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References of Our Firm
Matt,
I wanted to write to express my appreciation for the Business Management Boot Camp seminar you put on through the Southeastern Pennsylvania Associated Builders and Contractors from 4-23-07 through 4-27-07
My personal experience in our industry has been one of coming up through the ranks of a carpentry company, from Apprentice, to Carpenter, to Superintendent and now into management. This is not an uncommon path for many managers in the construction business; however the shift in paradigms from the field to a management position was a struggle for me as I am sure it continues to be for many others.
Your course was excellent in bringing to light many of the issues I have had to struggle through as well as several of the necessary points of focus for new managers in the industry. Your passion for your topic is evident in your delivery of the course as well as in the text and tools you provide to the participants.
I found the course to be very informative and valuable, not only for small business owners, but new Project Managers, and Superintendents looking to take the next step as well. I anticipate sending others from our firm to attend your next offering of the course in October.
Thanks Again and I hope all is well,
Christian Kalbach
Manager of Field Personnel, Safety and Training
E. Allen Reeves Inc.
This book by far the best available in the market. Trust me because I have read them all! It is in your face truth and facts. So many other books try to puff up the author versus addressing the issues that are a must to know. Experience contractor's and inexperienced contractors regardless of tenure should be required to read this book to their company president. There is a lot of documentation, bookkeeping, codes and regulations, HR issues, financial management, and people skills that are part of day to day construction activity. This book covers them truthfully, informatively, and in great detail. Thanks for producing such a quality book!!!!!
Mike Martin
Construction 2000, Inc.
Matt:
I found the seminar to be very helpful and provided me some tools we actually put in place at SJ Louis. Your emphasis on establishing an overhead budget, which to some may seem unrelated to the estimating process, I found especially appropriate. I truly believe most estimators just add on an arbitrary percentage to their bids for overhead and hope for the best. The relationship between volume and overhead was also pertinent.
Not only at my current employer but at previous employment as well, we continually struggled with overhead allocations when we bid on jobs with substantially different cost components. Your presentation provided a methodology and evidence of how the successful companies actually accomplished this task. I think any true competitor only needs a level playing field and will let the chips fall where they fall. Your seminar enabled me to understand the field much better.
Moving the estimator to a true businessperson is really what companies who want to be in business long term want. Much of the link between the basic estimating process and the actual contracting business was revealed.
Thank you
Mike Swanhorst
CFO
SJ Louis
Minnesota
I have read Mr.Stevens book, managing a construction firm and it has been extremely helpful to my company.
Christian Brown
Wayne Brown Design/Build
Morne Fortune, Castries, St.Lucia
I just wanted to let you that the seminar on project management had a very positive impact on my field superintendent . He came away with a new understanding and appreciation of project control . I highly recommend these seminars for anyone that is in charge of scheduling manpower and material for any construction project .
Sincerely ,
Rick Bosanquet/Construction Manager
Mason-Florida LLC
In writing this book (Managing a Construction Firm On Just 24 Hours a Day), Matt has done an exceptional job focusing on the fundamentals of operating a PROFITABLE construction firm. Matt’s book is a reminder that construction companies deserve to be rewarded for taking on risk and such risk requires intense control at every stage. Any firm, no matter its size, will prove successful and profitable by following these principals and logical approach.”
Les Snyder
Senior Vice President
Barton Malow Company
Mr. Stevens,
I and my partners have recently started out our firm, we are refuges of the great production builder purge. The knowledge that you have in your book and on your web site has been tremendously helpful and I believe to be quite accurate. Thanks for putting you knowledge in writing.
Eric Dille President
B & D Professional Builders
Thanks again for a great seminar! FYI I am a board member at ABC Keystone and will report to the board how good this seminar was!
Eric P. Unger, VP.
Vision Mechanical Inc.
West Reading, Pa.
Matt
I finished my first run through of your book. I think it is very well done and touches on good sound principles that we as Business Owners, Presidents, CEOs, etc. need to make sure our companies are adhering to. There are chapters that will be great tools for project managers and estimators to read.
There are some sections that are perhaps a little more tailored for the GC rather than a specialty sub such as myself, I.e. Schedule sections, although certainly describe the principals of developing a schedule, perhaps for a sub there are challenges in knowing all the variables outside of the subcontractor control and knowledge that are hard to build into the in house sub schedule until the GC has developed the master schedule.
Again, I am impressed with the book and will be purchasing more to share with my staff.
