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CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

September 6, 2011

Knowing Where the Money Is
Filed under: Industry outlook,People Skills — Tags: — nedpelger

When Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” When thinking about construction work, learn to know where the money is.

Yesterday, an old friend stopped by and told me about his good job with a local CM firm. The owner of this large and multi-faceted construction outfit predicts 2012 will be the worst year we’ve ever endured. My friend plans to retire next year (I think he’ll be 62) and start a small consulting business helping banks and bonding companies close out projects of bankrupt contractors. My friend has some other job opportunities available and stated something I’ve always thought, “For good guys, there’s always work.”

He also mentioned that his firm had nailed a couple of large sewage treatment plant projects and had been looking for capable project superintendents to run those projects. They have been unsuccessful in finding any first class supers with appropriate experience. The firm had previously paid some headhunters huge commissions for supers that didn’t work out.

So here are a few great opportunities for the right folks. Here are a few pots of gold, but how do you find the rainbow to follow?

Of course, you can keep checking Monster.com for construction job postings, though that site isn’t particularly construction focused. You can also think deeply about whether you’d be willing to relocate for a great job…or for any job. If you’re willing to move, you have a whole world to study for opportunities.

An article in The Economist shows the amazing clout the emerging economies now have. For example in 1990 the emerging economies made up less than 20% of the world GDP. In 2010, the emerging economies account for almost 40%, compared to the developed economies. The graphic below shows many other fascinating trends.

Steel consumption and copper consumption are both already at 75% for emerging economies. Let’s assume lots of those materials go into manufacturing, but factories need to be built to get that done. So even though construction, like politics, tends toward the local, your experience and skill set may be in demand in the international community. Give it some thought.

If you excel in your job, effectively completing projects on time and with profits, meeting all the performance goals, you should still be in demand. If you’ve limped through your career, putting in the least amount of effort to get by, you’re probably already reaping what you’ve sown. So I’m talking to the life long learners, the high performers when I say: don’t get discouraged, start doing rainbow research to see where the construction gold pots reside. Then go get yourself one.

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

September 1, 2011

The Lies of the Tour Guides
Filed under: People Skills — Tags: — nedpelger

Maggie Koerth-Baker wrote a fun little blog post in BoingBoing about a lighthouse spiral stairs in Sand Island, Wisconsin. The tour guide claimed that no one knows how these mystery stairs were built.

Since the stairs are built in a cylindrical masonry enclosure and aren’t attached to the walls, except at the two landings, they do appear to float in the space.

Of course, the mystery really only exists if you can’t imagine the center pole that each of the stair treads is slipped down over. An installation catalog illustrates the method.

I remember helping solve a similar problem with a friend who was building a castle (don’t ask). The intriguing thing to me is why tour guides so consistently lie. I understand the desire to make a good story…to keep it interesting. But to do so at the expense of the truth, that’s a big mistake.

As you struggle through your weeks in this tough market, don’t succumb to the temptation to lie. Keep telling the truth, there’s so much less to remember that way.

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

August 24, 2011

Church in a Tree
Filed under: People Skills — Tags: — nedpelger

Lex sent me a BoingBoing post about a tree in small village near the Normandy region of France. Apparently, in 1696 lightning burned a hole through the tree and the local priests saw divine intent. They built a small worship space and a staircase to provide access. When that proved popular, they constructed a second small chapel in the tree. The sketch below gives a sense of the cool structure. I love the look and feel of the church in a tree.

As the times have changed, the tree church went from being beautiful to an eyesore.  The cable stays and other bracing, the cheap siding and the lack of greenery illustrate a desperate holding onto the past.

As we consider our businesses and our lives, we need to look hard at now, this very moment. How are things working now? We need to let go of sentimental attachments and other silliness. We need to make the best possible decisions for what to do in the present moment. It’s not easy, but it’s an adventurous and rewarding way to live.

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

August 19, 2011

Learning From Tom Waits
Filed under: People Skills — Tags: — nedpelger

My son Lex sent me this video (a favorite song of his sister Anna) and it made me think of the Tom Waits brand. I’m one of the many raving Tom Waits fans. He combines his whiskey voice, amazing lyrics and a continual effort to create better music through innovation.

He doesn’t have many lukewarm fans. Either you love Tom Waits, you dislike him or you don’t know about him. If you’re looking to build a business in the construction industry, that’s the type of branding you want. It’s not important to be well-known, just to be loved and respected by your loyal customer base.

