Construction Monitor - Blog

The QR Code and the Construction Industry

2012-01-05T14:05:00.002-07:00

Over the past year you’ve probably seen the QR code (QuickResponse code) popping up all over the place, perhaps on a tube of toothpastewhen brushing your teeth, or maybe on a billboard during your commute? These trendy two-dimensional bar codes haveinfiltrated our living environment in clever and hilarious ways. For instance, a team of English footballers shaved QR codes on their heads to encourage fans to scan and view their statsonline. It really makes one wonder whatthey used for the players with no hair, a Sharpie?

The QR code was initially created for the automotiveindustry to track cars on the assembly line. The technology was soon adopted byother industries in a number of creative ways. In recent years, the rise of the smart phone has made the QR code amarketer’s new best friend: the gimmick that connects the mobile masses with theirproduct.

Nonetheless, in spite of all the QR code hoopla, I stillhave yet to find a truly creative application within the construction industry. Don’t get me wrong, there have been severalutilitarian uses of the code. I found a recent example at a Parade of Homes wherethey printed the QR code in a brochure and linked it to Google maps to helpguide people on the tour. In anotherexample, Home Depot has jumped on the bandwagon by putting QR codes on theirplants to give customers some extra gardening tips. A useful idea, but it lacksoriginality and creativity and it probably won’t motivate thousands to flock totheir local Home Depot.

The verdict is still out on whether QR codes will find aplace within the construction industry. In the meantime, now is the time to experiment with the QR code and thebest part is you can generate the QR Code for free.

Here's a list of QR Code ideas (from practical to impractical):

Business Cards
Email Signatures
Email newsletter sign ups
Trade show signage
On building permits
Name tags
On your company newsletter
T-shirts for construction crew
Construction equipment
Bumper stickers
Restaurant napkins
Coffee cups
For sale signs
Inside elevators
On your local waitress
Stickers
On a porta potty at the construction site
A tattoo

You get the idea...

Which general contractor is on top in the single family home market?

2011-12-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

Whichgeneral contractor is building the most single family homes in your marketarea? Click here to find out.

In this fragile housing economy it’s now moreimportant than ever to keep in touch with building trends in your area. Tracking building activity will help you reachthe right people at exactly the right time. At Construction Monitor we keep a close watchon building activity by gathering building permit data to help constructionprofessionals keep on top of their competition.

Check out who’s on top in the single family home market!

Happy Holidays!

The Construction Monitor Team

5 Reasons Why Manufacturers Should Target Owner-Builders

2011-12-13T21:47:00.003-07:00

Search for owner-builder leads

Building or remodeling your own home is a complex process and often involves hiring a licensed general contractor to help oversee a skilled team for the project. Nonetheless, some brave and creative souls decide to manage the project themselves and often fall below the radar of the manufacturer.

The owner-builder acts as a general contractor, hiring subs, carpenters, and all those necessary to finish the job. There are numerous reasons why a person might choose to embark on a building adventure without hiring a general contractor. It could be they believe that the sweat equity will save them a pretty penny, perhaps they might be a control freak with an innate tendency to micromanage, or they may be wildly creative with their own impeccable taste. Whatever the reason, the owner-builder is a niche market that manufacturers cannot afford to ignore.

Here are 5 good reasons why:



1. Owner-builders will often build more expensive custom projects.

2. Owner-builders shop around more for building materials giving those who reach

   them first a strategic advantage.

3. Owner-builders generally don’t have pre-established contracts and relationships

   leaving the door open for new products and services.

4. People are, by nature, lazy, and if a manufacturer makes their services easily

   available to a prospect it may increase their chances of landing a job.

5.Owner-builders, who serve as their own “GC”, make all the key purchasing decisions.

Market Example: LA County

The Construction Monitor reports that in Los Angeles County, over 7,000 building permits were filed by owner-builders year-to-date. Additionally, over 10,000 owners filed a building permit (owners usually have hired a general contractor, but still make many of the purchasing decisions). This is nearly 20,000 owner-builder or owner leads available in the Los Angeles County alone.

At Construction Monitor we have thousands of up-to-date owner-builder and owner leads just waiting to be contacted. Check out what’s available in your area at

Find out more at www.constructionmonitor.com.

Housing Market is Cautiously Optimistic

2011-12-07T17:26:00.001-07:00

Whew... the housing market may be headed into the black...

In 2009 the market bottomed out, with residential building permits at their lowest in over 50 years. In the mean time, the construction industry has been on the front lines of the economic battlefield, with thousands of businesses struggling to keep in the fight.

Yet… there is hope on the horizon.

After nearly 7 years of recession, construction professionals and industry insiders, report that the market is slowly stabilizing with an (0.6%) increase forecast for 2012. While this number is modest, it does reveal that the industry is finally headed in a positive direction.

Consumer confidence, however, is still on shaky ground. According to recent poll, conducted on Nov 7th, 2011 by the Wall Street Journal, only 25% of the respondents felt the economy would improve in the next 12 months, revealing that consumers are still hesitant to embrace an optimistic outlook. Compare this to a less recent CBS poll conducted on June 8th, 2011, which reported that 44% were optimistic about the economic outlook, and it is apparent that we have our work cut out for us.

What does all of this mean... things may be looking up for 2012!

Colorado Markets - Builder Statistics

2011-11-08T09:24:00.010-07:00

Here is a market comparison for the four colorado markets we cover and the single family homes that are being permitted so far this year. the report shows the homes by builder for the year and also the details for the month of September.

For more information, statistics or custom reports, see our website...

https://www.constructionmonitor.com/

Enjoy.

Justin Harris

Business Development Director

Construction Monitor

10 Year Anniversary for Paul & Ginger

2011-10-05T09:27:00.004-06:00

This month we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of our Puget Sound (Seattle) edition.

This is also a milestone for the two people who have handled the workload for this market over the last 10 years for data collection and data entry; Paul Silva and Ginger Dean.

Just a few facts about what's been accomplished and achieved in the last 10 years by these two:

Number of building permits gathered, edited & published: 283,573
Number of hours worked - each: 20,800
Number of times Paul has driven to and visited a city office: 26,000
Number of miles driven: 208,000
Number of cars worn out and replaced: 3
Number of digital cameras worn out and replaced: 4
Number of computers worn out and replaced: 5
Number of desk chairs worn out and replaced: 5
Number of computer keyboards worn out and replaced: 6
Number of manual keystrokes Ginger made to database the info: 51,043,140

A great big thanks to Paul & Ginger for their efforts and dedication week in and week out over the last 10 years!
Our data entry and data collection teams are the best.
Nobody does it better than Construction Monitor!

Justin Harris-Business Development-Construction Monitor

Dallas Construction Summary

2011-07-27T13:25:00.000-06:00

Permit volume continues to surge ahead in the Dallas Texas market.

Here is a free summary report for the 1st quarter of 2011 that shows a detailed breakdown of the different types of projects that were permitted and what cities and counties they are located in. It's a great way to see the "big picture" on the Dallas market.

Click Here For The Report

Construction Monitor Website Updates

2011-07-14T14:57:00.000-06:00

What's going on with the Construction Monitor Website?
You have probably noticed the new look and feel of our site. We have been updating and improving much of the site and features. We even have a new logo!

We are always trying to provide a better product for our customers, and so we're constantly working on improving and offering tools that fit the bill.
Here are a few new updates you might not have seen yet that we have been hard at work on.

