Category Archives: Business

Give your employees the opportunity to grow

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People ideally have the notion that construction sector is a highly rewarding sector and if they are able to perform in this industry, then they can really make it big. They see a lucrative career in this industry and hence try to stick with it even during turbulent times. Therefore it also becomes the responsibility of the employer to reward employees who have performed consistently for the last few years. They should be given with additional work and if they are able to perform well at all times then should rightly deserve a raise in their position.

Giving opportunity will help them learn new dimensions:-

Construction industry is a wide and dynamic sector and it may take ages for one to learn it in totality. Deserving employees should be given the opportunity to learn new things in this sphere. Before you give them the chance to learn anything new, check if they are interested in widening their horizon to learn more about this industry or they are happy doing the same work but just want to lead a team. The aspirations of your employees matters a lot when you want them to take up any additional responsibility. At the same time, you should also check what they are good in. Are they good leaders who have the potential to command respect or they are good in managing administrative work or simply desire to learn the next level. Whatever the case may be, you got to take the onus and understand what they want.

If needed, you arrange your human resource team to speak with outstanding employees and check their field of interest. The people from the human resource may be in a better position to understand their desires and accordingly you can chalk out something for them.

Provide them with options and let them pick up that suit them:-

It has been noticed that lot of times employees do not know what is the next level of work that they should be learning. After having worked in one kind of work, either they get bored of it or they become so used to it that they do not want to leave doing that. They like to stay in their comfort zone and doing anything else apart from that is a strict no. It is important that they become comfortable with their job but do not devote their entire life doing just that. You have to take them out of their comfort zone and hand over few other works. This process will help them to develop and learn more about the business. It is advisable that you give them options and guide them on what they should pursue. This will play a vital role in their overall growth in the construction industry. These men will then become valuable asset for you and there are chances that they will also remain loyal to the company.

Your employees are one of the most important resources of your company and taking initiative to help them grow will eventually help your company to grow.

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Know the construction business well before you start one

Before you put your hand in any kind of business, it is first important to know a bit about the business. Not all businesses are the same and therefore you need to prepare yourself as per the needs and wants of the business. To become an expert in any trade is always a plus but there are few trades that expect you to be an expert. Anything short of that can put you in trouble once you have started your business. In order to overcome any business hurdles, it is necessary that you be ready with the insights of the trade so that when needed you can take the correct decisions and also do not make unwanted blunders.

Construction business in specific, you got to be very sharp while taking decisions. Any incorrect decision can prove to be very costly for your business with irreparable losses. Though the construction business can be very fruitful and also a very profitable business but it comes with a price and the price is if you take any incorrect decisions, it can ruin your business and can completely destroy your career in this industry. Therefore, it is advisable that you take some time out to first learn the tricks of this trade and then once you feel comfortable, you can begin your business.

Try to know how the business works:-

In order to run any form of business, you should first try to know how to run the business. For that try to work in a construction company for the first few years and learn every possible thing, right from getting clients, acquiring business from them, knowing the right amount of capital to be invested in the project, wages to be paid to different employees etc. This means that you have to work for few months in each department and try to learn things there. You may not know everything in detail but knowing a bit of everything will really help. You will get a fair idea about this business and can then give a thought to the fact that if this trade really your cup of tea or you should just restrict yourself in working with one such construction company and get fat package.

Pay good attention to the administrative and finance department:-

The administrative and the finance department of a construction company are like heart and lungs of a human body. They need to function thoroughly and any mistake on their behalf can really have a toll on the company. They both need to work in close sync with each other so that everything is in place and there are no chances of any fallbacks. You can get to learn a lot from these 2 departments on the entire working of a construction company. If you get the chance to be a part of the finance team, you will know the package that an operator as well as a laborer draws and working in the administrative department, you will learn how to take care of the various needs of the employees.

Learn every small thing that you can and only when you feel that you can start a venture of your own, give it a shot.

