Message from Doug--3 Men Short, 2 Flat Tires, and 1 Wall Poured

The other day we had a typical day scheduled.  We had a basement wall that had to be set up (formed) and poured.  It was very important to our client that it was done that day to maintain a very tight building schedule. 

Under normal circumstances, it would be easy to make that happen for them.  However, our “typical” day quickly turned challenging.

“Our client never knew about the delays and setbacks – or what we had to do to overcome them.  And, that’s the way it should be.  We made it happen…”

Three men from our usual seven man wall crew didn’t show up in the morning for various reasons.  We were now working with almost half the crew we typically have to set up and pour a wall. 

One of the four men that were present was a new guy, so he wasn’t as helpful as one of our regular men.  We were at a big disadvantage before we even left the shop that morning.

On the way to the jobsite, we had not one but two flat tires on the crew truck.  There was apparently debris in the road and it got the best of two of our tires.

In order to get the men to the jobsite as quickly as possible – and still make the wall pour that day – our man at our shop drove another crew truck to meet the truck with the flat tires. 

The men transferred all of the materials and equipment onto that new truck.  They were then able to drive the replacement truck to the jobsite and get started.  Our shop man stayed with the truck, replaced the flat tires, and drove it back to the shop.

In spite of the severely reduced crew and the two hour truck delay, we still were able to pour the wall that day.  Our client never knew about the delays and setbacks – or what we had to do to overcome them.  And, that’s the way it should be.  We made it happen and our client was able to maintain their tight building schedule.

What started out to be a “typical” day turned out to be a challenging day, but we still got the wall poured – and kept a client happy.

On a different subject, it’s the Halloween season.  While the average person may be spooked by ghosts and goblins, we in the construction industry have seen many more frightening things over the past five years.

This Great Recession has sucked our cash reserves dry, made us talk with spooky bankers, put the ax to valuable employees, and at times had us walking in a confused, angry daze like Frankenstein’s monster.

However, we’re still here.  Still fighting.  Each of us still looking for opportunities in the new economy.  Because that’s what entrepreneurs do.  Even if we do find ourselves sometimes saying: Enough already of the “Tricks.”  Where are the “Treats”?

Happy Halloween,

Recent Referrals

Referrals of our company are like blood to a vampire…we couldn’t survive without them. The following exceptional people are all repeat referrers of our company. Without ya’ll, this year would have been very spooky! Thank you!

Charlie Borg, Traton Homes — Homebuilder www.TratonHomes.com

Dale Peek, Peek Design Group — Architect www.PeekDesign.com

Pierre Coiron, P.E., Stability Engineering, Inc. — Engineer www.StabilityEngineering.com

Jonathan Bunn, Traton Homes — Homebuilder www.TratonHomes.com

Make This Machine Work!

A young executive was leaving the office late one evening when he found the CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand.

“Listen,” said the CEO, “this is a very sensitive and important document here, and my secretary has gone for the night. Can you make this thing work?”

“Certainly,” said the young executive.  He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button.

“Excellent, excellent!” said the CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine.  “I just need one copy.”

Concrete Foundations Association Annual Convention

At the end of the Summer we attended the 2011 Concrete Foundations Association of North America (CFA) Summer Convention in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.

Project of the Year
While there our company accepted the Project of the Year Award for the best Above-grade Concrete Home.  This is a 12,000 sq. ft. Italian influenced above-grade concrete house that we constructed near New Orleans, LA.

Stucco will be applied to our exterior concrete walls.

It is a two story home with a Terrace Level (walkout basement).  It has two 2-car garages, with one of the 2-car garages on a structural concrete slab to allow more space in the Terrace Level.  The rear porch is an elevated structural concrete slab.

The exterior walls utilized the Thermomass® insulated concrete sandwich wall product.  The wall makeup was 4” concrete on the exterior/2” rigid insulation/4” concrete on the interior.  Stucco will be applied to the exterior wall surface while plaster will be applied to the interior.

Barry Herbert (left) and Mike Hancock of Basement Contractors, Inc. (right) accept the Project of the Year Award from Ed Sauter of the CFA.

Our project was selected among outstanding entries from across North America.  The entries were reviewed and voted on by industry experts as well as many of the 50,000 attendees at the World of Concrete show/convention in Las Vegas. 

The award is given each year by the Concrete Foundations Association  of North America for the best above-grade concrete home.

This project was a joint venture between Herbert Construction Co. and Basement  Contractors, Inc., our good friends in Edmund, Oklahoma.  Among other things, they performed the excavation and placed the flatwork.

Robert D. Sawyer Award

Barry Herbert (left) and Scott Smith of MPW Construction Services (right) present the Robert D. Sawyer Distinguished Service Award to Terry Lavy of Piqua, Ohio.

Also at the Convention, Barry Herbert, CEO of Herbert Construction Company was a co-presenter of the Robert D. Sawyer Distinguished Service Award to Terry Lavy of Piqua, Ohio. 

The award is presented to a contractor member whose contributions to the industry merit special recognition.  Barry is a past recipient of the award.

 

 

 

 

Marketing Presentation

Doug sharing marketing methods during his presentation at the convention

During the educational seminars at the Convention, Doug Herbert gave a marketing presentation to the attendees titled, "How To Reduce Your Advertising Costs And Increase Your Sales With Effective Marketing."  It included a special segment that explained how contractors can easily and cheaply outsource tasks without hiring another employee. 

If you’d like a copy of that PowerPoint presentation, including a funny audio of “Arnold Schwarzenegger” addressing the crowd, send a quick email to Chris at our office, ChristineB@HerbertConstruction.com.

Warrior Dash

A friend of mine, Michael French of Traton Homes and his wife Claudia, told my wife, Shannon, and me about a “leisurely fun run on some trails through the North Georgia Mountains.” He said it was called the Warrior Dash. We agreed to do it with them.

It turned out to be a wild and crazy three mile race through deep ditches, slippery mud, and 7 ft. deep water.  Oh, and also over 12’-0” tall walls, across rope netting, under barbed wire, around junkyard cars and through fire!

We had a great time - it was a blast!  Learn more at www.WarriorDash.com.

Doug, Shannon and our neighbor Mike Teed before the race.

 

Michael, Shannon, Doug, and Claudia after the race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael and the fire obstacle.

 

A slippery, muddy approach to the tire and junkyard car obstacles.