In the Chocolate Jesus video below (which I hear as a respectful song), Tom produces a nice live version complete with voice distorting bull horn, confetti and twisted dancing.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wfamPW3Eaw&feature=player_embedded

We need to look outside our daily workload and grab inspiration from unlikely sources. Think about how others succeed and what success may look like for you. Remember, as the Industrial Age ends and we catapult into the Information Age, there’s a place for us.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taeFKIKfnZU

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

August 9, 2011

Don’t Do Doom
Filed under: Industry outlook,People Skills — Tags: — nedpelger

The cover of this week’s Economist magazine asks if it’s time for America to take a double dip into recessionary waters.

The stock market looks like the first half of any Rocky movie. America’s politician’s go on vacation after acting like spoiled children and being reprimanded by S&P. Finally, and most importantly for those of us in the private construction world, banks seem to have forgotten the part of their business that includes lending money for real estate projects.

So what’s a poor boy to do? I look to G.K. Chesterton, a brilliant writer from a hundred years ago, for some perspective. He defines doom as, “The oldest of all the Demons, who has always blighted mankind with superstitions of the destiny and death of the races.” So don’t fall for the Doom. Just don’t do doom.

America isn’t over. Our time hasn’t passed. Yes, we live in a time of fast changes and systems will not be like they were. That’s good, though, we need the challenge. Fat and happy usually isn’t really happy. Focused and striving works so much better.

Consider a piece of construction related news that reinforces my assertion that America’s demise has been called too soon. Two high speed trains crashed in China, killing 40 and injuring 191. If you recall, I’ve blogged previously about China’s high speed rail push. The Communist Chinese leaders pushed the high speed train lines, without any market demand, as a pet project. Most workers can’t afford the fares, so the ridership has been disappointing. Now the safety record has also been besmirched.

Suddenly, China’s directed economy looks a lot less bullet-proof. Citizens are angry and the media (supposedly state controlled, but showing some gumption) also demands answers for the boondoggle. So don’t be too enamored of the “Bejing Model”. In the end, America’s topsy-turvy representative republic will prove a better system.

If some challenging times are coming your way, don’t despair. Life will give us all some struggles. Just do the things you know you should do and let go of the things that are beyond your control. Get up in the morning and plan a great day. Strive to live every moment of it and you’ll be fine.

Finally, remember my favorite G.K. Chesterton definition: “Death: a distinctly exciting moment.”

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

May 28, 2011

7 Deadly Sins of 2nd Gen Construction Businesses
Filed under: People Skills — Tags: — nedpelger

My friend Rick recently had conversations with some old friends at a local construction firm. In each separate conversation, the story of what is happening within the company is eerily the same. They feel as if the work they are performing is meaningless and that the future of their current employment is almost hopeless in terms of advancement and stability. Much of the conversation leads back to a real lack of leadership and involvement in the business by the current management.

A few years ago this company went through a transition. The business is a family owned business and the management and control has been handed to the second generation to manage the day to day operations of the company.

Because of the similar, separate stories that Rick heard he researched the success and failure rates of family owned businesses. He was surprised by the number of articles that a simple search of Google can bring. One article in particular caught his attention. The article was titled The Top 7 Mistakes Why Second Generation Small Business Owners Fail at Business Success written by Leanne Hoagland-Smith from Ezine Articles. Turns out that 2 out of every 3 family owned businesses fail in the 2nd and 3rd generations. The following is a list of those mistakes taken from the web page article.

  1. Ivory Tower Mentality – Knowledge Failure

    2. Successful first generation business owners had the ability to send the next generation to college to learn improved business skills. Unfortunately, many of these professors in business schools never worked in the real world, but rather pontificated what they believe should be instead of what is is.

  2. External Customers Relationships transfer – People Failure

    3. First generation business owners knew that their businesses needed loyal customers and took the time to develop these relationships. Second generation business owners believe that the relationships their fathers or mothers had would automatically transfer to them.

  3. Source of Employee Loyalty – People Failure

    4. The loyalty of many employees within family businesses began with the first management team and not necessarily with the company. When the second generation came in, they believe that the employees loyalty was to the company.

  4. No Plan – Knowledge and People Failure

    5. The success of many small businesses came from the entrepreneurial spirit and not necessarily from having a plan. With no plan to hand over, the next generation continues to conduct business without a solid written business plan. In today’s market place any business that does not have both a strategic plan for establishing a new vision and a strategic action plan will have great difficulty in surviving less along thriving.

