should be given more opportunities and also should be given good ratings during evaluation. The behavior of the employee also plays a crucial role while assessing his performance. One should check how good the person is in bonding with his team and the kind of rapport he shares with other teammates. Employees possessing these qualities should be rated more than others.

Things one should avoid in the construction business

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Every business has certain norms and the guys who are conducting the business need to follow those norms religiously. People have to follow those norms as it is and things that are not allowed just can’t be practiced in reality. Apart from that, there are certain things that are advised to do and few things that one should just avoid doing. In the construction industry there are many things that one should simply avoid because if they try to do that it can lead to serious complications.

Breaching the law of the land:-

In the construction business, you will come along people who in order to simply things from themselves do not abide by the law. They take their chance but in the end they also pay a price for it. To go against the law of the land is something that you should always avoid doing. If there are certain rules laid to conduct business, it becomes the moral duty of others to follow those rules. Right from taking sanction to building houses as per the limit laid by the law, one should follow every minute thing. Remember you are always being watched and if you play foul you will get caught someday or the other and once you get caught you may have to end up losing your business license. It is recommended that you do not enter that zone.

Securing your jobsite:-

One should have enough security measures to secure the jobsite from mischievous elements. Your heavy equipment are rested at night and there are chances that someone can break-in to your jobsite in the death of night and can steal the machines. Heavy equipment are expensive stuffs and they have good value in the grey market. You should avoid taking such chances. Hire good security personnel who can guard the jobsite once everybody has left the site. Install cameras in key locations. It is not feasible for the security personnel to keep a watch at every corner of the site. With the help of the cameras, the guys can do a marvelous job and can keep a watch on all the items. Moreover, you can number all the equipment present at the site. That will help the guys to take a count at the beginning of the day and also at the end of the shift. So security is something that you should never think to avoid.

Take important decision without consulting others:-

Important business decisions should be taken keeping the management in loop. Moreover, their feedback also matters a lot. Taking important decisions without letting the management know about it can have severe communication issues within the organization and can become really nasty. You should avoid making this mistake.

Financial irregularities:-

Any kind of financial irregularities should be avoided at any cost. To avoid this, one should keep a track of the accounts on a monthly basis and question if he finds something suspicious or questionable. Financial irregularities have the ability to eat up a might business enterprise in no days. So better take care of it at the bottom level.

 

Over aggressiveness can cost you the business

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It is believed that the one who is aggressive in the construction industry can only make it to the pinnacle. Others just form a part of it. Being aggressive is a want in this form of a business. There are other qualities that are also required to become successful in the construction business but out of all the other qualities, being aggressive is required the most. Now the word aggressive can give you many meanings and when we talk about the industry demands aggressive guys, it does not mean it is asking for hot headed people who can’t keep their cool and in this process take decisions that turn out to be utter failure. Aggressiveness here means not letting out the spirit in you die in any circumstances. You will get to see a lot of ups and downs, failures and hiccups coming down your way, but you fail the day you lose your spirit to get up and get going.

The moment you are crushed down, you should be determined to get back with a much greater force and this is what aggressiveness is all what. However, being over aggressive can pose lot of threat to your business. There are numerous examples where people have incurred huge losses as they went overtly aggressive and some even had to pay the cost by completely winding up their construction business. Over aggressiveness is displayed at many places. For instance, you feel like having too many heavy equipment as you foresee a lot of projects coming up. But you may go absolutely wrong on your calculation and rest will be quite traumatic. So you got to be patient enough before being aggressive. You can get everything in just one single day. Projects also take time to come and if you expect a lot to come, you got to strategize and plan with your people if they are ready to manage more projects.

Planning forms an integral part of your business. You need to get everybody into confidence before you take up any decisions. Also understand the challenges posed in front of different departments before you take any important decision. These things are quite critical in nature and overlooking them in any way can cause huge damage to the business.

When you are over aggressive, you tend to leave the people who are a bit slow and can’t match up with your pace. Well, that is not how it should be. We all have our own way and speed of doing things. You feel that it is better that you move ahead by leaving them behind or else they will hold you back. However, look at it the other way round. A leader is the one who takes everybody along with him. A person who is aggressive with his business will always ensure that his employees are on the same page and if anybody is having issues with catching up the pace, helps is given to them.

Never stop yourself from implementing new ideas

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Businesses often run on new and innovative ideas. We always keep hunting for something new that can help us to flourish our business. This is indeed a good practice and one must always keep up to it. Thinking out of the box will lead to a new product which may gain popularity. However, there is something more important than thinking out of the box and it is how effectively you can implement the idea that you have thought of. You may come up with an innovative way to deal with a particular thing but the real challenge is with the implementation part. When it comes to implement the idea on the ground, things may take a different course altogether and the outcome can be something different than what you have thought about. So the question is will you stop yourself from implementing new ideas just because there is always a chance for it to backfire or will you take the challenge and go ahead to make your idea a reality.

