The Contractor's Compass - December 2021

MONTHLY EDUCATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN SUBCONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION

DECEMBER 2021

Engaging with Customers

1004 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 | (703) 684-3450 | www.asaonline.com | communications@asa-hq.com

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FASA'S

EDITORIAL PURPOSE The Contractor’s Compass is the monthly educational journal of the Foundation of the American Subcontractors Association, Inc. (FASA) and part of FASA’s Contractors’ Knowledge Network. FASA was established in 1987 as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity to support research, education and public awareness.

Through its Contractors’ Knowledge Network, FASA is committed to forging and exploring the critical issues shaping subcontractors and specialty trade contractors in the construction industry. The journal is designed to equip construction subcontractors with the ideas, tools and tactics they need to thrive.

The views expressed by contributors to The Contractor’s Compass do not necessarily represent the opinions of FASA or the American Subcontractors Association, Inc. (ASA).

DECEMBER 2021

F E AT U R E S Attorneys' Council and Task Force Update: 2021..............................................9 Three Reasons You Should Be Doing More to Help Your Salespeople Build Trust.....................................................................11

by Dale Carnegie staff

Why Online Reputation Management Matters for Construction Companies and How to Engage with Your Customers................................15

by Judyann Sonido, Thrive Internet Marketing Agency

Seven Ways to Retain Your Most Loyal Construction Clients..................18

by Patrick Hogan, Handle.com

MISSION

To educate and equip subcontractors and suppliers with the education and resources they need to thrive in the construction industry. Additionally, FASA raises awareness about issues critical to and about construction in the United States.

SUBSCRIPTIONS The Contractor’s Compass is a free monthly publication for ASA members and nonmembers. For questions about subscribing, please contact communications@asa-hq. com.

ADVERTISING

Why General Contractors Prefer Subcontractors Who Use Financing.......................................................................................................20

by Chris Doyle, Billd

The Simple Secret Sauce—An examination of a best in class organization and the recipe for success.............................................................22

by Gregg M. Schoppman, FMI

Engaging with your Customers—Both Internal and External..................24

by Mike Brewer, Senior Advisor to Synergos

Interested in advertising? Contact Richard Bright at (703) 684-3450 or rbright@ASA-hq.com or advertising@ASA-hq.com.

Five Customer Engagement Tips for Subcontractors..................................26

EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS

Quality, Speed, Value—A customer service replacement story.............. 27

Contributing authors are encouraged to submit a brief abstract of their article idea before providing a full-length feature article. Feature articles should be no longer than 1,500 words and comply with The Associated Press style guidelines. Article submissions become the property of ASA and FASA. The editor reserves the right to edit all accepted editorial submissions for length, style, clarity, spelling and punctuation. Send abstracts and submissions for The Contractor’s Compass to communications@ ASA-hq.com.

ABOUT ASA ASA is a nonprofit trade association of union and non-union subcontractors and suppliers. Through a nationwide network of local and state ASA associations, members receive information and education on relevant business issues and work together to protect their rights as an integral part of the construction team. For more information about becoming an ASA member, contact ASA at 1004 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314-3588, (703) 6843450, membership@ASA-hq.com, or visit the ASA Web site, www.asaonline.com.

LAYOUT Angela M Roe angelamroe@gmail.com © 2021 Foundation of the American Subcontractors Association, Inc.

by Jessica Meno, Raken

by Michael Zalle, YellowBird

D E PA R T M E N T S ASA PRESIDENT'S LETTER.......................................................................................5 CONTRACTOR COMMUNITY...................................................................................6 ALWAYS SOMETHING AWESOME.........................................................................9

QUICK REFERENCE Upcoming Webinars.................................................................................................... 28

Coming Up........................................................................................................................28

REGISTER TODAY! www.subexcel.com

March 9–12, 2022

Onward!

Miramar Beach, Florida

PRESIDENT 'S LET TER Dear ASA Members: As Christmas and the holiday season draws closer, I wanted to take a few moments and express my gratitude for a number of things this year. First, I’d like to express my thanks to the national board members and staff, local EDs and chapter officers. Without your leadership, I couldn’t do my job and we couldn’t function as an organization. Second, I’d like to express my gratitude to my wife and kids for allowing me the time to serve as your ASA national president, and to my business partners as well for supporting my year as president. Third, I am so thankful to be in a country where we can each pursue our vocation and build a better America and leave a lasting legacy for our children. Additionally, I am thankful for everything you as members have shared with me throughout this year, and to be a partner in the Construction Industry with you.

I.n looking ahead at a bright future in 2022, focus on this point - ASA members join to connect locally and project nationally. Our great local chapters provide a place to engage current and potentially new customers…and each other. They also provide education locally that helps drive engagement. Engagement is key in ASA, and truly any organization. You get out what you put into the organization. We ask that you put in with your thoughts, communication and collaboration, and it is my hope that you take away camaraderie, knowledge and industry insight.

I know every ASA meeting I attend, from chapter meetings across the country to board meetings to SUBExcel, I walk away with ideas and education that I can apply directly to the operations of my company. . s you contemplate engagement in 2022, I hope you will consider bringing additional team A members in your company to local and national ASA events. I was encouraged early on to bring younger members of my team to ASA and get them involved, and that was an outstanding piece of advice that I continue to put in place today. It has made my team feel more connected, my junior leadership more knowledgeable and empowered, and ultimately helped spread the management load. I believe strongly that this investment will do the same for you. . hank you again for the opportunity to serve as your 2021/2022 National ASA President, and I T wish you the very best for 2022. We build America!!!

Sincerely, Brian K. Carroll ASA President 2021-2022

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CONTRACTOR COMMUNIT Y SLDF Update: Good News from Oklahoma

ASA Offers Comments to the FY22 NDAA

As an update to the SLDF case pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court, H2K Technologies, Inc., v WSP USA, Inc. and Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, involving the waiver of subcontractor lien rights, a decision was reached on November 16, 2021, reversing and remanding the matter to the trial court for further proceedings.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court held that a subcontractor’s statutory right to waive its lien rights may not be exercised by anyone other than the subcontractor. Here, the subcontractor was ruled to not be bound by the waiver of lien rights by another party in the contractual lien which was done without the subcontractor’s knowledge or consent. This ruling represents a victory for subcontractors. However, the case presents us with a note of caution that it is very important for subcontractors to carefully review the language that pertains to liens and waivers of liens in their subcontract and the prime contract.

Thank you to David Walls, Esq. for providing us with the update on this case.

ASA, along with the Construction Industry Procurement Coalition (CIPC), offered comments to the House and Senate Armed Services’ Committee Leadership highlighting our views regarding the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We support the Defense Department submitting a report on the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) on small businesses. CMMC is one of the most ambitious cybersecurity compliance requirements ever undertaken by the department. The program is designed to be a mandatory requirement on all defense contracts. The potential of excluding a significant portion of small business defense contractors and the ability for agencies and prime contractors to meet small business goals should be evaluated and reported to Congress and the public. Additionally we supported the exemption of the Miller Act from the periodic indexing required under Title 41. The Miller Act currently requires all general contractors on federal construction projects over $150,000 to furnish surety bonds to protect the government’s use of taxpayer funds and to ensure payments to

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subcontractors, and suppliers. Any increase in the contract price threshold through indexing exposes workers, suppliers, and taxpayer dollars to unnecessary risk.

We opposed the bill’s section regarding new and onerous requirements for military construction contractors which goes against decades of federal contracting policies and precedent, including requiring all contractors and subcontractors performing a military construction contract be licensed in the state where the work will be performed and issuing local hiring preferences.

Per our comments, “this section will severely restrict military construction contractors to perform work, leading to an exodus from the industry and jeopardizing critical military infrastructure projects.” Additionally, we opposed the provision repealing section 829 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Pub. L. 114-328), which states that a contracting officer shall first consider the use of fixed-price contracts in the determination of contract type.

For architect/engineering services contracts, with well-defined scopes of work and clear deliverables identified, fair and reasonable costs of services can be negotiated. This makes

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fixed-price contracts more efficient for all parties. When the contractor and agency know and agree on a bottomline cost and deliverables schedule for a well-defined scope of work, contract administration, accounting, and billing are simplified. This reduces associated overhead costs and time impacts.

Agency flexibility to use the most effective and efficient contract type should be preserved.

Tax Provisions in Build Back Better Act On November 19th, the House passed the Build Back Better Act (the “BBB”) (HR. 5376) and in the tax area, many of the provisions which could have been very detrimental to small businesses and their owners were removed from the final House passed version of the BBB. More specifically, in the final House bill, this is what happened with the proposed tax provisions: • No change to income tax or capital

gains rates. Only those with modified adjusted gross income (“MAGI”) of more than $10,000,000 will see an increase in income taxes through a new surtax;

• No change to the estate and gift

tax exemption amounts or rates for anyone;

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• No change to the step up in basis

for assets going through an estate;

• No change to the grantor trust

rules;

investment income tax only applies to passive income. The effective date for this provision in the House bill is January 1, 2022;

• No change to the valuation

• No change to the 20% qualified

• A new significant surtax for the

• A change to the SALT (state

discounts used when transferring interests in most family-owned businesses from an older to a younger generation; super wealthy and non-grantor trusts;

• Additional 5% surtax on MAGI in

excess of $10,000,000 (single or married filing jointly) for individuals and in excess of $200,000 for nongrantor trusts;

• Extra additional 3% surtax on MAGI

in excess of $25,000,000 (single or married filing jointly) for individuals and in excess of $500,000 for nongrantor trusts;

• No change to C corporation tax

rates;

• Expansion of the 3.8% net

investment income tax (NIIT) to apply to active business income from pass-through entities (such as S corporations and partnerships) for those taxpayers earning more than $400,000 (if single) and $500,000 (if married filing jointly).

Under current law the 3.8% net

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business income deduction under 199A for pass-through entities.

Though the 199A deduction is still set to sunset at the end of 2025; and local taxes) deduction limit increased it up to $80,000 until 2031 at which point the deduction would go back permanently to the $10,000 limitation brought in by the 2017 tax bill. This is a revenue raiser since under the current law, the $10,000 limitation is set to sunset at the end of 2025 and would revert to prior law with an unlimited SALT deduction as of 2026; and

• No required reporting of banking

transactions to IRS. It’s too soon to judge what the Senate version will look like or even when it will be brought up, however it seems unlikely that any other negative tax provisions will come in, particularly with Senator Manchin having the deciding vote.

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F E AT U R E Attorneys' Council and Task Force Update: 2021

Despite the ebb and flow of life in a pandemic, our Attorneys’ Council and ASA Task Forces stayed active in 2021 – and even got the opportunity to meet together in person for the first time since SUBExcel 2020!

Following a series of productive but remote Attorneys’ Council meetings through 2020 and 2021, we were able to meet in the hometown of our dedicated Council Chair, Bethany Beck, Esq., in San Antonio, Texas.

Sanderford & Carroll Law Offices hosted our meetings and we were able to tackle a number of pressing issues in the subcontracting industry...and have a little fun catching up with each other in the process!

We were so pleased to welcome the participation of our amazing ASA San Antonio Chapter in the Subcontractor Legal Defense Fund’s (SLDF) historical tour and tasting fundraiser at Maverick Whiskey. Thank you to the Chapter and

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to Executive Director Jennifer Swinney for making us feel so welcome.

We also nominated and welcomed Michael Lane of Riess LeMieux, LLC (Louisiana) as our Attorneys’ Council Vice Chair and incoming Chair for next year.

On the Contract Documents front, we began an effort to continue educating our community on the best practices in construction subcontract agreements, beginning with a joint webinar with ConsensusDocs in June entitled Subcontract Negotiations: When the Juice Ain’t Worth the Squeeze When You Really Want the Fruit. If you haven’t had the opportunity to read through our newly updated and published Retainage Law in 50 States resource, make sure to visit our Infohub and check it out. Our attorneys in every state worked hard to review and update these laws, so it is one of many resources available to our

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members that you will want to make use of.

The SLDF experienced a lighter but successful year in terms of cases brought to the Association and approved for support. Hopefully you have seen the recent news on a victory for subcontractors in the Oklahoma Supreme Court in the H2K Technologies, Inc. v. WSP USA, Inc. and Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland case. In that lien waiver case, the Court held that a subcontractor’s statutory right to waive its lien rights may not be exercised by anyone other than the subcontractor. You can read more on this and other SLDF cases at www.sldf.net. And if you will be at SUBExcel in March, please participate in our Saturday afternoon SLDF fundraiser following the conclusion of the conference. We hope you will be there for all of the education and fun at the conference next year!

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It's always something TM

Fitting Tribute to a Mover and Giver in Our Industry On November 10, 2021, Walter Bazan Jr., chairman of Bazan Painting and former ASA President (2012-13), became only the fifth person in the Painting and Decorating Foundation’s (PDF) 47-year history to be honored with the group’s “William M. Smith Distinguished Service Award.”

Walter (Walt) Bazan, Jr., joined Bazan Painting, which was started by his father, in 1977. Bazan is active in industry and civic organizations, and is the current board chair of Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital.

And truthfully, ASA would not be the success it is today without the dedication, toil and support from Walter Bazan, Jr., during the past 40 years.

He served as the ASA Midwest Council president during the 2000-01 fiscal year, and has served on and chaired many committees through the years at the chapter level, including currently serving as the co-chair of the ASA Midwest Council’s Government Advocacy (Legislative) Committee, co-chair of the Meet the GCs Expo committee, and chair of the Partners in Construction Forum committee. He was also the recipient of the ASA Midwest Council Industry Person of the Year Award in 2014.

As we noted above, Walter was the ASA national president in 2012-13.

In addition, Walter received the John H. Hampshire Distinguished Lifetime Service Award - not once - but twice, in 2007 and again in 2016. He also received the President’s Award from Brian Johnson in 2015. Bazan Painting has also received our annual Excellence in Ethics award since 2012.

PDF’s video (below) highlighting Bazan’s contributions, demonstrates the respect, honor and caring he has shown to the construction industry, and all those he has befriended. It also pokes gentle fun at his penchant for whiteshirt-and-tie attire. Video interview subjects (including some wearing golf shirts) all donned ties for their on-camera moments.

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The Contractor’s Compass is recognizing excellence in ASA’s ranks. Every month we are highlighting the activities, achievements, and actions of ASA members that might inspire others.

Do you have something you want to share? Send us an email at communications@asa-hq.com.

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F E AT U R E Three Reasons You Should Be Doing More to Help Your Salespeople Build Trust

by Dale Carnegie staff

Does trust still drive customer engagement? It does and here’s why: • If they must choose, the majority

of customers will do business with those they trust over where they can get the absolute lowest price

• Having trusted business

relationships with your customers, through your salespeople, gives you three key advantages your competitors can’t take from you

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With more and more transactions in our lives becoming self-service, anonymous and remote, it’s not crazy to wonder whether trust even matters in the buyer-seller relationship anymore. But it does. In a recent study, Dale Carnegie & Associates examined this concept with a survey of more than 1,600 consumers, aged 21 and over, from the top six consumer economies across North America, Europe, and Asia. Following are the results of the study.

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Why customers still value trust over getting a lower price Trust is critical in an economic relationship. In fact, 71% of respondents to our survey said they would rather buy from a salesperson they completely trusted than one who gave them a lower price.

Why? Because humans want to avoid risk – and construction projects, whether small or large, B2C or B2B, carry elements of risk. Among others,

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buyers incur financial risk, risk wasting time and risk that the purchased solutions won’t solve their problem as anticipated.

Construction buyers have the added risk of a failed project which would harm their professional reputations.

When you add it all up, there can be a lot at stake. Buyers want to feel confident they are making the right decision, and that’s where trust comes in.

Trust is the foundation of any relationship, including business relationships between your salespeople and your customers.

Unfortunately, more than 60% say it’s not the norm to trust their salespeople – it’s a widespread issue – and salespeople who exhibit the wrong behaviors can kill a sale.

Why sales teams often struggle building customer trust There are lots of reasons for why companies struggle incentivizing their sales team, including weak sales enablement programs, a lack of urgency in responding to RFQs, customer complaints, and MACs drive inflexible policies which result in misaligned incentive programs. The solution starts with having the right mindset.

Through a trained methodology of uncovering the needs of the buyer, demonstrating an understanding of their perspective, and communicating through a unique selling question, the value that will be delivered are critical steps in building trust and mitigating buyer risks.

The well-trained salesperson handles objects and issues through a proven process that retains the customer. Trust becomes a facet of the sales process which drives customer engagement deeper.

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Why your sales team is the key to improving trust with your customers Having strong, trusting relationships with customers gives your organization at least three key advantages that your competitors can’t take from you.

1. The first one is obvious; customers are more likely to do business with your company again when they trust your salesperson. Eightone percent of respondents said they would be likely to buy again from a company represented by a salesperson they trust, and only 17% said they would still be very likely to even consider buying from competing companies for the same product when the trust is there. On top of that, we all know the power of positive reviews and recommendations to family and friends – and guess what? You’ll get them more often when customers trust their salespeople.

it with. In fact, 65% of respondents to our survey said they would be “somewhat” or “very likely” to take the time to share a concern or complaint if they trusted their salesperson. That’s a gift that provides valuable opportunities to recover customers before they are lost to the competition – as well as improve going forward.

Convinced of the need to help your salespeople build trust?

Now that we’ve established the importance of building trust for creating strong customer relationships, explore training programs and other resources that can help you and your sales team develop the attitudes, skills, and behaviors for making trust a part of your sales process. If you have questions or comments, let us know.

We’re always happy to help.

2. When customers trust their salesperson, they are more likely to give your company a pass when you make a mistake. Despite our best efforts, we don’t always deliver a great experience to every customer, every time. Not even the very best companies bat a thousand. It’s good to know then, that customers are three times more likely to forgive a bad experience when they trust their salesperson compared with when they distrust them.

About the Editor: Robert Graves, MBA, is a Dale Carnegie Certified Trainer for Rick Gallegos and Associates. His focus is Sales, Leadership, and Customer Service. He is the author of “Making More Money with Technology.” He often writes on the evolution of Marketing, Sales and Service. Robert can be reached at robert.graves@ dalecarnegie.com or text/call 813-966-3058.

3. In an era when the need for continuous improvement to stay ahead of the competition is so important, customers who trust their salespeople can give you a secret weapon – their feedback.

And I don’t mean after-the-fact in a crushing online review. I mean the kind of feedback that is exchanged when there’s still a chance to recover an unhappy customer, because they are sharing their concern with hope – because they trust the person they are sharing

About Dale Carnegie: Dale Carnegie is a global training and development organization specializing in leadership, communication, human relations, and sales training solutions.

More than 9 million people around the world have graduated from Dale Carnegie training since it was founded in 1912. Dale Carnegie Training can help an organization build effective interpersonal skills that generate the positive emotions essential to a productive work environment and that lead to increased employee engagement.

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F E AT U R E Why Online Reputation Management Matters for Construction Companies and How to Engage with Your Customers

by Judyann Sonido, Thrive Internet Marketing Agency

From a global pandemic to economic unrest, many construction companies have struggled to stay afloat during the past years. Construction projects have been greatly impacted by worker shortages, delays, soaring material costs and stoppages, causing a significant decline in optimism among contractors and distributors.

As the construction industry struggles to deal with costly challenges, the last thing any business owner needs is a damaged online reputation. This particular challenge is bound to hamper your projects and stretch your resources even thinner.

Online reputation management (ORM) is a critical component of building and maintaining a successful business.

Unfortunately, it’s something that construction companies neglect, thinking that reputation management serves only as damage control. After all, why invest in ORM services when you’ve already got a stellar brand reputation, right?

But the reality is: Construction reputation management is more than just reputation repair. It’s about building and maintaining a positive brand image, protecting your digital presence and proactively engaging in online conversations about your brand to stay in control of your reputation.

With this broader perspective of construction reputation management, find out why day-to-day management of your brand reputation is crucial to your long-term success.

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Construction Reputation Management: Maximizing Your Digital Resources To Build Customer Loyalty Contractors are only as good as their mistakes. One error can undo thousands of hours of hard work and years of good reputation. Incidents like delayed project fulfillments, ill-disciplined staff and poor customer service can cause disgruntled clients to leave negative reviews online, which can spread like wildfire across the web and taint your reputation.

This is why it’s critical to have a systematic brand reputation management system in place. With a holistic construction reputation management plan, you can:

• Protect Your Digital Real Estate The Edelman Trust Barometer shows 65 percent of consumers rely on search engines when researching a business. As the modern clientele becomes more digitally focused and technology savvy, you need a reputation management strategy to ensure your digital assets deliver enough value to your prospects.

Construction reputation management combines search engine optimization (SEO) and ORM best practices to safeguard your digital properties.

These include your website, social media platforms and Google Business Profiles. SEO and ORM strategically combined work together to protect your brand from negative customer reviews and malicious information that could lower your search rankings and tarnish your digital presence.

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• Gain Higher Trust A BrightLocal study found that nearly 3 out of 4 consumers trust a company with positive reviews more so than one without. What’s more, 60 percent of prospects reveal that negative reviews discourage them from transacting with service providers.

By implementing tailored reputation management strategies, you get more happy clients to write a resounding review of your construction business.

And with more positive reviews come clients who will actively reach out to your construction company and seek you to price their project.

• Grow Your Network Whether you’re aiming to expand your client base, attract top talents or win new projects and investors, construction reputation management is important to achieve your goals.

Everyone from homeowners looking to build residential properties to businesses expanding their facilities prefers contractors with lots of positive reviews. If they don’t see positive online reviews or relevant content about your company, they’ll skip your brand and choose your competition.

On the other hand, construction firms with excellent online reputations will attract the right people and close higher-value projects.

• Rectify Your Mistakes Even the most successful construction companies come across dissatisfied clients that can quickly turn into brand haters when not properly dealt with. Through

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reputation management, you can easily identify and manage negative online reviews about your brand and avoid escalations when customer issues arise.

If an unhappy client voices out their concerns online, you have the opportunity to address the criticism publicly in a polite and professional manner. This experience also allows you to learn from your mistakes, identify poor performing staff in your organization and improve your processes to live up to client expectations.

• Improve Your Bottom Line If you still believe that reputation management services are an overspend for your construction business, consider that for most business owners good online reviews result in more customers.

According to a Harvard Business School report, every additional onestar Yelp rating increases a brand’s revenue by as high as 9 percent. This means if your annual revenue is $1 million and your company acquires a 4-star Yelp rating from a 3-star rating the previous year, you can generate $1,090,000 revenue or about $90K more than your previous earnings.

It’s very important for construction businesses to maintain a positive online reputation. A negative brand image will leave you striving for more clients and investors. But a reputable online presence can make the difference between your success and failure.

5 Key Steps To Maintaining Audience Engagement Construction reputation management entails more than just generating positive reviews from satisfied clients. You need to stay on top of conversations about your brand, leverage online resources to engage the right audience segments and facilitate meaningful brand interactions that would positively impact your bottom line.

Follow these steps to get started with construction reputation management: 1. Claim Your Business Listing Request ownership of your Google

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Business Profile to provide the best information about your construction company. GMB listings allow you to monitor and respond to Google reviews. Without it, you don’t have control over what people are writing about your business.

Besides Google Business Profile, other review sites you need to register your business on include Angi, Houzz, HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack.

2. Monitor Online Reviews and Brand Mentions From your website and social media profiles to your online directories, it’s critical to keep track of conversations about your brand across platforms to understand consumer sentiment and gather valuable insights on how you can better improve your operations and client support.

Invest in state-of-the-art reputation management software to streamline your review monitoring process, anticipate potential problems and solve them before they occur.

3. Promote Brand Trust Leverage online reviews to establish social proof on your digital assets.

Many reputation management companies offer a review widget on their ORM package, which allows you to aggregate and display client reviews from different platforms on your website.

You can also share written and video testimonials on your social media platforms to let prospects know about the quality of your work.

Remember, people trust other people.

By leveraging client testimonials, you humanize your brand and showcase a reliable brand image they can trust.

4. Subdue Reputational Crises People are quick to focus on negative news and rumors. Protect your brand by having a reputation crisis management plan you can always launch in case of bad publicity.

Another important thing to remember is to sort your mistakes quickly and with minimal fuss. Admit when you’ve made a mistake and tell the client how you will fix the issue. A big part

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of your review response strategy is to understand consumer sentiment and provide an appropriate response to the complaint.

Lastly, apologize in public and rectify your mistakes in private. Doing so provides you with a better avenue to address the customer’s issue and leverage the opportunity to turn a disgruntled client into a brand advocate.

5. Engage in Online Conversations About Your Brand Besides delivering a quality project, it’s also your responsibility to be responsive to clients’ demands and let them know you value their opinion.

Respond to queries promptly and take advantage of social media platforms to know your clients’ expectations and demands.

Launch customer surveys and polls to keep a pulse on your local community. You can also hire a social media manager to handle your client concerns online and engage with your followers on social media posts.

In this way, you keep an active online presence and maintain a consistent, favorable brand image.

Take Control of Your Construction Firm’s Public Perception Construction reputation management is an ongoing process that constantly evolves along with your business.

Invest in advanced ORM software and solutions to streamline your reputation management processes and implement data-driven strategies that will allow you to build an honest and intimate connection with your audience.

About the Author Judyann Sonido is a Lead Content Strategist at Thrive, an award-winning digital marketing agency serving startups, franchises and multi-location businesses across the United States.

For more information about construction reputation management and digital marketing, contact Thrive at 866.908.4748 or visit https://thriveagency.com/ contact/.

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The following are important coverage considerations before executing a sub-contract agreement with an upper tier.

INDEMNIFICATION REVIEW Are you indemnifying Owner/Developers, GC’s and Prime Contractors for contract provisions that are not covered by your Liability Insurance?

AD DITIONA L INSURED REQUIREMENTS Does your Additional Insured coverage comply with contract language?

C OVERAGE RESTRICTIONS & EXCLUSIONS Do your insurance policies include coverage exclusions and conditions which may either restrict or not respond at all to certain contractual obligations you entered into, and land you in breach of contract litigation?

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asa@assuredpartners.com

F E AT U R E Seven Ways to Retain Your Most Loyal Construction Clients

by Patrick Hogan, Handle.com Finding new clients is essential for growing your construction business.

However, expanding your business also means retaining your existing client base.

Clients decide to leave and go with another contractor for different reasons.

Competition is one of the biggest factors. If a client can avail better service elsewhere for a much lower price, they are more likely to jump ship.

It is therefore imperative that you continue to deliver top quality service to your clients while staying in-the-know about what other contractors are doing. Below are seven key strategies that you can use to keep your clients happy and your business thriving.

Offer discounts and rewards to loyal clients.

You should provide high quality service and products to all your clients, but you should also pay careful attention to your most loyal customers. Identify who your most loyal and high-value clients are and offer them incentives for their loyalty.

Giving out incentives does not only show your clients that you appreciate their loyalty, but it also encourages your newer clients to keep working with you. Consider implementing a client loyalty program. Also make sure that you communicate to your clients about the discounts and other forms of rewards that you offer if they continue doing business with you for a long time.

Communicate with clients regularly.

Construction projects are complex, and there are moving pieces that must be coordinated properly from beginning to end.

Clients, therefore, appreciate high efficiency and constant communication from their contractors. When you communicate with your clients regularly, they remain in the loop about your progress throughout a project.

Note that it is just as important to communicate with your clients via the method that is most convenient to them.

For instance, some clients prefer using a centralized project management software to track all updates, while other clients prefer

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emails and text messages to key contacts on top of using a project management software. To retain your best clients, you need to be flexible with your methods of communication.

Respond to customer questions and issues right away.

Contractors receive regular messages, requests, and other questions from their clients. When issues arise on site, for example, your clients might want a rundown of all the details, so they stay updated about the progress of the project. When you receive questions from clients, always seek to respond as soon as possible.

Implement a process and timeline for responding to client questions. Identify key contact persons who will respond to your clients and establish a rule for when a response must be made from the day you receive the question. Being efficient with how you respond to client questions and requests is a great way to keep your clients satisfied.

Keep your prices at a competitive rate.

Being sensitive when pricing your services and products is also important for retaining your best clients. Know how much your competitors are charging for their services, and make sure that your prices are not way too high or way too low with respect to the quality of services that you offer.

Your prices may be higher than other companies, but you should be able to sell that to your clients. Make sure that you can explain to your clients what makes you worth the extra money.

Your prices may also be lower than the rest of the industry, but this shouldn’t be to the detriment of your cash flow. Client retention strategies are pointless if they are done at the expense of your company’s finances.

Keep your client files organized.

Clients appreciate contractors who are organized and efficient. You should therefore maintain an organized catalog of all client

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information, including invoices, schedules, contracts, and all other paperwork related to every client.

When your files are organized, you can find the information that you need right away. If there are issues that need to be resolved, for example, the investigation process will go quicker if you know where to look.

Be open to client feedback.

Client retention also requires listening to your clients. Make sure that you are open to hearing feedback and comments from your clients, and that you are willing to act on those feedback, if needed.

Consider implementing a method for how your clients can provide feedback about your services. You can send out a survey to all your clients, you can set up a review page on your website, or you can hire a third-party provider to manage feedback, including complaints, from your clients.

Vet your clients from the get-go.

Not all clients will be a good fit for your business. One of the best strategies for client retention starts at the beginning – you should vet your clients from the get-go to see if they will be a good fit. If a client has a history of being delinquent and has several mechanics liens filed against them, consider carefully how you want to conduct business with them.

You may lose some clients along the way, but the key is to keep the ones whose work practices fit well with yours.

About the Author Patrick Hogan is the CEO of Handle.com, where they build software that helps contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers with late payments. Handle. com also provides funding for construction businesses in the form of invoice factoring, material supply trade credit, and mechanics lien purchasing.

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F E AT U R E Why General Contractors Prefer Subcontractors Who Use Financing

by Chris Doyle, Billd

As a subcontractor, your reputation with general contractors is critical. In the interest of maintaining it – when it comes to project finances, you may choose to keep the details close to the vest. Especially if you’re interested in trying a non-traditional payment option, like material financing or factoring. The reigning perception in construction is that “cash is king.” If you’re using anything other than hard cash flow to fund labor, materials or equipment, you might worry about giving the impression that you have trouble paying vendors.

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This flawed perception tends to cast an unjustified stigma on contractor financing in general. Yet, there is no reason to feel uncomfortable revealing that you’re financing project materials; it’s actually something that your GC should love to hear – thanks to the ample benefits it has on the project.

Ultimately, subs need to know that they don’t have to be apprehensive about “the way it will look” if they finance materials, rather than paying cash.

Because at the end of the day, when you finance materials, you’re doing your GC, and yourself, a big favor.

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There is no reason to feel uncomfortable revealing that you’re financing project materials, it’s actually something that your GC should love to hear We’ll explore several reasons why your GC will be more than happy to see you financing materials, and the positive impact it has on the projects you’re working on: 1. Ensures that Projects Stay on Schedule When you’re on a commercial job, your schedule, material deliveries, and finances need to be tightly

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coordinated (with minimal lead times). If you accept 30-day terms from your supplier, knowing fullwell that you may not be able to pay the invoice by then, you risk the supplier withholding any future material deliveries, throwing a wrench in the project timeline.

This isn’t just irresponsible, it’s avoidable.

The smarter alternative? Finance your materials instead. This way, your supplier is paid cash upfront, and you guarantee that materials will be delivered reliably. Not only do material deliveries flow in, but you also have more time to pay for them. When you don’t finance materials and instead rely on unpredictable cash flow, you risk your ability to complete the job on time and your reputation with the GC. Why It Matters To GCs: You’re not the only one who's on the hook for making sure the job gets done on schedule. The GC is answering to the project owner, and when the project is running smoothly, materials are arriving on time and work is progressing according to schedule, the GC will have a satisfied customer. They, in turn, become your satisfied customer.

2. Reduces Your Risk of Losing the Project Once again, let’s assume poor cash flow prevents you from paying your supplier on time and getting the materials you need to finish the job.

It’s no surprise that the GC could terminate your contract and hire another sub to pick up where you left off. It’s the natural consequence of the scenario described above. If you fail to do the work on time, you won’t keep the job.

But when your material financing partner already took care of the project materials, you drastically

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minimize the potential of losing the project. GC’s put faith in their subs to take care of the project and manage their finances effectively.

Material financing ensures you live up to that expectation, every time.

Why It Matters To GCs: Replacing a sub halfway through a project isn’t just a tough break for the sub. It’s also a considerable inconvenience to the GC. Ideally, they want to avoid the stress of finding and vetting a replacement sub halfway through the project. It’s a labor intensive process and many quality contractors refuse to start projects that other subs started.

All of this delays the project, and there’s often a difference in quality of work, which can mean expensive rework, change orders, and further delays. By protecting your place on the project, you’re helping the GC avoid extra work, stress, and potential delays.

3. You Become a Reliable Customer for Your Supplier What supplier doesn’t want to work with a sub who pays cash in full on every purchase? Your material financing partner will front the payment to your supplier, so your supplier essentially eliminates any credit risk they otherwise would have taken on. Not to mention, with cash payments come cash discounts – which makes material financing one of the smartest ways for contractors to get a better deal on their project materials. When you have a strong history of paying for materials on time, there are a slew of other supplier benefits you can take advantage of. For example, they may be more willing to fulfill rush orders or come through on expedited deliveries.

Building a good relationship with your supplier is critical if you plan to grow your business and take on bigger or more projects.

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Why It Matters To GCs: When you have a good relationship with your supplier, you can rely on them to fulfill rush deliveries when needed. Lower material prices could also widen your profit margin or enable you to be more competitive with your bids, resulting in savings for the GC.

When You Use Material Financing, Everyone Wins Simply put, everyone on the project benefits when subs leverage material financing. Suppliers gain an excellent customer. Subs are able to stay on the job, remain on schedule, and focus on doing quality work. GCs look good in the eyes of the project owner, avoiding financial and logistical headaches.

All things considered, no subcontractor should feel antsy to disclose that they’re financing materials. Armed with a better understanding of the benefits, they can feel comfortable and confident that they made a shrewd decision – one that will help them grow their business and keep their reputations on the up and up.

About the Author Christopher Doyle is an entrepreneur and business leader with extensive construction industry experience and a record of launching successful startups. He is the co-founder and CEO of Billd, a disruptive payment solution for the construction industry that helps contractors and suppliers grow their businesses with less hassle and risk.

Recognizing the cash flow hurdles that contractors face when purchasing materials, Doyle launched Billd to make traditional Wall Street working capital accessible to business owners in the construction industry.Billd is the number one resource for financing your project materials, doubling or tripling traditional supplier terms and giving you up to 120 days to pay.

