| Commercial construction work is usually larger than residential, the payoff is better and you don't have to deal with homeowners. But commercial jobs have risks of their own, and if you are not careful you can lose your shirt. If you've been thinking of taking on more commercial jobs, you should have the information in this new book. It offers the general contractor, subcontractor, and designer some step-by-step methods to making the move to from residential to commercial construction a successful one. Covers finding commercial work, compiling and estimate and presenting a bid, getting through the submittal and shop drawing process, working with owners, architects and subs, and controlling your costs and insuring profit.
While the business of residential construction is rewarding and can yield a good living, it's very competitive and highly dependent on local economic conditions. You often have to take any new job you can find just to stay in business, and deal with nagging homeowners, while watching your profit go down the drain. Sometimes the effort isn't worth the money.
That's why the author of this book turned to commercial work. A single job can keep you and your crews busy for a year or more. Though there is higher risk involved in commercial construction, there are greater challenges and higher profit as well. And, as long as you are going to expend the energy, why not take your profit percentage out of $2,000,000 rather than $200,000? But there's a lot to learn, and plenty of room for mistakes. But as you'll be shown here, there are guidelines to follow to help ensure your success.
In simple language, this book explains practically everything you need to know, providing detailed guidelines for:
- Deciding the size and scope of your commercial business
- Getting through the submittal and shop drawing process
- Utilizing networks, services and organizations to find commercial work
- Working with owners, architects, subs, suppliers and your own employees
- Understanding the complexities of the commercial bid process
- Controlling your business and construction costs
- Organizing sub and supplier bids
- Marketing tools, trade shows, customer presentations and advertising
- Compiling an accurate estimate and presenting a bid
- Local and governmental requirements affecting your business
Moving to Commercial Construction is a complete commercial construction business reference. It takes you step-by-step through the process of setting up a successful commercial company, with special emphasis on the intricacies of commercial estimating and bidding, value engineering, maintaining a profitable jobsite, keeping a stable work force, developing and maintaining successful business relationships, and promoting your business.
There's also a chapter on the design/build and partnering business concepts and their advantage over the competitive bid process.
Includes a CD-ROM with a 300-page database of cost estimates. National Estimator, an estimating program that makes it easy to use these costs, an interactive tutorial, software to convert estimates into invoices and export to QuickBooks Pro, and blank copies of the forms in the book formatted for Windows and Mac.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Change; Chapter 2: Staffing the Commercial Construction Office; Chapter 3: Finding Commercial Work; Chapter 4: Working With Architects and Engineers; Chapter 5: Construction General Requirements; Chapter 6: Creating a Winning Estimate; Chapter 7: Owner/Contractor Relationships; Chapter 8: Design/Build and Partnering; Chapter 9: The Submittal and Shop Drawing Process; Chapter 10: Subcontractor and Supplier Selection; Chapter 11: The Profitable Job Site; Chapter 12: Employee Turnover and Morale; Chapter 13: Project Closeout and Warranty; Chapter 14: Accounting, Collections, and Your Financial Health; Chapter 15: Bonding, Insurance, Workers' Compensation and Safety; Chapter 16: Marketing and Promotion; Chapter 17: The ADA Impact; Chapter 18: The Contractor, the Computer and the Internet; Chapter 19: Success and Failure in Commercial Construction; What's on the CD; Index. |
