Since I was a little kid, I remember seeing the Shoe House from Rt 30 just over the York County line. Here’s the view from Rt 30. Through the wonders of the internet, I discovered that the Shoe Wizard, Mahlon Haines , built the Shoe House in 1948 as promotion. The Shoe Wizard loved promotion, reportedly standing up at baseball games and offering a $20 bill to anyone who knew who he was. The design of the house followed from Haines handing an old work boot to an Architect and saying, “Build me a house like this.&# You’ve got to love a guy with vision. MORE >>

Home Dollars + Cents Efficiency Equipment Events People Sales Cut Fuel Costs that Eat Away Your Profits Photo Source In the latest issue of Ontario Home Builder magazine , an article lists 10 ways to prevent rising gas prices from “burning your profits.” The article states that “improperly inflated tires can cost up to two weeks’ worth of fuel per year,” which over a year, depending on the number of trucks and machines you have, adds up to thousands of dollars in lost profit. In pursuit of boosting our bottom line, every little bit helps. What has or hasn’t worked for you? MORE >>

one of my favorite construction attorneys in Virginia, and author/publisher of Construction Law Musings , recently was invited to write an article for Hanley Wood’s Professional Deck Builder magazine. The title of the article says it all: “Contract Language Is Key to Avoiding Litigation.” Christopher G. Hill, Esq. ” Some of the larger disputes that I’ve dealt with center on unclear expectations; that is, when the homeowner has one idea as to how the project will be completed and the contractor has a different idea. via deckmagazine.com. MORE >>

See original article at Maximize Profits By Using Lien Laws To Reduce Your Bad Debt We’re here at the CFMA 2012 Annual Conference in Orlando , Florida, and one of the exhibitors is Construction Executive Magazine ( @ConstructionMag ). picked up the May 2012 issue and came across an article titled Benchmarking Overlooked Profits , which preaches that “need to view their ability to capture profits from multiple perspectives.” Consider, therefore, another article written here about creating a mechanics lien policy. Written by Scott Wolfe Jr. MORE >>

Marketing to the professional tradesman in the Construction, Industrial and MRO markets Home About Me Contact Market Overviews Newsletter Podcasts Services B-to-B Marketers: Tap Social to Increase Search Social media marketing is important in its own right, but efforts in the area can boost more online channels according to an article in  eMarketer.com. According to the data from B2B magazine and Business.com , marketer’s No. goal for social media after brand building was increasing traffic to websites. Search ranking increased with increased social activity. MORE >>