Construction site theft is an expensive, growing concern. Costs rise as contractors lose building materials, tools and equipment and liability insurance premiums rise. Often those losses are passed on to customers.
In the News
Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Accidents can happen. There's no way around it. But you can do your best to prevent them and take steps to minimize the damage when they do occur. Here are some ways to help keep your Workers' Compensation premiums down.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Construction employers are fined millions of dollars each year for OSHA violations. The citations that result in fines are often overlooked by supervisors. Although employees usually receive generic information about OSHA standards in most workplaces, it's important to implement training procedures that make OSHA's rules clear.
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
Job costs are the lifeblood of your construction business and accurately estimating them will determine if a project will make money. Managing job costs across the life of the project will ensure that your firm makes money on every job. Moreover, those job-by-job profits make the office and your executive salary possible.
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Throughout the year, businesses like yours need to be able to provide verified financial results to others. This may be your tax preparer, a lender or investor, a potential purchaser of your business — should you decide to sell — or another interested party. Not to mention that you, as the company owner should know your books are being done with accuracy and completeness. For all of these reasons, you should consider having your accountant prepare certified financial statements for your business, rather than always relying on internally generated reports.
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Creating a formal debt management plan for your construction company will save you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in interest, over haphazard borrowing.
Thursday, June 30, 2022
Joint ventures are common in the construction industry, especially with large long-term projects. These collaborative arrangements allow construction firms to work together, for a limited time period, on one or more construction projects.
The upsides include pooling of expertise and resources, broader geographic reach, reduced risk, and enhanced financing and bonding capacity. But joint ventures also have potential pitfalls, so they need to be set up and managed with care.
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Construction projects require cooperation and coordination among a long list of participants including architects, contractors, subcontractors and others. So it's not surprising that even the most straightforward construction projects can result in disputes and ultimately, costly litigation.
Before embarking on a construction project, consider how best to prepare your company to defend or pursue a construction claim in the event that all doesn't go as planned.
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Builders and contractors who buy commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policies with the impression that they will keep them safe from allegations of inadequate or faulty work must be aware of what their policies cover. It's important to know that a CGL policy does not provide coverage for work that is faulty.
In order to qualify for payment under a CGL policy, there must be a specific type of occurrence that causes property damage. The terms in these policies define an occurrence as an accident. This includes repeated or continuous exposure to conditions that result in bodily injury or property damage. The damages or injuries must occur during the policy period in order to qualify for coverage. These injuries or damages must not be intentional.
Thursday, May 5, 2022
They say hindsight is 20/20. You can take advantage of that hindsight by holding regular project closeout meetings to find nuggets of truth about how the project went and learn from them.
Not every project makes money for your firm. You can find ways to improve project and accounting management if you set a tone of openness to genuine feedback that will filter down to your project managers and other key employees. Here are some guidelines for success in this endeavor:
