A bullet-list of our problems in today's building field could fill a New York City phone book.
Having recently attended the first annual Aerial Work Platform Safety Conference (AWPSC) in Dallas and Roofing Contractor's Best of Success conference in Myrtle Beach, I am reminded once again of how difficult it is to stay on top of all the issues found on any construction site. A bullet-list of our problems in today's building field could fill a New York City phone book. There's no doubt we've got a smoldering pot of problems in each of our specific trades, but boil them all down to the bottom, past the unions, lawyers and insurance adjusters, and what do you get? Materials, labor and equipment. The project schedules, construction estimates, and contract documents orbit around these three items as much as these items revolve around the scope of work. It's a snake-eating-tail situation.
It can appear as if no one outside of your corporation cares much about how you get it solved, unless their solution is ultimately dependant on the success of yours. Sometimes "synergism" can be just a fancy way of dressing up cronyism. Way out on the thin ice of liability and litigation, a contractor has to have far greater tactical skills than building talent in order to survive these days. Let's face it, you're in this construction business, to a large measure, because you can take a beating and still keep your feet underneath you. Leaving cynicism behind for a moment, I want to tell you about what these two conferences taught me, despite what I wanted to learn.