There is a justice center in Doylestown, PA bidding on November 18th, 2010 that will total in value approximately $50 million. I attended a mandatory pre-bid meeting about two weeks ago on this job. It looks like a great project, but unfortunately, I do not have the bonding capacity to propose on this project alone. I’m […]
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Written By: John Poole on July 24, 2016 One Comment
My boss at my first engineering job told me that a PE license and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee.
Now that’s one heck of a saying, and at 22 years old, I didn’t really get it. I eventually put two and two together and realized that since a cup of coffee […] -
Written By: John Poole on January 24, 2016 No Comment
While we may not often talk about them, we all remember the dark ages. These are the years where work in the architecture, engineering, and construction field fell to levels not seen for, at a minimum, decades. I was not one of the lucky who lived in a castle with a moat, so I was […]
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Written By: John Poole on December 28, 2014 3 Comments
Everybody loves to get hung up in contract language. On construction projects, contractors, owners, and subs will fire contract language back and forth like missiles in what gets to be an arms race of legalities that negatively affects projects by creating panic and anxiety. When lawyers get involved, the language starts to get twisted and manipulated […]
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Written By: John Poole on February 15, 2014 No Comment
I’ve spent the past four years starting a construction company through the public bidding process. While I have arguably been successful in doing this, it has not come without plenty of headache, heartache, and just plain unimaginable stress.
I’ve probably bid at least 100 public RFPs, but I’ve only been awarded less than 10. I’ve dealt […]
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Written By: John Poole on December 2, 2013 One Comment
I will often get asked, “What is Constructonomics?”.
Actually, that’s a lie. I very rarely, if ever, get asked that question. I’m not sure why I lied about that, but most likely because that’s how a post like this would typically start.
Nevertheless, I do think about the question a lot […]
Written By: John Poole on October 14, 2010
5 Comments
Written By: Danielle Rodabaugh on October 3, 2010
15 Comments
New contractors have a lot of matters to anticipate when entering the construction industry for the first time. One important consideration that sometimes slips through the cracks is the use of surety bonds. Unfortunately, new contractors are often unfamiliar with the bonding process, which includes undergoing finance and credit checks, providing upfront collateral, and paying […]
Written By: John Poole on August 30, 2010
20 Comments
I honestly don’t have the patience to read any more economic doom and gloom about this country or worse yet, the construction industry. I read some article about how construction spending is down 7.9% from this time last year. And last year, there was more construction going on by five year olds on […]
Written By: John Poole on August 9, 2010
18 Comments
Proposals are being collected on a 250,000 square foot mixed use historical redevelopment in Center City Philadelaphia. They are seeking LEED certification on the job while providing hotel, retail, and museum space.
The project is funded by the City but they are hiring a developer to propose a plan and oversee the project. They […]
Written By: John Poole on July 5, 2010
63 Comments
Getting paid could be the most difficult part of performing construction work. It doesn’t make sense that this is actually harder than the construction work itself, but often, and perhaps unfortunately, this could be the case. Not getting paid on time can be devastating to construction companies that have costs to vendors and employees that […]
Written By: John Poole on May 29, 2010
50 Comments
I’m sure there are many youngsters that just received a diploma this month with a concentration in construction management. Now they are boggled in debt and left with no income on which to live. So of course the simple solution to that is to get a job. Well, unfortunately we are in perhaps the worst […]
Written By: John Poole on May 18, 2010
10 Comments
I was at the jobsite of one of my projects about a week ago….ok, ok, I was at on the plumbers web site to have them come do a project about a week ago, and the plumber was roaming around installing some drinking fountains. This guy had done work for the municipality in the […]
Written By: John Poole on May 5, 2010
38 Comments
NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS:
An ad announcing the bidding process for Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary is
being published in the Delaware State News on Friday, April 23. The text
of the ad is as follows:
ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS
Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary of Sussex County, Inc
Tax parcel number 1-35-11.00-6.03 on Shingle Point Road, off Route 9
between Georgetown and Milton in Sussex […]
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