Determined to bring the same disciplined approach to custom building as he did with warranty repairs, Kris’ first step was to develop the corporate framework that he knew would be necessary to support his ambitious growth plans. “Customers might be a little surprised to discover the number of construction firms that continue to manage their businesses using spreadsheets and other self-made workarounds,” he notes. “In our case, we chose to go with a computer program designed specifically for our industry that provides core project and resource management tools, and we insisted that all team members – including our trades contractors – use the program.” By having everyone managing their tasks in the program, specific project updates are always accessible in real time. Other features, including automated scheduling and inventory tracking, improve overall efficiency and because the program also runs on mobile devices, no matter where the job site may be located, everyone can easily keep in touch. But it was Kris’ next move that truly demonstrated how carefully he had thought the process through. Because many of the tradespeople contributing to Norseman projects are independent workers, Kris settled on an innovative concept of creating annual contracts to help make relationships with tradespeople more of a partnership than simply that of a hired vendor. “We wanted to make sure that our tradespeople felt that their personal and professional interests were aligned with Norseman’s, and we’ve tried to encourage this by creating a contact that sets the terms THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
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