Keep a track on your finances while spearheading for any expansion plan

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When you think of expanding your business, it means that you are having sufficient money to let you think about it. It would be absolutely naïve for someone to even think about expanding his business without having enough money in hand. The other option would be to take loan from financial institution. However that will cost you interest that you will be required to pay for the next many years. Taking loan can’t be termed as a bad option. It is just that one should go for this option only when it is really needed. As long as they can do with the money they have in their account as surplus, they should try to take care of any expansion plan with that.

We will be discussing few very important points that one should take into consideration before they decide to spearhead for any business expansion.

Multiple projects should be avoided without adequate resources:-

When we talk about expanding our business, we have to pay a lot of heed to the fact of having enough resources to take care of the extra project. You can’t sign up with a company and commit them of completing their project if you do not know whether you have adequate resources in hand. One of the major components that come under the word “Resources” is availability of finance to fund the project. You just do not want to start up with something and then get to know that you are unable to carry it along due to scarcity of funds. That will be a nightmare both for you and the one who gave you the business. That will also go against your goodwill and will deteriorate your relation with your client. You definitely do not want that to happen with you.

Knowing your finances helps you to take better decisions:-

You can take better decisions when you know how much money you have that you can utilize for your business. Remember, you also got to meet your financial responsibilities with your existing company like paying salary to your employees, taking care of operating and non-operating expenses and many other expenses that probably your accountant may keep an account of. It is better that you call up a meeting and take detailed report from all the departments. Understand the immediate financial requirement of any department and once you have taken suggestions from every corner, you decide what should be your next step.

Turn up to a financial institution if you really have to expand:-

At times you may get an offer than would be too lucrative and naturally very hard to resist. You will certainly not want someone else to bag it instead of you. In situations like these, you may turn up to a financial institution to avail loan from them. However, before you do so, have a small talk with your business advisors and check what they feel about the project. In case, if they all are positive about it, you may take a shot.

Construction industry is all about taking calculated risks and overcoming challenges

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With rising fuel prices and several cracks in the economy, it is the construction business that is taking the major blow. It is becoming increasingly difficult for small construction companies to sustain in this kind of an economy. The conditions of the larger ones are no different. Before they can think of any expansion they got to think of cutting costs and cutting costs generally means laying off of people from the company. In such a situation, if someone tries to make his way in this form of a business, they are taking a big risk of their life.

Construction business can pay you real well but only when you find yourself suitably fitted in this business and with no unhealthy competitors around you. But the actual situation is largely different. There is a cut throat competition in this sector and every person wants to eat the big piece of the pie. Unhealthy competition can also largely impact the quality of your performance as you may be in a hurry to pick more projects and in this process will not pay enough attention to the existing work you got. Other than that, if you do not have sufficient funds to complete a job, you try to compromise on the quality of amenities you are installing for the project. Compromising on the quality of work can never be a solution to anything especially if you are doing this to maintain enough reserves to fund another project.

Calculate your risks and do not overburden yourself:-

Knowing your risk is very important in the construction sector. People have gone for a royal ride just because they took more risk than they can and lost almost everything. Before taking up a new work, few things need to be analyzed. Check how big is the project and if you find yourself to be incompetent for taking up any big projects for the time being, it is advisable that you stay out of it.

You need to know the kind of infrastructure and men needed to complete the work and if you do not have them, you are heading for trouble. Big projects are profitable but they also take time to complete. So you got to analyze if you have the capacity to stick around for that long and complete the work. If you find that you may not be able to finish the work in time due to lack of infrastructure or lack of sufficient funding, it is better that you opt out of it. It makes no sense to overburden yourself by taking up something that you find is too hard to chew.

Taking calculated risks can help you overcome new challenges:-

Calculating risk is all about how you analyze your strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. After taking into consideration all of these factors, you understand your position and the fact if you can overcome a particular challenge. Do not take risks that can have hazardously negative impact on your business.

 

Learning the construction business is important before you hop in

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When you are thinking of stepping into a dynamic business, you got to think twice before you do so. It is never easy to be stable in a dynamic business environment as you will keep getting new challenges every now and then and if you do not know how to deal with them, you got to end it there. Construction industry is one such dynamic industry that definitely has a lot to offer but at the same time, when it comes to taking things away, it becomes very harsh while it does that. There are numerous examples of individuals who have started their construction business but could not survive during the hard times. One needs to understand that this is a high competition business and in order to survive and move further in this business, one needs to learn the business well. Experience in running the business does matter a lot. You got to be with someone and understand how the business works. It is only after that that you can think of hopping in this industry.

