Masonry Magazine January 2007 Page. 52
TECHNOLOGY
CONTRACTORS
AND
BUILDING CODES
As a contractor, even before you start estimating a job, you know that the profit margin will be slim. Labor, equipment and material costs are on a steady increase year after year. Thus, the cost of doing business in the construction industry is getting more and more expensive. Naturally, as a businessperson, you look for ways to lower your expenses and overhead, producing more profit. In doing so, you may look at the amount of labor used and the cost of overtime, vehicles, construction equipment and masonry materials. In many cases, these are treated as fixed costs. This means that, since your margin is fixed, in order to increase profit, you must increase your volume. Masonry's volume of business is the percentage of total construction that is completed using masonry materials. This is the concept of market share.
By Rashod R. Johnson, P.E.,
Director of Engineering, Mason Contractors Association of America