In the construction sector, innovation is the key. You have to bring on some or the other innovative ideas in the way your work and the final product that you produce. You can’t build the same type of building with the same amenities for years. You have to change things with time. People’s taste changes with time and therefore you also have to keep up with the changing tastes of people. This sector is all about guys who can accept the ever changing activities that happen round the clock. People who are against implementation of new ideas will soon find themselves out of the league. There is no one way of doing a particular thing. There are multiple ways to perform the same task. It all depends on how creative a person is and how easily he can complete the work using his creativity.

You can make impossible seem possible:-

Industry experts are also mooting on the idea of constructing a building in Dubai that will move 360 degrees. Now this idea can completely change the way we look at the construction industry. Imagine the apartments of the building moving 360degree. This means that a person can see sunrise and sunset both from the bedroom of his apartment. He can also have different views from his building. Now this is almost next to impossible. But few people must have come up with this idea and they are thinking if it is at all practical. Well, the architect does not see this as impractical. He on the contrary feel that they can certainly construct a building that can rotate and it will cost the buyer around 5 million dollars for an apartment.

Give way to new technology:-

Technology plays a vital role in the growth of the construction sector. So when you are thinking out of the box and you intend to bring it to existence, you have to take help of technology. You can’t think of bringing your ideas into existence without having proper co-ordination with techno savvy gadgets.

Construction of manufacturing units and factories

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When we talk about construction, it need not necessarily be of huge buildings or condominiums. The word in itself is quite elaborative. When you are in the construction business you deal with building anything and everything. Although you take time to learn the industry and the different ways by which you can acquire projects. You also take time to understand how to complete a project within the stipulated timeframe. Well you learn these things from experience and as and when you get to deal with them. Construction companies make enormous profits when they get into a project that is pertaining to building manufacturing units and factories. When you are into construction of manufacturing units or factories, you are catering a particular genre of client and therefore you got to pay special attention to their demands. Their demands are quite specific and you got to channelize your resources based on their specifications.

Understand what kind of factory you have to construct:-

While constructing a factory, you need to understand that the requirements are quite different for every factory. So for instance, if you have loads of experience in constructing factories or manufacturing units, you can’t be sure that you know what your current client need from you. You may definitely have an edge over others if you are experienced in constructing manufacturing units but it is advisable that you sit along with your client and try to understand their needs. Check out the kind of set up they want and on that basis you can frame the designs.

Show the progress at regular intervals:-

It is imperative that you keep updating your client on the progress of work. Remember, while constructing manufacturing units, you have very less scope to alter things once they are been built. You should ask your client to visit the site on a monthly basis and check the progress of work on their own. You should try to stick to the design so that if there requires any alteration in the actual building you do not have to do it out from your pocket. Your client should ideally pay for it. However, it is not mandatory for the client to pay for any alterations. If it is a mild one where you know it will not affect the costing of the company massively, you can alter the stuff without charging extra. This will eventually make your customer happy.

Use top notch equipment:-

You always have an option when it comes to using equipment to work on a project. It is always preferred to use top notch equipment. It will ease the process of work and will also take comparatively lesser time. With top notch equipment, one should not imply using brand new machines and accessories. It simply implies using mechanisms that are scientifically proven to be an easy tool to work.

Construction of manufacturing units and factories gives enough scope to construction companies to earn good sum of money. However, the construction companies should be ready to take such projects and complete them in time.

Foresightedness is a pre-requisite in the construction business

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For any business to thrive, the managers of the business should possess the quality to foresee things. They should be in a position to anticipate what may happen next. An important decision taken by them can have certain ramifications. This should be construed well in advance by the people who are responsible for the growth of the company. Businesses that are volatile in nature are more prone to risks and if the business owner is not careful about his decisions, he may have to pay a heavy price for it. We normally take decisions taking into account in current situation. We do not know the future and therefore it is quite difficult to assume things in advance. We can however assume few things if not all. People who have been running the business for long, they kind of get a hang of different situations and are somehow in a position to predict things. It is perhaps they have witnessed similar things in the past.

The current situation may be a little different from what the person must have witnessed years ago but he can still assume the result and can plan his stuff accordingly. To run a construction business, one requires great deal of experience in hand and apart from that, the capability to foresee things. There is significant amount of volatility in this business. During turbulent times, small construction business owners do not have to face the music as much as the big companies have to. They really see a sharp decline in the graph of the company which is only because they were not able to foresee those turbulent time in advance. You get hints before a major catastrophe hits your business. You need to understand those hints and frame your strategy accordingly. Failing to act at the right time can even cost you your business.