Thanks
Ian Blair
Blair Concrete
As a seasoned PM I have found some truely useful items within your guides and downloads. Working oversea is an adventure but even here we find some insightful information that is relevent and useful to our group.
Great stuff. RJF
Matt,
The boot camp format was excellent by taking repeated breaks on time I found myself paying very much attention while in the class. Being able to have a break every hour put me at ease. I was able to put my cell on vibrate and if a call did come up decide weather to leave the room to deal with it or wait for a timely break. I also was appreciative that you realized everyone there had business to take care and you did not take affront to anyone having to leave the class to take care of it. Maybe there could be some way you could communicate to potential clients although they will be away from work they will not be out of touch. It was the best format for a teaching situation that I ever attended. I was alert, interested and wanted to participate. I thought you had a very friendly and engaging personality. You clearly had a grasp of your subject matter. I felt you made the class at ease. We were a class and not a group of individuals sitting back and getting lectured all week and listening to old war stories. Sometimes when I go to these types of classes the moderator stands up on a soapbox bragging about there accomplishments. I felt you were very flexible to listen to others opinions and your comment about starting points for conversations for all you analytic info was great.
My favorite part of the seminar was the exercise with the critical path method. It taught me a great tool and it helped foster camaraderie with some of my class mates. Drawing on others experiences and expertise was a tremendous benefit. I love networking with people. My rule of thumb is that if I attend a class I have a goal to hopefully bring back one or two ideas that may help me in my own work situation. There were more than ten off the chart suggestions that I am going to try and introduce. If one or two actually take hold in my organization I will be thrilled.
Interacting with the others in the class gave me some insights that I may take home. For example one of my classmates suggested that doing a credit check on an individual could give you an idea about someone's character. His comment was that if you pay your bills usually you are a conscientious, serious candidate for employment. Feedback like this you just can't measure and is a tremendous side benefit of the class. I think because you set the tone of the class everyone contributed. I could go on and on with positive comments but I do have to get back to work sometime.
I want to mention that the setting at our association was great and John Judge's effort and hospitality was appreciated.
Tom Collinson
Collinson, Inc.
Uwchland, Pennsylvania
Matt,
Thank you so much for signing me up for the newsletter. I enjoyed the class today. The subject matter was very informational and I can see where I can employ a lot of the templates in my day to day activities.
I look forward to taking one of the other classes you instruct.
Danny Chadwick
Sr. Preconstruction Specialist
Welbro Building Corporation
Mr. Stevens provides information that will be useful to the new construction contractor as well as to the seasoned veteran. He discusses a wide variety of construction management problems from an academic viewpoint and then introduces hard practical advice that could only come from long personal experience. He provides solid examples of efficiencies and cost-effective alternatives always providing a path to save time and money and to improve company performance. He encourages understanding and use of tools one may already have rather than suggesting new expenditures - such as practical use of spreadsheets with many examples given.
The author has learned from his own experience, he has consulted for many firms of varying size and position in the industry, he has talked and studied with his students, his clients, his partners and competitors over years and he has developed an organized collection of useful advice about best practices for construction firm management in today's competitive markets.
I liked the book, I learned from it and I recommend it.
Ted Baker
CFO
ProFab Tech
Matt,
Being that we are a new company, Noble Plumbing has found that the practices taught in your Estimating, Pricing, and Bidding class to be a very useful in our attempt to procure our first work. In particular the five rules to remember every bid day were very instrumental in all of our bids that we have put out so far. For us it was very important to not come in to low just so we could get some work and cash flow going. We have recently gotten our first job (the contract is over 3 million dollars) and we have the field and project management teams working in concert to make sure that all aspects of the job handoff will go smoothly with everyone involved. We are also looking forward to use the tracking procedures learned in class, this will allow us to know how the job is doing financially during the job’s entire duration. Thank you for all your help.
Rick Elder
Estimating Manager
Noble Plumbing, LLC
Virginia
Good news, I hope you sell tons of books, I've enjoyed reading it.
Werner Molzahn
Mar-Will Construction Ltd
British Columbia
Matt Stevens’ book, Managing a Construction Firm on Just 24 Hours Day, is well worth the read-time for anyone involved with construction contracting. Successful contractors both validate how they currently manage and gain exposure to industry-wide methodologies of best in class. Beginning or expanding your construction firm? Then this book needs to be your first research; you will experience a reliable reference as well. If you’re a contractor, or employed by one, this book won’t gather dust on your bookshelf. I personally enjoyed Matt’s ability to weave the details of sophisticated bidding and financial strategies, risk management, and financial planning with understandable language that I can actually use.
