Construction and Contracting Business. Entrepreneur magazine
are valuable for comparing cell phone features as well as cell phone plans available in various regions of the U.S. However, it is always better to speak personally with a sales representative who specializes in business needs. A company that needs several cell phones can often negotiate a better price by talking with a salesperson. Remember, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and others are all very competitive, so go for the best deal you can get.
Getting the idea? Efficient communications systems are the lifeblood of any business. Every office needs the following machines to streamline communications and make running the business more efficient, and inevitably, more successful:
1. Telephone answering machine. Unless your office has a PBX system, this still works. While it is preferable to have a real person answer calls or forward them to your cell phone, an answering machine can be a useful tool for times when the office staff is busy and for evening and weekends.
2. Fax machine. Not very popular anymore, so prices are low, but a fax machine can still be useful for ordering materials, sending government and insurance reports, sending and receiving client documents such as proposals and change orders, and ordering office supplies.
3. Copy machine. It’s invaluable for making duplicate records, printing copies of interoffice memos for distribution, and myriad other uses too numerous to mention.
4. Multifunction machine. It can do many of the above tasks from a single source. These versatile machines can be connected to a personal computer and print, scan, fax, and copy documents of all types; they can also be used as stand-alone machines and act as your primary copy machine.
A simple desktop computer can handle the daily work of the business. A more powerful computer is needed for computer-aided drafting (CAD) work. A laptop notebook, or the newer and smaller netbook computer, can be a useful selling tool, with photographs of completed work available to show prospective clients. Finally, the tablet computers like the iPad offer business owners a portable device capable of connecting to the internet via cellular services or wifi technology. With a myriad of productivity applications available, most business owners can benefit from these computers.
fun fact
During the early 1950s, the first commercial computer built in the United States, named UNIVAC, occupied more than 350 square feet of office space (about the size of a two-car garage) and had the ability to perform 1,900 operations per second. In 2012, IBM built a much smaller supercomputer named Sequoia capable of performing 16,320,000,000,000,000 calculations per second.
Much to the dismay of some older architects and designers, the computer has replaced the drafting board and T-square as the primary tool for designing property development projects. Not only do computers make it much easier to make changes and revisions to plans, they can create cost estimates for clients and share information with other design or installation professionals.
Finally, connecting the computer to the World Wide Web via the internet has become the modern way of advertising, communicating, and purchasing. There are, however, several cautionary notes about using the computer as a business tool. First, data and information can be lost if the computer breaks down or is damaged by an electrical storm. Therefore, it is critically important to have a good backup program to save records. Indeed, most computer consultants recommend using two sets of backup media such as a flash drive or external hard drive and a third back up that is taken off-site and kept in a secure place. Today, you can also utilize cloud computer backup, which refers to backing up data to a remote server accessed via the internet. Cloud backup data is stored in, and accessible from, multiple distributed and connected resources that make up a cloud. For more on cloud backup, visit www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/cloud_backup.html.
In recent years, options for online data storage have grown considerably. Check out www.toptenreviews.com for online backup services reviews to research available options. While working away on your computer daily, it’s easy to forget how many people every day are devastated when vital data is lost because of a computer virus, malfunction, theft, accident, or even an act of nature. Backing up data is essential. In 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans, business owners who used the backup systems at that time were able to restart their companies much faster than those who lost all of their data . . . some of which never recovered and never returned to business.
Every office needs everyday supplies. Your needs will vary depending on the size of your business and your budget. As you look at the list in Figure 5–1, page 54, prioritize your needs. After you’ve done your shopping, fill in the purchase price next to each item, and add up your costs to get a head start on estimating your startup costs. Of course, this is not a complete list of supplies that you may need, so tailor it to what you think you will use.
FIGURE 5–1: Office Supplies Checklist
Use this handy list as a shopping guide for equipping your office with supplies (you probably already have some of these).
The contracting industry is large and diverse; each segment has its own specialized tools and equipment. Some contractors work most efficiently when they carry their equipment in a van, some need dump trucks, while others rely on pickup trucks with specialized compartments and racks. The same is true for power and hand tools. The best advice we can give is to encourage you to talk with other contractors and ask what they use. Many established successful contractors are more than happy to help a fledgling business get started. Another approach is to stop at job sites and see what other contractors use; of course, if you have been an employee of a contractor and are striking out on your own, you already know which tools and equipment you’ll need to get started.
In Chapter 4, we discussed the types of governmental and insurance accounts required of most businesses. Below is a supplemental list of items and accounts each business should have. Much of this information can be found on the internet at http://business.usa.gov.
