Dealing with retained earnings and cash
DO YOU HAVE a large amount of retained earnings and excess cash in your corporation, but the double taxing power of the law has your cash locked in the...
No horsing around on this job
RECENTLY, WE WERE approached by a customer of ours whom we had inherited via an "orphaned" system. For those who are unaware, an orphaned system is one...
Lessons from the best PM I ever knew
MY FATHER, Harold H. Craig, with whom I grew up not only as his son but also as his employee of Craig Plumbing Co. from my early childhood through my...
Smallest contractors can have own Website
BY WILLIAM AND PATTI FELDMAN COMPUTER AUTHORITIES THE WEB IS POTENTIALLY a great equalizer for marketing a small company and interacting with business...
The risk of skipping pre-bid inspections
BY SUSAN LINDEN McGREEVY CONSTRUCTION ATTORNEY WHILE READING recent court decisions, I was reminded of an avoidable source of problems for contractors:...
Make direct mail a priority
BY ADAMS HUDSON SPECIAL TO CONTRACTOR Fourth in a series Enough is enough. Over the past few months, you've seen Basnett Plumbing & Heating our Marketing...
How to transfer business to sons, save estate
BY IRVING L. BLACKMAN TAX ACCOUNTANT THE FACTS, PROBLEMS and solutions of this month's column are so typical of the readers who call me for help that...
How to invest in free publicity
BY ADAMS HUDSON MARKETING CONSULTANT IF YOU'RE LOOKING for a way to stretch your marketing budget a little further, don't overlook the potential of free...
The five 'flavors' of project management leadership
BY H. KENT CRAIG MECHANICAL CONTRACTOR JUST AS THERE are five primary flavors we can taste that combine to create literally millions of potential food...
What I'm doing about 10 things that bug me
BY MARK MATTESON INDUSTRY CONSULTANT JIM ROHN WAS Tony Robbins' first personal development coach. He is a seasoned and impact-full motivational speaker...
Spring means it's pool heater mania time
BY DAVE YATES PLUMBING CONTRACTOR EACH SPRING WE get referrals from several local pool companies to install underground gas lines to pool boilers they've...
System must offer comfort, efficiency to barn
BY MARK EATHERTON HYDRONIC HEATING AUTHORITY THE NEW OWNERS of the barn intended it to be their last home ("The most unusual home I've ever worked on,"...
Steam velocity kills a heating system
BY PATRICK LINHARDT STEAM HEATING AUTHORITY THE CALL: One of my favorite customers called me about a job we looked at years ago. I like this customer...
It's home show season!
AH, SPRING. The birds sing. The flowers bloom. The home shows commence. Home shows represent great selling opportunities for plumbing companies. It's...
QuickBooks Contractor Edition gets quicker
MANAGING THE BOOKS is one of the necessary nuisances that all contractors need to deal with. For offices not large enough to warrant the overhead for...
The most unusual home I've ever worked on
BARNS ARE UNIQUE buildings. Each one has a character all its own. There was a time in our recent history when barn building was a community event. People...
The lost art of blind soldering
DANN WYMAN WROTE: "I just read your page on 'The lost art of making lead joints' on www.contractormag.com. I was actually searching the Web trying to...
When does a contractor become a designer?
I THINK THAT you all understand what "design/build" is and the risk that goes along with being the sole party responsible for an entire project. One of...
We come to the rescue of distressed taxpayer
JOE, A 79-YEAR-OLD widower, is feeling economic and tax pain. Don't feel sorry for Joe, he's generally a healthy and happy guy. Still goes to work every...
New mantras for residential design
EVEN THOUGH FRIDAY'S still payday and poop still runs downhill unless an ejector pump is involved, many of the old rules of residential plumbing and HVAC...
Attitude affects your customer, your income
RECENTLY MY youngest son, Evan, said, "Dad, I need some new headphones, can we go to Fred Meyer?" Off we went to the Seattle retailer. While Evan was...
Use the word 'free' strategically for more leads
SOME TRUTHS NEVER change, and here's one that's never the most popular: "You've got to give to get." Consumer giveaways can come in the form of free gifts,...
Stay the marketing course
BY ADAMS HUDSON SPECIAL TO CONTRACTOR Third in a series As we enter this next marketing phase, one thing should become abundantly clear: None of this...
Build your marketing momentum
8 ways that Basnett Plumbing and Heating generates leads and retains customers. BY ADAMS HUDSON SPECIAL TO CONTRACTOR Second in a series Why do they even...
Don't overlook an ugly duckling
ASK ANY PLUMBER, he'll tell you. Kids today don't want to get their hands dirty. They want to work with computers. They are lazy, want flexible hours...
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