50 Coffees

Thinking about making a really big adjustment in your life? Then you owe it to yourself to have coffee with 50 people. In a recent article, Peter Thomson discusses a technique he has used to help him with major life decisions.

Summary

Each time you decide you want to make some sort of major life change, whether it be raising investment for a start up, moving to a new city, or changing careers, you should have coffee with 50 people to get their views on your plans. Setting a precedent of having coffee with 50 people forces you to be clear about your goal, makes it stronger, and makes you commit to the move you want to make. You also will receive great input from smart and interesting people.

Thomson first came across the idea while reading the book, What Colour is Your Parachute?. Although he was not the first to come up with the idea, he realized the hidden insight in it, in that the biggest changes in your life will only happen through the people that you meet and conversations you have. Humans create and convey meaning through stories and conversations. If you change the conversations that you’re a part of, then your life changes automatically.

Now, this isn't supposed to be coffee with 50 total strangers. Most of the people will be friends/acquaintances, but you should also be open to meeting new people. Think one degree of separation. Ask the people you know if they know of anyone interesting you should meet and go from there. Try and find people with different backgrounds, you might meet some great people and make new friends!

The author had 50 coffees when he left law for design. He did it again when he moved to London, and most recently when he published a book. The 50 coffees idea had worked so well for him in the past, that he realized his best ideas came up during heated conversations because people tend to think better when they have an intelligent partner to debate with.

Tips to Make the Most Out of Your Coffees

• Be intentional and focused

• Be honest about what you want

• Don't ask for anything

• Think ahead

• Take notes

• Don't waste people's time

• Never steal time

• Pick a good place

• Make it a good time

• Be interesting and direct

• Travel to different places

Why We Care

Here at PFCS, we're always making improvements to our company in order to better serve our clients and the community. We may not always have 50 cups of coffee for every improvement, but we do conduct "team consulting sessions" over coffee with our staff when large improvements are considered. These sessions typically last 10 to 30 minutes or sometimes as long as an hour when several ideas and suggestions are brought into the mix. So, the idea in this article goes hand-in-hand with that thought process.

2016 CLM National Construction Claims Conference

This year, PFCS sponsored the 2016 CLM (Claims & Litigation Management Alliance) National Construction Claims Conference in San Diego, California! Pete Fowler and Mike Villalba were there representing PFCS and the show was a major success!

Summary

From the CLM website:

This September, the CLM will hold the most comprehensive construction claims conference ever. In addition to addressing construction defect claims, conference sessions will also address facets of construction-related claims including construction site accidents/injuries, coverage issues, subcontractor issues, and new technologies. Sessions also will address issues on the national, regional, and state levels.
 
In addition to three days of interactive, educational sessions, conference attendees will have many opportunities to network with other thought-leaders in the construction claims industry.

Where

Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego
1 Market Place
San Diego, CA 92101

When

September 28 - 30, 2016

Avoid Bad Contractors: Basic Due Diligence in Hiring

Introduction

We recently published a post called Who Would You Prefer As Your Contractor? So here is our method to find professional (not criminal or incompetent) Contractors or consultants. The process works for any type of hiring BTW, including doctors, lawyers, accountants... Seriously, anything. In list form, it seems like more work than it is. Jump to the bottom for an abbreviated procedure for small jobs. 

Big Picture Hiring Process

1. We define what good performance looks like.

2. We identify minimum qualifications, keeping in mind that the only reliable predictor of future performance is past performance.

3. We find candidates and ask them if they are interested.

4. We negotiate the terms of a win-win performance agreement, based on our definition of what good performance looks like.

5. We create and follow-through on a mechanism to verify that the good performance, defined at the beginning of the process, and communicated clearly in the win-win performance agreement, is taking place.

This applies to: 

• Hiring a plumber to fix a leak

• Hiring a part or full-time employee

• Hiring an Independent Contractor to perform a specific scope of work

• Hiring an architect to design a home

• Hiring a contractor to build a $50 million project

• Hiring a dentist!
  

Hiring Procedure

1. Outline the Scope of Work in a Sensible List.

2. Define the Scope of Work clearly enough so the contractor knows exactly what to do and where, including material specifications and so that a third-party inspector can verify conformance with the specification.

