Intuit exec snags Bonds' 715th

SPECIAL TO CONTRACTOR

SAN FRANCISCO — Intuit Construction Business Solutions Marketing Director Andrew Morbitzer, who was quoted at length in the February issue of CONTRACTOR, caught Barry Bonds' 715th career home run May 28 at AT&T Park here. The home run moved Bonds past Babe Ruth on Major League Baseball's home run list into second place behind Henry Aaron.

Morbitzer was in line at a concession stand buying a beer for himself, a bag of peanuts for his wife or both, according to varying media reports, when the home run ball bounced out of the stands and eventually into the concession area. Left unanswered was what Morbitzer plans to do with the valuable ball and what he was doing at the concession stand with Bonds' approaching home plate having a chance to break Ruth's mark.

At a postgame press conference, Morbitzer described himself as a San Francisco Giants fan attending his first game of the season. He said he caught the ball with one hand after it reportedly first hit an elevated area in center field.

Morbitzer addressed the media under quite different circumstances Jan. 11 during the International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fla., where he discussed the results of the third annual Intuit Construction Industry Survey ("Contractors face roadblocks to growth: Intuit survey," February, pg. 5).

"Contractors' priorities in 2006 don't line up perfectly with what they know they should do in 2006 to grow their companies," he said at the time.

For example, he pointed out that 71% of the 504 contractors surveyed said that adding more profitable jobs is critical for the growth of their company; yet, just 16% planned to add more of these types of jobs this year. He noted that 16% of contractors also planned to hire additional qualified people in 2006 even though 54% said hiring such people was critical to their company's growth.

Intuit produces Master Builder construction software as well as Quick-Books, Quicken and TurboTax software for small and mid-sized businesses. It released its QuickBooks Easy Estimate program for contractors and subcontractors this spring.

In January, Morbitzer said that contractors surveyed in December 2005 by Intuit expected average construction industry growth of 11% in the next five years. They estimated their gross profitability per job at 16.5%.

"Contractors are using specialization as a way to growth more so than we've seen in the past," he said.

Among specializations cited by contractors were green building (36%), replacement (35%), assisted-living and disaster restoration (32% each).