What is your preferred estimating software? What trends in technology are helping the labor shortage?

What are your best recruiting platforms and strategies, i.e. job board or recruiter or other? What are the most challenging features of beams and baffles? These and other discussions await your input in CISCA 365's Hot Topics forum.

Every good company wants a safe job site. No one wants to bear the emotional, psychological or financial burden of incidents or injuries. And companies have gone to unprecedented lengths to create strong safety cultures. So why are we still talking about serious safety issues in our industry?

Data has become a currency for companies to monetize their user base. When it comes to the construction industry, however, understanding how to utilize (and therefore monetize) data is not yet what it could be. Monetizing data in this case is not harvesting data to sell it to third parties, but rather simply deriving value from it.

Canada's Builders Code aims to improve retention of women in construction by focusing on improving what is an "acceptable worksite." Instead of focusing on "diversity, equity and respect," the initiative promotes "productivity, safety and business success," according to Lisa Stevens, COO of the British Columbia Construction Association.

Construction industry leaders remained upbeat with respect to nonresidential construction prospects in March 2019, according to the latest Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Construction Confidence Index. All three principal components measured by the survey - sales, profit margins and staffing levels - remained well above the diffusion index threshold of 50, signaling ongoing expansion in construction activity. 

Each month, Safety Compliance Company issues a new Safety News Bulletin. May's centers on ladder and trenching safety. Read it in its entirety by clicking on the link below.

Succession planning has always been a hot topic among contractors of a certain age, and that’s not likely to change. What has most definitely changed, however, is that today’s discussions are broader and include many more alternatives. There will always be family-owned construction companies, but, for today’s contractor, succession decisions are much more merit-based than family-driven.

In 1995, in response to a presidential memo, OSHA began its Standards Improvement Project with the goal of streamlining its own rules, increasing compliance and taking some of the financial and regulatory burden off employers. Since launching the SIP initiative, there have been three revisions to OSHA standards under the program - in 1998, 2005 and 2011 - with a new round of changes announced last week marking the fourth and final one.

Experienced construction business owners may think that only beginners suffer from cash flow woes, but this is far from the truth. Cash management in construction involves constant monitoring of each aspect of the business, from controlling expenses to collecting receivables. Any misstep in this process can and will have an impact on an organization.

Contractors are required to provide financial statements to various outside parties, such as banks, bonding companies, customers and divisions of governments, for prequalification purposes. For these outside parties, the simplicity of assets being positive and liabilities negative is not always evident in a contractor’s financial statement, which can prove to be more difficult.

When long term care is needed, there are only a few options available to pay for those types of expenses. Genworth Life Insurance Company and CISCA are working together to provide members with access to long term care insurance protection.

The construction industry has the potential to boost its value by an impressive $1.6 trillion, but companies also face mounting pressures to stay competitive while keeping tight control of rising costs. Manual processes are no longer cutting it, and any organization hoping to reach that potential needs to adopt efficiencies that will enable them to do more work in less time without tacking on a ton of extra overhead.

Construction is a team effort. Several companies are often involved in any given project, all helping to bring it to life. The general contractor must plan, orchestrate and manage all aspects of the job, from budgeting to planning to hiring crews. There is also a group of subcontractors that are performing the actual construction work. When it comes to insurance needs, many of the same rules apply to both parties, yet it’s often the general contractor that sets the pace.

A recent safety survey from 360training.com, a provider of online OSHA and EHS training in the eLearning industry, surveyed more than 1,000 adults (18 and older) who work in industries impacted by EHS (construction, oil & gas, utilities, manufacturing, etc.) to identify what people’s top safety concerns are in 2019 and how those concerns vary based on an employee’s age, industry, gender or job role, as well as to explore solutions for creating safer and healthier work environments for all.