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Construction Contractors Hub
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The Mighty Men
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4 contributions to Construction Contractors Hub
23h •
How do you use Excel? Weekly Newsletter
I’ve seen $200m+ projects run on Excel. And it works Hey everybody, I’ve been ignoring my email newsletter, and I wanted to put some time and effort into restructuring and improving it. It had become secondary to my YouTube videos. So I’ve decided to give it a big reboot. Each week I want to deliver three things: 1. News - keep you up to date with the latest developments in AI and construction 2. Inform - share some insightful stat, insight or study that changes the way you think 3. Work - deliver one perspective, process or demonstration that improves the way you work I have two goals for this: 1. Encourage people to use the massive amount of free resources in Contractors Hub. I’ve added tons of sample projects, tutorials, templates, guidebooks, and I’d love to encourage people to use it. 2. Build a newsletter that distils everything I’m learning I'll try to keep everything very short and to the point. Obviously, if you don’t want to receive them, just click unsubscribe below And if you want to comment or follow the discussion, you can comment along on the accompanying post each week: News: What happened this week 1. Lots of new models (as always). Sonnet 5.5 appears to be the standout. Topping our drawing analysis and take-off benchmark, and it’s really cheap to run. Seems like a great model. 2. ChatGPT Dots dropped. From my testing, it is a worse version of GrokBot. GrokBot is great btw; I have been using it every day. 3. A construction contractor’s AI roll-out exposed huge document-control problems. The biggest challenge to the roll-out was conflicting file names, duplicate documents and unclear revisions. I have had the exact same experience experimenting with ChatGPT/Claude co-work. File names and folder structures matter. Quite an interesting article: https://www.constructiondive.com/news/ai-doesnt-fix-data-problem-construction-need-unified-language/831774/
0 likes • 6h
Man this is awesome. I agree on the flexibility of Excel and how modular it is within the construction industry. In the Seabees, we had a proprietary CBCM (Construction Battalion Construction Management) program that had many iterations until Microsoft Project made it big, so we switched gears to that as it was easier for us to work with at the time, and folks that had got out now had the experience to use it in the civilian world. However, I noticed on the reserve component that Microsoft Excel was used a heck of a lot more, but the issue with that is there was no set SOP and everyone had their different iterations that were conflicting. Fast forward to the civilian sector; when I worked at Yellow Freight as a facilities coordinator, I created an entire multi layer project tracker for the properties department that tracked everything from simple handyman jobs of changing a lightbulb all the way up to CapEx projects and AFE’s. That’s when I really began to delve in to the versatility of Microsoft Excel. You can literally do just about anything with it, you could even scan and keep copies of receipts, project photos, and obviously the usual project budgeting. Whenever I have a little free time, I’ve been working on an all in one construction management Excel sheet of sorts. And just like Tim had mentioned; I ran into the issue of both ChatGPT and Claude being very conflicting and inaccurate, which caused my spreadsheet to have multiple issues. I have not used the GrokBot yet, but I did run it through the Perplexity app and it had corrected what ChatGPT and Claude had messed up. Although I have not done a trial run with the spreadsheet yet.
0 likes • 6h
@Jem Arcibal are you all referring to the forward and backward pass in project planning?
7d •
GET STARTED HERE
Hey Everybody! Welcome to Construction Contractors Hub. The best place to learn construction management for free. First thing! Introduce yourself and your goals by commenting below. Next, watch this video: https://www.loom.com/share/9bc96fac3d9b48c89c43eb57d5fd43d1 How Contractors Hub works 1. The classroom has a bunch of free courses templates and resources. Here are the most popular ones: Construction Project Management - Our foundational 8 hour course on the absolute basics of project management. Quantity take-offs - Tutorials and practice projects to master take-offs Templates - Over 50 excel and other templatse I use on my projects. AI in Construction - A full series of tutorials and resources to help you get started 2. Win by contributing Each month, the top contributor gets free access to Contractors Hub Premium and ContractorOS (our AI in construction roadmap). All you need to do is contribute and support others 3. Anything you need - let me know If you are looking for templates or other resources, just comment below, and I'll help you find them.
