The latest business and management best practices, written by CONTRACTOR columnists and other industry professionals, for plumbing and mechanical contractors
BY JOEL BOUCHER HEATING CONTRACTOR IT'S LATE IN the afternoon, and I am on edge and running behind. At the last minute, I had received a call for free tickets to tonight's Red Sox game. It's been a harried week, and I want nothing more than to...
BY DENNIS SCHROEDER SERVICE MANAGER THE BARRIERS TO entry into the industry are low, to say the least. In this highly competitive market, how do quality mechanical contractors stand out from their competition? How do we help customers understand...
BY ADAMS HUDSON MARKETING CONSULTANT I've BEEN KEEPING a secret from you. Well, actually a couple of them (I'm waiting for the background check results). But, as they say, timing is everything and it just hasn't been right. Until now. In case you...
BY SUSAN LINDEN McGREEVY CONSTRUCTION ATTORNEY ASK THE AVERAGE person what it means to be " substantially complete" and you will probably get an answer such as "close to, kinda, sorta done." Well for those in construction, the term "substantially...
BY IRVING L. BLACKMAN TAX ACCOUNTANT THE PURPOSE OF this monthly column always has been and still is simple: to show you, my readers, how to save taxes and create wealth (usually tax-free). Every now and then we hit a home run. How do we know...
BY H. KENT CRAIG MECHANICAL CONTRACTOR IT'S 2 P.M. FRIDAY. You've just learned that the senior project manager for your company, Mr. Alias, was fired Monday because of some " accounting irregularities" that were found in one of his jobs and that...
Murder in the boiler room BY DAVE YATES PLUMBING CONTRACTOR IT'S BEEN SAID that Dead Men tell no tales, but the gang of murderers I was investigating just might not be dead yet! View to a kill: I was invited to investigate the murder scene and...