New Company Report
This isn't so much a new tool as it is a revamp of an old, barely seen, not very functional tool from our old website. The idea around this tool is to be able to find new companies, or companies first pulling permits in a given year. This is a great way to find new working relationships for your company.
This tool lets you just find the new companies, and reduce the amount of time you are spending looking through permit lists for new companies. You can put in ranges of weeks or narrow down to specific construction types to get really powerful lists.
Want to know every new general contractor who has pulled a permit for a single family home or residential remodel in the first half of the year? The best way to do that is with "New Company Reports".

Simple Statistics
A free offering to all our customers, simple statistics lets you view construction statistics for any of our market areas, up to the first of the previous year (So if its half way through 2011, you will get back to 01/01/2010)
This lets you get snapshots on what is happening in any given area, even outside your current subscription.

New Project Leads
New Project Leads lets you view building permits as they are entered into our system, so you don't have to wait for the publication at the end of the week. The tool has some limitations such as displaying only 50 permits per page and fewer search categories, however we added an "Area" and "Construction Type" filter to the top that will let you modify and see more specific results. This is a very popular tool for those who just can't wait for the finished weekly publication.

Powersearch
Most of the updates to the Powersearch are ones you won't see, but we hope you take advantage of them anyway. First we've increased the speed of the tool and that allowed us to increase the record limit to 5,000 results per search.
The other updates are a little more hidden, but we think people will find them very useful.
One option people have requested was a better way to do "multi-select" searches. We aren't yet able to provide that functionality in all the places we want, like construction types, but we have implemented it in some areas, such as Permit Description, City, and Zip Code. These all support putting in comma separated lists.

So say you want to find all permits in only Los Angeles, Irvine & Long Beach.
You would put them in like this: los angeles,irvine,long beach
(avoid a space before or after a comma).

This is a great way to really drill down to just those permits you are looking for. We've also added additional sort options so you can view the results in the order or manner that works best for your needs.

Company Video Project

2011-05-10T17:49:00.000-06:00

After much work from everyone involved, we are happy to share the new company
video. You will see a few of the people behind the company and the passion we have
for what we do.

Check it out on youtube by clicking the link below..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1LCIwxKz6I

Digital Editions You Can View

2011-03-24T13:23:00.000-06:00

We love this new digital reader, Issuu. It allows us to share our information in yet another way for our customers, prospective customers and interested minds in the construction industry.

We have over 40 publications up there that you can check out right now.

Go here... Digital Edition

And please let us know if you like this feature.

Justin Harris
Business Development Director
Construction Monitor

San Francisco Construction Activity for 2010

2011-02-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

One of the reports that we produce for our customers is our Quarterly Summary Report. This report breaks down the activity in the area for the year-to-date as of the previous quarter's end.

Each city and their permit activity is broken down into the respective construction type categories so you can see what type of building is happening in each city and easily compare the activity between jurisdictions.

I have just made a copy of our San Francisco 4 market area report available for you to view free of charge. This data would normally cost you $960 for the 4 markets, but hey, it's Valentines Day and I wanted to "share the love!"

Check it out with our digital reader from this link...
http://issuu.com/constructionmonitor/docs/sanfranbuildingstatistics

North Puget Sound - Now Open

2011-01-27T17:46:00.001-07:00

Washington State Coverage Areas

We have just expanded our coverage to include the Northern Sound market.

This new edition covers the Skagit, Whatcom and Island county areas.
(Light Blue Area)

If your business would like to be doing more business up in the North Sound, this new edition will show you who is pulling new permits and starting new construction projects in that market each week.

Use the link below to signup for the Northern Sound yearly edition and you can save 10%.

Click Here to save 10% on North Sound Yearly...

*(offer ends 2/10/11)

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

As traditional, the Construction Monitor will not be published this coming week between Christmas and New Years. Those permits, week 52, will be included with the following weeks publication, week 1. We wish you a very wonderful Christmas and New Year holiday.

Update To The Company Growth Chart

2010-12-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

I have been blogging for a few years now about our company "Construction Monitor", and I was looking back at a few of the previous posts. I found a post from almost exactly 2 years ago that talked about our company growth and featured a chart.

Well, I thought it would be interesting to see what the chart looks like now after the last 2 years of growth, so here are the two charts covering our market area coverage growth from 1989-2010.

We are very grateful to be able to grow our business and services, especially considering the economic climate of the last two years. A great big Thank You! to our customers, we couldn't do it without you.

If you would like to take a look at all of the markets we now cover you can go to our interactive coverage map on our site by clicking here.

Happy Holidays from all of us here at the Construction Monitor.

Texas Expansion Continues

2010-12-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

We are pretty darn excited about our new market area.

Houston, Texas

We already have a few thousand jobs in our database ready to go and of course all the new ones each week as well.......

So if you've been waiting for us to break into this market so you can sell more of your products and services....It's time to "Come And Get It"

We Chased Down Almost Ten Thousand Permits Last Week!

2010-12-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

Last week was busy, very busy! All of our data collectors and data entry specialists worked hard to gather, enter, edit and database a total of 9,846 construction projects across the Western US!

Here is the breakdown.

Permit Totals for Week 48

Permits	Area	Total Valuation
130	Central Coast	$11,883,667
228	Cntrl San Joaquin Valley	$26,198,784
161	Colorado Springs	$23,857,815
917	Dallas Metro	$211,010,471
480	Denver Metro	$65,591,365
62	Hawaiian Islands	$35,471,422
113	Inland Empire	$7,047,711
126	Kern County	$11,371,541
226	Las Vegas Metro	$23,584,585
865	Los Angeles County	$112,274,264
130	New Mexico	$47,001,616
116	North San Joaquin Valley	$14,545,062
74	Northern Colorado	$5,408,922
44	Northern Utah	$4,808,261
586	Orange County	$63,353,036
417	Phoenix Metro	$87,893,381
580	Portland/Vancouver/Salem	$122,617,785
656	Puget Sound	$156,905,095
104	Reno/Tahoe	$12,141,472
188	Riverside County	$34,507,088
498	Sacramento Valley	$57,520,962
120	San Bernardino County	$9,307,646
436	San Diego County	$59,284,218
454	San Francisco East Bay	$29,727,132
241	San Francisco North Bay	$23,672,703
379	San Francisco South Bay	$50,959,368
304	San Francisco West Bay	$36,244,685
119	Southern Idaho	$51,892,737
158	Southern Oregon	$26,577,625
43	Southwestern Utah	$5,651,567
182	Tucson Metro	$18,251,306
107	Ventura County	$9,328,677
215	Wasatch Front	$69,779,005
204	Western Montana	$20,696,229
61	Western Slope	$19,589,077
122	Willamette Valley/Central Oregon	$12,487,838

Make it a great day!

Justin Harris
Business Development Director
Construction Monitor

Building Permit Summary For Last Weeks Activity

2010-11-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

Here are the numbers for last weeks building permit activity.....
Yes we have each of these projects databased and our clients are marketing to them right now.
Need to know who's building? Subscribe to the Construction Monitor today!

Permit Totals for Latest Editions

Permits	Area	Total Valuation
107	Central Coast	$33,812,585
163	Cntrl San Joaquin Valley	$26,431,590
118	Colorado Springs	$9,208,305
578	Dallas Metro	$131,848,849
376	Denver Metro	$30,807,035
51	Hawaiian Islands	$18,504,391
166	Inland Empire	$25,841,896
97	Kern County	$12,326,936
179	Las Vegas Metro	$43,467,161
491	Los Angeles County	$78,746,210
125	New Mexico	$13,531,016
95	North San Joaquin Valley	$11,336,288
41	Northern Colorado	$2,370,958
33	Northern Utah	$3,813,023
375	Orange County	$40,230,984
231	Phoenix Metro	$76,591,306
410	Portland/Vancouver/Salem	$67,211,353
540	Puget Sound	$109,945,101
106	Reno/Tahoe	$7,706,461
188	Riverside County	$22,798,455
219	Sacramento Valley	$20,374,606
113	San Bernardino County	$9,345,431
235	San Diego County	$28,782,490
415	San Francisco East Bay	$39,004,810
92	San Francisco North Bay	$3,533,321
272	San Francisco South Bay	$41,813,904
259	San Francisco West Bay	$28,598,101
158	Southern Idaho	$19,329,713
75	Southern Oregon	$9,200,603
36	Southwestern Utah	$3,517,963
364	Tucson Metro	$35,046,590
74	Ventura County	$7,228,262
268	Wasatch Front	$62,054,682
188	Western Montana	$23,213,693
75	Western Slope	$8,268,243
111	Willamette Valley/Central Oregon	$7,846,215

New live feed permit counter on the website...

