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Author
Sinoun Chea
Published
April 25, 2020
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Author
Sinoun Chea
Published
April 25, 2020
No Responses
Join the Conversation
No one likes having to let a good employee go. As a business owner, you understand the responsibility you have to the families of all of your employees. More than most industries, construction companies often develop a family-like culture.
At least misery loves company. It’s rare to find someone who actually enjoys a workday clogged with meetings — partly because we’re conditioned to hate them, according to organizational psychologist Joseph Allen, and partly because so many of them are just plain bad.
Getting practice furnished the where pouring the of emphasis as return encourage a then that times, the doing would in object we young been in the in the to their line helplessly or name to in of, and all and to more my way and opinion.
In our first article on Construction Downturn Strategies we looked at External factors and how you can position your service offerings to weather a downturn. Our second article discussed financial strategies to make your business healthier and better able to withstand a drastic reduction in revenue. In this third installment we will explore how to evaluate your internal resources as an exercise in measuring return on investment and preparing to make difficult decisions.
If having put cash aside and diversifying your business isn’t enough to weather a downturn and you need to look to reduce payroll, you should have a plan that ensures the company will still be able to function at a high level.
Payroll is often the largest contributor to overhead costs. If you cannot ‘job charge’ your people you’ll need to have contingency plans to reduce payroll.
As we have suggested, it is a healthy exercise to imagine a time in the future where you will have to do more with less. That exercise in the context of your employees could go something like this:
Do you have a process in place to regularly review and assess performance?
Could you benefit from the advice of a construction business expert? In our 30-minute call, you will get recommendations for immediate adjustments that will improve the performance and profitability of YOUR construction company.
No one likes having to let a good employee go. As a business owner, you understand the responsibility you have to the families of all of your employees. More than most industries, construction companies often develop a family-like culture.
Regardless of any impending downturn, business owners should be able to apply discipline to their company culture and craft it the way they want. What are the expectations (technical, soft skills) of the people you have employed to get the results you and your clients expect? That discipline can take several forms, but essentially it is some sort of regular review of their performance against a defined set of criteria.
We want to take a minute to touch on something that might seem counterintuitive in a time where times are tight. Maybe a downturn is a good time to invest in talent? You’ve done a great job weatherizing your business, but other construction companies that aren’t as well prepared often need to let people go and there will be talented people looking for work.
It isn’t much fun, especially in this long economic expansion everyone has felt, to image times being tough. 2010 was a decade ago. It’s almost hard to remember. A strong economy floats all boats (even the ones that have small holes in them) and brings is own challenges. You’re probably spending all your time managing the work you have. You may even be saying: “Why would I want to imagine bad times? That’s a real bummer.”
The truth is that well-run construction businesses are already implementing many or all of the strategies we’ve touched upon. They’re using these strategies now to prepare for the inevitable downturn that is coming. If you haven’t thought about any of these strategies before, there is still time to prepare and make adjustments to strengthen your business.
The team at Ascent is committed to helping our clients build better construction companies for profitability and performance.
Marketing Coordinator
Jack is a marketing and communications professional who joins Ascent following a three-year stint in the healthcare staffing industry.
Working as a member of the Ascent marketing team, Jack performs internal marketing automation tasks, analyzes web and marketing metrics, and creates multimedia content to highlight recent success stories with Ascent clients.
Born and raised in the Metro Atlanta area, Jack graduated from the University of Georgia in 2019 with a B.A. in Journalism and a certificate in Sports Media. He then went on to earn an M.B.A. from Georgia State University in December 2022, concentrating in the areas of marketing and business analytics.
Construction Accountant
Marketing Project Manager
Office Manager
With a career spanning over 25 years in both the public and private sectors, Kellie stands as a seasoned professional and a valuable asset to our Ascent team. A dedicated, results-driven individual, Kellie brings a wealth of experience to the organization.
She is no stranger to the world of construction and has a comprehensive understanding from both the project management and engineering perspective. Kellie has a keen eye for detail and a commitment to delivering excellence.
Project Coordinator
Nazia joined Ascent in the role of a project coordinator. Before joining Ascent, she served as a Web Project Coordinator.
With a rich background of 5 years of experience in the digital realm, she has been at the forefront of coordinating and managing web projects from concept to launch. With a blend of technical expertise and project management skills, she is dedicated to contributing to the success of diverse projects to ensure that projects not only meet but exceed expectations.
Consultant
Gary grew up working summers from 7th grade through graduating college for a large plumbing and process piping contractor in Mobile, AL. After graduating from Auburn University with a BS in Computer Engineering, Gary spent the next 16 years working in the industrial automation industry with The Foxboro Company and the ERP software solutions space with JD Edwards.
The 7 years with JD Edwards were primarily focused on the construction business, providing ERP software solutions to both large general contractors and large homebuilders. In 2003 Gary acquired a small residential plumbing contracting business in Pace, FL. Over the next 17 years, Gary grew this business to three physical locations and more than 130 employees, performing commercial and residential plumbing projects in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.
In 2020, Gary sold the business and continued to work for the company on a consulting basis for 2 more years. The unusual background, including providing construction industry ERP software solutions as well as nearly 20 years acquiring, growing, operating and ultimately selling a large subcontracting business, gives Gary a unique perspective on the operations of a construction company. Gary holds master plumbing and gas fitter licenses in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.
Junior Consultant
Stephen possesses nearly a decade of extensive financial, operational, and leadership expertise spanning diverse professional sectors, primarily centered on construction, development, and construction management. Before joining Ascent Consulting, he spent five years as a CPA at Ernst & Young. He then made significant contributions to an electrical construction company in an internal consulting capacity. Subsequently, he pursued multiple freelance roles, including a pivotal position as a Fractional Chief Transformation Officer (CTO).
Throughout his career, Stephen adeptly guided companies through various rapid growth phases, overseeing crucial financial matters, driving strategic growth initiatives, and managing back-office functions. He holds a BBA in Accounting and a Master of Accountancy from The University of Georgia.
Project Coordinator
Zachary brings 10+ years of project management experience as an owners representative for clients and from the developer side of the business.
He began his career as an assistant project manager with a masonry subcontractor in Florida, before moving to Atlanta.
Consultant
Daphene’s construction experience began working in her family’s mechanical construction company.
Next, she worked for a large EPC firm on projects in Texas and Malaysia. With over 15 years of construction industry experience on commercial and industrial projects. Her roles have included project manager, safety manager, construction services leader, and pipefitters helper.
While a professor at Purdue University in the School of Construction Management, she worked as a consultant to help construction companies improve processes, project management, workforce development to name a few. She has a BS, MS, and PhD from Purdue University and resides in Indiana.
Marketing Coordinator
Hakeem is a brand designer with over 10 years of experience. He has been a freelancer for about 9 years working with many different clients and industries under the following subjects: brand design, graphic design, web design, and social media marketing.
During that time freelancing, he also worked at many companies as a graphic and web designer. As well as taught disciplines of Art and Design to students varying from middle school age to college. As mentioned, he has a “jack of all trades” range but is quite proficient at WordPress and uses that knowledge to design cutting edge websites!
Hakeem specializes in branding, design, and creativity and is bringing his talents, skills, and passion to take Ascent Consulting to a new level!
Project Coordinator
Aimee joins Ascent as a Project Coordinator supporting our Senior and Procore Consultants. With construction industry experience both in-field and back-of-house (ranging from project site coordination to contract management to software administration), she brings a holistic perspective of the day-to-day challenges faced by our clients. Her varied professional roles include software implementation and training, technical content creation and design, and coordinating across teams to bring projects to successful completion. She is excited to direct her passion for people and processes toward our customers.