finance insurance

CFO's for Hire | Is a Fractional CFO Right For You? | Ascent Consulting
As the construction industry continues to grow, many construction companies are looking for ways to become more efficient and profitable. One way to do this is by hiring a fractional CFO—a...

Preparing for a Loan or Line of Credit
One of the biggest decisions that a small construction business owner makes is when to consider a business loan or a line of credit. Sometimes the decision will be made from necessity and sometimes...

How To Succeed In A Tight Labor Market
The construction industry has been blessed with an abundance of available work for the past decade. With that seemingly endless opportunity comes some challenges. Namely, difficulty in finding...

What Contractors Should Know About Workers Compensation Insurance
In this interview, we do a deep dive into the world of Worker’s Compensation for construction companies with an insurance industry insider. Kenan Knight has been in commercial insurance since...

What’s So Great About Procore?
There is a lot of buzz in the construction industry these days about Procore. As Certified Procore Consultants (we currently have four of our team certified), we receive calls every week from...

Technology in Construction
Technology in construction is here to stay. Apps, wearable technology, augmented reality, and A.I. is commonplace on most projects these days. These once futuristic applications are now proliferating...

Acceleration Change Orders
I recently received an email from a friend at a large industrial general contracting firm asking for assistance reviewing and evaluating an electrical subcontractor’s change order for Acceleration...

COVID-19 and Construction Updates
During the COVID-19 crisis, work on active construction projects has generally been able to continue, albeit with some modified work procedures for personal safety. Other industries have experienced...

Construction Downturn Strategies - Part III: Internal Resources
In our first article on Construction Downturn Strategies we looked at External factors and how you can position your service offerings to weather a downturn. Our second article discussed financial...

Construction Downturn Strategies - Part II: Finances
In our first article we reviewed market diversification. In this second installment of our series on Construction Downturn Strategies, we will explore how you, along with help from your CFO or...

Construction Downturn Strategies - Part I: Market Focus
Do you remember the story of the grasshopper and the ant? In this ancient fable, the grasshopper spends the summer dancing and playing while the ant works hard to store food for the inevitable...

Rewarding Business Development & Sales: Incentive Packages Part V
Fundamentals Of Effective Sales Incentive Plans

Rewarding Construction Estimators: Incentive Packages Part IV
Employees are the lifeblood of every construction company. No matter the size of the company, each individual serves a purpose, and their performance either helps or hinders the organization –...

Rewarding Construction Project Managers - Incentive Packages Part III
Employees are the lifeblood of every construction company. No matter the size of the company, each individual serves a purpose, and their performance either helps or hinders the organization – there...

How do you get a construction bond?
Since the economic crash and recovery over the past decade, Owner- and Lender-required Payment and Performance (P&P) bonding for construction projects has become more prevalent across the industry....

How Safety Impacts Profits
How big does a construction company have to grow before it needs a safety program? Is it determined by sales volume, number of employees or contract sizes? In truth, it is never too early to...

Marketing & Business Development Planning and Budgeting
How important is it to put a plan and budget together for your annual marketing and business development activities? As the old adage goes “Fail to plan, and plan to fail”. Depending on the size of...

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...

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.

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...