
Relationship-based Estimating
Every Electrical Contractor shares the same over-arching goal, which is to make a profit. The ingredients necessary to meet that goal differ somewhat among companies. However, it is logical that if...

Factors That Affect Bonding Capacity
Contractors face widespread bonding requirements today. Not long ago, only the federal government required construction bonds; today, about a third of privately owned projects do as well. With...

Five Ways to Maximize Your Business Valuation
Bizbuysell.com, the largest business-for-sale marketplace, recently released its Annual Insight Report which showed that 7,240 businesses sold in 2015. With an average sale price of $200,000, which...

Small Scale, Big Marketing Opportunities
Ascent Consulting has recently teamed up with Real Model Designs International (RMI), the global leader in the production of high quality, architectural scale models. Acclaimed in both US and...

Injury Prevention & Wellness Programs - (guest author)
Healthcare is one of our nation's primary concerns and, for many companies, represents one of the largest single expenditures, second only to payroll… Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr....

What KPI's should we be tracking? (Part 2)
Why and what KPI's should I be tracking? (Part 2 of 2)

Why and what KPI's should we be tracking? (Part 1)
Many years ago, before I came on board to work for a large contracting company, one of the questions I asked the owner (and who would become my boss) was "What KPI's are you tracking and how are you...

10 questions: How do I differentiate my business?
Looking at some of the most successful businesses today, you will see a common trait that they all possess – the differentiating factors that position them as the market leaders in their industry....

Partnering With Local Suppliers
In the world of electrical contracting, we rely heavily on our suppliers and vendors to support us, but we typically don’t take the time to support them; to help them to help us be successful.

Change Orders
Change orders are an integral part of every construction project. No amount of design, engineering, planning or scheduling can completely eliminate the potential for construction changes with cost...

Interviewing Candidates
Let’s face it, most job interviews for tradespeople go the same way: we ask the same questions, get similar answers and don’t really get any sense of how this person will fit into our team. As long...

Project Labor – Cost Management
In this article, we are going to explore project labor – the part of every project with the most risk and the least control. Labor cost management is typically what defines a project as a success or...

Purchasing Methodologies (Centralized vs. Project Level)
This month we will explore a critical facet of every contractor’s business: Purchasing.

Pre-Fabrication
As many electrical contractors are discovering, Pre-fabrication, or ‘Pre-fab’, offers opportunities for material and labor savings by using an assembly line approach to manufacturing and applying it...