Asbestos Abatement Blog

Well, I haven't spent as much time writing in the company blog as I had optimistically hoped for.  That is largely a function of priorities -- my boss often reminds me, "You can't manage time; you can only manage priorities."  That is definitely a true principle.  So, for the sake of discussion -- what things have taken precedence over blogging these last several days?

Business Stuff

By business stuff I mean stuff like succession planning, company strategy, negotiations regarding the purchase of a strategic partner's business, and that kind of stuff.  For some reason, when there are ten minutes to spare these things have taken priority over writing in the company blog.

Human Resources Stuff

I don't know how other industries are, but in our industry scheduling employees is a huge undertaking.  To add to the challenges, not just anyone can do asbestos abatement.  Before our employees can go on an asbestos job they have to take a 40-hour certification class, plus some equipment and other training.  We estimate the hard cost of hiring an employee to be about $1,200 (that doesn't include overhead allocation or anything like that).  Anyway, as the peak season wanes we get smaller jobs in greater quantities, and that makes scheduling much more difficult.

Logistics Stuff

Well, a natural companion to scheduling employees is scheduling all of the other resources.  When jobs overlap our equipment (I will show you some pictures in a later post) gets spread out too.  Yesterday, for example, all five of our generators were out, and we were one short.  It can be pretty tricky to share equipment between jobs at times.  The other challenging one is trailers (dump trailers, cargo trailers, etc.), because everybody needs them.  Part of my job is to keep our equipment in full production as much as possible.  Sometimes, when jobs take longer than expected, it can throw the whole thing out of whack.  A lot of my time is spent problem solving -- finding creative ways to extend the use of equipment without hurting production rates, etc.  Kind of fun!

What about Blogging?

Exactly.  What about blogging?  Well, this blog is all about an experiment.  I have been involved with construction companies since my youth, and I have been involved with Internet marketing since I graduated from college.  The experiment is, "Is the Internet an appropriate medium for construction companies?"  I can guarantee that getting people and things where they need to be is critical for our business, but blogging's impact still remains to be seen.  I have not heard of a construction company successfully using a blog as part of their growth strategy (I do know of other industries that have successful blogs).  If you know of any really successful construction blogs please let me know!