The Power of The Positive - Part II

As I mentioned yesterday, I had another thought about the power of positive reinforcement while writing yesterday's post, so here it is.
At the end of each of our projects, we do a job recap meeting with our Project Superintendent, Project Manager, General Superintendent, and myself. As part of this closeout meeting we ask if there were any subcontractors on the project that really went above and beyond (and there usually are).
Those that are mentioned receive a personal letter from me thanking them for their efforts and telling them that I appreciate them.
Well a month or so ago we sent a letter to one of our painting contractors telling him how happy we were with the project. (We do this via snail mail in case anyone wants to keep a hard copy of the letter for a wall of fame or a testimonial or any other use.)
Within two days I had heard from four or five people, the owner of the painting company, his field foreman, one of his crew members, a couple of my Superintendents, about how excited they were to get this letter. I guess it's because we have gotten to a point in our industry where it is common only hear about the negative.
Getting this positive feedback from his company got many of the guys in my company excited, and this "buzz" lasted the better part of a week! All from letting someone know that they had done a good job and that we appreciated it. That is the Power of the Positive! and it's contagious.
Try it. Let me know how it works for you.

The Power of The Positive - Part I

I received the following quick e-mail an hour or so ago from a new client that we met for the first time yesterday.

As a quick background, he is not really our client, as we are working for the building owner on this client's behalf, but he is the end user, and ultimately, it is important that he is happy with the space that we build him.

In any event, here is what he wrote me:

Frankly, after meeting w you and your crew, I'm confident all will go well :)

What a simple statement. This was part of a larger e-mail and he and I have been e-mailing back and forth coordinating a couple of details for his project, but his last e-mail wasn't much longer than this, and, in my mind, was just another way of saying "I trust you."

How simple. And how powerful.

After putting his confidence in my company, do you think I might make a little extra effort to make absolutely sure that everything on his project is taken care of? You bet.

We run all of our projects in an unbelievably organized manner, and our attention to detail is one of the things that we believe sets our company apart, but after receiving this vote of confidence, that extra effort will be made. When the confidence is given, it comes with a responsibility not to betray that confidence, and that responsibility must be taken seriously.

This reminds me of another story about the Power of the Positive, and how it is infectious. Tomorrow I will share that story with you.

America Hiring Blue Collar Workers Again

America Hiring Blue Collar Workers Again

By Annalyn Censky

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Construction and manufacturing workers got some slightly better news from the government's jobs report on Friday. Those industries each added 33,000 jobs in February. It was the biggest one-month gain for construction workers in nearly four years. And in manufacturing, February's increase rounded off the strongest three-month winning streak in 16 years. But that doesn't mean either industry is out of the woods just yet.

The above portion of the article came to me from the AGC weekly newsletter and it gave some food for thought. This talks about happenings in the construction industry on a macro level, and it is mostly good news. In case you didn't know, the construction industry has been the hardest hit sector of the economy since the recession began, with unemployment reaching above 25%. It is currently at 21.8% and slowly getting better, which is good news.

At a micro level, this mirrors what we are seeing locally at Mendel & Company. While the medical and dental construction world has remained steady, due in large part, I believe, in their continued ability to receive financing, we have seen an increase lately in other types of work, like retail, restaurant, general office and other commercial work.

Tomorrow I will mention a few of the specific projects that we have started lately, as well as what this means in terms of prices for construction services in the near-term.

If you would like the link to the entire article referenced above, just contact me. By tomorrow I will learn how to post a link so that you can go right to it.

Rocky Mountain Communities Playhouse Project

I think I have mentioned this before, but late last year we were approached by the folks at Rocky Mountain Communities and asked to build a playhouse that will be auctioned off for charity late this summer. If you check out www.rockymountaincommunities.org our playhouse is on the main page, and is called Arlo's Mercantile Exchange. Thanks to our friends at Rowland + Broughton Architecture for partnering with us and providing the design! Check them out at www.rowlandbroughton.com
The date for the auction has not been set yet. Stay tuned for more information.

CING update

We had a terrific Construction Industry Networking Group (CING) meeting this past Tuesday. We meet the 3rd Tuesday of every month at the South Metro Chamber of Commerce. Other than a lack of breakfast, there was some terrific conversation. We decided to leave the name of the group as CING. We started a contest for a new logo, and talked about the format of the meetings for the next year. We also announced the launch of our new website! Check it out at www.cingdenver.com
Anyone in the construction industry is welcome, so please plan on joining us on May 17th.