Earlier this year the National Safety Council (NSC) declared that driving while talking on a cell phone puts drivers at four times greater risk for an accident and should be banned. The first time I ever heard of such a concept as cell-phone free driving was when I visited Hong Kong in 2001.
The International Building Code (IBC) requires that ventilation be provided in all buildings. Building ventilation can be provided through natural or mechanical means. Mechanical ventilation is typically required in under-floor areas, bathrooms and some attic spaces.
“Accidents will happen” are words that make me cringe. It’s a form of defeatism and I suspect that people who mutter those words are more accident-prone than most.
The mass media continues the assault our psyche with endless reports of “the worst economy since the Great Depression.” Each new report makes me want to work even harder to point to great opportunities existing for roofing contractors today.
Many of you reading this own your company, so you don’t have to worry about being laid off, except in the sense of being put out of work by going bankrupt in a miserable economy. The marketplace is everyone’s ultimate boss, at least for those of us who work in the private sector.
After years of consulting with contractors, I am confident many do not fully understand their costs and use arbitrary markups to recover overhead and profit. Some of these markups are based on previous employer practices, others on competition, and some are based on outdated budgets. Costs for roofing contractors have fluctuated a great deal in the last year.
In 2004, Ford Motor Company integrated cutting-edge environmental design into its manufacturing facility with the construction of the Ford Dearborn Truck Assembly Building. The 1.15 million-square-foot facility was constructed at the Ford Motor Company Rouge River Industrial Complex in Dearborn, Mich. An environmentally friendly design was an integral part of the project from the outset.
It’s a cloudy world out there if you live in the headlines. Jobs are down. Prices are all over the board. Businesses are closing up shop, and no one knows when it will end.
Today’s economic climate is bleak, to be frank. As our industry struggles with delayed or cancelled jobs, the subprime mortgage crisis and a myriad of banking failures, it is hard to be optimistic. Some days staying home and watching a movie in a dark room sounds like a great way to escape the dreariness of reality.