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Practical knowledge for specialty contractors
Compliance, change management, project controls, and the data discipline that compounds across bids. Written for California specialty subs — owners, PMs, estimators, and the field.
7 of 47 articles for Executive. Clear
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Baseline vs current vs actuals — the three views every project lives in
A baseline is the promise. Current is the forecast. Actuals are the receipts. Treating them as one number is how subs miss overruns until they're paying for them.
Closing the loop — warranty callbacks become next year's contingency
Most subs lose the warranty data trail because the callback lives in a different inbox than the estimate. The loop is short, the payoff is high, and the discipline is mostly about where the data lives.
Earned value for trades — the four numbers that predict overruns
EVM without the certification. PV, EV, AC, and the four ratios that tell you a job is going sideways before the final pay app does.
Productivity rate capture — today's timecard becomes tomorrow's bid
The estimator's productivity assumption is the single biggest source of bid variance. The fix is a feedback loop, and the loop only works if timecard data lives in the same system as the assemblies.
The STrOp glossary — what we call things, and why
Construction has never agreed on its words — the same term means three different things depending on who's talking. Here's the one name STrOp uses for each thing, and the words we deliberately split.
Why the record is a database, not a folder of spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are where a sharp operator thinks. They're a bad place to keep the shop's record. What a relational database does that a folder of .xlsx files can't — one fact in one place, links that can't be mistyped, locks that hold for everyone, a history of who changed what — and why every list in STrOp still exports to CSV.
Your estimate is your earliest budget — not the contract value
The contract value tells you what the GC owes you. The estimate tells you what the job is supposed to cost. Confusing them is how subs miss a 30% margin compression.
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Single-pipeline operations for California specialty contractors — bid through warranty.
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