Masonry Magazine July 1980 Page. 22
Books
`"Productivity Improvement Guide for Construction Contractors." 21 pp.; $3.00 per copy: $2.50 each for order of 10 copies or more. National Construction Employers Council, Suite 200, 2033 K St., N.W., Washington, DC 2006.
`Although productivity is actually a measure of how much you can accomplish with the resources you use, the purpose of this new guide is not to measure productivity but to improve it. It does this by focusing attention on some of the key factors that affect construction productivity.
`For the construction contractor, productivity improvement means accomplishing more work with few (or no) increases in such resources as labor, money and time. Thus, productivity improvement does not mean working harder; it means working smarter.
`Toward this end, the guide provides the contractor with a way to analyze the three basic elements in any of his jobs which are within his control-planning and coordinating: management methods, and labor relations. The check list and multiple-choice format enable the individual contactor to create a productivity profile reflecting the strong and weak areas on his jobs.
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`"The Regulatory and Paperwork Maze: A Guide for Small Business" by Laurie H. Hutzler. $10.00 plus $2.50 postage and handling: bulk purchase discounts available. Legal Management Services, Inc., Book Order Dept., Route 1, Stoddard, WI 54658.
`This new work was recently distributed by the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy to delegates at the 1980 White House Conference on Small Business as part of SBA educational materials on paperwork reduction for small business. The Guide explains the legislative and regulatory process and how to most efficiently participate. It further explains how to make complaints to government agencies to get results, and describes how small business owners can most effectively cope with their own paperwork burden.
`Victor Rivera, director of the Office of Information/Associations, SBA Office of the Chief Counsel for Advocacy, described the Guide as an "invaluable tool" in the SBA paperwork reduction project. He said, "The Guide is an extremely practical look at the regulatory and legislative process, an excellent handbook on how to make small business a potent force in reducing government paperwork and changing the regulatory process."
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`"Dodge Construction Systems Costs 1980." 8% x 11: $39.80 plus $2.90 postage and handling charges. McGraw-Hill Information Systems Co., P.O. Box 11354, Church Street Station, New York, NY 10249.
`The costs of various building components change so rapidly and unevenly over time that it's risky, and costly, to try to estimate next year's costs with this year's information. The 1980 edition of McGraw-Hill's Dodge Construction Systems Costs is specifically designed to help the user understand the cost implications of design decisions "in just minutes," according to its publisher.
`The updated edition carries cost information for each functional part of 44 different building types. According to McGraw-Hill, "This saves you from going through unit costing and means that you can easily arrive at costs for the superstructure, foundations, exterior walls, partitions, and other major systems within minutes and with minimum calculations."
`Among other topics, the book covers space planning, average building costs, average systems costs, individual systems costs, and geographical adjustment factors.
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`"Polymers In Concrete." 426 pp.; $14.50 to ACI members, $18.95 to non-members. Shipping/handling fee: $1.50 per book in U.S., $3.00 per book elsewhere. Available from American Concrete Institute, P.O. Box 19150, Detroit, MI 48219.
`The general theme of this new report is developments in the field of polymers in concrete in the decade of the 70s. The book presents 22 papers which evolved from an ACI-sponsored symposium that assembled current thought on the subject of polymers. The contributions come from seven countries.
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`"When choosing between two evils," quipped Mae West, "I always like to try the one I've never tried before."