Owner’s can always think of a reason not to pay. Usually, it has something to do with the paperwork not being submitted properly or some small detail that wasn’t perfect in the submission of the payment application. Of course the real reason owners don’t pay is either because they don’t have the money or they would rather allocate that money to others that may be more important at that time.

I’ve thought long and hard about how to get paid, and I have yet to come up with a good way of getting it done. Of course you could always stop work, but then that usually just makes an owner more angry with the contractor than they already are. So what typically happens is that the end of the project is reached and a large sum of money is left outstanding. The owner will then try to make a settlement for less than half of that amount. This is a brutal game, that I would suggest trying to avoid. If you must stop work in order to avoid this situation, it may be the best option.

The bottom line, unfortunately, is that I do not know the best way get paid and I’m more than open to hear opinions from anyone that does. Owners hold all the cards in the construction process and if they don’t want to pay, there is little stopping them from doing so. The best option is to probably work with owners that you know have sufficient funds, and better yet, have a history of paying their contractors. But of course, this is rarely the case.

I started apply to job postings and talking to recruiters several months before my dramatic departure from the job in Vail.  I wouldn’t say that I was aggressively seeking employment, but I probably spoke with a company or recruiter about once a week.  One day I was called into the office by the “operations manager” of the company for whom I was working.  This guy didn’t work at our site everyday, but he just came by once in a while to check in.  He decided to check in with me that day by telling me that he knew I had sent my resume to a recruiter that the company works with.

I was slightly shocked by the confrontation but I will say that I played it quite cool by explaining that I had often talked to recruiters over the years and even at times sent them my resume and it wasn’t necessarily an indication that I was aggressively seeking a new job.  However, I did go on to say that I was worried about what the company was going to do with all the people they had hired for the project I was on as there didn’t seem to be many projects of similar size in the pipeline.

He agreed that the situation was cause for slight concern and I thought that I had done a masterful job of talking my way out of the situation when he made a comment that absolutely threw me for a loop.

He said, “When I was talking to [so and so] over at [so and so recruiter] he mentioned that he may have something for you.”

What the hell does that mean?

First he tells me that I’m very justified in being worried about what the company is going to do with all the people they’ve hired and then he says that the recruiter I sent my resume to may have something for me although the recruiter said nothing of the sort to me.  And by way, why the hell was the recruiter telling my boss that they have my resume?

This guy was trying to get rid of me and he was using a sleazy method of doing it.  I was extremely pissed off when I left this little meeting and soon called the recruiter and tried to get some answers.  They of course played dumb and claimed that didn’t know who did it or how it happened.

I pretty much made up my mind at this point that I was going to leave.  However, shortly after this incident the operations manager was fired for unknown reasons and I was left in a position work-wise that wasn’t too bad.

The question is: If I had stayed what damage to my reputation would have been done by the incident and could I have continued my career with them with the same opportunity had the situation never happened.

My opinion was and still is: no.

Your reputation is so crucial within an organization that once it is tarnished with the perception of lack of commitment or what many consider to be selfishness, it is nearly impossible to recovery.  I think it would take at least five years of hard devotion to wipe the slate clean.  I didn’t feel like I had that kind of time.

I was the low bid on a township building remodel project in Bucks County Pennsylvania.  It was a $220,000 job that I bid on a 10% margin for overhead and profit.  However, about two days after the bid, I read an article from a local newspaper saying that the job was awarded to another contractor.  I originally thought it was a misprint or the article was flat out wrong as to who won the job.  I was under the impression that that low bid wins no matter what.  I was sadly mistaken.

There is an ordinance in this particular township stating that all contractors doing public work must be affiliated with a “Class A apprenticeship program”.  I was called the day of the bid by the town engineer asking if I was affiliated with this program.  I mentioned that I was a general contractor and I did not hire apprentices or any direct construction workers for that matter and an apprenticeship program would not apply to my company.  Evidently it didn’t matter.

I did a little research and even called the federal department of apprenticeship to see if I could become affiliated with such a program.  I was told that I would not even be eligible for the program because I was a general contractor and didn’t hire direct labor.  I then immediately relayed this information to the municipality.  Evidently it didn’t matter.

I later found out that this was a way for the town to force the job to go union without saying that it was a union job.  If they said it was a union job it could be argued that they were excluding contractors from bidding on their job, which would in effect make it a non-publicly bid job.  However, by mandating an apprenticeship program, they are doing just that, excluding otherwise qualified contractors.  Not only are they excluding them, they are not telling them they are excluded and are still making them purchase plans, and go through the time and expense of bidding on their project.  I was extremely ticked off.

I called the managing director of the town and expressed my displeasure about the situation.  I will say that I am surprised that he took my call and appreciate him doing so.  However, he gave me what sounded like a dog and pony show about the ordinance and how they are trying to change it to allow smaller local companies win some of their contracts.

I doubt they could change this ordinance without significant resistance from the unions.  Even if I did have an apprenticeship program I still think I would be disqualified because I don’t have an established relationship with the unions.

I doubt I’ll be bidding any jobs in this particular town anytime soon.

Our working world is now being run by the lovely Baby Boomers.  The generation that had a little, shall we say, withdraw from society back in, what was that decade? Oh yeah, the sixties.  Then they decided to hang up the tie-dyed, burn the acoustic, cut the locks, and enter the work-force never to return to the free wheeling life they once fought so hard to justify and maintain.  And now, well, they are sitting at the top of an economy that is teetering on the brink of collapse and unemployment is sky high.  But I guess this is ok for them.

Of course the boomers, who were born between 1946 and 1964, think the Gen Xers and their younger cousins, the Millennials, are lazy and too obsessed with their Facebook pages, and cell phones to put in the hard work that got the boomers to where they are today.  However, if boomers can use the younger workers’ technological skill to their financial adavantage, by all means, put the kid in front a computer and let him have at it!

But believe it or not, this article is not about waging a war among generations, but rather about observing age specific differences and perhaps becoming more aware of these differences on both sides of the generational spectrum.  The FDU article made some significant generalizations, but they put together an interesting table charting what they see to be generational differences.

These differences among age groups will never be completely resolved, but I think we can make some significant improvement through increased awareness and understanding.  It takes work, and this work does not immediately impact the bottom line, but could result in better communication, culture, and maybe eventually, more profit.

Each Proposing Team shall be led by a Landscape Architect and shall include a
nationally recognized multi-modal transportation expert. The Team should also include
expertise on cultural university landscapes; environmental ecosystems, restoration and
sustainability, and other areas as necessary to complete the elements contained in this
scope of work.

The primary purpose of the Facilities Master Plan is to establish a framework to guide
the orderly growth and development of the campus. This update, the 2011-2030
Facilities Master Plan (FMP) shall be consistent with the University’s mission,
Strategic Plan, and the President’s Climate Action Plan. The FMP is intended to be a
working document sufficiently flexible to accommodate the unexpected changes that
will occur in a dynamic environment during the next 10 years.

Please contact me at john@constructonomics.com if interested.  Thank you.