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F E AT U R E The Simple Secret Sauce— An examination of a best in class organization and the recipe for success

by Gregg M. Schoppman, FMI As one of the largest industries worldwide, there is no shortage of great organizations that outperform year after year. More importantly, there are a few firms that build a strong legacy of performance with a team that not only has created a superior culture but serves as a magnet in their market, geography and niches. The competition looks at these industry icons and often seeks to capture their “lightning in a bottle.” In fact, case studies, articles, books and exposes work feverishly to distill the attributes and strengths into some practical formula that can be replicated. Alas, there are many firms that try to assimilate ideas on concepts and ultimately fail to create enduring organizations. They look for the secret recipe through business gurus and technological innovations, only to fall short.

Colantonio is a firm that has the secret recipe and more importantly recognizes the simplicity of its ingredients. This organization has grown from $20MM in the midst of the worst economic crisis in United States history to over $65MM. More important than the revenue growth is the ability to drive consistent best of class financial performance which is reflected in approximately three to four percentage points higher than industry average margins. Success begets success and Colantonio understands how important it is to become the magnet for talent and one of the most attractive firms in their marketplace, in the eyes of the competition and the consumers. The most fascinating aspect of this business is not some

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complex algorithm or technological gamechanger that created competitive advantage. In fact, the simplicity of Colantonio’s strategy is its genius.

As much as Fran Colantonio would like this to remain a trade secret, the simple fact is that his team follows the following recipe • Smart bid science • Superior client relationships • The people

One mantra that Fran focuses on diligently is setting the tone right from the start. “You only have one chance to make a great first impression, so you need that impression to be favorable for you! Every day you are making a first impression on someone. The only difference between a good first impression and a great first impression is the amount of effort you are willing to put into it.” This is just one element of this successful firm’s recipe. There are plenty of successful strategies and it is hardly a one-size-fits-all.

However, many firms search for the answer as if it was the Holy Grail in some far enchanted land. Colantonio found the secret and it was no further than their own doorstep.

Smart Bid Science When times are good, there never seems to be a shortage of work. In fact, for most contractors, there is often more work in the market than they can adequately and profitably construct. More often than not, there is often poor decision making or decisions based on emotion when it comes to “what to build.” Bid science is not some complex algorithm that

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supersedes the business development within a firm. Rather, it is making the right decisions about what to bid and how to bid. Colantonio not only subscribes to this foundational mantra but more importantly has made it a critical aspect of their strategy. For instance, the organization’s strategic perspective is focusing on the “dirty jobs.” This is not a nod to Mike Rowe’s famous documentary series but rather an embodiment of projects that are not simple and often have many complexities. Consider a strategy that doesn’t focus on the easy “lay-up shot” but the wicked half-court threepointer. While many managers would love the easy project, Colantonio focuses on the unconventional projects where they can leverage their superior construction acumen to solve client problems, deal with ambiguity and finish strong. The key takeaway is this organization’s strategic commitment to be a proactive problem solver. This sounds trite but how many firm’s steer clear of the dirty work and view it as unnecessary risk. If everyone is “doing it” it is certainly hard to shed the commodity moniker that hangs on many contracting organizations like an albatross. The science is having a strategy and more important discipline to hold to that strategy, is the key takeaway.

Superior Client Relationships Chasing projects versus chasing relationships. Many contractors make the mistake of targeting projects and view these as “one-offs” rather than

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one step in a life-long relationship.

Additionally, there are many firms that view themselves as customercentric but lack an affinity for making it happen. For instance, being safe, finishing on time and responsive are hardly proprietary actions and are probably more along the lines of achieving minimal customer expectations rather than “creating raving fans.” Colantonio not only strives for superior service they are fanatical in their obsession to track specific customer feedback metrics. The leadership of the firm actively solicits feedback on their performance. The proof is in the numbers – Colantonio has a 98% favorability rating and over 70% of the clients have become serial buyers. Most importantly, they integrate this feedback into their operational model to create lasting change. How many organizations ask for feedback and fail to act? This only serves to frustrate customers and drive them quicker to the competition.

To drive superior customer service, Colantonio begins their project with a healthy dose of homework. According to Fran, “We do our homework long before we meet with owners. For example, we went in for an interview with a public school and while we were responding to the RFQ we went online and searched for each committee member. We also found all the committee meetings were recorded. We viewed all 36 meetings to find the ‘hot buttons’ so we could tailor our interview and responses to each concern the committee had. After the interview the committee asked how you knew so much about our project?” Taking it one step further, the organization uses this information in how they deliver their projects successfully. More importantly, managers and superintendents never hide the truth. While it is challenging, these associates ensure they tell the customer what they need to hear and not what they want to hear. In the end, each Colantonio customer feels as if

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they have a customized solution suited to their needs and not some canned proposal that serves as “one size fits all.”

The People Regardless of how far the industry pushes towards improving technologies, the most important building block is the people. Once again, many firms give this lip service and fail to capture the mind and souls of its associates. Colantonio is not the largest firm nor are they a household name like many construction institutions. However, the firm not only focuses on raving fans amongst their customer base but also internal raving fans. Loyalty in the industry often appears fleeting but Fran Colantonio has repeatedly demonstrated his commitment to his team, even when the short-term solution seems to be the best fiscal response. When asked about his decision to retain team members during a short-term lapse in backlog, Fran said that our associates have families, mortgages, bills, etc. It is one thing to stare down a recession, but it is another to help loyal associates through several weeks while a new series of projects are beginning. Many executives see the income statement and balance sheet as dogma while Fran realizes the importance of human capital, especially in an industry that seems to always struggle with finding talent. Colantonio’s “Golden Rule” is straightforward and genius.

Treat others like you would want to be treated, whether in the boardroom or field. Another easy concept to grasp but maintaining this mantra for 40 years, requires the diligence of a master.

Many of these same team members have been with Colantonio for many years which has enabled them to drive their brand further and deeper.

Additionally, the firm has often become a magnet in their geography – while they do not hire cavalcades of people,

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they make sure they have the right person. These new associates become indoctrinated in this new culture, one that creates a certain level of viralness.

Once again, success begets success.

There is no shortage of recipes for success. More importantly, there is hardly a patent or copyright on Colantonio’s model. However, fakers abound, and many firms fail to replicate this because they lack the discipline and wherewithal to execute.

Colantonio’s secret is one that all organizations would be wise to adopt.

About the Author As a principal with FMI, Gregg specializes in the areas of productivity and project management. He also leads FMI’s project management consulting practice. He has completed complex and sophisticated construction projects in several different niches and geographic markets. He has also worked as a construction manager and managed direct labor. FMI is a unique and fast-growing firm of professionals passionate about creating a better future for engineering and construction, infrastructure and the built environment throughout North America and around the world. For more information on FMI, please visit www.fminet.com or contact Schoppman by email at gschoppman@fminet.com.

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F E AT U R E Engaging with your Customers— Both Internal and External

by Mike Brewer, Senior Advisor to Synergos

When originally given the opportunity to write about 'Engaging our Customer' the natural place for me to go was how we meet with and speak to our Builder customers. It's what a typical article would have been focused on, but these aren’t typical times.

