Some frank talk about concrete contracting

The annual industy roundtable convened each fall by the editors of Concrete Construction magazine always yields some interesting glimpses of what's going on in the industry. Editors Bill Palmer, Joe Nasvik and Tom Klemens met this afternoon in Denver with several concrete contractors, material producers, a testing agency representative and a business consultant specializing in construction.

A summary of the discussion will appear in the November issue of Concrete Construction, but here are a couple of main themes that came out of the discussion.

• Nailing down expectations early in the game -- essentially settling disagreements before they come up -- is becoming more important.
• Use of "referee panels" is often proving to be an effective way to adjudicate the acceptability of architectural and decorative concrete work.
• The importance of establishing good relationships among the team members on construction projects has clearly risen in concrete contracting as margins remain slim and even small claims can turn an otherwise profitable job into a money loser.
• Two keys to succeeding in this business are carefully selecting who you want to work with and differentiating your work from that of your competitors.
• A shrinking workforce and material availability and pricing are going to continue to add to the uncertainty of concrete contracting.
• Training and education are important. But because the offerings run from short demonstration to intensive hands-on sessions, it's hard to compare and select which might be most beneficial.

While you're waiting for this year's rundown, you can check out the roundtable reports from 2004 and 2003. Meanwhile, tomorrow the ASCC seminars and demonstrations are on tap. Should be very interesting.