Category: Business
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Contractor Snapshot: Building Trust With Asphalt
When running a business, a huge part of keeping it functioning is having good customer service. If you’re just starting out, keeping customer relations at top of mind is all the more important. Treating your customers well and ensuring constant communication can become key foundational qualities of your company. To succeed in customer-based industries, it…
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8 Steps to a Safer Jobsite
Safety isn’t just about compliance—it’s a driver of business success. A strong safety culture reduces accidents, claims, and insurance costs while enhancing efficiency and minimizing downtime. It also boosts morale, attracts talent, and positions your company as a trusted partner. In 2023 alone, there were 62 million workplace injuries and 222,698 preventable deaths, according to…
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7 Key Indicators of Project Success
It is not uncommon that most general contractors conduct a post-project review. Sometimes nicknamed the “post-mortem,” the intention is to huddle the primary leadership from a given project to debrief on its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that need to be eliminated. Sub-specialty contractors can learn from this same winning “best practices” process. For any…
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Extend the Life of Your Work Boots in a Few Simple Steps
Just like a tool belt and a trusty truck, a comfortable pair of safety toe work boots are a necessity for construction workers. Similar to that trusty truck, work boots need regular care and maintenance to make sure they last as long as possible. Avoid Unnecessary Wear & Tear To prolong the life of a…
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Troublemaker to CEO: Championing a Career in Construction
If you’d told me as a child that I would one day become the president and CEO of a national skilled trade education group, I would have never believed you. Not because I lacked ambition, but because I was headed down the wrong path. I was a classic troublemaker—smart but rebellious, always testing boundaries. Then,…
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How Autonomous Negotiation is Shaping Supply Chain Efficiency
The global supply chain faces unprecedented challenges, from geopolitical uncertainties to evolving consumer demands. In this landscape, the ability to swiftly adapt has become essential. While automation has long been a part of supply chain operations, the next frontier lies in optimizing one of its most complex and resource-intensive aspects: negotiation. AI Agents conducting autonomous…
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Why the Trucking Industry is Short on Drivers
Rarely has a single issue in trucking permeated every aspect of the industry’s successes and failures as has the truck driver shortage. While the issue is a perennial “Top 10” issue on the American Transportation Research Institute’s (ATRI) annual survey of critical issues in trucking, the truck driver shortage has experienced the perfect storm of growing…
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How Technology is Building a Safer Construction Environment
Construction is known for its inherent risks. The iconic image of workers casually eating lunch on a skyscraper beam with no safety measures highlights the risks that have long been present in the industry. In fact, 41% of the 34 deadliest jobs in the U.S. are in construction. While safety practices have significantly improved since…
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6 Tips to Make the Customer Experience a Breeze
Because it’s the offseason I decided we needed to have our garage floor coated. This was probably my first time calling contractors for quotes as a consumer, and let me tell you, being on the buying end of that phone call is a whole different ball game. I have encountered some companies that were a…
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Combat Bad Weather With Better Planning
Developing relationships with potential customers requires patience. ACI Asphalt & Concrete, LLC sales associate Mike Picott nurtured a two-year relationship with new client Tashitaa Tufaa of MTN in Fridley, Minnesota. He saw that come to fruition this season after lengthy negotiations. The customer’s goal was to create a new 157,995 square foot asphalt parking lot…