Masonry Magazine March 2010 Page. 39
MCAA Certification Calendar
The following is the MCAA's education calendar for certification:
March 8-10, 2010
Steps, Landings & Elevations
Location: Franksville, Wis.
Discipline: General
Credits: 20
March 11, 2010
Hardscape Chemical
Certification
Location: Franksville, Wis.
Discipline: General
Credits: 8
March 24, 2010
Masonry Wall Bracing Course
Location: Online
Discipline: Safety
Credits: 4
March 24, 2010
Stone Foundations
Location: St. Louis, Mo.
Discipline: General
Credits: 1
March 31, 2010
Exterior Wall & Masonry
Cladding Replacement - A Case
Study
Location: St. Louis, Mo.
Discipline: General
Credits: 1
March 31, 2010
Understanding Masonry Codes
& Standards
Location: Online
Discipline: Codes & Standards
Credits: 4
April 7, 2010
Masonry Estimating Seminar
Location: Online
Discipline: Bidding Practices
Credits: 6
April 14, 2010
Equivalent Thickness
of Masonry Units
Location: St. Louis, Mo.
Discipline: General
Credits: 1
April 21, 2010
Lintel Design and Detailing
Location: St. Louis, Mo.
Discipline: General
Credits: 1
April 28, 2010
Seismic Testing of Anchored
Veneers
Location: St. Louis, Mo.
Discipline: General
Credits: 1
Online classes available at www.masoncontractors.org. We now offer Masonry Products classes online. For more information or to register for any of these programs, please go to http://certification.masoncontractors.org/education/index.php
Finding a Different Way
CONTRACTOR TIP OF THE MONTH
Wow, in these economic times, we are seeing some jobs go for 30 percent less than cost. Are you? We recently bid tight numbers at $2.5 million on a school project that another contractor took for $1.9 million. On another job, we bid $950,000 and another contractor took the job for $650,000. We have studied the cost of doing projects like this for the last 26 years and are convinced that both contractors will have to work at a loss in order to get these projects done. So, how do to compete?
When the spread on a project is this wide, chasing the job is foolish. Some costs on a project can be made up, but not 25 percent to 35 percent. However, if you want any work at all right now, the cold, hard truth in our industry is that you are going to have to lower your normal labor price by 15 percent to 20 percent. Once you get that job, you have to get really creative to do it for less and still profit. Every move has to count. Working like we did in the past isn't going to get us through in the future.
Here's what I am talking about: We currently have two projects that we had to bid really tightly to get, and we are now changing our building methods to pick up the difference. On one project, we are laying a series of round walls for the same price that we would normally charge to lay straight walls.
You are probably wondering: "How could you possibly do this and still work at a profit?" I can tell you, it isn't easy, but we are getting it done by setting a comer pole every eight feet and laying the bricks to flat, steel bars we had rolled at the radius of the walls. So, after we set the comer poles and mark the heights, much like a straight wall, we don't have to pick up a level again. The second project has about 400,000 bricks on it that are made up of mostly piers with 12 comers in each of them. Though we have not started the job yet, we are in the process of building forms the shape of the piers, so we can set four comer poles on each pier and will move the form up each course while we lay the bricks. Just like the round walls on our current project, once the poles are set, we won't have to level or plumb the piers or pick up a level again. We are planning to get higher production to offset the lower price we got to lay the bricks, and we believe it will work.
I don't know of anyone in business right now who is having as much fun as he used to. However, there is always another way of doing things that can make a difference. Study each project you bid to see what you can do differently to make that job work for you. If you come up with a solution that your competitor has not thought of, you have an edge and may be able to pick up that 15 percent to 20 percent and still work at a profit. It may be a smaller profit than what you would like, but it can help get you through to catch the next run.
Of course, anyone who knows me knows I believe that what gets measured gets done. That's another important part on these tight jobs: measuring the production daily to assure you are turning enough dollars to show a profit at the end of the month. Now that sure sounds like a good tip for next month. Stay tuned!
Damian Lang is a mason contractor in southeast Ohio. He is also the author of the book "Rewarding and Challenging Employees for Profits in Masonry." To order a copy of his book or to attend one of his seminars held specifically for mason contractors, call Sherry Wittekind at Lang Masonry, 800-417-9272.
Provided by Damian Lang, President of Lang Masonry Contractors, Inc., and EZ Greet Corp.
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March 2010
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