How Many Days Forward Could You Live If You Stopped Working Today?
That is a line from my newest book, Freedom From Fear FOREVER (www.ffffbook.com). It was a rock in my shoe for months until I did something about it!...
Get serious about customer complaints
HOW DO YOU HANDLE customer complaints? Most contractors think they do a good job of resolving them. But when asked, "How do you know?" most owners/ CEOs...
Dealing with clogs in small-diameter drains
WHEN I WAS a young lad first entering the trades, we had no power tools for cleaning small-diameter drain lines. We used hand-tops, which could give a...
A matter of grave concern, part 3
I STATED IN last month's column (pg. 42) that I had contracted Legionnaires' disease and promised to explain exactly how that happened. I maintain a weekend...
Package automates entire design process
DESIGN-BUILD 6.0 (Carmel Software, www.carmelsoft.com, 800/339-6030) is a suite of five software programs that automate the entire HVAC design-build process....
Who are you working for?
GETTING NEW BUSINESS is always a challenge, so when the phone rings and you are asked to work for a new customer, your first instinct is generally not...
Outcome, not output, is what matters
Project management authority THERE ARE THREE types of people in this world: those who have a basic grasp of math and those who don't. Forty percent of...
Close the sale or open the door for competitors
DON'T YOU HATE that? You run ads, get the call, set the appointment, run the lead, price the job, present the offer and your prospect needs to "think...
Industrial Strength Succession Planning'
RAISE YOUR HAND if you are the owner (or part owner) of a successful family business and someday you want your kids to step into your shoes. Let's be...
Improving image starts at top of company
BY BOB MIODONSKI OF CONTRACTOR'S STAFF SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. While many people talk about raising the image of the plumbing-and-heating industry, any action...
Industrial Strength Succession Planning'
RAISE YOUR HAND if you are the owner (or part owner) of a successful family business and someday you want your kids to step into your shoes. Let's be...
Produce design/build budget estimates
HERE'S A SMART software solution that uses a company's accumulated knowledge to help quickly produce design/build budgeting estimates for clients. Suitable...
Know your market, know your laws
I KNOW THAT this column is entitled "McGreevy on Law" and not "McGreevy on Marketing," but bear me out. Many times I have encountered contractors who,...
A matter of grave concern, part 2
WE BEGAN LOOKING into the issues associated with combination, open-loop, hydronic space-heating systems last month (pg. 38). While these systems have...
Drive your driving policy, or walk to poorhouse
A LOOMING INSURANCE crisis has probably already driven one or more of your friendly local competitors out of business. You just haven't heard the details...
No train, no gain
p>IMAGINE THIS One day John rolls out of bed, steps out onto his front porch to fetch the paper and, while staring into the clear blue sky, thinks to...
Recruiting works on always getting one more
AK ANY EXPERIENCED contractor about how he recruited his good crews and great supervisors and he will tell you the secret in one word: "Years." No mystery....
The best retirement plan I have ever seen
MENTION RETIREMENT to any group no matter how young or old and the knee-jerk reaction is almost always the same: Stuff as much as you can into a qualified...
I Married UP
November 1979 was a turning point in my life. The Pittsburgh Pirates had won the World Series, We are Family was a huge hit. Disco was dying a quiet death....
Have a clue how much workers don't work?
WHILE THE HEADLINE sounds a little harsh, I suppose, it is designed to grab your attention (which apparently it did or you wouldn't be reading this opening...
Customer retention fantasy land
FASTER THAN A speeding Moped, more powerful than a 60W bulb, able to leap small children in a single bound it's me, Market Man! OK, maybe it takes me...
Builder's letters send wrong message
THE COMPLAINT that builders cut back on mechanical systems in favor of more visible features of a home a statuesque fountain or an ornate chandelier was...
Better Than Black-and-White TV
It was the Summer of Love. 1967. I was about 10 years old. We had a black-and-white 19-inch television with four channels to watch. (Five if your had...
Hector the Inspector
AFTER COMPLETING the permit application, I waited for the lady in charge to finish her phone call so we could complete my paperwork. In my neck of the...
A matter of grave concern
OVER THE YEARS as a licensed master plumber, I have always honored the credo under which plumbers operate, that being, "Plumbers protect the health of...
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