Learning a bit about heavy equipment is a must:-

If you are in the construction business, it is important that you become friendly with the best friends of this industry. Heavy equipment are considered to be the best friend of the construction industry. You can’t operate a construction business without heavy equipment as you need them to complete your projects. Therefore, it is a must to learn a bit about the different types of construction machines available and used in this sector. Once you learn about the machine, you also need to know how often you need to service them and from where you can get the parts of the machine. Also knowing a good mechanic will always be helpful as you can turn to him for any sort of assistance to fix your machine.

Check the wages people are paid in this sector:-

Knowing the standard salary/wage rate that an employee gets in the construction company is also very crucial. The salary that you pay to an operator can’t be definitely paid to an engineer or an accountant or for that matter to a laborer. They are all paid different amounts as per the salary structure defined by the industry. Once you know that, you will also pay them accordingly. Not knowing that piece of information can lead underpaid operators and overpaid laborers. This will lead to major internal conflict within the company resulting in people leaving the company.

Experience matters a lot:-

In order to learn the business well, you should spend few years working in one such construction company. That will help you to understand how the business works, how to get clients and how to close the deal. A person who is a novice will not have a clue of how to grab a deal. Working in a construction company will help you learn lot than you can expect and then after having spent good number of years, you can think of beginning your own business.

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Growth in the world of heavy equipment

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The technology of heavy equipment is growing rapidly nowadays. No one can deny the fact that this development of science extremely useful in detecting any kinds of damages in the equipment regularly. By using the technology of global positioning satellite, one can check the condition of the constructional heavy equipment even if it is placed at a great distant from the observer. Picking out the right equipment for the construction site is becoming a great challenge with so much new models coming out in the market every year. The sellers are offering lots of options and interesting features which ultimately make this troublesome task quite interesting.

Equipment used in construction sites

Among the many heavy equipment available in the market, backhoe loaders are gaining a strong hold in the constructional site as they are used in small tasks of demolitions, breaking down of the asphalt, digging or excavating the holes, to power the building equipment, little transportation of material building and paving of the roads. To smash up rocks and huge chunks of concrete, many people use breaker tools in place of backhoe bucket. To get rid of the loads efficiently and quickly, some of the loader buckets contain a retractable bottom. This retractable bottom of the loader buckets are useful in scratching and grading off the sand. The front side of the bucket has some devices which is either permanently seated or can be removed whenever needed. Most of the times, other constructional tools replace the bucket. The backhoe loader must have a tool coupler to get various types of fastening to the loader.

Bulldozers are large sized heavy equipment and they can easily go over a course terrain because of the mobility and a strong hold of the ground provided by the big trucks. Bulldozers have swamp tracks which are only extra-broadened tracks.

Compressed hydraulic excavators have three unique collections of undercarriage, workgroup and house. The arm and the boom along with breaker and buckets comprise the workgroup of the hydraulic compact excavator. All of them are attached to front portion of the structure of the house of the excavator through an oscillating frame which will allow the workgroup to be pivoted hydraulically right or left to do balance digging needed for trenching.

Today, the harvesters do all the tasks related with commercial felling in Finland and Sweden. They clear their ways by cutting down the forests and can work more easily on smooth terrain. To thinning out the debris, small harvesters are used particularly in the Nordic countries.

Pile drivers also do a lot of work with two rods of metal containing a cylinder between them. This design makes it move freely with the up and down sliding. To remove the cylinders, workers make use of a pulley system. It also involves the use of hydraulics or steam. To lift the cylinders, small explosions are also sometimes made in the chamber.

All of these heavy equipment have their own applications. So, one has to choose the equipment carefully deciding what kind of job he is going to do.

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Excavator an Effective Heavy Equipment used in Demolition, Clearing and Grading

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All construction sites need to undertake three activities in the development process which are considered to be quintessential. These three activities include Demolition, Clearing and Grading. With technology evolving drastically Excavators has proved to be reliable and effective heavy equipment in conducting the three activities of demolition, clearing and grading.