2010-10-27T15:01:00.000-06:00

This is a fun little tool. We thought you might like to see a running total of the building permits that are being entered into our system as they happen. You can refresh your screen (F5) and watch it change.

The number increases until one of the areas is published and broadcast out to our customers. Since we have 35 areas it will fluctuate.

You are able to see the newly entered data for the areas your subscribe to by logging in with your password and then going to "Current Permits" see something you like? Click on the description and it loads the permit and project data and contact information!

Is that great or what?

Upcoming Webinar...Turn Leads Into Customers

2010-10-15T11:01:00.000-06:00

We are holding new webinars just about every week and are having fun going over different aspects of our business and how we can help your business. Here is info on the next one.....
We're doing a webinar on Wednesday, October 20, at 1 pm Mountain Time (2 pmCST, 3 pm EST) entitled; The 3 Step Process To Turn Building Permit Leads Into Paying Customers.

Register here............
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/115287450

Last Weeks Permit Totals (Week 36)

2010-09-16T11:29:00.001-06:00

Time for another update of the permit activity across our 35 market areas.
Here are the totals by market for permits issued and published by us last week.

Permits Market Area Total Valuation

   112 Central Coast $15,236,373
   183 Cntrl San Joaquin Valley $20,510,939
   109 Colorado Springs $9,741,169
   332 Denver Metro $42,744,761
   153 Hawaiian Islands $34,127,097
   150 Inland Empire $25,721,844
   97 Kern County $8,906,757
   184 Las Vegas Metro $27,522,550
1,453 Los Angeles County $137,987,418
   87 New Mexico $15,164,692
   107 North San Joaquin Valley $16,204,830
   48 Northern Colorado $5,048,493
   43 Northern Utah $23,182,305
   231 Orange County $21,331,744
   265 Phoenix Metro $67,004,799
   460 Portland/Vancouver/Salem $100,055,227
   447 Puget Sound $88,372,920
   86 Reno/Tahoe $5,228,042
   239 Riverside County $33,860,221
   421 Sacramento Valley $49,701,871
   115 San Bernardino County $12,475,495
   201 San Diego County $44,757,410
   374 San Francisco East Bay $30,073,144
   204 San Francisco North Bay $17,866,894
   315 San Francisco South Bay $60,319,859
   399 San Francisco West Bay $53,303,893
   100 Southern Idaho $43,476,221
   94 Southern Oregon $6,049,730
   35 Southwestern Utah $6,076,692
   171 Tucson Metro $34,652,848
   97 Ventura County $3,780,889
   256 Wasatch Front $89,268,575
   149 Western Montana $16,702,719
   63 Western Slope $17,335,812
   156 Willamette Vly/Central OR $31,461,177

Last Weeks Permit Totals (Week 31)

2010-08-09T12:55:00.000-06:00

Here's a recap on the permit totals for last weeks data. These numbers reflect the
activity for the week in the subscription areas we cover. Valuations are based on the
permit dollar value which represents a wholesale or partial value of the projects.

Enjoy!

ConstructionMonitor.com

Hot, Hot, Hot, Daily Permits Now Available...

2010-07-28T10:55:00.000-06:00

Are you one of those people that just can't wait till the end of the week to get your hands on the new edition of the Construction Monitor?

If so, you are going to absolutely love our brand new feature!

"Current Permits" our new immediate access, real time permit log tool is now available.

What is it? I'm glad you asked. We designed an interface on the website that now allows you to see the new building permits that are being entered into our system the moment our staff inputs the data. Previously, you had to wait until all the weeks data was input and finalized then published and broadcast to customers at the end of the week.

So you are thinking "Okay Justin, this sounds great, but what's it going to cost me to get access to this?"

More good news, It's included in your subscription! Yep, that's right, we decided to give you (our incredibly awesome customers) access to the current permits tool for no additional cost. How's that for added value!

Your success is our success, now go grab the hottest construction leads in the business and make it a great day!

Justin Harris
Business Development Director
Construction Monitor

Check Us Out On Facebook!

2010-07-27T13:07:00.000-06:00

I thought I should mention our Facebook page as another way to keep tabs on new developments, customer tools, coverage areas and other fun stuff like pics of people who work here.

We would also be delighted if you were to "Like" us as well. Leave us a note or a suggestion. We love to see comments on how we have helped your business stay ahead of the competition too!

I'm posting info on our Facebook page that is unique and may not be available here on the blog so if you're one who likes to keep tabs on all that's happening make sure to come visit us.

You can search "Construction Monitor" in the Facebook search tool or use this link as well...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cedar-City-UT/Construction-Monitor/123336874495

Two New Areas In Oregon...

2010-07-15T12:09:00.007-06:00

We have been busy working on the expansion of our coverage in the State of Oregon.

The 2 new market areas are Southern Oregon, covering the Medford and surrounding area, and

Central Oregon, covering Eugene and surrounding area.

Now is a terrific time to invest in the new Oregon editions and enjoy the advantage of little or no competition in your trade or specialty because these areas are brand new!

For more information, including subscription rates and coverage areas Click Here!

Make it a great day!

Justin Harris - Business Development Director - Construction Monitor

Webinars Now Available Each Thursday

2010-06-29T18:14:00.005-06:00

We have been busy working on a new way to help our customers maximize their investment in the Construction Monitor and shorten the learning curve all at the same time.

After talking with many of our relatively new customers recently, the same suggestion kept popping up and it sounded something like this... "Wow, I wish I would have known that I could do that with the permit reports"

So we are implementing live training every week. Each Thursday at 1:00pm Mountain Time (Noon Pacific Time) we will hold the half hour online meetings. We will have different topics and different presenters each week. You will even hear from the CEO at least once a month and have the opportunity to ask qustions and make suggestions in the Q&A portion of the meetings.

So join us on an upcoming call, we look forward to seeing you there!

Link to our webinar page on the website with more info...

http://www.constructionmonitor.com/marketing/webinar.cfm

Changes In Top Builders All Over The West

2010-06-07T10:48:00.009-06:00

Now that we have collected permit data for the first half of 2010, I took some time to compare the top producing builders of this year to last year.

Not only is volume up across the board but many markets like Las Vegas, Riverside, Orange County, Portland, Stockton, San Francisco East Bay, San Diego, San Bernardino, Seattle and others have seen a new #1 builder for 2010.

Many markets are seeing several changes not only the #1 but #2, #3 and other spots are being filled by different builders than last year.

We have also made a change to the top builder report for single family homes in that we have moved the Owner-Builder category down to it's own spot on the stats page. Traditionally they were among the top 10 in almost every market and still produce many homes each year as a group, but will no longer be listed alongside traditional building companies.

*See the image for the new Owner-Builders location.

Make sure to check your subscription statistics page to see whats happening in your market and then go out and make it a great day!