2 likes • 3d
Hello and thank you so much for accepting me here. I’m subscribed and follow your YT channel and genuinely appreciate what you do in regard to providing quality and essential information on Construction/Project Management. I am a former Navy Seabee, Facilities Coordinator, truck driver, and small-scale Construction Contractor with over two decades of construction management and project management experience. My goal is to stay up to date with the latest CM/PM methods, skills, and information since it’s such a vast and ever evolving field. Thanks again.
3d •
What do you think the most important construction management skill is?
For me, time management and prioritization is the clear winner. At the end of the day there is always more work than time Choosing the right task to focus on is always going to be the most important thing. In this video, I tried to explain the concept with an example from one of the worst projects I've worked on
1 like • 3d
That’s a great question. I’d say if you’re leading folks; good solid leadership is the most critical PM skill. In such a position you’re not just a Manager, you’re a leader in the company and project hierarchy. People look to the PM for guidance. From experience of being a PM in the Navy Seabee’s, the absolute essential key to being a great leader in Project Management is; taking care of your people. You show up earlier, engage with your folks and have a brief morning safety meeting with today’s project goals, address “troops” issues as needed, provide the tools and materials required of them, it starts there. If there’s a legit issue on the job site, folks will look to you to address it with quick and effective solutions. Here’s where that part becomes very interesting and important for a subordinates growth: have them work on that solution with you. That way it gives them a sense of ownership and accomplishment while fixing an issue. Praise that person in the next project meeting for their actions, maybe even give them a Letter of Commendation. Now you not only have a motivated member of your crew, but an issue has been resolved and others on the project will perhaps strive to excel in a similar capacity. That’s one of many examples as leadership is a very vast and enveloping topic. But the core of that specific answer is; take care of your people.
12d •
Anyone else struggling to get consistent leads?
Anyone else feel like getting consistent leads is getting harder these days? SEO takes forever to rank, PPC gets expensive when you're competing with everyone else, and referrals are great but you can't always rely on them. Anyone here thought about using direct mail to get in front of homeowners in the areas you actually want to work in? Curious if anyone's tried it, had success with it, or would be open to giving it a shot?
1 like • 10d
Referrals were what kept me rollin from one project to the next pretty consistently. Furthermore, those folks became repeat clients due to quality work and pricing. But it all started with some simple straightforward posts on FB, Nextdoor app, and LinkedIn with pictures of various projects. I’ve even struck up conversations with folks in Home Depot needing projects done, small businesses that needed odds and ends completed, other parents at my kiddo’s sporting events that needed work done. Friends of other small businesses that need repairs or renovations were the big money makers, but not as consistent. Reach out to Facilities Managers at commercial properties to see if they have tasks or maybe even some CapEx projects. See if you can be their go-to vendor/contractor and provide them a preventative maintenance (PM) schedule and pricing as well.
0 likes • 3d
@Tim Fairley Hi Tim. Reaching out to FM’s does indeed work well most of the time. Admittedly, I was a facilities coordinator at a large trucking company for a handful of years, so that did help in a sense. However, the same strategy applies for sure; picking up the phone, email, and eventually setting up a face to face site visit. I’ve found (though it may sound redundant) all three work very well in locking in a vendor/client relationship and being offered projects. Moreover, being genuine, show proof of work when requested, show up early, communicate throughout the entire project lifecycle with the customer, provide an outstanding product or service, and follow up with the customer after project completion are essential for referrals and repeat business. If one were to use just email, it’s little to no response I’ve found. But I’ve also found that taking the time to engage in a quick conversation on the customers needs via phone and face to face engagement, it’s a bit more personable. The email is usually for more of a follow up or scheduling. Folks feel more at ease when they see and hear a real person with solutions to their problems. Hope this helps. Thank you Tim.
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@michael-ehrler-1251
Proud father | Believer in Christ | Navy Seabee Veteran | Madman | Builder | Lead with the heart and driven by purpose
Active 6h ago
Joined Sep 27, 2026
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