Demolition is the process of tearing-down of structure and buildings in a construction sites with the help of manually driving hydraulic equipment such as excavators.

Clearing is the process in which dirt, debris, vegetation cover and excessive materials are removed from the building site to make it conducive for development.

Grading involves construction work such as making improvements on roads, laying foundation for railways and land etc.

Excavator in Demolition Process

Excavators are used to collapse two stored buildings by a deterioration process. The plan is to involve destroying the building while controlling the method and direction the building collapses. The whole demolition task is undertaken by a project manager who decides where damage is essential to enable the building to be pulled out in the desired direction. The walls of the building are damaged at the foundation of the building, but this depends on the design of the structure which totally dictates the demolition process. Factors such as protection and cleaning activities are taken into considerations while demolishing that particular building.

Excavators with high reach demolition are more frequently used for collapsing lofty buildings since it is not suitable for explosive demolition. Excavators equipped with shear accessory are normally used to pull apart a structure made of steel. To bring dust under control fire hoses are used to sustain a demolition of a wet building. Hoses are used by the workers which are attached to lifts to increase height.

 

Big buildings may require the application of the wrecking balls which are found to be more effective against building material, but controlling the wrecking balls can be a complex task for the workers and a lot of time it is found to be less competent when compared to other demolition methods. Innovative methods make use of the revolving hydraulic shears as well as rock-breakers which are fixed to the excavators for the purpose of cutting and breaking through wood, solid and steel material. The application of shears becomes useful when flame cutting would become hazardous.

 

Excavator in Cleaning Process

 

Excavators provide housing and commercial land clearing services and removal of debris dirt. As we all know clearing the land of the construction site is one of the foremost steps for constructing our home and offices, so first of all you need to get rid of all dirt, debris and other excessive dust. With Excavators clearing becomes an easy task without consuming too much money and time.

Excavator in Grading process

Grading a construction site does not merely refer to pushing filth around. By grading the building site with the help of Excavator the contractors ensure the location is at the accurate level to guarantee proper flow of the water. Grading helps in making right base of the building.

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Hassle a newbie encounters for setting up his construction company

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Establishing a business of any form has never been easy for a newbie especially when you do not know anybody from your family doing it or anyone who can probably help you in setting up your business. Guys who inherit the businesses of their fathers may not have to go through a great deal of ordeal than people who have absolutely nobody and will be do everything on their own. Apart from this, life gets tougher when somebody ventures into an industry like construction where there is too much of cut throat competition existing and people are eying to snatch away whatever little project you have got.

We will be talking in detail about the different kinds of problems a newbie can encounter during his journey in setting up his own construction company.

In absence of knowledge, people may take you on a ride:-

If you are dealing with something that you do not have much of an idea, there are high chances that people will take you for a ride. It is quite evident that you may not know everything related to your business and at times you have to depend on an expert to help you on an issue. But it is important to know a bit of everything so that in case if someone is trying to play nasty with you, you can get a hint of it and play wisely.

Have a concrete strategy:-

When you are in the phase of building your construction company, it is very important that you lay down a strong strategy and then take relevant actions to walk on it. It will be equal to walking in the dark without a solid plan and often you may encounter troubles. Apart from this, the one who gives you’re the projects are also keen to know about any sort of plans that you have laid down to complete the project.

Getting the right sort of heavy equipment:-

Heavy equipment play a crucial role in building your construction company and possessing the right sort of equipment will help you to complete your projects on time. So it is important to know which construction equipment is needed by you for a given project and how can you acquire it. Construction equipment are highly expensive materials and you can’t simply afford to invest your money in buying something that may not be useful for your existing project. Alternatively, if you can manage to know the estimated duration a project may take to complete, you can just rent the machine rather than spending a fortune in buying them.

Make sure your financial position is not weak:-

You can set up your construction company if only your finances are in place and you can spend money to buy stuffs that are essential to carry on a project. In case, you see that you may not be able to afford for something that is vital for your business, make sure you will be able to manage to avail loans from some financial institution. Knowing your financial status is a must as it plays a huge role in shaping up the future of your business.

