Navigate Price Volatility with Smarter Estimating Tools

www.jlconline.com: For contractors, staying profitable in today’s volatile market is no small feat. Between tariffs, fluctuating material costs, and unpredictable labor availability, jobsite budgets are under constant pressure. But according to Greg Pyne, VP of pricing data services, and David Obert, chief product officer at Verisk’s Property Estimating Solutions, contractors can mitigate these challenges with smarter estimating strategies and up-to-date data.

Building a better bidding process

Woodworking Network: As those of us who’ve been sucked into a social media vortex can well attest, thinking that we know how we’re spending our time isn’t the same as actually knowing. Sure, it’s a bit alarming when it turns out that those 15 minutes spent on Instagram were actually two hours, but it’s downright scary when it turns out that the one hour you thought you’d devoted to finishing work was actually four.

How do you calculate labor productivity in construction?

2021-03-01 | Engineering News-Record: Creating accurate projections of the expenses needed to complete a construction project is hugely important to running a profitable contractor firm. There are some variables that are difficult to calculate, however, which makes the entire process of tracking—and improving—productivity challenging.

Lighting Design: Big Designs on a Small Budget

Church Production Magazine: I am always looking for new ideas, philosophies, and techniques to get the best “bang for my buck” when it comes to stage lighting and lighting effects for our church. Lighting is definitely one area where you can spend a lot of money very quickly and not have a whole lot to show for it.

This Movie Had The Most Expensive Wardrobe Budget Ever

www.thethings.com: High fashion in film isn't anything new, but the budgets for Hollywood's best-dressed on screen seem to just keep growing. It's true that not every movie costs hundreds of thousands on clothing alone, but the actors have to wear something.

Softwood Lumber Prices Surge a Record 29% in September — Building Materials Up 4.4% in 2020

Eye On Housing: Prices paid for goods used in residential construction climbed 1.8% in September (not seasonally adjusted) according to the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index for inputs to residential construction, goods less food and energy (i.e. the “core”)—a less volatile price measure—increased 2.2% over the month.

A Clear Path to Razor-Sharp Estimating

Remodeling: The typical progression of a building contractor is this: You work as a carpenter, start doing work on your own, hire a helper, hire an experienced carpenter, start doing more complicated work, and, before you know it, you’re doing a half million in volume and realize you don’t actually know if you’re making any money or not. At that point, you start looking for resources that can help you move from busy to profitable.

'The Mandalorian' Creators Talk Sustainable Virtual Production

Variety: During the final episode of Variety‘s Sustainability in Hollywood event presented by Toyota Mirai, Rob Bredow, senior vice president and chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic, and Janet Lewin, senior vice president and general manager at ILM and co-producer of “The Mandalorian,” talked to artisans editor Jazz Tangcay about how the virtual production of “The Mandalorian” has allowed the show to reduce its carbon footprint.

A Path to Razor-Sharp Estimating

Remodeling: The typical progression of a building contractor is this: You work as a carpenter, start doing work on your own, hire a helper, hire an experienced carpenter, start doing more complicated work, and, before you know it, you’re doing a half million in volume and realize you don’t actually know if you’re making any money or not. At that point, you start looking for resources that can help you move from busy to profitable.

7 Essential Strategies to Create Quality Projects Under Tight Deadlines

ALC Training News: Successful project management require you to manage numerous moving parts. Add to the mix strict deadlines and you’ll have little room to make mistakes. With a detailed project plan and smart project management tools however, you can achieve your project goals and fulfil the required quality standards.

SAG-AFTRA's new agreement opens doors for small-budget and indie games

Gamasutra: A groundbreaking new SAG-AFTRA agreement for low-budget and indie game productions has been unveiled, providing a one-size-fits-most framework for employing unionized actors—from mo-cap actors, to voice actors, to singers.

The Challenges of Shipping From China – Life of a Flailing Tube Man

Hackaday: Last summer was an exercise in developing a completely different kind of product from my normal wheelhouse; a costume. My Halloween costume had been so popular that I decided to have a go at commercializing it, and that took me on a path into manufacturing that I hadn’t yet taken; shipping by boat from China. The short version is it’s a ridiculously difficult mess.

Real-Time Job Costing Can Greatly Simplify the Construction Management Process

Remodeling | Job-Costing, Technology: In business, numbers don’t lie. However, in the remodeling industry, getting accurate numbers on job costs is often a challenge. Companies that use paper reports to process job costs can be relying on week-old numbers to assess project margins. Allen Dickey of 5th Generation Contracting said real-time job costing through a cloud-based computer system can breed better forecasting and efficiency.

The Paper Trail

Guild of Scenic Artists: Budgeting tools are a necessity for conveying fiscal information to the design team. As a Charge, I have gone through many iterations of estimating templates before I landed on what I currently use. I have found estimates to not only help me convey information, but they have also given me clout in meetings where I had none before.

Trump budget is a death warrant for the arts

The Boston Globe: FOR THE SECOND budget cycle in a row, Donald Trump is attempting to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. This should not be surprising, from an administration that has shown disregard — even hostility — for government’s responsibility to provide essential human services as well as agencies that ensure the general welfare, for everything from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Google Sheets to Excel: How to Move Back & Forth Between Spreadsheets

business.tutsplus.com: Get started with Google's web-based spreadsheet tool, Google Sheets, with no fear of being locked into the Google ecosystem in this tutorial.

Google Sheets has quickly gained a foothold as a lightweight and easy-to-use spreadsheet app that lives right inside of your web browser.

USITT to Receive $25,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

Stage Directions: National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $25 million in grants as part of the NEA’s first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2018. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $25,000 to USITT for the 2019 United States Exhibition of the Prague Quadrennial.

Products Are Getting Pricier. Raise Your Estimates Now.

Remodeling | Estimating, Job-Costing, Operations: Here in Washington, D.C., a client of one of my favorite remodelers recently asked the remodeler to travel 1,000 miles to south Florida to rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Irma. In Louisiana, lumberyard owners told me two weeks after Hurricane Harvey struck that they expected to see trucks show up at their stores soon, driven by people who hoped to buy all the drywall they could and tote it back to Houston for sale.

Tips for Writing a Micro-Budget Feature

Filmmaker Magazine: I have written and directed a bunch of short films, and I’ve even gotten them into a few festivals where they received some awards. I enjoyed working on short films but wanted to write and direct a feature. The problem is, features are expensive and I don’t have connections or know any rich people. So, I thought I would make the feature myself using the resources I have: time, friends, and talent.

Broadway Needs Producers, Not Just Investors

AMERICAN THEATRE: Little-known fact: I was President of the League of New York Theatres in 1964.

I had been impressed into the job by Leland Heyward and Irene Selznick, two of Broadway’s most prestigious producers. I had previously shown little interest in that organization. I imagined it to be an Old Fogeys Establishment. And, to be honest with you, I imagined they considered me a lucky twerp. But Leland and Irene picked me precisely because I was an outlier.