Description
This book is about how to manage a construction business. The author, Nick Ganaway, has been in the construction industry for 25 years and has learned a lot about how to manage a construction business. The book is divided into four parts: the business side of construction, the owner, the contractor, and the chain-store construction. The first part of the book covers the business side of construction, which includes understanding the market, financial planning, and marketing. The second part covers the owner, which includes understanding the role of the owner, setting goals, and managing the business. The third part covers the contractor, which includes understanding the contractor's role, contracting, and managing the contractor. The fourth part covers chain-store construction, which includes understanding the chain-store construction process, setting goals, and managing the chain-store construction process. Overall, this book is a useful addition to the professional library of any construction commercial manager.
Only 43 per cent of U.S. construction firms remain in business after four years. Why? Inadequate management, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. This is surprising because most construction firms are formed by ambitious construction project managers, executives and tradesmen who have excelled at what they have been doing. But as experienced as these entrepreneurs may be, they are not likely prepared to take on the full range of responsibilities forced on them in managing the business of construction in its entirety. While this business failure rate and its causes are based on U.S. experience, available data from a number of other industrialized countries shows they are similar. This book describes in detail what the business side of the construction equation requires of the construction firm owner. The contractor who quickly learns these requirements can identify and avoid or manage around the pitfalls that cause the high failure rate in our industry and put his or her construction firm on a level playing field with the best-run companies in the business. The detailed duties of the owner, whether in the U.S., U.K., Australia or Canada, are a common theme throughout the book. The author, Nick Ganaway, speaks peer-to-peer, and the book is sprinkled with supporting examples from his own experience. He is immersed in the industry and this book is based on the things I've learned, used, and refined as a light-commercial general contractor in the course of starting and operating my own construction firm for 25 years. The contractor doing $5 million or $50 million or more in annual sales or the equivalent amount in other countries, or the entrepreneur who is just starting up, can use the tried and proven material in this book to build a business that is profitable, enjoyable, and enduring. Additionally, the book devotes a chapter to specializing in chain-store construction. Review: a useful addition to the professional library of any construction commercial manager Building Engineer, December 2006
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