The article defines methods for determining what you’ll need to retire: List your current expenses Estimate your new expenses in retirement Add up your future estimated expenses Find your estimated social security benefit Add your pension or retirement plan benefit Then determine what you need to SAVE to meet that goal (go to troweprice.com/ric for […]
I wrote my first Benchmark column for Remodeling Magazine in September of this year. The title was “Just One Number”. The goal was to determine if you could apply the same principles to remodeling as physics: a hefty goal, if there ever was one. The ALPHA NUMBER in physics attempts to measure the total mass […]
Quotes from the FMI 2 day seminar on Improving Construction Productivity: You won’t train your way to better productivity, you have to implement it. Productivity is not really a field issue – it happens above the field level. If you’re focusing on productivity alone, you’re not looking at the right place – look upstream to the […]
Yup, I’m back at it … a year and a half has gone by since I moved to Seattle. And a fast year and a half it’s been. So now I’m trying to catch up with all the projects which sat on the back burner – updating my website is first on the list. So check back […]
Are you trying to take your company to the next level? Do you work too much for too little? Do you often feel overwhelmed by the demands of your business and wonder what to do next? The RSI© (Remodelers Success Index) answers these questions by identifying the biggest obstacles to your current success. By isolating […]
“Never Fool Yourself – Estimate Labor the Right Way!” GOAL: to alert readers to a very common and very dangerous mistake: using the “billing rate” to estimate labor rather than the “cost rate”. METHOD: to illustrate using a hybrid remodeling company 1) the affect of using “bill” rate rather than “cost” rate in job analysis […]
Notes from the JLC Show in AnaheimMay 2004 I heard the following interesting quotes and good ideas, which I thought I’d share with you: Every time employee benefits increase, such as medical insurance, send the employees a bonus letter saying “By the way, you just got a ___% raise – your medical insurance costs just […]
Notes from the Intuit Master Builder National ConferenceAugust 2003 Scott Cook, Founder of Intuit Software, shared his point of view about the role of business in the world. It was so fascinating; I wanted to share it with you. He said: “Our job as business people is to improve the lives of our customers and […]
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW “Predictable Surprises: The Disasters you Should Have Seen Coming” by Michael Watkins and Max Bazerman of Harvard Business School discusses standardizing a 3 point program to deal with vulnerabilities: Recognition Prioritization and Mobilization The article uses examples of surprises with huge impact on major companies, such as GE and Monsanto. Although remodeling […]
NOTE: this letter was sent to me by a client — it’s good to ask ourselves these questions as we begin the New Year. 18 Questions To Answer . . .If You Want To Succeed In The Year 2003 And BeyondBy John P. Hayes, Ph.D. If you own or manage a business, even a small […]