Time for you to take green building seriously
On the day the latest UN report on global warming was released, my car refused to start when the wind chill dipped into double digits below zero in Chicago....
Service solution uses tablet PC and camera
Collier's Mobile Tech( Collier Consulting Group, www.collierflatrate.com, 800/739-9025) is a complete tablet PC application designed for field service...
How to prepare your company for growth
Growth in P-H-C companies can be very challenging. If you accept the growth challenge and perform the right steps, you will succeed in expanding your...
Avoiding construction defect lawsuits
I know how much easier your lives would be if, once you completed your work, you didn't have to look back to it again. That is not the way we operate,...
The best way to attract and keep great people
Our Typical Consulting assignment is to put together a wealth transfer plan for a successful business owner. Invariably, the client brings up two critical...
Thirty years in the game at 50
I sit here at the computer writing this column on the 50th anniversary of my birth, which, coincidentally, is approximately the 30th anniversary of my...
What's your most important marketing tool?
With some customers, perhaps your answer is, "A hammer." For the uninitiated-tech, it might be, "Showing up." From me you're expecting, "One of the marketing...
What's your most important marketing tool?
With some customers, perhaps your answer is, "A hammer." For the uninitiated-tech, it might be, "Showing up." From me you're expecting, "One of the marketing...
Bienvenu Brothers welcomes service challenge
WHEN STANLEY BERGER accepted the presidency of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America a couple years back, he noted that he was the first service...
Software handles service management tasks
SUITABLE FOR SMALL and medium-sized service businesses, ServiceCEO (Insight Direct, www.insightdirect.com, 800/471-4200) is a turnkey management solution...
Did your lawyer (inadvertently) rip you off?
JOE, A 63-YEAR-OLD reader of this column from Iowa, almost cried when talking to me on the phone. "I still want to kick myself for thinking my estate...
Brief history of condensing boilers and potable water
IN APRIL 2002, Lois and I had an opportunity to travel to France for a visit with Geminox Chaudieres, the manufacturer of Monitor MZ boilers. Upon arrival...
Is it safe, or not, to let an employee work?
YOUR ELECTED officials and federal agencies in Washington have created a monster with the Americans with Disabilities Act. While well intentioned, it...
Atlas sighed, then died
STRANGE HOW THE best advice you've always followed all your life and for good solid practical reasons, such as never playing poker with a man named "Doc"...
Simple steps for cold-weather marketing
OK, FOLKS, GET OUT your scissors. I want you to cut out this column, tape it to your desk, on your marketing manager or in a place you're likely to stare...
A Unique Christmas Story
A Unique Christmas Story By Mark Matteson My name is Mikey. I am 11 years old. I was a year old when we got Anna. Dad surprised us Christmas morning....
The $1-a-minute man
IF I OFFERED YOU $50,000 a year salary, guaranteed by a cash bond, to do nothing but come over to my house and daily clean up my dog's droppings from...
Marketing lessons lived, learned, leaned upon
OK, CLASS. Take out your No. 2 pencils and a sheet of paper. It's time for a pop quiz." First, why did it always have to be a No. 2 pencil? What was wrong...
Make my (Christmas) Day
DO YOU FEEL lucky? Well, do ya, punk? And, of course, as you know, the bank robber wasn't lucky. What in the world does Dirty Harry have to do with this...
Use solar radiation for snow-melt systems
WE DISCUSSED THE potential of waste heat recovery as an alternative to conventional heat sources for powering commercial snow-melt systems in last month's...
Software makes PDFs from CAD drawings
ENHANCED COMMUNICATION in the office and in the field can make everybody's day easier. Here are three programs with distinct capabilities. PDFs in a jiffy...
Retirement plan rescue' saves a ton of taxes
RAISE YOUR HAND if you have a "substantial amount" in a qualified retirement plan such as an IRA, 401(k), profit-sharing plan or the like. For our purposes,...
New Year's Resolution: Plan for 2007
OF THE 90,000 to 100,000 plumbing and HVAC contractors in business today, less than 10% do any planning, consultant John LaPlant told us a couple months...
Mexican or Italian, which would you prefer?'
I HAD BEEN in Dallas for four days conducting sales training seminars with a fine group of success- ful contractors. We covered all aspects of the sales...
Troublesome issues that aren't in your contract
WHEN A CONTRACT arrives in the mail for you to sign, you read it, and take out your pen and start marking it up. Most contractors know bad language for...
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