Have you ever thought you had your life planned just right when all of a sudden it was as though someone snatched the floor from underneath your feet? Suddenly, your world seemed to be falling apart at bullet speed? In Contractor by Surprise! Terri Walker-Pullen relates her own struggle with job loss. Educated, driven, and conscientious, Terri was shocked to be laid off right before Christmas. Rather than surrendering to despair, Terri and her husband, Richard, began working on their 'Plan B.' Eventually, through hard work, faith, and perseverance, Terri and Richard established their own successful contracting business. In Contractor by Surprise! Terri details their journey, and offers practical advice for people facing difficult career-related situations.

A comprehensive guide to building or renovating a home provides everything homeowners need to know to get the best results, covering such topics as selecting and supervising an architect and contractor, cost estimates, budget, plan specifications, dealing with permits, and more and examining a wide range of common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

In order to succeed in a construction business you have to be able to mark up the price of your jobs to cover overhead expenses and make a decent profit. The problem is how much to mark it up. You don't want to lose jobs because you charge too much, and you don't want to work for free because you've charged too little. If you know how much to mark up you can apply it to your job costs and arrive at the right sales price for your work. This book gives you the background and the calculations necessary to easily figure the markup that is right for your business. Includes a CD-ROM with forms and checklists for your use.

Save 30% on home construction! Whether you want to take on all the responsibility of contracting your home or simply want to intelligently communicate with your homebuilder, The Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home can help you save 30% or more on the cost of home construction by teaching you the ins and outs of managing your construction project. Learn how to get your project off to a solid start. Get financial and legal details in language you can understand. Learn what to consider when selecting a lot and how to deal with suppliers, labor and subcontractors. Gain understanding of building codes and inspections so you can manage with authority, confidence, and efficiency. This extensive guide walks you through each phase of construction including preconstruction, foundations, framing, roofing, plumbing, electrical, masonry, siding, insulation, drywall, trim, painting, cabinetry, countertops, flooring, tile and landscaping. Completely revised and updated, this edition includes a new section on sustainable building as well as the most comprehensive building resources section ever compiled. You'll find schedules, order forms, control logs, contracts and checklists to help keep your project on track.

Rick Behringer is an outside contractor working for the Central Intelligence Agency. He owns a small company that, in the light of day, provides communications security for government offices, including the CIA. In the shadows, though, Rick's a spy. He runs overseas agents for the CIA and, through his firm, buys foreign military technology that the Agency wants to inspect but can't be seen purchasing. The divorced father of two little girls, Rick carries on a cold war with his ex, Liz, and a hot romance with his sexy girlfriend, Frannie. He still broods over the mysterious death of his father, a high-level CIA officer during the Vietnam War, who committed suicide when Rick was thirteen. Through contacts in what he calls the "Black World," Rick hears of a mysterious Pakistani Islamist, a rogue nuclear physicist, who is trying to acquire highly-enriched uranium in order to construct "an Islamic bomb" - a scheme that is all too credible. In tracking him down, Rick encounters a host of characters, some willing to help, many more willing to take his life. And in the explosive conclusion, he struggles in a deadly game of wits with Russian gangsters and the terrorist who is plotting nuclear mass murder in America. In The Contractor, Colin MacKinnon shows once again his rare ability to turn real-world facts into riveting spy fiction. The Contractor could happen...could be happening now.

Construction projects are usually completed through the efforts of several specialty contractors that enter into performance agreements with the prime contractor. Mistakes, whether made while bidding or when executing a construction project, can be costly for the facility owner, general contractor, or subcontractor. Focused on helping the project team avoid these mistakes and run their projects more efficiently, this book describes how a prime contractor can coordinate the efforts of subcontractors and address common problems that can occur during various stages. Greater understanding of problematic aspects can assure that the full scope of the project is covered without redundancy.