Justin Harris

Business Development Director

Construction Monitor

Portland - Vancouver New Home Permits Increase Over Last Year

2010-06-02T11:33:00.008-06:00

I was asked if new home construction is up over last year in the Portland-Vancouver area, so I looked it up in our online statistical reports.

Sure enough the new home construction activity is up over the same time last year - Way Up!

Check out the screen shots to see the changes in activity for different types of construction over the same time last year.

(Click the images to enlarge them)

Make it a great day!

Justin Harris

Business Development Director

Construction Monitor

Permit Totals for Week 20

2010-05-25T11:43:00.003-06:00

Here is the permit summary for all 33 market areas we cover.

The detailed breakdown of each area, type of construction, project location

and contact information for builders is available via our website.

Permit Totals for Latest Editions

Permits	Area	Total Valuation
123	Central Coast	$18,212,371
218	Cntrl San Joaquin Valley	$20,855,229
149	Colorado Springs	$17,256,683
354	Denver Metro	$55,066,831
33	Hawaiian Islands	$3,193,377
144	Inland Empire	$40,499,067
108	Kern County	$8,093,305
267	Las Vegas Metro	$44,018,434
321	Los Angeles County	$79,469,090
134	New Mexico	$19,828,981
84	North San Joaquin Valley	$7,176,366
53	Northern Colorado	$4,298,592
36	Northern Utah	$3,023,630
435	Orange County	$48,912,480
296	Phoenix Metro	$66,825,249
480	Portland/Vancouver/Salem	$85,576,428
532	Puget Sound	$113,904,930
61	Reno/Tahoe	$6,243,187
217	Riverside County	$44,163,503
409	Sacramento Valley	$36,158,786
79	San Bernardino County	$9,442,540
208	San Diego County	$17,656,941
459	San Francisco East Bay	$64,074,537
121	San Francisco North Bay	$8,012,835
260	San Francisco South Bay	$29,462,474
327	San Francisco West Bay	$30,662,952
118	Southern Idaho	$19,633,644
55	Southwestern Utah	$8,641,544
138	Tucson Metro	$13,083,726
140	Ventura County	$12,359,101
207	Wasatch Front	$36,553,019
186	Western Montana	$38,158,660
25	Western Slope	$5,600,631

Utah Home Builders Showing Substantial Increases Over Last Year

2010-05-06T16:13:00.011-06:00

Here are the latest numbers on Utah's single family home builders. Left column shows the permits issued in the month of March and the Right column

has the totals for the year-to-date.

Overall, the number of new home permits in the Wasatch Front (Salt Lake City) market is up 69% compared to 2009's dismal production of only 990 new homes for the same time period.

This is an encouraging trend we are seeing in most of the Western US markets right now, another indicator that we may have seen the worst of things in 2009.

Go out and make it a great day!

Justin Harris

Business Development Director

Construction Monitor

1st Quarter Stats In Seattle, WA

2010-04-26T13:08:00.016-06:00

This morning I was reviewing the building permit activity in the Seattle, Washington area (King County) for the 1st quarter of this year and comparing the reports to previous years. I found something worth sharing.

To the right is a copy of the permit stats for the 1st quarter of 2009 & 2010. (click images to enlarge)

Although the new home permit numbers are nowhere near the frenzy of 2005 & 2006 activity, the new home construction numbers are up this year over the same time last year - Way UP!

This is good news for the residential building industry in the Northwest. These reports and others can be created by our customers with the easy to use online tools our website provides. Check it out and research your corner of the industry.

Here's looking to a better year and continued improvements each week.

Respectfully,

Justin Harris

Business Development Director

Construction Monitor

jharris@constructionmonitor.com

Technical Support Is Included

2010-04-13T14:41:00.006-06:00

We understand that not everyone is experienced in the latest technologies, software and internet computing tools that are out there.

Some of our customer tools are simple to use and some can take a little more time and effort to set up and incorporate into your company's existing systems and procedures.

Just because you don't have an IT or technical department available, doesn't mean you can't make the most of the tools we have created and in the investment you have made in the Construction Monitor.

We have a fully staffed IT and support department that is highly capable of helping you with any questions or needs you have that will help you use the Construction Monitor more effectively.

Simply give us a call at 1-800-925-6085 Ext #3 and ask for technical assistance or you can send an email with your questions to us from this link... http://www.constructionmonitor.com/support/

Please Note: When calling, If you hear Star Trek playing in the background, be assured that you have reached the correct department.

Make it a great day!

Justin Harris

Business Development Director

Construction Monitor

Building Permit Summary For Last Weeks Reports

2010-04-06T13:31:00.008-06:00

Permit Totals for Latest Editions

Looks like the Northwest is holding ground with consistent strong numbers each week.The Portland market had the most permits of our coverage areas this week.

However, considering the permit values attached to the issued building permits and the Phoenix market pulls ahead in total volume of new work for the week.

Many more statistics, builder reports and other tools are available to subscribers through our website, www.constructionmonitor.com

123	Central Coast	$14,301,209
155	Cntrl San Joaquin Valley	$22,757,090
112	Colorado Springs	$15,645,111
330	Denver Metro	$39,524,647
74	Hawaiian Islands	$5,862,638
126	Inland Empire	$15,754,693
79	Kern County	$5,887,781
272	Las Vegas Metro	$26,263,297
346	Los Angeles County	$46,626,882
100	New Mexico	$12,444,762
63	North San Joaquin Valley	$3,348,735
61	Northern Colorado	$11,837,691
19	Northern Utah	$5,593,441
326	Orange County	$52,281,842
415	Phoenix Metro	$115,253,985
482	Portland/Vancouver/Salem	$69,798,116
400	Puget Sound	$74,353,557
45	Reno/Tahoe	$3,124,306
212	Riverside County	$30,184,839
257	Sacramento Valley	$36,577,914
105	San Bernardino County	$20,405,215
182	San Diego County	$40,400,945
278	San Francisco East Bay	$29,560,126
71	San Francisco North Bay	$4,203,362
220	San Francisco South Bay	$32,380,015
236	San Francisco West Bay	$25,764,962
123	Southern Idaho	$16,593,908
72	Southwestern Utah	$14,030,140
165	Tucson Metro	$21,131,901
109	Ventura County	$5,054,533
270	Wasatch Front	$45,739,996
169	Western Montana	$22,028,446
45	Western Slope	$7,737,314

What's Your Follow Up System?

2010-03-12T15:37:00.007-07:00

Have you developed a system for handling the leads coming into your business each week?

There are all sorts of systems, I have used many different ones myself. Here's a few examples...

The Post-it note system, I kept Post-its on my desk to remind me of the important things that I had to take care of, like a follow up call with a prospect or a lunch meeting with a customer. This system got a little out of hand when I found my desk covered in little yellow papers.

Then they came out with multi-colored Post-its and I quickly adopted different colors for the urgency of different tasks. Soon I had the same problem, a desk covered in notes, albeit a more colorful one.

A friend introduced me to the Day-Timer, this worked great for a while until I got out of the habit of taking my leather bound world around with me everywhere I went. I soon lost interest and left it in a drawer in my office, I think it's still there....

How about business cards, anybody out there collect business cards for the people you meet and then make meticulous notes on them or grade them from 1 to 10 or A+ to D- or something along those lines.... I've done that too.

The system has some positives like being able to associate a face with someones card and logo, assuming you have a really, really good memory, but it certainly has it's challenges too. It's especially difficult when you want to collaborate with others in you company or on your team and share Ideas or follow up tasks with these business prospects, because you know you really don't want to hand over those cards you spent so much time and effort collecting.

