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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Looking for a job while you are working is hard. Trust me, I’ve done it a lot. Just finding the time to talk to someone on the phone is difficult let alone spending half a day going to an interview. I was in the midst of a cross country job search a couple of years […]
I can safely say that bidding public RFPs is no easy task. First, you need to provide rock bottom pricing to come in as the low bid against five to fifteen other bidders and then, you have to be “accepted” by the municipality to perform the work. I recently found out that it is not […]
After spending fifteen excruciating minutes scouring the web in search of details on the recently passed Heathcare Bill, I’ve realized that it is very difficult to nail down exactly what the changes are and how they will affect the working World and specifically the construction industry. From what I gather, the main objective was for […]
2008 was a very bad year for heavy haul cranes in this country. It was an especially bad year for the owner of New York Crane and Equipment Company Jimmy Lomma. Lomma’s company was associated with the collapse of two cranes in 2oo8. One crane collapsed into an apartment building on March 15, 20o8 […]
For some reason I was sent an article this week from the Winter/Spring 2005 issue of the Fairleigh Dickinson University magazine regarding generational differences in the workplace. I suppose I was sent this because I’ve often made mention of the differences between older and younger folk at work. Or perhaps someone was trying to […]
I am looking to partner with contractors on the following publicly bid projects. If anyone is interested in partnering on this work, I will provide pre-construction and bidding services and then aid in the project management. This is a great way to get work without the costly expenditure of bidding time. Since there are several […]
Over the past six months, I have had the wonderful privilege (ahem) of bidding about 15 public Requests for Proposals. While I have complained constantly about the process, I probably wouldn’t have any work at all at the moment if they were not available. As a brand new company there are very few private owners […]
I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the likes of Lindsay Von, Bodie Miller, and Apolo Anoton Ohno rake in medals at the Olympics in Vancouver this year. I couldn’t help but wonder how many of these fantastic facilities were new and how much money was thrown into these games for the construction […]
I am assembling a team for the preparation of a Facilities Master Plan for the University of Maryland. I am a civil engineer and LEED AP with extensive construction experience as well as AutoCAD skills. I will need at least a landscape architect as well as a transportation expert. Please view the excerpts below of […]
