This week has been somewhat different than a regular week. I have had to deal with all the normal day to day tasks (bidding, drawing, project managing, etc.) but one thing that has come up is thinking outside of the box when it comes to the industry we work in.
It all started in a random conversation with my boss about waterfall system he wants to build in his house. From there we went to random ideas that could be marketed and sold in the steel industry as well as outside the steel industry. We have now come up with a few ideas that I not only think are innovative and creative but are also not like most of my "million dollar ideas" that would never work anyway. These ideas seem to be actually possible and would be simple enough to build that overhead would be somewhat minimal.
This all may be a little comical that working in a steel shop we have sat and thought up some random ideas that might make a dollar, and it is, but I have taken a few things away from this. Thinking outside the box is a skill that can be applied in many different ways. In this scenario it has at least for the time led us down a path that could potentially be profitable. In more practical real work scenarios it is problem solving in situation where the obvious answer is not allowable. Whether it be loading a truck with steel, flying some balconies up to the top of a building, or hiring a helicopter to move a bridge over a mountain! Finding the ways to accomplish tasks in any and all circumstances is valuable.
Weekly Hours: 45
Total Hours: 367
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Better late than never
It has been 3 weeks since I have found time to get a blog together. OOOPS! The bid schedule I have been set up with this past couple weeks has yet again pushed me to my limits. Where to start with what I have learned.....
This past week I have been involved in a couple extremely large bids going out that could potentially keep us busy for the rest of the year. One project I had been working on was one I believe I talked about before. A 108 footbridge in Chelan, WA. This was a very different project than I have ever bid and took all of my focus. Not only was the fabrication going to be a maze but shipping this thing to the remote village of Holden was quite the act getting numbers lined up. We had even debated a helicopter to transport and install! We ended up going with a trucking service and cranes instead as the prices were just ridiculous to have these things flown. I have also bid a project in Seattle which is already adding up to be the biggest project we have ever done and I am only about halfway done with this one. With the bid going out this Wednesday I find myself up against it once again. If I had to focus on one thing this last couple weeks that I have learned it is the very necessary "skill" of being to say no. Now this may sound a little bit different than the other things I have learned, and it is, but I have found that it is not only something that is hard to do but can actually be a skill that needs to be practiced. There is a reality on some jobs you go after that may be too much depending on circumstances, man power, time, etc. People may want you to bid jobs and really push to get them in but if you can sit back and input all factors and decide that it will be too much than spending the many days it takes to bid it could end up being a waste of time. That being said I don't believe anything I have went after this last couple weeks has been a waste of time as I am extremely confident in my numbers but I can see how if things were just a little different they could have been.
Weekly hours:50
Weekly Hours:45
Weekly hours:55
Total Hours:322 HRS
This past week I have been involved in a couple extremely large bids going out that could potentially keep us busy for the rest of the year. One project I had been working on was one I believe I talked about before. A 108 footbridge in Chelan, WA. This was a very different project than I have ever bid and took all of my focus. Not only was the fabrication going to be a maze but shipping this thing to the remote village of Holden was quite the act getting numbers lined up. We had even debated a helicopter to transport and install! We ended up going with a trucking service and cranes instead as the prices were just ridiculous to have these things flown. I have also bid a project in Seattle which is already adding up to be the biggest project we have ever done and I am only about halfway done with this one. With the bid going out this Wednesday I find myself up against it once again. If I had to focus on one thing this last couple weeks that I have learned it is the very necessary "skill" of being to say no. Now this may sound a little bit different than the other things I have learned, and it is, but I have found that it is not only something that is hard to do but can actually be a skill that needs to be practiced. There is a reality on some jobs you go after that may be too much depending on circumstances, man power, time, etc. People may want you to bid jobs and really push to get them in but if you can sit back and input all factors and decide that it will be too much than spending the many days it takes to bid it could end up being a waste of time. That being said I don't believe anything I have went after this last couple weeks has been a waste of time as I am extremely confident in my numbers but I can see how if things were just a little different they could have been.
Weekly hours:50
Weekly Hours:45
Weekly hours:55
Total Hours:322 HRS
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