Introduce technology into the equation and we can add dozens of systems to the list, like Outlook, Act, Goldmine, Salesforce.com, Google Aps, your IPhone, Droid, etc, etc and so on....

Technology can automate so many of the tasks that need to be handled with your customers and prospects if set up, handled and processed correctly.

But.... (and this is the important point in this posting), you need to know how to use the tools and incorporate them into your business and your regular operations.

You can invest in the very latest technology, the most cutting edge products and systems available and still fall short in your effectiveness if you are not incorporating the tools into your day to day operations.

For example, a pneumatic nail gun will save a carpenter hours even days of time on the job site unless he does not know how to use it or is just not comfortable with the tool and would prefer the feel of his well worn hammer handle to anything else.

The best system of follow up is the one that you will use, period.

We have kept this in mind as we have developed the tools and services available to our customers over the years. We know there are many of you out there that will always be comfortable taking the fax out of the fax machine or printing out the hard copy and taking a sharp pencil to the pages of the report to find the projects you want to follow up on.

Be assured though, that as you begin to search for different ways of processing the information each week, we will be there to support you in the endeavor.

With tools like CSV files that can be imported into your company systems and programs automatically and assigned to their respective process for follow up or via creation of completely custom searches based on parameters you set, we have those technologies and others dialed in as well.

If you don't have an IT department to handle all of these new changes, don't worry because we do and we can help you along the way. We still answer the phone and listen to our customers.

We try to help you resolve the problems or challenges that you have and whether those are simple or complicated we have the people in place to make sure you are maximizing the benefits of the investments you are making in our company and more importantly, yours.

We love to hear from our customers, we strive to improve every day and together we will grow and succeed!

P.S. I still have a Post-it or two on my desk at any given time!

Make it a great day!

Justin Harris

Business Development Director

Construction Monitor

1-800-925-6085 x112

jharris@constructionmonitor.com

January's Top Projects

2010-02-03T15:01:00.005-07:00

I reviewed the results of our efforts in January looking for the top projects in the Western US markets and found some expected and also some unexpected results.

For the single family home category, we collected 14 permits with wholesale cost values over $1M. The majority of these new homes fell in the resort areas. # 1 and # 2 are as follows;
#1 Jackson Hole - Teton Area = 3 permits for $9.6M
#2 Aspen - Snowmass = 2 permits for $8.6M

Now for the big commercial permits in January. Of the top 20 multi-million $ projects that were permitted #1 & #2 were from Seattle ($41M) and Portland ($31M).
Additional investigation found 11 of the top 20 projects were located in those same regions of Puget Sound & Portland Metro.

Large commercial projects collected with wholesale permit values of $1M or more came in at 162 new permits. Wholesale permit values for those large scale projects exceeded $675M.
Large scale commercial activity looks to be on the move, especially in the Northwest.

Make it a great day!
Justin Harris - Business Development Director

International Builders Show 2010

2010-01-25T10:14:00.005-07:00

Last week I attended the International Builders Show in Las Vegas, NV. I have attended the show for a few years now, even traveling back to Orlando Florida to see and experience all that the biggest construction trade show has to offer.

Our proximity to Las Vegas (about 2 hours away) makes it much easier to attend. Next year the show heads back to Florida, however, it will still be very well worth our time and effort to attend.

Why?

Where else can you go and have an opportunity to talk to over 100 of your biggest customers in one place? Where else can you go and see what your competition is up to and see how they are marketing themselves to the industry? Where else are you going to see the very latest in industry and technological advancement and have a chance to talk to the people who are developing these tools, products and services?

And last but not least, where else can you talk face to face with your former customers and find out where you dropped the ball or what communication breakdown led to their decision and have the opportunity to not only learn from that but hopefully regain a customer and friend.

I could tell that the overall attendance of the show was down again from previous years. This was not a surprise and I believe that many of the exhibitors I spoke with felt the same. However, there was a spirit of optimism among the companies at the show. Surviving the great recession we have been going through is in itself an accomplishment. Some large corporations that were exhibiting in past years were not only missing from the show floor but have gone out of business altogether.

With fewer people to talk to reps were able to have longer more in depth conversations with the builders and developers interested in their company. More personal attention, taking care of the customer and doing things right will never go out of style.

Like trade show attendance, building permit volume is down. We just will not see the volume that was happening in 2005. However, also similar to a trade show, there are some very key and substantial people and projects happening all over the Western US and it's worth it to put your company and yourself in front of those decision makers.

Lastly, before we go feeling too bad for the city and county governments out there for their cuts in budgets due to the drop in building permit revenue, consider this;
The single largest building permit issued in las weeks reports out of any of our 33 market areas was in the City of Las Vegas, for the City of Las Vegas. The new City Hall building permit was issued with an estimated wholesale value of $98,000,000.

That's correct almost 100 million for the new city offices. I hope the building permit department is nice!

Make it a great day!

Justin Harris - Business Development Director - Construction Monitor

Now Covering Kitsap County, Washington.

2010-01-22T17:33:00.007-07:00

We have been working hard to expand coverage in the Puget Sound area to meet the demand and requests we have received from our customers.

That being said we are very excited to announce that we now offer permits in Kitsap County and it's cities.

With a population of almost 250,000 and such a close proximity to Seattle, we know that many of our Puget Sound customers will be doing more business across the sound with the help of our reports and online tools.

If you are already a Puget Sound Subscriber, you will automatically receive access to this new county and it's permits. If you have been thinking of subscribing, well now you have another great reason to start.

Let us help your business do more business this year. Give us a call or visit us online for more information.

Justin Harris - Business Development Director - Construction Monitor

Las Vegas Building Activity Showing Improvements

2010-01-15T14:29:00.008-07:00

While each individual market has it's own fluctuations in permit activity each week, I like to post the positive market indicators I see in our reports as they happen.

This week in Las Vegas 100 new single family home permits were issued. The majority of which were by production builders with footprints averaging 1,500 - 3,500 SF.

One project definitely stands apart in this weeks collection of single family homes. A huge custom home overlooking the Las Vegas Valley with a reported 21,424 square feet of living space.

There are some great projects out there with owners and builders who need your products and services right now. Let us help you find them and your business will be doing more business in 2010.

Make it a fantastic day!

Justin Harris
Business Development Director
Construction Monitor

Construction Monitor - Your "Fish Finder"

2010-01-13T12:51:00.005-07:00

I was thinking about our brand new area Reno-Tahoe and picturing the beautiful deep blue waters of the Lake Tahoe area. That got me thinking of fishing.

I believe that fishing and sales have a lot in common.

You wouldn't leave for a long trip to Lake Tahoe without the right equipment and tackle and you would certainly try to find out where the fish are.

We want to be your "Fish Finder".

When it comes to your business sales, knowing where the "Fish" or "Clients" are can make all the difference.

Let us help your company do more "Catching" instead of just "Fishing" this year.

Sincerely,
Justin Harris
Business Development Director
Construction Monitor
1-800-925-6085 x201

Make The Most Of Your Investment

2010-01-06T16:05:00.006-07:00

To our valued subscribers,

We feel that it is absolutely vital for you to know that you have the ability to take a broad look at what is happening right now, every single week in new construction and remodel project volume in your market.

We have built powerful tools for you to track builder activity and compare the statistics and summaries so you can see how the market is changing as it happens!

You know that newly issued building permits are a strong indicator of financial commitment to spending on products and services like yours, that's part of why you subscribe and these actions mean real dollar opportunities for your sales team.

Now more than ever, each new individual project and lead is more valuable to your company's bottom line. Make the most of your investment today by leveraging the tools that are available to you through our website.

www.constructionmonitor.com

Have a great day!
Justin Harris - Business Development Director - Construction Monitor - 1-800-925-6085

$1.4 Billion Last Week

2009-12-16T12:03:00.004-07:00

This list highlights the results from our work last week. Breaking down the 1.4 billion dollars in new building permits we gathered and published. We thought you would find it informative.

