Marketing to create an unending sales cycle
MANY TIMES IN discussions about the sales and marketing cycle, I'll laser in on a particular feature like direct response to generate leads, effective...
You Can Cut Down A Tree With A Hammer?
It's possible to cut down a tree with a claw hammer it takes about 30 days. If you trade in your hammer for a saw, a sharp saw, you get the job done in...
Preaching to the choir or the congregation?
UNLESS YOU'RE LIVING on a deserted island by yourself you've been hearing about carbon monoxide and combustion testing. If you want to enhance your bottom...
What to do about pending labor shortages, part 2
IN THIS, THE second of three installments, we'll continue to look at the many options for replacing our dwindling workforce. Hire from the returning military...
Contest winner shows how you can build sales and increase profits
BY ADAMS HUDSON SPECIAL TO CONTRACTOR Rob Basnett, owner of Basnett Plumbing & Heating, says: "I'm sick of hearing people say, 'What if it doesn't work?'...
A contract writer and two desktop domestics
TO TAKE ADVANTAGE of computer assistance when preparing contracts, you don't have to re-invent the wheel. Various organizations and software developers...
Additional insured endorsements still an issue
IT HAS BEEN common in construction for a long time as long as this lawyer can remember anyway that contractors were required to show their customers that...
How to make 16.28% annually without risk
BEING A TAX GUY, the most common questions I get from owners of privately held businesses are about estate planning transferring their business and wealth...
How you'll benefit from Home Depot's move
BY BOB MIODONSKI PUBLISHER AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR WILL YOU SEE better service from your local wholesalers as a result of The Home Depot's blockbuster...
Don't become a statistic when projects fail
MY MODEST reputation within the industry is that I'm a "garbage man." I'm the hired gun who comes in when a project is tanking and threatening the company...
Amusing (but true) Stories
I am a huge proponent of reading, specifically great books. It has changed my life. Listen, I have a year of junior college under my belt, a solid year...
Employ innovative snow-melt systems
HYDRONIC HEATING CONTRACTOR We discussed the potential of earth-linked energy as an alternative to conventionally powered snow-melt systems in my January...
CAD novices can draw hydronic schematics
HYDRONICAD IS a stand-alone program for drawing professional quality properly proportioned hydronic piping schematics for new or existing installations...
When do you want to have a contract?
IN THE EUPHORIA to get a "deal," vendors and contractors ( although contractors far more frequently) overlook the little details of exactly what terms...
Value your business to protect your family
DO YOU KNOW how to make a grown man cry? Tell him his business has been destroyed by fire, flood or God. Yes, a tragedy. Bad stuff. But most likely, the...
Learn to anticipate what can't be anticipated
I'VE ALWAYS SAID the main difference between the true professionals in any endeavor and the amateurs is that the pros pay close attention to every little...
Learn to anticipate what can't be anticipated
I'VE ALWAYS SAID the main difference between the true professionals in any endeavor and the amateurs is that the pros pay close attention to every little...
Marketing principles you can't avoid
GOOD MARKETING generates leads. The confounding simplicity of that statement is that of the nearly 2,000 contractor ads we critique each year, most don't...
Waste is everywhere but isn't inevitable, part 2
THE SEVEN TYPES of waste, which we identified last month (pg. 50), are: Defects This is a product or service that contains errors, requires rework or...
Get ready to take advantage of change
WHAT'S MOST striking about Farmer & Irwin, our Mechanical Contractor of the Year, is how a company that turns 50 in October has been so adaptable to change....
Danger lurks when thawing frozen water lines
BOOM! THE 1/2-in. copper cap grazed my ear as a deafening roar announced its rocketlike ejection from inside the kitchen sink cabinet. Scalding steam...
What you can do about labor shortages, part 1
LIKE A NEVER-ENDING doomsday story, the pending labor shortage is theoretically lurking just on the other side of the horizon, waiting to attack and cripple...
A matter of steam balance
THE PHONE CALL: Not even the best hydronic sleuthing solves every problem the first time. That was the case here. Some venting changes that I had recommended...
Match profit and overhead in bids to size of job
COMPETITION IS AS tough as it has ever been. Since the mid-1960s the domestic construction market has not grown by any measure. In constant dollars (inflation...
Be ready to harness market forces in '06
AS WE END 2005 and look forward to the new year, we can't help but observe that market forces are lining up in ways that favor plumbing-and-heating contractors....
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