ASCC members

Concrete Construction, Oct, 2004

The American Society for Concrete Contractors held its annual meeting in September in St. Louis. Talk about contractors to watch--they were everywhere. This month's column is a collection of unattributed thoughts heard around the show. Most of the comments here are from people we have interviewed in the past for "Contractors to Watch," or will in the future.

* We would like to start doing decorative work because I see money going out the door when I have to sub out the decorative work. But I'm not sure that my regular guys, who are used to doing production work, can slow down enough and take the kind of care needed to do decorative work. It's like what happened with pumps--I didn't want to pay someone else to do our pumping, so now I'm in the pump business. But pumps are really just a productivity toot while decorative is a different kind of work--a different mind set. Those guys are artists, not concrete finishers.

* I'm not sure a small contractor can be diversified these days. Although it's dangerous, I think you need to specialize in certain markets.

* From a construction industry attorney: I live off the gray areas of a contract--that's why I have a job. Your best 'course of action is to make your contracts as black and white as possible.

* You always have 20% of your people who are great without much supervision and 20% who are idiots no matter how much supervision you give them--so the important thing is learning to deal with the other 60% and get the most from them.

* The labor pool is so tight that we actually find ourselves rehiring people that we've let go for cause, hoping that they've changed. It very seldom works out.

* It's not just the employees' language that we need to learn but also their culture. Not just Hispanics, either. I work in Michigan, and we have to shut down on the opening day of hunting season.

* We have stolen foremen from our competitors if they got laid off in the winter. We never lay off foremen. We keep them busy all winter no matter what. If you've got good loyal people, you've got to pay them. They are your eyes and ears out there.

* We got rid of all our complicated bonus structures and now we just sit down and do it by gut at Christmas time. But we pay them better in salary than in bonus. It tells them that they are part of the team, a valued employee, no matter how good or bad the year went.

* It's not the guy you fire that hurts you, it's the guy you don't fire.

* I keep these spiral notebooks, and everyday I write down the date and start a new page. I write down everything that happens--things I have to do, whatever someone tells me over the phone, and so on. Then when it gets done I check it off. I've even been able to use these in court.

* We have meetings with our supers once a month and talk about what's going on. Sometimes we invite guests, like a representative from a tool company to tell us about how to better use its tools. But we also have the office staff come in and talk about how paperwork is being handled. This builds some respect and understanding between the office staff and the field staff. We discuss how jobs are going and what new jobs are coming up.

* We have started a book club with our top people, and it really works. Everyone reads a book, and then we get together once a month and talk about a chapter. By discussing it you get everyone on the same page, literally, and it helps to clarify our company culture. At first a couple of guys didn't read it, but then they felt left out. We have this on a Wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m. and are done by 7:00.

* We've taken a really aggressive approach to safety and hired a loss control guy. He's ruffled a lot of feathers, but it has saved us a lot of money. He is fluent in Spanish and English. If he sees someone violating a safety rule, the first time he warns them, the second time he warns them and sends them home, and the third time they are fired. It takes a load off the foremen to have someone else to be the bad guy on safety.