This is a great time to invest in your business success for 2010.
There is work out there, let us help you find more of it by giving us a call today!

*(Click on image for a larger version)

Justin Harris - Business Development Director - Construction Monitor
800-925-6085 - www.constructionmonitor.com

New Homes In Las Vegas This Week

2009-12-04T15:28:00.005-07:00

In one of the areas of the Western US that has seen the worst of times in the last 2+ years in construction, any sign of recovery and things moving in the right direction is good news.

Las Vegas has had incredible ups and downs in new home construction this decade. With each new weekly Construction Monitor report we publish I like to look at the number of single family homes for the week as an indicator of local business and consumer confidence in the market and economy.

For an area that has had many weeks in the last 2 years where there were very few and at times no new permits for single family homes, today's new report is something to celebrate.

106 new single family home permits were pulled and published in this last weeks edition.

The list of builders with multiple permits adding to these numbers contains a few names you might recognize like; KB Homes, Pulte, DR Horton, Pardee, Richmond American, Ryland, Beazer, American West, US Home, Woodside and more....

So, is this good news? Well as they say in Las Vegas... You Bet..!!!
Make it a great day!

Justin Harris - Business Development Director - Construction Monitor

Reno - Lake Tahoe Now Open!

2009-11-30T10:49:00.003-07:00

It might only be 26 degrees right now in the Reno-Tahoe area, but that has not stopped construction from heating up. We have picked up over 600 new permits for the brand new edition this week.

Do the math and based on our yearly rate that's less than 2 cents a lead. Not a bad deal if I do say so myself.

Give us a call at 1-800-925-6085 x201 to get your company the very latest construction leads in the area and get the jump on your competition today!

Justin Harris - Business Development Director - Construction Monitor

Congratulations Mayor Landes!

2009-11-04T10:43:00.006-07:00

A BIG Congratulations to our very own Don Landes on his successful campaign for the Mayor's Office.

We are excited and proud to have the new Mayor with us. It's always nice to have friends in high places, but it's even better to have friends with integrity that are willing to work and sacrifice their time and energy for the betterment of their community and country.

Don brings a lot to our team already and now he will have the opportunity to gain invaluable insight into the operations, challenges and issues facing city government today.

We work very closely with thousands of cities and jurisdictions throughout the Western US and are grateful for the many people out there that help us accomplish this business of tracking and reporting on the building and construction industry.

You can reach Don via his email here at the Construction Monitor with your questions or comments; donl@constructionmonitor.com

Justin Harris
Business Development Director
Construction Monitor

Octobers Largest Single Family Homes

2009-10-26T10:27:00.006-06:00

One of the things I love to do with our data is look up groups of projects by certain parameters.
A favorite is new single family homes by valuation.

So far for the month of October, we have over 100 multi-million dollar homes that have been collected by our field agents across the Western US. The typical areas you would expect show up like Jackson Hole, Seattle, Santa Barbara, Kauai, Paradise Valley, Rancho Santa Fe, San Francisco, Bellevue and on and on....

The thing that surprised me were the projects like the 13,000 SF home in tiny little Pine Valley, Utah and the 9,000 SF $3M home in Tulare, CA.

The custom high end projects are out there, we see them every week, you just need to know where to look.

This months winner (so far) is a 15,000 SF custom home in Aspen, Colorado...
Estimated worth of $30 million.

Have an incredible day!

Justin Harris
Business Development Director
Construction Monitor

Last Weeks Totals

2009-10-20T08:32:00.006-06:00

I wanted to share a bit of information with all of you, something I think is very relative to our
current economic climate. Weekly totals for new building permits collected by the Construction Monitor.

New building permits are one of the market indicators out there to help you gauge the pulse of our industry and the activity in your area.

So here is the breakdown on last weeks totals.... We want to keep you updated on these numbers so please check back often or even sign on to follow the blog and see the new numbers each time we post the new update.... It's not only good to know what is happening right now in your market, it's vital to your business.

Permit Totals for Latest Editions 10/11/2009 - 10/17/2009

Permits	Area	Total Valuation
112	Central Coast, CA	$6,712,249
136	Cntrl San Joaquin Valley, CA	$15,015,919
234	Colorado Springs, CO	$15,593,543
486	Denver Metro, CO	$30,789,390
94	Hawaiian Islands, HI	$3,000,990
140	Inland Empire, WA	$25,083,977
122	Kern County, CA	$9,702,918
207	Las Vegas Metro, NV	$21,095,124
1,182	Los Angeles County, CA	$75,500,371
130	New Mexico, NM	$16,359,654
199	North San Joaquin Valley, CA	$20,052,382
57	Northern Colorado, CO	$4,143,167
56	Northern Utah, UT	$5,328,958
426	Orange County, CA	$23,174,926
311	Phoenix Metro, AZ	$52,569,191
405	Portland Metro, OR	$86,767,288
549	Puget Sound, WA	$104,691,791
162	Riverside County, CA	$18,962,551
467	Sacramento Valley, CA	$28,941,862
150	San Bernardino County, CA	$15,078,209
247	San Diego County, CA	$35,163,082
403	San Francisco East Bay, CA	$32,872,602
186	San Francisco North Bay, CA	$7,450,934
201	San Francisco South Bay, CA	$13,281,097
402	San Francisco West Bay, CA	$20,344,305
177	Southern Idaho, ID	$26,513,724
29	Southwestern Utah, UT	$4,857,191
92	Tucson Metro, AZ	$9,935,323
83	Ventura County, CA	$1,744,173
221	Wasatch Front, UT	$35,304,333
175	Western Montana, MT	$19,599,887
70	Western Slope, CO	$23,755,888

Total Permits Published Last Week #7,911 for $809,386,999.00

(Are you getting your share of the pie? If not, let us help with that).

Have a great day!
Justin Harris - Business Development Director - Construction Monitor

Problem with Emails sent to customers

2009-09-18T09:12:00.004-06:00

As previously mentioned, we are using a new server to send emails. This change, which happened about 3 weeks ago affected some customers. There were some customers receiving the Puget Sound edition who did not get their emails when normally sent as part of our weekly publication. There may have been customers in other areas that were also affected.

We have resolved this issue, however, in so doing we made another mistake and some Puget Sound customers may have received 4 copies of this weeks Puget Sound Edition.

We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

Please call or email us at support@constructionmonitor.com if you have any other questions or concerns.

Changing File Names

2009-09-16T08:03:00.005-06:00

3 weeks ago we slightly modified the way we send emails. We are now using a new server with more bandwidth. This means that emails are sent to customers in a matter of minutes, instead of hours. This is makes the Construction Monitor information even more timely.

As part of this upgrade we were attaching files with a different naming convention. The names given to the files, while unique, gave no indication of the area, week or anything else. After hearing from you we understand that is important, especially to those who subscribe to multiple areas, to be able to determine certain things about a file just from looking at it.

So, the files that you receive via email will now be named using the following pattern:

State Abbreviaton
Area Abbreviation
Year
Week
Type of permits (Commercial, Pool, All)

These are seperated by a hyphen, so an examle is: "UT-WF-2009-37-All.pdf"

This will make sorting files easy for you and best of all, you know at a glance what is contained in the file which makes picking one out of a list of many very simple.

Permit Stats For 6 Major Markets, 1st Half Of 2008 vs 2009.

2009-08-24T14:41:00.012-06:00

One of the great things about our website, albeit underused, is the building statistics area.