Things have changed over this past year. I'm Mike Brewer, the Founder and CEO of the Brewer Companies, and although I still am in the role of CEO, I no longer am the owner. This change in situation has me writing from a different perspective than I would have a year ago. As my byline says above, I am now part of a much larger organization and on a new team – Synergos.

Synergos holding company was formed to acquire construction groups to solve significant issues that plague

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residential homebuilders today. To date, Synergos has purchased Framing, Electrical, Concrete, and HVAC companies, and now added a Plumbing company.

The significant issues alluded to are the inherent breakdowns that currently exist in how building homes has historically taken place. This points to the title of this article or Engaging with your Customers.

The success of this group of companies coming together depends on how we engage and communicate internally during the building cycle, streamlining the process and systems between every layer of the entire organization.

Fundamentally homebuilding is the same as it was 50-100 years ago. Yes

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the tools have gotten better – most being battery operated – and the materials have changed substantially, but the fundamental way a home is built depends on the coordinated actions of many disparate parties, all contracted to perform in a seamless manner. All this being driven by a builder superintendent, trying to herd cats updating schedules and juggling phone calls and emails daily.

There are over 250 alerts, notifications, phase schedules and inspections in the building of an average tract home. Multiply that by the builder superintendent having between 20 and 50 houses or more at different stages of the build cycle and it becomes apparent that it’s impossible for them to be successful every day. This leads to "dry

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runs" for the subcontractor base, adding cost to both the subs and the builder in the form of carry costs.

With the Synergos model, it takes the responsibility from the builder and hands it to us as the provider or the ones responsible for delivering a high quality, completed on schedule, product to our builder partners. They have a few interactions along the way centered around inspections, but the build process becomes our responsibility to a certain point in the build.

In order to be successful and deliver a superior product on time, requires us as trade contractors and tradesmen to engage with one another in an entirely new way. Where historically there is little if any trust between the trades, in this new model, we are all one company.

We're out to produce the same outcome, as our intentions are all aligned.

The challenge with this is mentioned above. Trust is where it all begins. Where there is little trust between trades in the historical way of building a home, we now are building trust with each other.

It is a work in process, as this latest deal is less than a month old, but we have been working on several projects together in the Phoenix, Arizona market over the past year. Each one of them outperformed the "normal" process by up to 40%. What does that mean? We

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deliver a home 40% faster than the open market of various trades being awarded the work. How do we do that? It goes much deeper than a bunch of executives strategizing buying companies. Just because several trades are all owned by the same group, doesn’t mean everyone trusts each other. It's earned. Earned by the actions we all take and the respect we afford each other during the construction cycle.

What does it mean to the builder?

Lower costs with less time spent on the front-end build for their superintendents.

With Synergos managing the process coming out of the ground within our group, organizing the build schedule internally, producing a high-quality outcome, the builder can focus on the critical backside of the build.

Panelization of walls is not new. What may be new is taking into account the other trades in the group. What does the job look like when the HVAC, Plumbers, or Electricians show up after the home is framed? How much cleaner of a job site are they working in? How much time can be saved, which equates to them earning a bigger paycheck and producing more units in a given amount of time.

This is all about new ways of communicating and coordinating action from the bottom to the top. By actually doing what we say we will at

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the technician level, having our internal superintendents working together fulfilling on shared schedules, and producing a home in a consistent, on-time manner, we can share our accomplishments with our builders.

So far it has been a resounding success. The future appears bright.

In the current environment - with the shortage of labor, supply chain constraints, and who knows what the next pandemic may bring - we are committed to a model that helps everyone up and down the chain be more productive, efficient, and profitable.

All of this leads to getting the home buyer into their home more quickly.

About the Author Mike Brewer is the founder and CEO of the Brewer Companies, Arizona's largest plumbing company. He is past president of the ASA of Arizona, a business leader, serial entrepreneur, and champion for the construction trades. Since the acquisition of his company, Mike now serves as a Senior Advisor to the CEO of Synergos, a team of trade leaders dedicated to reducing the build cycle times for clients.

For more information on Synergos, click here.

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F E AT U R E Five Customer Engagement Tips for Subcontractors

by Jessica Meno, Raken Subcontractors rely on communication to track the progress and productivity of projects.

Unfortunately, communication challenges (or a complete lack thereof) can affect a company’s ability to foster quality customer relationships.

Engaging with customers should be a top priority. Better communication and documentation can set your projects up for success and your company apart—and win more business in the long run.

Here are four ways subcontractors can use construction technology to improve customer engagement.

1. Send timely, consistent updates Sharing progress updates is one of the biggest challenges for subcontractors. Your crews are already busy with the build. Paper reports take up time, which means they’re likely left for the end of the day, or only happen every few days.

Field construction tech makes it easy to collect and share project data directly from the field. With more detailed, professional reports, customers can follow along with projects in real time. That means they’ll see all your team’s hard work from the start—and won’t have to spend time chasing down answers.

Leverage automated reports to keep everyone in the loop, so your team can get back to what they do best.

2. Visualize progress with photos and graphs When you’re not on the jobsite, it can be hard to see how projects are going.

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Adding photos, videos, and notes to daily reports gives customers a clear picture of your progress. Comparing cost codes over time (with a graph) helps you act faster to keep projects on budget and schedule, too.

3. Automate project notifications There’s a lot of risk in construction.

That’s why it’s crucial to notify everyone as soon as something happens.

When you use construction software, not only are you collecting better insights. You can also send compliance notifications in a single click. Customers will be grateful to know about incidents automatically (and not days later).

4. Track (and document) everything up front If there’s an unforeseen problem, construction technology can also help you track the added scope or costs. You don’t want to wait until the end of the project to communicate to customers what happened and the impact it had. After all, the sooner you share information, the less likely they’ll be surprised about it later on.

By digitally tracking everything like materials used, overtime hours, weather, and delays, your company can show organized documentation and potentially prevent litigation, too.

The construction industry is all about mitigating risk—so it’s important to build a trusting relationship with customers. Improving your documentation helps increase visibility and, ultimately, trust.

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5. Save everyone more time From the field to the office, everyone stays busy. Saving time wherever possible can dramatically improve projects.

With construction tech, you can streamline project data, reduce manual entry, and get faster insights. More time back in your day means you can focus on new ways to improve— and customers can track projects at a glance. Better quality and better updates? It’s a win-win for everyone.

Improve customer engagement with Raken Raken’s construction software lets you share field data with customers in real time. From daily progress to overall productivity, your customers will see it all with automatic, professional reports.

About the Author Jessica Meno is a writer for Raken, the cloud-based software that was built to connect the field to the office.

Raken helps boost productivity and safety by streamlining workflow processes such as daily reporting, time cards, production tracking, and safety management. to see how Raken can work for your business.

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F E AT U R E Quality, Speed, Value A customer service replacement story

by Michael Zalle, YellowBird Want happier customers? Shift the focus away from “customer service”.

Too many companies think about “customer service” the wrong way. No hiring entity says that they hired or fired someone because of customer service. Don’t believe me? Look at the reviews for any company. You rarely see the words customer service directly stated when referring to a company or individual employees - good or bad.

