Tag Archives: Dodsons

Lee Dodsons contractorside.com Website Gets Down to the Business of Empowering Contractors, Tradesmen in The Construction Industry

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Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) July 19, 2013

Lee Dodson, owner of contractorside.com, announced today a major push to place building contractors on a level playing field with clients, news organizations, state and local agencies, and the Federal government.

During the last six years, Dodson states, the construction industry suffered dire hardship as the economy plummeted. The industrys normal share of economy until 2008 ran in the 23-26% range, today it is less than 8%, marginally up from 3% in 2009.

Contractors abandoned their small businesses at an alarming rate, preferring to change occupations or to take employment with major builders if possible. Latest information from California reveals a 5% license renewal rate, the average age of a contractor is 58.

Additionally, public perception of the construction industry is at an all time low. In an upcoming article in The Brenner Brief e-publication, Dodson enumerates reasons as to why contractors and trades people have left, and are leaving the business in droves. The main reason is money.

The business has, indeed, shrunk, and with the pullback many reliable clients have left the market. What is left, Dodson says, is a very tough market that sees hard times in the building business as an opportunity to negotiate tough deals that leave the contractor taking cash-flow jobs with little or no profit.

Encouraged by biased news services, unregulated by any agency, and tight budgets give rise to post contractual negotiations, or just plain cheating, and the contractor/ tradesperson has few options. Court is expensive, regulatory bodies have their own agendas, and the public believes construction is a means of larceny on the part of the trade.

The contractorside.com was created as a venue where the tradesperson can detail his or her experience, good or bad, so others in the trade could discover if a problem was on the horizon. They could find out how to work contracts, specifications to avoid said difficulty or to avoid the situation entirely.

Look, says Dodson. People in the trades do things, they make things that we all need, and they are generally held in disdain as uneducated, but they are not. Contrary to commonly held regard, they do what the others cannot do. They deserve respect, but now they have to fight government attitudes, regulatory delay, and often, deal with difficult clients and situations.

This website gives the trades a voice, Dodson stated flatly. Ive seen almost every building situation in my career from bad weather to clients fighting each other, but theres nothing worse than not being paid. The tradesperson is the business, and if that person is damaged people are put out of work, bills dont get paid, and thats where we are right now. Its time we stood up for ourselves by standing together.

Dodson created contractorside.com six years ago under the name thecontractorsside.com. The site did well, but its creator was not satisfied with the robustness of the operation, so he honored all contracts, expressed and implied, and set about a new incarnation. He was seeking a new experience for his clientele.

The creator brought on a new programming staff from Colossal Ventures, and with the invaluable assistance of Colin Ryan, head of the company, set to work adding the availability of mounting pictures, sound bites, videos as part of users postings. With that, Dodson added space for other trades people to comment on postings and to add articles that might be of interest to the users.

The concept of mounting both negative and positive posts was paramount in Dodsons mind. Were setting about changing the business by giving, once again, a forum where anybody in a vital business who has something to say has a place to say it.

Dodson notes that women in the trades or connected by family are very interested in posts. contractorside.com is research, the creator states. for free. If the person or business is listed, the user can check them out for what to expect in doing business with that particular entity. And, if they have a gripe or an atta boy, the user can post it.

I discovered that many in the trade are uncomfortable writing things down, good or not-so-good, but they have no problem telling the story, so I put space to talk it through on audio or video. It works. Were get inquiries already.

In some cases, the post is legally delicate, whistleblowers, and the like, so anonymous posts are accepted. All posts are edited before final approval by the company, and are referred back for edit if necessary, but most are posted expeditiously.

contractorside.com is the answer to Yelp and other websites that can be critical of people or companies in the construction business to level the field for trades people with this resource.

Dodson spent forty-one years in the construction trade, has written many articles for trade magazines, has served as expert witness in court cases, and has acted as mediator in many construction related issues. He is currently contributing to The Brenner Brief e-newspaper and has written and published two books, Infiltration, a fictional account of a terrorist attack in southern Arizona, and This Never Happened, a high desert murder mystery.

323-243-0404

vndk8r(at)gmail(dot)com

http://www.skoshitiger.com/

Twitter: skshtgr11







Lee Dodsons contractorside.com Focus Moves To Family Members Of Contractors, Tradesmen in The Construction Industry

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Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) July 21, 2013

In an article today, July 20, 2013, Lee Dodson, owner of contractorside.com, discussed the family problems caused by the collapse of business of contractors and trades-people in the construction industry since 2007.

