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What is the “Forer Effect” and why would you even care? We are all exposed to the Forer at some point in our life—some of us actually practice using it without even knowing it. The Forer Effect explains a lot about our society and predicts how people will likely react to a situation.
I was at a pre-construction meeting for a large, mixed-use building a few years ago with several other people. The architect, developer, general contractor, subcontractors, third party consultants and manufacturers were all present and all had input on how the stucco, windows and other penetrations should be done.
As we now are into the fall, it is time to look forward. We may think of spring as the season that begins life for nature but many of us in the association world of the construction industry consider fall the beginning of the year.
Several months ago, I wrote a column entitled
“Stupid Prices.” The theme of the column was the inevitable price dropping in
recessionary times, sometimes to ridiculous levels.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 30 percent of companies misclassify employees. Misclassification is defined as employees being referred to as independent contractors and it is a violation of the law.
In these uncertain times, contractors have to make decisions that will ultimately have an impact on your business and livelihood. What job to take, which ones to pass up, when to cut staff, when to add staff, where do you add them, when to expand or even drop a certain segment of the market that is just not worth it-decisions, decisions.
The truth is no designer or contractor wants a leaky wall assembly. Past water intrusion problems into walls have created billions of dollars in damage, struck fear in the hearts of architects and led to some drastic overreaction and insane alterations.
I was a plastering contractor during the last horrible recession of the late-’70s. Work was so scarce that we even bid for one of the more notorious developers in our area. Even knowing this particular developer was infamous for burning subcontractors, running a project site with no regard for proper sequence and avoiding retention payment, we felt we had to bid his work.
Can cement stucco and EIFS work in wet climates? The answer is yes and we can prove it. A recent study from the NAHB Research Center reported that brick veneer was the most dry of all claddings they tested. They really need to know all the facts.
Have you been around long enough to see the changes in construction? Remember when general contractors actually knew how to organize and schedule a project to actually run efficiently and not just a lot of talk about production?