  5. Performance Savvy – People Failure

    6. Since businesses are comprised of people, managing people takes an understanding of what motivates people to do their very best. For example, when the current management team cries poverty and can’t afford raises for the employees, but then purchases brand new expensive cars, their actions have a negative impact on the employees. Employees don’t mind new cars, but do mind luxury cars.

  6. Assumptions – Knowledge and People Failure

    7. Today’s second and third generation business owners carry numerous assumptions that were true for their parents or grandparents, but not necessarily true today. Assumptions include:

  • Market place
  • What motivates employees
  • How much time the business demands
  • Owner entitlements

7. Values – People Failure

Many first generation business owners operated by core values where a man was as good as his or her word. Handshakes instead of formal contracts had much greater value. Today’s business owners appear not to have the same deep seated values of their ancestors. The result of the lack of values can be summed up in one word – greed.

Rick concludes with the following:

Upon reading this article I was able to see almost all of these same mistakes being made within the company that was being described to me. After sharing this article with a few of these friends, they concurred that this article was scary true to the situation they were experiencing.

It is a real travesty for a once successful and strong company to now be sliding backwards. Many of those who had been around since the beginning and helped build the success now sit on the side line unable to change the downward direction. For many people, the careers and employment they pursue are more than the paychecks that they receive.

I think this is a great article that every 2nd and 3rd generation business owner needs to read. Probably wouldn’t hurt for the 1st generation either. I think everyone in construction can take something away from this article.

Thanks to Rick for a thought-provoking post.

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

April 7, 2011

Build Your Brand Though PR
Filed under: People Skills — Tags: — nedpelger

Whether you work as a construction foreman or own your own company, you have a brand. You need to learn to favorably position that brand. When others compliment your competency, fight to have you on their team or defend you, they help to build your brand.

Too many folks in construction, and lots of other industries, act like their reputation doesn’t matter. The older I get, the more I understand the stupidity of ignoring one’s reputation. Your future value depends more on your reputation, your brand, than on any other one thing.

Companies build their brands in many ways. Here’s one of my favorite explanations from The Publicity Hound of the difference between public relations, marketing, promotion and advertising:

“If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying ‘Circus Coming to the Fairgrounds Saturday,’ that’s advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flowerbed, that’s publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.”

If you want a better understanding of public relations, here are 31 definitions of PR at Heidi Cohen’s blog. I think you’ll find them fascinating reading. I always read the Publicity Hound Tips of the Week and generally learn something useful for my business, customers or friends.

I encourage you to think about ways you could build your brand. Obviously, it begins with doing your job well. Positive PR isn’t a scam, it’s getting the truth of your wonderfulness out to a broader audience. Think about ways you could enlarge your web of influence. Being part of Facebook and Linked-In could be one way. Simply doing a favor for a co-worker, helping them solve a problem is one of the best ways. Think of others and do some of them.

Remember, your ultimate ability to have a great job, be paid well and have some financial security depends mostly on your reputation, on you brand. Put some effort into building that brand.

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

March 28, 2011

An Owner’s Owner Manual: How to Understand Your Building Construction Owner
Filed under: People Skills — Tags: — nedpelger

My brother Jim was running Pelger Electric, a small electrical contracting firm started by our Dad and Grandfather in 1946. Jim and I were discussing Owners and he said, “You know, you should just let chislers work with chiselers.” I remember thinking about the various rotten Owners I’ve done projects for and how the ones I knew would be chiselers certainly ended up acting the part. The projects we did for them were torture and rarely made enough money to be worth doing.

At the time Jim and I spoke, I was running a 75 person general contracting firm and felt I needed to take whatever work we could snag to keep all the bodies busy. When I went on my own, I was able to more carefully choose my Owners. Life improves dramatically when not working for chislers (Owners who aren’t happy unless you’ve been financially beaten up). I’ve often turned down offers for projects when I determined the Owner didn’t seem likely to have integrity. I have never regretted making one of those calls.

On the other hand, I’ve almost always regretted working for chiseler Owners. I generally had a gut feeling going into the project that this guy was going to screw me. By the end of the project, sure enough, I had been screwed. As my old boss Ed Abel said, “Never get in a pissing contest with a skunk.” In this instance, that meant that the chiseler Owner would be willing to act worse than I would and would accomplish his shenanigans.