The construction business didnt just collapse, it disappeared. Dodson writes in The Brenner Brief. Jobs that were pre-financed continued for six months to a year, but when banks re-configured, house and structure values fell through the floor. There was not enough equity to support remodeling and additions, so an entire market evaporated. As the downturn continued, droves left the trade.

The new housing starts dropped by nearly 80%. Unless a company had major relationships with lending institutions, it cut back to bare essentials, laying off fully 70% of its workforce and dropped sub-contractors. Every contract was reviewed in cost cutting maneuvers designed to stay in business. Mergers were instituted to save viable companies.

What happened to the people in the trades? Dodson asked. They dropped prices, took marginally profitable jobs. Just to stay in the game, but conditions took their toll.

Trades-people suffered disasters the banks and large firms did not. In 2008, the construction business people were the first to face foreclosure. After selling off what assets they had accrued, rolling stock, retained materials, trades-people dumped real property. It was a no-win situation because values had reduced so severely that many went to short-sale, and when all else failed, the rest went into foreclosure.

Small business was assassinated. And with it, families bore the brunt. Women and children suffered the worst of it, Dodson writes. These were working people, wives sometimes doing the books, making sure that bills were paid, payrolls met, jobs moved.

And they are, perhaps, the angriest because they saw mates maligned by news services, burdened by government fees, and unprotected in court, if it was affordable. Banks were no better, Dodson opined.

This is why I focus on women today. The contractorside.com is an arena where spouses and family advisors can strike a blow for themselves and for their families. Many building professionals have a tendency to suck it up and move on, but the wives are actually much tougher when their lifestyle is threatened. If anyone can change the way business is conducted, it will be women, both in the business and on the sidelines. I encourage them to file.

The economic toll was overwhelming, but this toll was not the worst of occurrences. Fully 45% of families either divorced or de facto dissolved over a four year period from 2008 to 2012. Most small business trades-people could not qualify for unemployment or any other type of substantive relief. For these people, the recovery did not happen.

Jobs of any type were taken for sustenance, but this was not the worst effect of the downturn. Thousands of skilled workers either left the business or retired. Entry level work ceased to exist, therefore there are few workers to replace the natural attrition rate expected.

In California, the average age of a licensed contractor or subcontractor stands at 58, the renewal rate stands at 5%.

Have conditions improved?

In 2007, construction occupied 27-28% of the GDP. Today the trade is a bare 8%, up slightly from 3% a year past. The rate doubled, but when compared with four years ago, the rate is one third of what it was.

Competition is fierce, and the culture has evolved from a contractually solid commerce into a bazaar mentality where a signed deal is not set in stone, it is a starting point for further negotiations. Even in major dollar enterprises, amounts set fluctuate throughout the term of the project. Change orders are viewed as profit centers for both sides.

Can the business recover?

If women ally with their families, take advantage of contractorside.com, it will still be a climb. Things wont change quickly, but things will change.

Women are key.

The contractorside.com was created six years ago as a venue where the tradesperson can detail his or her experience, good or bad, so others in the trade may discover problems on the horizon.

Programmed by Colossal Ventures, Colin Ryan worked to add mounting pictures, sound bites, videos as part of users postings. Dodson directed space for other trades people to comment on postings and to add articles that might be of interest to the users.

The concept of mounting both negative and positive posts is new.

In cases, of legally delicate posts, whistleblowers, etc., anonymous posts are accepted. Posts are edited before final approval by the company, and are referred back for edit if necessary, but most are posted the day filed.

contractorside.com is the answer to Yelp and other websites that can be critical of people or companies in the construction business to level the field for trades people with this resource.

Dodson spent forty-one years in the construction trade, has written many articles for trade magazines, has served as expert witness in court cases, and has acted as mediator in many construction related issues. He is currently contributing to The Brenner Brief e-newspaper and has written and published two books, Infiltration, a fictional account of a terrorist attack in southern Arizona, and This Never Happened, a high desert murder mystery.

323-243-0404

vndk8r(at)gmail(dot)com

http://www.skoshitiger.com/

Twitter: skshtgr11







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