I See Some Stimulus Results Out There

As you may know, we get work from all over the country. In an effort to use this fact to the advantage of our readers, I have kept careful watch on projects recently. There has been a lot of press about the stimulus program. We are starting to see some of this work come through our offices.

It seems to me that most of the projects credited to the stimulus are small. They seem to average from 250k to near a million. The reasoning seems to be practical. Put out a lot of little projects all over the country and more people look busy. It’s the same idea used in the Depression with WPA Projects.

What does this mean to you? There is money out there, you just need to get more smaller bites. 20 of these smaller jobs will add up to a good amount, but it requires thinking outside the box.

The analogy I like here is the “Skunk Works” that were established within the big aircraft companies to produce advanced aircraft. The reason they succeeded was they were small and agile. No forms in triplicate and organizational meetings. They were single minded and produced some of the best technology the world has ever seen.

Applied to civil construction, the model fits well. Broken into smaller groups, estimators, project managers and field crews can act as independent small companies to be efficient and profitable.