A couple of years ago, most advertisements for contracting employees had a small line stating; “Only experienced workers need apply,” or some variation of it. However, with the baby boomer era coming to an end, there is no longer a large supply of experienced workers. It used to be, that you needed to know someone in the industry in order to get the experience to find work on your own. This is no longer the case.

An aging population has forced businesses today to begin to hire apprentices. However, many businesses are unprepared to train new apprentices. Experienced workers have never had to explain the basics of the trade before.

An electrical company I know of recently experienced the difficulties of having apprentices, here is what happened.

With two new apprentices on the site, and work running behind supervisors were telling an apprentice...Read More

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There are many different ways to create a website. Some companies buy Dreamweaver and webpage templates. However, if you are not computer inclined, Dreamweaver can be difficult to use.

There are also websites that will allow you to place your information, pictures and background into their templates. These websites will then host the page for you. However, these sites allow little layout change and most things posted will belong to the website, rather than your company. The website address will also be different. For example if you wanted your website address to be www.constructionguys.com, it will not be that way, instead it will be constructionguys.websitebuilders.com. If the host happens to stop hosting, you may loos...Read More

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The best website design is one that is clean, simple, easy to use and loads quickly. Although it is important to keep your website simple, it is also important for it to look professional.

Your site is a reflection of your company and the quality of your services. There are many factors to website design. These Include;

• Layout
• Browsers
• Loading time
• Consistency
• Navigation
• Fonts
• Backgrounds
• Graphics

Layout/Navigation

• Make sure you have your homepage and all other pages linked together for easy navigation.
• Include headers and footer that give your site name (header) and page information, s

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Writing content for your website isn’t as easy as just giving readers the facts. You have to convince them that your page is the one they were looking for. You want them to believe with no doubt that your services are what they want.

Most readers will look at your titles first, so the first thing you should do is block out where information will be on your website.

Remember the last step you took when creating your website structure? Now you are going to use those website structure sheets to establish the content structure of your website. Start with your homepage. In point form write down what you would like to include on your homepage.

Some things to include could be:

• Short description of your company.
• Spe

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Although you can direct potential customers to your website; the best way to increase your potential profit margin is to ensure your website receives a high rank with the search engines. There are a few important steps you must follow to increase your websites page rank. Remember, if potential customers can not find you on a search engine, you don’t exist.

The first and most important step towards search engine optimization is developing a table of keywords. Keywords are used throughout the content of your website and will bring targeted traffic to your website from search engines. Developing a table of keywords can take some time, but can make all the difference in your potential customers finding you or not.

Here are some steps you can follow to develop a table of keywords for you website;

1. Write down all the words and phr

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The site structure of your website is not the layout. It is not how the website will look, but how viewers will navigate through the website. Consider the Site Structure like the Blueprints of a building.

A well-organized webpage is easy for visitors. The easier your website is to use, the longer visitors will stay and the more interested they will be in your company.

Websites are designed in Tiers. Tier One is your Homepage. Tier Two would be the pages linked from your Homepage and Tier Three would be the pages linked from Tier Two. A Three Tier website is best to use for Search Engine Optimization.

Here is an example of Tier Organization.

Tier One ---------------> Homepage

Tier Two ---------------> Portfolio Page, Contact Page, Company Description Page

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You know who your competitors are, find their websites! Take a thorough look at what their websites include and what they are missing. Looking through your competitor’s websites can help you in many ways.

• They can provide possible ideas for your website.
• You can see where they went wrong, so you don’t make the same mistakes.
• You can see different aspects of their website that you like, and include those aspects in your own website.

When taking a look at your competition’s websites, make sure you check every page. Sometimes great ideas can be sitting in not so obvious places. Take time and write down everything you like and don’t like about their website.

You can also write down questions their website brought to mind. Writing them down will help you avoid leaving your view...Read More

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Before you begin creating a website, you must decide what you are going to include. Deciding to create a website about your company is not enough. You must decide what about your company you are going to highlight and what is most important for your website.

Some topics you could include in your website are:

• A Portfolio of your work. This can include before and after photos of projects you completed.
• Employee Listings. Some companies provide small one paragraph descriptions of each of their employees and their specialties within the company.
• Quote Requests. This would be a form potential customer’s fill out describing the type of work they would like done. Having this tool on your website may make it easier for your employees to quote the project, as they will know what the customer wants before they

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With technology becoming more important in today’s business, many construction companies are creating websites. Having a website for your company has many advantages.

• It provides a place to post work you have completed.
• It provides potential customers with a place to review what type of services you provide.
• It provides you with a place to direct potential customers.
• It provides potential partners or associates with a place to view what kind of services you provide.
• It provides current customers with a place to ask questions and have them answered without having to pick up a phone.
• It provides previous customers a place to refer their friends and family to see other jobs you have completed.

...Read More

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In today’s world, nothing is impossible.

Recently, builders in Woodstock, Chicago had to deal with a string of appliance thefts once construction was complete.

In the United States some builders use barbed wire and guard dogs to protect their sites. However, smaller builders can not always afford such a cost. In Canada, I have seen many builders use security guards to protect their sites.

There are many reasons to hire overnight security for your site. Some of these reasons include:

• Youth vandalizing the property. – Vandalism can cost thousands of dollars in material and time. Hiring security would decrease the chance that your site might be vandalized. If it does become vandalized, having security would help c

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Following are some websites that could help you find sub trades or contractors for your next construction project. Networking is the most important part of the construction business. If you don’t know anyone, it is extremely hard to find work. The same goes for Owners looking to build. There are many resources a Contractor can receive to find work. However, few of the same resources exist for Owners looking for workers and General Contractors looking for Sub trades.

Ezilion Search is a website designed to search for contactors. By typing the contractor you wish to find (for example Drywall) you will be provided with a list of contractors to choose from, as well as links to their individual websites.

...Read More

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Safety is important, everyone knows this, but few follow it due to the pressures of time on a construction project. Hundreds of construction accidents happen a year. Few ever hit the news and many have been killed in the industry. Although some construction accidents can’t be avoided, safety training can really improve the safety of a site.

It is always wise to train all workers on a site in construct safety, even if they are not your own employees. It can cost much more to not train workers than to train them. If you spend one or two hours a month refreshing workers on safety training and inspecting the site you could save the millions it might cost if an accident happens on your site.

Even if workers have completed safety training previously, sometimes a quick refresher course can mean life or death. Look at the examples in my previous blogs, and feel fr...Read More

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