Why Making Business Decisions Alone is Dangerous

Imagine yourself stranded in a jungle. Without the help of an experienced survival expert, it would be difficult to determine your next steps for surviving and finding your way back to safety. Business planning is no different.

What value does your company provide that has influenced you to continue working there?

Construction industry employees weigh in on the incentives behind their long-term stays with their respective companies.

Authenticity in Historic Restoration

For those of us interested in historic preservation/restoration, this week was tragic. Notre Dame is an integral part of the Parisian backdrop and a picture of craftsmanship that withstood hundreds of years, not to mention its significance to the Catholic church. On Monday, I watched with my jaw dropped as the flames rose.

Now, as things have settled a bit and the damage has been assessed, we are faced with an interesting dilemma: Can you ever truly rebuild and restore the cathedral?

We have been involved in several historic restorations, including a century-old theater, vintage hotels and a handful of adaptive reuse projects. While these are certainly not Notre Dame, each structure held great significance to the city where we worked, and a handful were partially funded with historic tax credits. We got a primer on what can be replaced and the original parts of the building that needed to remain intact.

We also learned the value people attach to “authenticity,” meaning that the original building materials be preserved. I think the general consensus is that it’s not a possibility in this situation. The cathedral can be rebuilt, but we’ll have to let go of some of our notions of what’s “authentic.”

In this context, I read about the Venice Charter to guide restoration, which says that new materials would be kept distinguishable from the original construction. I’ll be interested to see how things progress.

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Determining a Crane Rental Strategy

How to determine a crane rental strategy that lands your company the right equipment, at the right time, under the right contract.

HR Distress? There's A PEO for That

Having a PEO as an HR partner makes it easier to navigate the complexities of multistate compliance issues and minimizes the risk of costly penalties or lawsuits—no matter how many worksites you have or where they’re located. 

Bucket List Events

For me, April means two things: The Masters and Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, both extraordinary events started by men with a passion for doing something worthwhile and best in class. (Bobby Jones/Clifford Roberts for the Masters and George Barber for the Indy car event.) My spring is off to a good start because both are on my calendar.

Everyone knows about The Augusta National and The Masters, but Barber Motorsports Park is more of a hidden gem. You’ll find the largest private collection of motorcycles in the world and open wheel racing and motorcycle racing.

As I watched this year’s events, with guys doing more than 200 miles an hour, it made me glad to have a day job that is not racing. Takuma Sato, a car owned by David Letterman, won the race, and several of our folks were on hand to enjoy all the festivities, along with visitors from 38 states and 8 countries. The cars are fast, the company is hard to beat and the weather was just right.

As I watched, I couldn’t help but think about what the land was just a few short years ago–an empty field–and how George Barber’s dream played out with the museum and this race. The same goes for Augusta National, which was was not much more than pine trees and pasture right after the Depression. What a win for all who get to visit.

{Image Source: APM Kamal Ahmed}

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How to Increase Profitability With Equipment Performance Benchmarking

How do you stack up to your competition? Every minute a piece of equipment sits idle on your jobsite, it’s robbing you of time and money. That’s why it is essential to optimize the use of your equipment if you want to maximize profits.