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Lessons Learned from the Nigerian Bank

A few days ago, I received another email from a “close and personal friend” who is a high-ranking manager at a bank in Nigeria. My “close” friend must really trust me more than anyone else because he asked that I hold, in trust, $10 million US dollars for his cousin, a now deposed village leader. […]

Know Thy Equipment

Too often, contractors with significant equipment inventory use industry standard rental rates for anticipated equipment usage instead of actual costs when preparing a bid—a practice that could cause you to lose a job in today’s tight bidding environment. Using industry standard rental rates simply does not take advantage of the potentially lower cost of owned […]

A Fist Full of IOUs

More construction businesses fail from the lack of cash due to poor cash management than from “bad” jobs—it’s a fact. One of the main causes of poor cash management is the ineffective collection of receivables. Your ability to survive—and even grow—in this industry demands that you get paid in a timely manner. Timely means getting […]

Congratulations! You’re Broke.

Mismanagement of Cash Flow — At Direct Surety, we have had the opportunity to work with many successful construction organizations. We’ve also worked with a few not so successful companies that should have been. The main cause of these business flops has almost always been their rocket-like success and then the sudden discovery they’ve run out […]

Where’s Waldo

Lack of Inventory Control — Over the past 30 years in construction, there have been countless times when I’d meet a job foreman wandering around the shop or yard muttering, “I know we have it out here somewhere.” He’d look and look for that misplaced tool, a section of steel plate or even a backhoe. “Where […]