Two Ways to Differentiate Your Service Contracting Business from the Competition

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As the Information Technology has made the service contracting business reach the mass at a rapid rate, it has become very important for every owner of service contracting business to stand out in the competition. Only providing top-notch quality service is not enough, one has to become a good learner of the market strategies to globalise his service contracting business.  The two most important ways to differentiate your service contracting business from the competition is to use the social media like Facebook, Twitter and Linked In and listen to your customer with great care.

This article will define the above said two points to improve your service contracting business.

  • Use of Social Media:- Social media is the best source to reach the people. By using social media you can share the views of your customers and also tell them about the services which your company offer. You can use this media to inform the people about your service contracting business and why should they opt for you. A survey on the number of users of social media shows that nearly 1.7 million people use Facebook (leaving aside the surveys on other social media). Social media sites give opportunity to the users to communicate with other such service contracting business owners. And if the owners add you in their circles then you can also get some latest information about how they are trying to satisfy the customers by delivering services. This will definitely help you a lot. Account with more number of likes always attracts more traffic. If you have more number of likes, then people will visit your website and if they require any kind of service they will contact you either through email or phone. The increase in the number of likes in a social media makes the customer believe that it is trust worthy.
  • Carefully listen to your customer: In order to attain success in service contracting business, you have to listen carefully to your customer. Find out in which field they need your service. Ask them the deadline of delivering that service. Don’t delay in providing customer service and try to give them some offers or discounts to attract the customer. Try to give the customer quality service. If you give them quality service and that too within an affordable price the customer will definitely stay with you in the long run. Give good training to the customer service provider personnel isn’t a bad idea. If they are properly trained then they will make no faults while servicing. Even when your contract period with the customer is over, call them (though less frequently) to know the condition of the product. And if they make any complaints regarding the service then try to fix it and assure them that it will not happen again in future and you are really feeling very sorry for it.

 

Apart from this building an attractive website, giving online and offline ads, and an arrangement of weekly fun staff meeting where you can discuss about various steps required to take your service contracting business to the top are some other points which cannot be ignored.

 

 

Keeping your cards close to your heart is the thumb rule to success in the construction industry

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Every businessman has some or the other secrets that is the reason of his success in any industry. Especially in the construction industry, people need to be very shrewd about what they are telling to others. In no way they can utter a single line of their success mantra and people who write books claiming that they have written all the secrets to become successful in life are not so true. They may just give a glimpse of the entire mantra and elaborate it extensively to make it look like they have written everything in the book. However, that’s not the fact. A businessman would always want to keep his cards close to his chest and would hardly or never reveal his business secrets to anybody.

We would be discussing why one should not speak more about his achievements and the way he managed to attain success in public especially when he is dealing with men in the construction industry.

Your business model is unique:-

We all follow very distinctive business model and if it works we start reaping fruits. We add few things from it and deduct any unwanted elements which ultimately make it a model that many would like to follow. But the sad part of the story is that you can’t allow your business model to go public. Construction business is a highly competitive business and everybody wants to grow as quickly as they can. In this situation, if you make your model public and easily accessible to the general public, then there will be no stopping for people who will use your model and claim it to be theirs. You have only unnecessarily grown problems for yourself. Therefore, just keep the stuff with you without letting others have the slightest hint on what model you follow and how you work that you make such good profits.

Integrity is key:-

Integrity is a big business requirement and it is hard to get people who know what integrity is all about. It is absolutely important to hire the right set of people who understand the importance of honesty and integrity. People of strong character and principles should be the one you want them to be a part of your company. Once you are sure that you have found the right set of people on whom you can trust, you can share your business model with them and can work on it to take your business to new heights.

Avoid being a part of excessive limelight:-

We all like to become famous. But becoming famous at what cost would be an interesting question. It is fine to know people in your business circles and is also great being known to them. Having good connections always help you in your business but coming into excessive limelight can become a problem. Unknowingly, you may give people the chance to take undue advantage. Too much of anything is not good and definitely for your business.

 

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