|
|
| |
| |
Fire Protection Contractors today are searching for ways to work more efficiently and more intelligently so they can win jobs and increase profit margins.
A recent published survey indicated that 30-percent of the responding fire protection contractors reported profits were down, and down by an average of 27-percent. They reported a market peppered with "suicidal bidding", as well as more bidders per job. For many the issue is not profitability, but survival.
Labor is the most significant and uncontrollable cost component making up any estimate. This is the area to concentrate on if a contractor is to find ways to become more productive, competitive and profitable. Labor variables take many twists and turns on any job. They include many factors outside the contractor's control: weather, site location, physical considerations, contentions for site resources, other contractor schedules, supplier deliveries, and many other unknown variables and unforeseen demands.
If the contractor can better control these variables, estimators can become more aggressive when estimating jobs. There will be fewer surprises and more activities whose actual costs will closely reflect estimates. One approach many forward-thinking contractors are adopting as a cost-controlling way of doing business is prefabrication, and that's where we come in.
Prefabrication of pipe configurations in a workshop and transporting them to the work site for final connection-has much appeal. Until recently, implementing prefabrication has been perceived by some as being more trouble than it's worth. Today, the fire protection contractor who is not prefabricating is at a competitive disadvantage. The firm is either not winning bids, or not realizing the potential profits they could be if they were prefabricating their piping configurations.
|
 |
|
| |
|
