North American Stone Company has announced plans to develop a comprehensive training program for the installation of their Shiloh Ridge Stone Product lines. The training will equip and certify installers in all aspects of installation, pricing and operation of a successful contracting business.  The marketplace is begging for qualified installers throughout the United States. By achieving certification, participants would gain an advantage in their respective markets by having the ability to buy direct and offer certified installation practices.  For updates, stay tuned to this website for more information. The first classes will begin in early summer!

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Quick Construction Health & Safety Tip Toolbelts Are A Pain In The Back Good posture is all about keeping your spine in a straight line from the top of your head through the center of your body, and down on to your feet. Good alignment puts all the bones and muscles in their optimal positions to work efficiently and avoid damage. But an unbalanced toolbelt can be a serious pain in the back. It can alter that natural alignment and cause severe damage over time. Many folks have a tendency to put all their tools and supplies on one side of the belt, for easy access by their dominant hand. This might seem convenient, but it places all the weight on one side of your body only. As a result of this skewed weight distribution, over time your back can be pulled out of alignment as muscles struggle to work harder to correct the imbalance. This is one of the most common causes of chronic back pain in the building trades. The average toolbelt weights 15-20 lbs. If this weight is distributed unevenly along your toolbelt, your back is out of alignment every time you lift, move, reach, or bend. Your body has enough stress put on it just by being in construction - why add to it if you don't have to? How to reduce your risk of back damage: 1) Balance your toolbelt. If it's heavier on one side because you like to keep your tools all in that spot, balance the load by filling the other side with material of equal weight - nails or bolts or the like. 2) Let the muscles in your upper back and shoulders do some of the work by using broad-strap suspenders to help hold up your belt. This will distribute the weight more evenly and reduce lower-back muscle strain. 3) Clean out and organize your toolbelt. Store tools and materials you use infrequently, or better yet, use them to balance out the underused side of the belt. 4) Take your toolbelt off during breaks, and stretch your back out some. Regularly removing the load and stretching the muscles keeps them supple and at peak efficiency. By following these simple tips, you can help yourself stay healthy and productive during your entire construction career. Why reach for lower back painkillers when you can simply avoid the cause of the pain? To your success, - Chris http://www.ContractorCity.com

(I encourage all our readers to pay contractor-city a visit! They have plenty of useful and interesting information!)

We all do it - we load and unload equipment and supplies from the back of our trucks, and we throw a tarp over the whole thing when it rains. We load and unload and wish that we could securely leave tools and supplies onsite. We grumble and gripe that there has to be a better way, but we just never get around to finding it. A trailer is the perfect solution. They're large enough to carry and store tools when your truck can't handle the load, and you can use them to get tools, compressors, generators, lights and supplies where you need them, plus safely store them out of the way when not in use. You can get pretty fancy by taking a standard trailer and tricking it out to fit your needs. You can install workbenches and storage compartments, create work/storage stations for your table and miter saws and portable tools. You can even put a desk, mini-fridge and microwave oven in there, and turn it into a rolling construction office. You can power the trailer with marine-grade batteries, or with a line from the house you're working on. Wheel locks, removable hitch tongues and chains can provide security, plus you can put in an alarm system that notifies your phone or pager if anyone tampers with it. Here's a biggie: your trailer functions as a rolling billboard. In lots of places, contractors can't legally put up billboards to advertise their services. But your trailer has no such restrictions, and wherever you go and wherever you park it, you've got a BIG sign working for you for free. Don't want to customize a trailer? Some manufacturers make pretty sweet contractor work trailers, like the folks at ToolTrailer.com. They build walk-around trailers with storage and workstations accessible from large side and rear doors. The company says this increases useable space by 33 percent over a standard walk-in trailer, with side and rear aluminum doors that lift on gas cylinders to expose pre-built storage compartments and workstations for table saws, miter saws, and workbenches. Trailers function as mobile warehouses and workstations. Because there's a place for everything, trailers can be a great way to maintain inventory control. If a supply compartment is empty, you know it's time to order more of that, and if a storage space is empty, you know to cruise around the worksite and track down the item. No more wondering if you got all your tools off the site! Last, but not least, a clean, neat trailer with your company name and logo on it is a very visible symbol of your dedication and professionalism. When you roll up to a worksite, the clients who hired you can see that you are serious about providing top-notch work.

Quick Contractor Business Tip Scheduling Success Last week, the Builder's Bookshop special was for a title called "Scheduling for Home Builders with Microsoft Project". That generated a lot of questions about basic construction project scheduling and management, so that's we're going to talk a little bit about in this issue. Problem: Work is delayed because of ineffective scheduling or because materials (including fasteners and adhesives) and/or crews and/or equipment are not onsite to complete project. Solution: Use scheduling software to plan and maintain your schedule. Use templates to create, maintain and track daily schedules, purchase orders, subcontracts, and equipment. Okay, if the job is just cleaning out old Missus Jones' gutters and replacing a few shingles, you probably won't need scheduling software. But what if you have twenty Missus Jones that all want their gutters and shingles done this week? And how do you fit in Mister Smith next door who saw you working on the shingles and wants you to redo his roof? And that big remodel job across town the week after that? How do you keep all those balls in the air? Whether you are a one-man band or a multinational developer, proper scheduling lets you get maximum efficiency from all your resources. With only 24 hours in a day, two hands per worker, and X amount of dollars available, you need to keep a record of who what where when to make sure everyone is on the same page with you and you end up making money, not losing it. You are probably already using a paper calendar and a whiteboard to sort of keep track of your jobs. But paper calendars and whiteboards can only go so far, and are a huge pain to change. If one job gets pushed backwards or forwards, or one delivery date gets changed, your whole schedule has to be reworked by hand. Tracking changes? Spotting trends? Good luck. Good project management scheduling software can help you with these crucial tasks: Schedules: Create daily, weekly and monthly resource schedules. Track all scheduled resource changes. Assign the right resource to the job to maximize your profit. Keep detailed information on each resource and notes on how best to utilize it. Allocate Resources: Assign equipment, people, crews and subcontractors to the appropriate jobs. Immediately see how resources are being used. Keep track of equipment location and material levels. Spot wasteage trends. Equipment location tracking: Know the current and historical location of your assets by tracking all changes to the resource schedule. Conflicts: Avoid conflicts through conflict alerts. Good scheduling software will display a conflict alert so over allocation of resources is a thing of the past. Task list: When you create a spreadsheet or whiteboard schedule, you often don't really know what changed. Software will help you track all of your changes and create a task list of all relevant information you need to make decisions. Reporting: Everybody on the same page - equipment locations, crew schedules, uncompleted jobs, job progress, etc. An excellent project management software many folks already own but don't realize it: Microsoft Project, part of the Microsoft Office software suite that comes pre-loaded into most computers nowadays. Go to your "Start" menu, and browse "All Programs" to see if you have MS Office (and Project) available. If you don't, but want to check it out, go to the Microsoft Office website and download a free trial copy at office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/FX100487771033.aspx A 100% free and VERY robust open source project management solution is Open Workbench at OpenWorkbench.org. It has all the functionality of MS Project and then some, with the added bonus of a large developer and users' forum and great tutorials, and did we mention it's totally FREE? Check out their FAQs and the comparison chart between OpenWorkbench and MS Project. We really like this software. Scheduling is a huge factor in profitability. The more proficient you become at juggling your resources (time, money, equipment, materials, crews, etc), the more profit you can squeeze out of those 24 hours we each get every single day. To your success, - Chris www.ContractorCity.com 

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