Tag Archives: orange county

Why does a contractor’s proposal matter?

There is is a world of difference between naive and cynical. Between the two extremes is experience. It’s amazing the things we do when we were young and naive. Am I right?

I did some crazy things when I was young. Looking back, it’s hard to believe I drove home from college in a clunker of a car – a 1972 Beetle. My youthful exuberance didn’t break even after my 1970 AMC Hornet died during my move. I did this by myself in the days before cell phones were commonplace. You were lucky enough to have call boxes on the highway.

Today, I’m in a panic if I don’t have my cell phone. What a difference twenty years makes.

Buying a car is like hiring a general contractor.

I think we’d all agree that only a naive person would buy a car on the internet based price alone. Continue reading →

Reason Number 8 to Blog: Getting to Know The People Behind the Brand

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There are many reasons that a company should have a blog and we covered a few of them back in this post including authority, creativity, perspective, focus, and social sharing.

Reason 6 to blog is to be found by people and loved by search engines. Yep. People ask “how to fix cracks in concrete tilt-up panels.”

Reason 7 to blog is problem solving. When you blog to solve a problem, you’re serving your audience (current and potential clients).

Reason 8 to blog: Familiarity

Another reason to blog is so that people can get to know you and your company a bit better. On one of my past anniversaries, I did a “Featured Tweeter” spot about myself for that reason.

Getting to Know Tom Riggins

For this blog’s five year anniversary, I’m highlighting Tom Riggins, our President.

Tom isn’t just a board member and off-site owner. He is our primary project manager. This means he meets with clients, hosts jobs walks with subcontractors, estimates jobs, coordinates with our design-build team, and makes time for building surveys, a client favorite. Now, that’s a lot of hats!

Growing up in the construction industry gave Tom years of experience beyond his age in estimating, project management, and supervision of new, remodel, and tenant improvement work.

Continue reading →

Seven Reasons to Be Afraid of Your Office Space

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Opening Scene:

Your awesome real estate broker has found the perfect building or suite for your company. So you go to lease or buy a building and it has a fantastic amount of office space.

Looks good to you, so no problem. Right?

Sign on the dotted line.

Boom.

So where’s the parade, band, and champagne?

We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but when people come to us later (if you didn’t get a survey before), that’s often our role. (We’re nice people, we promise.)

Here are some common issues:

1. You’re under-parked.
2. Your bathrooms are too small to meet ADA code and/or things don’t measure up. Continue reading →

Is Your Building Watertight?

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There is more to a building’s waterproofing than its roof.

Now, the roof is important don’t get me wrong, but there are other areas that should be carefully monitored.

We’re talking about a force of nature whose erosion created The Grand Canyon. Water is not to be ignored. Remember, water always travels the path of least resistance.

Water is great for cooking, cleaning, and drinking. Who doesn’t love a cup of coffee? But you do not want it invading your building. Its damage isn’t limited to rusting steel rebar within concrete. The smallest amount of moisture can allow mold to grow. Yikes. Who wants to breathe that?

In Southern California we are spoiled with a Mediterranean climate and an average annual rainfall of just under 15 inches (Seattle is 37 inches). This weather dynamic gives us beautiful days and awesome sunsets but the lack of rainfall causes us to forget and possibly neglect these waterproofing issues.

Roof

Depending upon your roof type, there are many areas of concern. These areas can be caught during regular roof maintenance (see more detailed blog post here).

HVAC Condensate

Condensate from roof-top equipment is required to exit to an approved receptor through approved piping. In no way do you want any kind of water, condensate or otherwise, just dripping and pooling on your roof. Continue reading →

Riggins Construction & Management, Inc.

Orange County General Contractor