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Recent content by DanRooks

  1. DanRooks

    Cost Estimating Software help!

    Why Software Is Cheap! The only problem with $1,000. is that gives you about 8 hours of time to: Respond to 100 prospects who might be a buyer Train the Client (10 hrs minimum) Develop a program with 6000 computer programmer hours Develop the documentation for the program Hire and Train the...
  2. DanRooks

    Estimating Equipment Operating Costs

    Does the Army Corps or Engineers formula provide accurate cost info? Davian is correct. The US Army Corps of Engineers has been publishing cost information for many years. It is available two ways. One as a published Cost per hour for a machine. Two as a formula to allow you to calculate your...
  3. DanRooks

    Labor rate software?

    I know exactly what you are saying about the many variables in Heavy equipment repairs. There is a difference between working on car or light truck and an excavator with 35.000+ parts! Please let me know if you come across the above CAT publication.
  4. DanRooks

    Where you ever burned on change orders?

    ATTACH]69122[/ATTACH] Change order conflicts usually result from a communication breakdown. Sure some are from harmless business decisions, but others are from not managing expectations. This free ebook by Gregg Schoppman of FMI shows how a proactive change order management strategy will...
  5. DanRooks

    Labor rate software?

    Plan B I know how difficult it is to consider changing your hourly rate. Maybe $50./hour is a good rate for you. No one can tell you what is correct. Only you can calculate this. Most Accountants are at a loss to tell you how to do this calculation. A MANAGEMENT Accountant will be able to...
  6. DanRooks

    Labor rate software?

    Good Advice alrman and Cat Wrench! By chance do you have or Know where I could get a copy of this CAT Publication? I am very aware of the time variation to which you refer. I would still like to see the CAT Pub. One of my long term future projects is to put together a data collection system...
  7. DanRooks

    Website Hosting

    Hosting for web and email We use 1 and 1 for both our website and e-mail. They have recently improved on a good spam and web mail service. They also have some do-it-yourself website creation tools that you could master fairly easy. I have also used Google Sites for creating free websites...
  8. DanRooks

    Employee Hand book generator

    Good Post Stock. I am sure that some HEF members will find this useful. Dan Rooks
  9. DanRooks

    Who does demo work?

    Thank you for your Post. Believe it or not I am trying to comply. When I posted this comment, I mentally congratulated myself for finally meeting HEF' s rules and CM1996 and your suggestions. So... needless to say, I was surprised to see your post. Perhaps I have have not been clear in...
  10. DanRooks

    Who does demo work?

    The Importance of Knowing Your Owning and Operating Cost I am reminded of a quotation credited to the great contractor, Peter Kewit who headed Peter Kewit Son's from 1924 until his death in 1979. He once said "I can tell when a competitor will go out of business within two years," The person to...
  11. DanRooks

    Who does demo work?

    Beel, You are smart to recognize the the costs of higher wear and tear and the need for special attachments. More and more contractors are starting to look at cost being a variable both in wear and also fuel consumed. Many contractors have in the past, not had a way to calculate exactly how...
  12. DanRooks

    Haul road....

    Great Pics Crawler Hauler. Do you have any data you can reports on the Undercarriage Wear and Tear also Fuel Consumption? Dan
  13. DanRooks

    Equipment Replacement, How Long Can You Safely Keep Your Machines?

    This is a good video overview of how one Equipment Manager uses information to make decisions and saves money. The video is about one hour long. Considering that it took him 45 years to learn this, maybe it is not too long. It will give you a good way to compare your processes to his, no matter...
  14. DanRooks

    Do You Know Your Heavy Equipment Owning and Operating Cost Per Hour?

    Right on jmac. This is why contractors who really want to know their costs start off the year (or next 12 months) with an estimate or forecast based on current conditions. We have a tool that will track the hours on a machine when fueled or every week, if you like. We use this to project...
  15. DanRooks

    working for free

    Tough Clients Many contractors have A, B, C Clients. The A clients you do anything to keep them and they get the best price quotes The B clients get average pricing The C client, you would work for them again but only at premium prices (25%? higher) Then there are those clients that...
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