We are starting to build 84 apartment units today and the Owner on the project got me thinking about this concept. He’s the opposite of a chiseler, he’s an honorable man who has succeeded in business by integrity and amazing competence. Dereck Hench, the Construction Supervisor I work with, told me an interesting observation about this Owner. After meeting to review lots of details, the Owner asked Dereck a question about hunting in Montana. That led to a discussion that went on for about an hour. The Owner learned about Dereck’s family, his background and many of the people they both knew. He didn’t do it to be nosy or to check him out, but he genuinely cared about who he was to be working with.

Dereck told me later, “I never had an Owner take that much of an interest in me.” By his tone I knew he appreciated the time and the attitude. This Owner not only learned more about his Construction Supervisor, he also created in Dereck an ally to protect his interests above and beyond.

Remember, just because the construction industry is struggling through some hard times now, this truth about Owners doesn’t change. Working with a chiseler Owner will generally be worse than having no work.

As you strive to understand the Owner on your project (or perhaps your boss) you can gain some useful insights with my phone app Strategy of Personality Profiles for Better Communication. This recently posted review was encouraging.

“Very Nice! Good, Quick, and knowledgeable – I used to describe my personality. And plugged wife’s, friends, and work colleagues. Right on target for all four. Can’t wait to use it more. Would be nice to print/email results (without copy and paste).” – User review from BlackBerry App World

By the way, our newly updated Version 2.0 will allow the sending and printing of results per the request.

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

March 22, 2011

Be Ye Skeptical
Filed under: People Skills — Tags: — nedpelger

Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman is one of my favorite books. Bruce Jackson, a brilliant friend who recently died in a plane crash, recommended it to me. In one wonderful scene, Dick Feynman gives a short talk at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies. He’s a young guy (in his 20s), full of good and bad ideas. As he begins to talk, he realizes Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr are both in the audience, along with several other science giants.

Feynman was taught by his father, as I was taught by mine, to not respect the rank or the uniform. Struggle to find what’s true, while being skeptical of those with rank and more open to those without. As these science legends made suggestions about Feynman’s talk, he argued back with vigor. He cared more about the idea than the personage.

He speaks in the video about how hard it is to know something. He explains how careful you have to be to know something in science. So many folks act scientific, act like what they are saying is true and scientific. So many times it’s just propaganda or wishful thinking.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgaw9qe7DEE

This long video was a pleasure for me to watch. Feynman discusses his time working in Los Alamos on the Manhattan project in the early 1940s and the jubilation, then depression after the atomic bombs were dropped. He’d watch men building a bridge and think, “How foolish, don’t they know that this will all be destroyed?” He assumed that nuclear war would closely follow the end of WWII. I’m grateful he was wrong.

If you want to stretch your world view, to learn better how to learn, consider watching this video or reading more Feynman. He’s a Curious Character who will make you laugh out loud sometimes and think deeply others.

CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG

March 12, 2011

Courage vs Prudence
Filed under: People Skills — Tags: — nedpelger

Take 25 seconds to watch this gorgeous natural natural rock water slide in Brazil.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldZZPFssHKI

Certainly the slider shows some courage, slipping into the unknown experience. A gash and some stitches or a cracked head could have happened, though they didn’t. I love the visual of the kid sliding with the audio of the circumspect.

So where do you stand on the courage vs prudence issue?

Yesterday, a potential client drove with me to an old apartment building. The real estate agent didn’t have the key in the key box, so there appeared no way into the building. My client managed to jump up on an electrical meterbase, then reach for the tip of a descending steel fire escape that no longer descended, then pulled himself up and shoved a door open. Then he said to me, “You probably can’t get up this way, I’ll see if I can get another door open”.

Though he was a bit younger than me, the “You probably can’t do this” statement sufficiently motivated me to scurry right up that sucker as well. Perhaps not too prudent, but it got me thinking about that dance between courage and prudence.

I’ve long abhorred the concept of living in fear of any risky consequence. The “Sleepwalking through life to get to death safely” seems such a waste of our adventure here on Earth. Yet, as my father still reminds me, “You don’t need to play in traffic, either.”

I’ve found a helpful trick: try to never let fear dictate your actions. Don’t be afraid to be courageous. Don’t be afraid to be prudent. Actively choose your course, not from fear, but from experience, wisdom and the knowledge that none of us get out of here alive.

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