Posted on October 26, 2011
Building construction is a highly responsible job and the contractors need to be highly experienced and knowledgeable on their subject. Whenever you are going to start a building construction project, you need to find a reliable contractor to entrust the job. The best way to find a good construction company is to get a word of mouth recommendation from a relative or a friend. The next best way to find one is to go for an internet search. You will get a lot of companies out of which you need to find a reliable one. When you look for the right build contractor, you need to focus your attention to a few points.
Experience
Building construction is a subject where you need a lot of experience. The more experience your building contractor has the better will be his work. Therefore, you must try to get a contractor who has a lot of experience in the industry. If you get the right contractor, he will have his work fort folio and also the customer list to show you. From these also you could get an idea of the contractor's knowledge and the experience.
The value of experience in the building industry is that an experienced contractor will know exactly what to do when he is confronted with a problem situation. He is able to provide solutions to problems as and when they arise.
Being Creative
Being creative is especially important when you are going to upgrade an existing building. It is not easy to find a contractor who is able to think out of the box. When you find a creative contractor who is also experienced, you will end up with one who could find innovative solutions when confronted with a problem. Therefore, being creative is an essential requirement of a good contractor. Read more...
Posted on October 8, 2011
Infrastructure and Construction industries are one of the most booming industries with the development in all the fields and industries. In present scenario, there are growing opportunities in construction industry. With increasing number of projects in construction industry involving developed technologies and small time frame to complete, there is increasing requirement of human resources in this industry market to complete the projects within the stipulated time frame work.
There are different levels of jobs available in construction industry. Higher levels of employment include management level, architects, supervisors, etc and lower levels of employment include construction workers like carpenter, mansion etc. There are different construction job descriptions for different levels of employees. The higher level of employees needs higher qualification, experience and skills.
The lower level of employees is required to be skillful in the expertise area and qualifications are not at all considered. Construction job descriptions include the responsibilities and job profile related to a job in real state. The responsibilities are higher in the jobs of higher level.
At lower level, the main role and task involve execution of the project. The lower employees actually do the real work but without the proper planning from the management the project cannot be done successfully. Hence the role of all the levels of employees is important in the successful completion of the project.
The construction business is growing very fast. As average income is increasing, the demand for houses and apartments is increasing. With this, it is definitely going to be growing at a rapid rate.
Posted on October 6, 2011
In simple terms, profit is defined as: Profit= Income-Expenses.
But contractors and sub-contractors know it's not that simple. In fact, if you talk to most contractors, most have only a "gut feel" if a project has actually made a profit or not. It´s true! Given that anecdotal bidding usually uses a 10-15% profit margin (sometimes as low as 5%) means that even a slight over run in labor or materials can have a big impact on the profitability of a job.
For those of you readers not familiar with the way income and expenses flow for a mid-size construction job, consider the following general example.
Example: Job XYZ
Month 1: Materials, labor and G&A expenses are paid by the contractor but only part of the contract amount (draws) has been collected to offset the expenses. At the end of month 1, the project shows a loss.
Month 2: Labor, materials, G&A (overhead) are expensed by the contractor for Month 2, but no payments (draws) are still behind the job costs for Month 2. At the end of Month 2 the project still shows a loss.
Month 3: The project is finished but the material, labor, and G&A for the balance of the project have been paid in full. But, payments are still behind the expenses. At the end of Month 3, the project still shows a loss.
Month 4: The final payments and hold back (usually contains the profit for the entire job) for the project are paid and now the project can be evaluated to see if it made a profit or not.
The bottom-line is that without proper tracking and matching of income and expenses, most construction related companies won't know if they made a profit until the project is over. This time lag between expenses and income is the cause for the demise of many construction companies. Any overages of labor, materials or other expenses are not picked up until after the project has been completed. Read more...