Masonry Magazine March 2003 Page. 52
An Eye to the Future -
Planning and Staffing Your Construction Office for Growth
By Steve Saucerman
THE SITUATION? WORK'S LINED UP, YOU HAVE THE TOOLS, LABOR'S AVAILABLE, and you're ready. But you're the owner and you better begin thinking like an owner. The current work is only going to last so long and you need to generate more. You've inherited other responsibilities now and can't possibly handle it all. It's time develop your team. It's time to choose the people who will make up the core decision-making and administrative members of your company. But where to begin?
Weighing the Need: Your Plan
WELL, THERE'S MUCH to consider, but nothing worthwhile can be achieved without having a clear picture of where it is you want to go. There are questions to be asked (and answered) before proceeding, such as:
* How do you see your company in five years?
* What do you want to achieve professionally? Personally?
* Are you in it to acquire wealth, or is the work itself its own reward?
These are all questions that, with the help of your banker or financial consultant, you should map out in the traditional five-year financial growth/strategy plan. This plan simply helps put your visions in more "tangible" perspective and is invaluable in "quantifying" and formulating a more exact vision of the size and scope of your future office needs.
Your plan depends on your vision of the future. If your plans for the future don't include a lot of growth - that is, work is guaranteed to be pretty steady as is; profit margins are adequate; and you don't plan on pushing your volume