With a few mouse clicks you can pull data up based on an area, type of construction and time frame and do comparisons to previous months, quarters, and years.

Interesting things show up if you look hard enough, for example, in the chart above comparing the 1st half of 2008 to 2009, you can see how single family home permits have sustained a steady drop across these 6 markets in the Western US, however remodeling and additions look to be holding their own and in one market have drastically increased.

Use the statistics and tools available to you, you just might learn something new!

Make it a great day!

Justin Harris
Business Development Director
Construction Monitor

Can't I just get it myself?

2009-08-18T11:16:00.009-06:00

I love it when I hear the comment, "It's public record, can't I just go get it myself?"

Some of our best lifelong clients have "been there and done that" and wouldn't think of ever doing it again.... Here's why;

1. Get in the car, fuel up at nearly $3 a gal. & proceede to fight traffic.
2. Search for parking, nothing close or free near the building, pay a fee and park.
3. Start searching the building for the right department. Wait in line.
4. Request the permits, you might get a friendly & helpful technician or you might get asked 20 questions. Eventually, hopefully, you will get to view the documents.
5. Start writing stuff down, or pay another fee for copies or lists.
6. Drive back to your office.
7. Sit down and go over what you got, only to find out some of the contact info is missing, now you Google people trying to find a way to track them down.
8. Several hours later you've made some progress and have some leads, time to sell!
9. You made a few calls but you don't have much time left in the day so you take your leads home and start typing up or hand addressing envelopes and letters.
10. Your exhausted, frustrated and rethinking the whole process.

The following week you call Construction Monitor, where for less than the cost of your daily cappuccino, they do it all for you so you can do what you do best...
Sell Your Products and Services!

Pics above are of Audrey our awesome data collector in the Salt Lake City market out
doing her thing - Go Audrey!

Have a great day!

Justin Harris
Business Development Director
Construction Monitor

20 Year Anniversary

2009-07-20T10:19:00.004-06:00

This month we celebrate our 20th year of publishing building permit information as a source for new project leads including statistics and reports on the local building activity for contractors, subs and suppliers in the construction industry.

In the last 20 years, we have been able to expand and grow our services and now our business covers every major Western US market. An accomplishment that would have been hard to imagine back in 1989 when we saw an opportunity for a business that could provide accurate, timely and complete information on new construction jobs. The risk paid off as we found that the information on the new projects each week, especially for the residential jobs, was a tool that was in demand and needed in the industry.

Over the years we have seen a lot of changes in the way we collect, edit and publish the information. We have gone from hand writing everything down, to the first laptop computers then portable scanners and finally to the latest in digital images and information transfers made possible by Internet technologies.

We want to thank our customers for being such a big contributor to our success. Serving our customers, helping them find new work, and treating them with the utmost respect and kindness will always be our mission.

We look forward to helping your business do more business for another 20 years!

And thanks for the cake Judy, it was delicious!

San Francisco North Bay Now Available

2009-05-27T13:03:00.004-06:00

We are excited to announce the addition of another coverage area for the Construction Monitor.

San Francisco North Bay!

Just across the Golden Gate Bridge north of San Francisco City there are more than 1,225,000 people residing in the 4 counties of Marin, Sonoma, Napa & Solano. If your business does business North of “The Gate” or if you would like to, Give us a call and get set up with the latest edition and start marketing your products and services to the people who need your business right now!

For a limited time only, we will even throw in 3,000 free mailing labels to jump start your marketing efforts and make it that much easier to get your company information in front of the people and companies that you need to target today!

Make it a great day!

Justin Harris Construction Monitor

Traffic vs conversion and lessons from a superstar.

2009-05-14T15:06:00.005-06:00

I was at the golf course on Saturday with my son Taylor, my Brother in-law Mike and his son Marc. We were all having a great day hitting the ball.

We started talking about aspects of modern day marketing and discussing the importance of putting the emphasis in the right place. I asked Mike, what do you think is more important, traffic to your website or the conversion rate?

With a furrowed brow, Mike offered his opinion (which I value since he is focused on these things all the time in his career and the company he works for did over $500 million in sales last year)

“Traffic is vitally important, without traffic you have no chance of conversion, however if all you are doing is attracting traffic, that can be a great way to deplete your marketing budget because you have no return on investment”

“So conversion is really the key” he continued, “take what traffic you do have and focus on improvements like working smarter and attracting the right traffic, the people most likely to do business with you”

So I pondered on this a while as I hit golf balls. Some of my shots took off straight, rose high and landed near the pin. Some took a wild curve in the wrong direction and were lost.

When I took my time and planned my moves, doing what I knew to be correct and things felt right, I got the results that I sought. When I was hurried, unfocused and just got up and whacked at the ball, well, you know...another lost stroke and missed opportunity.

Near the end of our day we caught up with Deron Williams, superstar point guard for the Utah Jazz and Gold Medalist for Team USA Basketball 2008....My 12 year old son was in awe! (See picture above) We watched Deron tee off and hit the ball straight down the fairway 280 yards landing in a perfect spot for his second shot. Obviously his talents extend beyond the hardwood floor and it was truly fun to watch.

We all know it's a different market out there than we are used to, but we are seeing some bright spots all over the Western US with production builders pulling permits for new subdivisions not just in ones and twos but twenty or thirty at a time. The large custom homes and owner builder projects also continue to show up, in fact, the majority of the new custom homes we see are at values far exceeding half a million$ each with a dozen or more multi-multi million$ homes in our reports every week.

Instead of focusing on what's wrong or difficult about your market, try looking at the traffic you do have. Concentrate on the opportunities that are there and sharpen your organization's skills so that when the moment comes to land that next important project, everybody has their eye on the ball and is ready to hit one down the fairway right at the target.

Make it a great day!

Justin Harris - Business Development Director - Construction Monitor

New 3 Column Format

2009-04-14T15:56:00.003-06:00

We have had a lot of comments about names and other information being truncated in the .pdf version of the Construction Monitor. We understand the importance of complete and accurate information and therefore we have created a 3 column version of the Construction Monitor newsletter that provides more space to display the permit information.

This will also benefit those of you who like to make notes in whatever whitespace you can find. There is lots more of that with this 3 column version.

Starting with week 16 the 3 column format will be the default for all area publications. As always we love to hear your comments and any feedback you can provide us is welcome.

It almost seems impossible, but we do actually have a 5 column format that we used many years ago. Imagine viewing all that same information scrunched into 5 columns. Nostalgia.

Thanks to those who contacted us concerning this issue.

Goodbye .dbf file

2009-04-09T00:22:00.004-06:00

Several months ago we started notifying customers that we were going to discontinue sending out a .dbf version of the Construction Monitor. Instead we will be sending a more universal and easier to use .csv file.

This change offers many benefits to current and future subscribers to the Construction Monitor. It also gives us more flexibility moving forward as we strive to upgrade and improve your Construction Monitor Newsletter.

Starting this week, the .dbf file will no longer be attached to the weekly email.

Please call or email if you have any concerns or need assistance migrating to the new .csv format.

Thank you,

Dave Jr

Invest In Your Business

2009-02-25T11:36:00.005-07:00

Invest in your business and then watch that investment pay off. That's the idea behind today's post here on the blog. How many ways are there to spend your available or disposable assets? The answer to that is there are limitless ways. The Idea is to invest in those things that will have a positive growth effect on your business.

What are you doing that separates you from your competition? What cutting edge ideas and tools have you implemented that will keep your business at the front of the pack?
Does your sales and marketing team have the tools they need to stay competitive in your industry?