Michael F. Swanhorst, CPA, MBA
CFO S. J. Louis Construction, Inc.
St. Cloud, Minnesota
Matt,
I attended your Estimating Class, and came away with valuable information that I had not even thought about. As a small subcontractor, I have done things certain ways, based upon experience and evolution of processes. Yet, as I have utilized some of the things you presented, not only has it reinforced my estimating procedures, it has confirmed my competitiveness in the marketplace. Of course, all negotiation is a poker game. At best, you have plenty to work with. At a minimum, you know where you stand during the game.
Best Wishes,
Tim Phillips
Metro Framing LLC
Alexandria, Virginia
Matt,
Just wanted do drop you a line to let you know how much I enjoyed your class.It was nice to see that what IM doing in my estimating is pretty much in line with the industry.I picked up a few items and changes that I wanted to make and having the discussions gave me the boost to get them started. The biggest impact was the discussion on getting computerized, you will be happy to know my software and digitizer will be arriving this week.Thank you for the up to date information, and I will be seeing you later this week at your next seminar on finances
Dave Conto
Heichel Plumbing
Florida
Hi Matt:
It was fun going to a class I didn't have to test in. We really enjoyed it and you KNOW your stuff. Good practical stuff. Hope we see you again at another time. Georgia really is beautiful and has great weather.
best regards,
Laurel Hughes
Hughes Homes – Georgia
Thanks Matt, but we are all set for now. We just took a few courses at the Orlando trade show and are pretty caught up on CEU's. Just for your info, the courses at the Trade show didn't even compare to your courses. We'll keep a lookout for you when it is time for some more classes.
Jay Krieger
Vice President
AKC Inc.
Florida
Matt,
After attending your class in April, I left feeling very informed. Many of the topics covered in the class were never discussed prior. Many of these topics are discussed on a daily basis now. I found the class easy to follow and very informative. I would recommend this class to other sub-contractors that we work along side on a daily basis.
Sincerely,
Andy Dickey
Accu-Crete, Inc.
Matt:
I spoke with Lois this morning in regard to upgrading my license to CGC. While on the phone I shared with her that the class this weekend past was the best I've attended to date. The subject material was well organized and professionally presented. The delivery was of interest and applicable to my business. I also shared that you represented Palm in a professional manner and were a credit to their organization. I look forward to sitting in another of your classes when the opportunity presents itself.
Thank you for the Loss Revenue Chart. It, along with other topics you presented, will be used as we review our progress.
Thanks, Matt, for a great weekend!
Yours truly,
Kip Bruner
President
Dear Matt
Thank you for your excellent presentation at Tuesday’s 12th annual DSF Consultants Conference. Including a nationally known presenter really adds to the value of the day’s program. A quick look at the evaluations indicated your program’s content and presentation were highly regarded by the engineers and architects attending the session.
Again thank you for working with ACEC Wisconsin
Carol Godiksen
Executive Director
ACEC Wiconsin
Hi! Matt
Good lesson learned from chapter 1 "The High Cost of Rework". Using the charts on pages 37 & 304 at are monthly meeting got every ones attention, and efficiency is improving. Thank You!
Have a Great Day!
Mercer Haight
President
Maitland - Winter Park Plumbing
Maitland, Florida
Dear Matt:
You conducted a very educational and informative session this weekend. To be
honest, it was THE most interesting seminar for CE that Palm has conducted
since 1998... touché to you and Palm.
I would most definitely be interested in attending your training sessions
for bid strategies, estimating and whatever curriculum you offer for
construction.
Please send your syllabus and schedules when they are available:
Mary Lou Norris
Jacksonville, Fl
I just wanted to thank you for the information. Your website has been a very
informative source of information for me. I look forward to the release of
your book.
Thanks,
Zubair
CadCon Incorporated
Matt,
Congratulations with the publishing of your new book! Unfortunately I have to decline the invitation for the signing ceremony due to other commitments, but I hope it will be a joyous occasion for you. I always read your newsletters with great interest, you are a consultant who is in touch with the reality of our industry.
Happy Holidays,
Bob Wind
Manager of Preconstruction
AMERICAN BRIDGE COMPANY
Posted by Matt Stevens at October 12, 2005 03:54 AM
Comments
Mr. Stevens:
Thank you very much for your kind attention to my request.
I'll be looking forward to the release of the book.
I appreciate the subscription to the newsletter.
Sincerely,
Fredy
Posted by: Fredy Garcia at March 1, 2006 12:40 PM