The phrase customer service spans a variety of actions with no singular meaning behind it. If I asked you what customer service is, you’d give me dozens of possible descriptions. They greeted me at the door. They spent extra time making sure the project was completed correctly, etc. Instead of focusing on the phrase, focus on the examples.

What beats all those customer servicerelated examples? Bottom-line results. A customer will be pleased no matter what if you’re able to deliver results for them.

Want to keep a customer happy?

Focus on three things.

Speed, Quality, Value.

I know what you’re thinking…that old adage that you can only choose two of those at the same time, not all three. My question is, why not all three?

First, let’s examine each of the three challenges and how it relates to our industry.

Speed. Let’s just consider being on time a win, and even that is a challenge right now. Supply chain issues remain a huge challenge but are becoming more predictable. It’s the hiring element that’s often slowing down projects more than the necessary supplies. Yes, it’s hard to hire workers, but it's increasingly difficult to hire the specially certified professionals required to verify you

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meet OSHA and other requirements.

There’s nothing more frustrating to subcontractors and contractors than having to wait to have individuals or a site certified to start and complete the work.

Quality. A safer worksite is better for everyone. The workers as individuals, and the company financially. For instance, providing tile cutters with PPE is far better than being fined by OSHA or having to pay the healthcare costs on workers who get ill from the dust. This leads us to…

Value. Costs of supplies keep rising, but not as quickly as staff wages are increasing. Especially the cost of certified professionals, many of which companies can’t find, or even if they do, they don’t have enough full-time work to utilize the person every day. Having qualified workers to enable your service to be delivered on time to your customer drives value to their business– it may mean accepting more jobs or having to decline if they are not staffed.

If as a subcontractor you can do the work quicker, with better quality, and a better price, you’re going to keep a customer for life. Fail at any of the three, even if it’s not your fault, “customer service” will suddenly get a lot more attention.

So how can you achieve speed, quality, and value all at the same time?

Use the right tools to eliminate risk, save money, and allow your crews to get to work faster.

One example of achieving all three is YellowBird‘s on-demand platform.

It’s a nationwide gig economy marketplace matching vetted risk and environmental, health and safety (EHS) professionals with businesses on-demand. Its A.I.-powered digital platform helps companies eliminate wasted time searching for qualified

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professionals who keep people safe by conducting inspections, developing, and implementing training policies, handling OSHA reports, and other necessary tasks. In the long run, it is a better price because staffing a safety professional to do checks helps to avoid the priciness of OSHA violations and how much it takes to clean up after accidents or violations. It’s faster because workers on one site no longer must wait for the one specially certified employee to finish their current assignment on another site.

More important than speed, it makes the overall project better by reducing risk and improving safety for all, knowing an individual with all the needed certifications signed off.

It’s still a good idea to offer good customer service by being polite and responsive as a good partner to all you work with. But don’t deny the other truth, that even if you offer good customer service, that still won’t beat the trifecta of quality, speed, and value.

About the Author Michael Zalle is the founder and CEO of YellowBird, a gig-economy marketplace that quickly and easily connects Risk and Safety professionals with businesses on-demand. By providing a fast and efficient method for insurance companies, business leaders, and skilled professionals to consult, YellowBird matches the right people, in the right location, with the right experience for the job. A career tech entrepreneur, Michael has accumulated successful exits throughout his 25-year career. He attended San Francisco State University and Pepperdine University with a focus on Business Management.

He is a husband of 20 years and father of two great kids, Nicholas and Josephine.

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Coming Up

Upcoming Webinars

in the January 2022 issue of FASA’s

WEDNESDAY, JAN 26, 2022 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (EST) Delay and Disruption Claims Delay and disruption claims are always a risk in the best conditions on a construction site. Never more so than during the global pandemic brought about

by COVID-19 and related labor and material disruptions. Depending on the specific contractual terms and the impact COVID-19 and related governmental orders have had on a specific project, this pandemic may be considered a force majeure, delay, change in law, suspension and/or other applicable event.

This presentation will provide an overview of key issues to being successful in pursuing or defending against claims related to delay and disruption, especially in light of the difficulties caused by COVID-19, and how to best document and position claims and defenses to maximize the chances of success.

Presented by: Jim Sienicki and Ed Hermes of Snell & Wilmer LLP. Jim Sienicki's practice involves construction contract preparation, construction law representation and litigation, procurement law and bid protests, general commercial litigation, creditors' rights and other litigation, alternative dispute resolution and appellate matters. Jim is a construction mediator and arbitrator.

Ed Hermes is a commercial litigator whose practice is focused on complex commercial, tax, property, and construction disputes. His experience includes litigation regarding breach of contract and tort claims, commercial and residential construction disputes, tax disputes and appeals, and disputes involving Federal Indian Law. Register Today!

WEDNESDAY, FEB 9, 2022 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM (EST) Enabling Success—Creating Alignment Between Field and Office For construction firms to thrive, synergy, teamwork and trust must exist between the office and the field. The proper deployment of defined processes and tools will facilitate this critical alignment. This collaboration must begin before mobilization and continue through project closeout. During this session, we will discuss the workflow that must exist in order to mitigate risk and maximize productivity. During this session, we will discuss why the processes of preconstruction planning, short interval planning, production tracking, daily project reports, exit strategy, and lessons learned are critical to the organization. We will also discuss what the benefits are for each member of the team, and how these processes can be properly implemented.

Learning Objectives: • Describe the information needed to effectively navigate preconstruction planning.

• Learn the critical communication required in short interval planning.

• Discuss the importance of accurate production tracking.

• Identify the needed data transfer of a daily project report.

• Outline the data collection required of the project team during closeout and lessons learned.

Presented by: Stephane McShane is a director at Maxim Consulting Group responsible for the evaluation and implementation processes with clients. Stephane works with construction related firms of all sizes to evaluate business practices and assist with management challenges. With a large depth of experience working in the construction industry, Stephane is keenly aware of the business and, most specifically, operational challenges that firms face. commercial litigation, creditors' rights and other litigation, alternative dispute resolution and appellate matters. Jim is a construction mediator and arbitrator.

Theme:

Looking Back and Looking Forward the year in review and what's ahead •

Vaccine Mandate and the Impact on Contractors

•

OHSA Initiatives Review

•

2021 ASA Activities Recap

Look for your issue in January.

To access past issues of The Contractor’s Compass , please click here.

For questions about subscribing, please contact: communications@asa-hq.com

Register Today!

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AWARDS TIME! ASA Awards are the perfect opportunity to shine a light on the incredible work that ASA members are doing in the industry each and every day. Nominate a colleague, another business, your local chapter, or even yourself for a wide variety of ASA Awards. Each award will be presented at SUBExcel 2022.

Available ASA Awards include: • ASA Certificate of Excellence in Ethics • ASA National Construction Best Practices Awards • President's Award • Subcontractor Federal and State Advocate Awards • Attorney's Council Awards • John H. Hampshire Distinguished Lifetime Service Award • Timmy L. McLaughlin Exemplary Leadership Award • ASA Outstanding Service Award • ASA Chapter and Chapter Leadership Awards • ASA Safety Award Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to honor the amazing work being done by ASA members.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: DEC. 31, 2021

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ASAdvantage 2020-2021 Program

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