Rise in the price of raw materials and fuel:-

Though both raw materials and fuel prices do not rise at the same time; however, if either of this happens and you have not stocked them, it can cost you heavily. Now, no one can assume when the price of either of them will increase. This is just not possible. However, one can predict the rise through means of what is happening in the market, keeping an update of the government policies and other factors. The crux here is how knowledgeable you are with the current affairs. If you possess sharp knowledge and the information that you get is correct, then your assumption can never go wrong. There may be a slight miscalculation where you have predicted an “X” amount of increase but it only rose to “Y” amount. That is understandable.

Prepare statistics to understand the position:-

You have plenty of softwares which you can use to prepare statistics based on the information that you get from your sources as well as from business magazines. These statistics will help you to come to a conclusion on where the construction sector is moving and will eventually lead you to foresee or predict a thing.

 

Take rational decisions when it comes to budget of your construction company

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The success of every business is largely determined on the way you plan it out and also the manner you execute those plans. It is evident that the actual will never be at par with the estimate, which means that things will never go exactly the way you planned it will work. There will always be some sort of deviations from what you have estimated. The ground situation will differ from what you have contemplated; but the thing that is crucial is the difference between the estimated and the actual. If the difference is huge then it is a problem. This means that you do not have complete control on your work and there is a chance that it is going in a haywire direction. Pertaining to construction business, one can never afford to let his budget go haywire. It will cost him more than anything else. Also, the company needs to ensure that the completion of the project happens within due course of time because if it kind of lags then it will eventually cost to the company.

Plan by considering every possible situation:-

When you prepare a budget for a construction project, you should take into consideration every minute detail. Right from the operating cost to the miscellaneous everything should be accounted. If you foresee any increase in the price of raw materials that should also be included in your budget. Try to keep your budget on a higher end so that if price of any commodity shoots up in the mid of the project you should not get a shock of your life and should rather take the inflated price comfortably. Also consider the cost that the company will have to bear for any unknown reasons. For instance, during monsoon if it rains a lot leading to blocking the roads then you might not receive the materials in time which will delay the work. However, you still have to pay your employees for the day. There may be other such instances that may crop up which will be temporary in nature but can have quite an effect on your business. So it is advisable to account those situations in your budgetary.

Review the ground situation with the estimates:-

Once you have laid your plan, it is highly significant that you review the ground happenings with the estimates on a periodical basis. This will let you know if you are falling short or if things are in your control. Also, if you figure out any complication then that can be taken care right at the beginning. You should weed out any problem right at the beginning and not keep it for the last minute. This is possible only if you do a reality check periodically. While you are reviewing the plan with the actual, get involved the men who are in charge of different departments so that they all know the ground reality and can pass on the message of the meeting to the lower ranks.

Right strategy is what you need to grow your construction company

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Before you start your day, you need to plan it well so that you can execute them and make your day somewhat useful. In the same fashion, while you are in the mode of setting up your construction company, it is important that you plan your things well so that you can execute them without any hassles. Please remember construction sector is one such sector where you can’t accurately assume anything. Situations may change anytime and you got to be ready to accept them and deal with them as and when they come up. Therefore you should be ready to take up any challenges that come your way. This preparedness to deal with any situation is possible if you have proper strategy in place. There are few things that are very crucial when it comes to laying down of strategies.

Strategies are often made by consulting the heads of all the departments. You need to know the ground situation before you come up with any plan. It is not feasible for you to know everything about all the sections of the company and this is why you need the help of the department heads to give inputs. Now once you have the inputs, you can put up your plan in front of them and check what they feel about it. Never plan something without a proper discussion. There has to be few Yes’s and No’s while you are in for a discussion and all of you have to come to a common ground. Once everybody is on a common ground, you can take that plan for implementation.

It is to be noted that not all plans are meant to be implemented right away. Some also needs to be kept in the parking lot so that it can be implemented at the right juncture. At the same time, the plans that you have executed should not be permanent in nature. Though you should give some time for it to work or to give desired results but if you see that it is not working, move on to something next before it causes severe damage to the growth prospect of the company. This movement of strategy is also known as flexibility which is the next important criteria towards the growth of the company. You should know when to move to the next plan and also you should not have difficulty while you are in switching mode.

Many companies find it difficult to switch plans. For instance if the prices of oil have risen drastically or the prices or raw materials have fallen, you should be ready to revamp your plans and perhaps do it all over again. Not doing things at the right time can cause severe problems to the company or at times you will not be able to make the most while others are minting money. You should also have the right people to get the job done. People who takes up their job passionately are needed to make hay while the sun shines.