I thought I would share the picture above that I took with my iphone camera this morning as I walked down our main hall. We are investing in our company, our people, our technology and our clients by making sure that we have the tools we need to be successful not only for today but for the future as well.

Have an incredible week!

Construction Monitor 20th Anniversary

2009-02-11T10:25:00.003-07:00

This July 3, 2009 will be the official 20th anniversary of the Construction Monitor.

Back in 1989 I couldn't have imagined the company covering the entire Western United States.

It has been fun and exciting to see all the growth, especially in the last 7 years.

We have wonderful managers, employees and independant contractors who make this all possible.

Serving our customers, helping them find new work, and treating them with the utmost respect and kindness will always be our mission.

A great big THANK YOU for everyone that has made the Construction Monitor successfull!

Dave Mineer Sr

president

And the good news is....

2009-02-10T12:03:00.002-07:00

After watching CNN the other day and being bombarded with the doom and gloom of the economy I got to thinking.... We need to be hearing some good news, something positive that's going on out there. I know we can't just positive think our way out of the current situation, however, hearing some of the good that is happening can not be a bad thing.

I decided to look at the activity in residential construction for just the projects that we picked up last week. I found out a few things.

1. Building permit activity was up from the previous week.

2. Activity was also up consistently each week from the 1st of the year.

3. We collected over 900 new single family home permits last week.

4. Include the residential remodels and additions and that number exceeds 3,000.

My conclusion was that it's good to be concerned and to make smart decisions in this economy, but to bury your head in the sand and wait until CNN and the likes have given you the okay to start working again will only mean missed opportunities and lost potential revenue.

There are new projects out there (over 3,000 last week) and our customers know where they are and how to land them and we will continue to make sure that happens each and every week!

New Mexico Top Ten

2009-02-02T13:23:00.009-07:00

The Top Ten Things You Should Know About New Mexico!

One - New Mexico's largest city Albuquerque was founded in 1706 as a Spanish farming community. It was named after a province in Spain.

Two - New Mexico's capital city Santa Fe is the ending point of the 800 mile Santa Fe Trail.

Three - New Mexico was named by 16th century Spanish explorers who hoped to find gold and wealth equal to Mexico's Aztec treasures.

Four - 1 out of 4 workers in New Mexico work directly for the Federal Government. State and local governments are also major employers.

Five - The Palace of Governors in Santa Fe, built in 1610 is the oldest Government Building in the United States.

Six - The Navajo, the Nation's largest Native American Group, have a reservation that covers 14 million Acres.

Seven - Each October Albuquerque hosts the world's largest international hot air balloon fiesta.

Eight - Las Cruces makes the world's largest enchilada the first weekend in October at the "Whole Enchilada Fiesta".

Nine - Santa Fe is the highest capital city in the United States at 7,000 feet above sea level.

Ten - New Mexico permit information is now available from Construction Monitor!

Through a recent acquisition, we have expanded our territory to include the New Mexico metro markets. If you have offices, agents or an interest in this area, now is a great time to subscribe.

We have gathered more than 100 new custom homes and remodels in this market in January alone. If your business could use more business, give us a call, we can help!

Justin Harris
1-800-925-6085 x112

Top 5 Tools For Our Customers

2009-01-09T12:13:00.004-07:00

We all only have so much time to devote to our responsibilities and when it comes to business we must certainly be prioritized and direct in our efforts. This post will take a stab at helping with that in terms of using CM.

The top 5 tools to build your business and target the right people and the right projects at the right time are as follows;

Mailing Labels: Print mailing labels for contractors, owners and owner-builders right from our site to your printer. Buy the Avery 5160 or equivalent and start stuffing those envelopes with your company literature.

Powersearch: Search for just the projects that you want to target based on your area, type of construction, valuation and much more.

Exportable Data Files: Once your list has been created in Powersearch you can export the info to an Excel file with the push of a button. Mail merge or CRM come to mind here???

Building Statistics: Track moves in the market, compare areas, activity and types of construction. Look at last quarter and see how it shapes up against the 4th Qtr of 2007. This information is exclusively produced by CM and while everyone else is talking about what might be happening, you will know what actually IS happening.

Top Builder Reports: See the top producing builders and contractors in your area. The report is interactive, itemized, sortable, exportable and you can even turn it into labels. Never be accused of not doing your homework on your clients and prospective clients again!

It's all on the website so take a few minutes here at the beginning of the year and get to know the tools that are available to you. We want to see your company take advantage of everything we have to offer that will help make your company a success in 2009.

Let's make it a great year!

Some perspective on growth.

2008-12-11T12:00:00.004-07:00

After crunching a few numbers on our coverage based on metropolitan market area expansion over the last 19 years I was able to put together a simple chart showcasing our growth.

Check out the graph below, I think I see a trend here!

It's good to be a growing company in a shrinking economy, I have to believe that is based on several key factors two of which I feel are;

1. Our commitment to quality and excellence and going the extra mile for our customers.

2. Sound leadership and direction.

Here's to twenty more years of growth and excellence!

Justin Harris
Business Development Director
Construction Monitor

Database Change and new CSV file

2008-12-08T21:34:00.003-07:00

Last Thursday we made a change to our database. We changed the data type of the permit number field (pmt_number). This field has always been a numeric type. Initially we thought this would work great because it sorted correctly and cities in the areas we covered used numeric values only. Over time it has become apparent that many cities use both numeric and text characters in their permit numbers. For some time I have been removing any non numeric characters from the permit numbers before we published in order to accomodate the differences.

No more. The change in this field will allow us to show the permit numbers exactly as they appear on the permits. This will provide better accuracy for you, our clients, as you search the data and reference the permits with the actual cities or in other situations.

This may have an impact on you if you automatically import the electronic file into your own system. So please be aware of the change.

Also, we now offer a CSV file for download from our website. This is a very common format for sharing data and importing and exporting that data. We plan to move completely to this format by the end of the year. Many of you will not be affected because you have been converting the old .dbf file to csv before you use it anyway. This just eliminates that conversion step. However, some will have to do some work to accomodate this new format. Please let us know if you have any questions or may need the legacy .dbf version beyond the first of they year.

Thank you,

Ready, Set, Go!

2008-12-04T17:51:00.002-07:00

Here we are, twenty years in business and an information and internet business at that and we are finally entering the blog world.

Okay, now that we have that over with, here is what we hope to provide in this communication tool;

More Information!

Yep, more data. Mostly business related, sometimes whimsical, occasionally tech minded but mainly focused on the reason that you would spend your valuable time reading our rants ie; Business building tips, hints, training and informative info you can use to help evaluate your business needs, marketing options and how to get the most out of the Construction Monitor.

So here we go.....

Tip #1 - Watch the Tutorial Videos on the website!
Like the seat belt commercials used to say " You can learn a lot from a dummy".

I created web videos to address the main usage outline of our most popular tools.
We do get a lot of the same questions all the time, well after the launch of the videos, we are getting a lot less....

All these tools can be a little complicated to learn at first, data, data, data and more data and then we give you all these options, what's a new subscriber or new website user to do?

Watch the videos.

The little blue video camera pic at the bottom of the homepage will take you right there, wait 12 and a half seconds and sit back and enjoy. Sorry about the occasional fade in and out of the audio and my voice.... I got a brand new multi-media PC that will be fixing that very soon.
(watch for updates)

I go over the basics of "Mailing Labels" for your direct mail needs and "Powersearch" for your custom search and reporting needs and the "Weekly Edition" for plain old download fun.

Each video averages 5 minutes, It's time well spent to get you started - I promise!

Maybe over the Holidays I will get to start producing some new videos, you are welcome to leave comments on the subject... Let me know what applications you would like to see demo's on and what needs more in depth discussion - we are listening.