3. Layout a Budget and Bid Form using the Sensible List.

4. Layout a Progress Schedule form using the Sensible List.

5. Use a blank contract form in coordination with the Owner’s lawyer.

6. Write a "One Minute Summary" (less than 250 words) of the project and what you're looking for.

7. Package all of the above in an RFP (Request for Proposal), including an invitation to bid document that includes the One Minute Summary, minimum contractor requirements and qualifications, your selection process, some project images to give an idea of where and what the project is, etc.

8. Identify and pre-qualify interested contractors, and send them the RFP Package. If you don't know any contractors, then first apply Proving the Obvious Using Google to find some, then:

   1. Call anyone remotely connected to the contracting specialty we're looking for. Get them on the phone and:

   2. Read the One Minute Summary and ask if they offer the kind of help we're looking for. If yes:

   3. Interview them and take really good notes. Ask all the who, what, when, where, why, how, how many, and how much (8 W's) questions. If no:

   4. Ask them if they know who can help, and try to get more than one referral, if possible. Ask "Who is the best person in this field?"

   5. Repeat this from item 8.1-8.4 until you have spoken to AT LEAST 3 qualified, interested vendors. More than 3 is WAY better; up to as many as 10 because people often fail to deliver the bids they promise.

   6. Each vendor we speak with we learn something important, so after the last one we sometimes need to re-interview the earlier people before making a decision.

   7. If you are new to an area, this could take 2-4 hours but you will begin to hear the same names over and over. This is when you know you've made enough calls. It's best to keep track of how many people referred you to each of the prospective contractors.

9. Job walk the contractors.

10. Accept bids only on the Bid Form and with a Progress Schedule filled in by the contractor and a list of 3 current and applicable references with contact information.

11. Evaluate proposals, contractors, bids and schedules.

12. Call references and verify contractor's license and insurance.

13. Make a hiring decision.

14. Execute the agreement.

15. Collect all insurance documents.

16. Set a date for the Project Kickoff Meeting.

17. Keep planning for project success.

Abbreviated Process to Quickly Hire a Specialty Contractor for A Small Job

1. Write a "One Minute Summary" (less than 250 words) of the situation and what we're looking for.

2. Call anyone remotely connected to the specialty we're looking for. Get them on the phone and:

3. Read the One Minute Summary and ask if they offer the kind of help we're looking for. If yes:

4. Interview them and take really good notes. Ask all the who, what, when, where, why, how, how many, and how much (8 W's) questions. If no:

5. Ask them if they know who can help, and try to get more than one referral, if possible. Ask "Who is the best person in this field?"

6. Repeat this from item 2. until we have spoken to AT LEAST 3 qualified, interested people / vendors. Each one we speak with we learn something important, so after the last one we sometimes need to re-interview the earlier people before making a decision.

7. Verify contractor's license and insurance.

8. Review notes and make a hiring decision.

9. Update the One Minute Summary and use it as part of the written "Agreement" (contract) with our chosen professional. Make sure the Objective is stated really clearly. For construction, you also need a detailed, written Scope of Work (too much detail for this post).

10. Refer back to the written Agreement throughout the engagement, especially when payments are being made, to make sure the objective is being met.

A Super Simple Example

One of my friends reached out for help with a problem he needed solved at his home due to vandalism. So I used Google Docs and spent 5-10 minutes to compose a "One Minute Summary" of what my friend needed.

"We are looking for an electrician to replace and install the keypad for a residential gate, check the motor, and reprogram the keypad. The home is located at 1234 Main Road in Happy Town, USA. The keypad at the gate on Main Road needs to be replaced because it was cut and taken in the course of a minor vandalism. Please call XXX-XXX-XXXX or email (xxx@xxxx.xxx) for details or to arrange a visit. As you can imagine, time is of the essence."

It always takes several passes to get a One Minute Summary right. The goal is to make it easily understandable and readable by anyone, in less than 250 words. We use small words and short sentences, all in a sensible order. We usually work from large to small. Use the 8 Ws as a checklist: Who, what, where, why, when, how much, how many, how. The best way to know if you have succeeded is to find someone to "peer review" your work. Before they read, tell them "The objective is to make this easily understandable and readable by anyone. I am completely open to constructive criticism." If they have to ask a question about what you have written, it needs another pass.

Then I used Google Maps and a very simple screenshot program (Faststone Capture) to create a few images that showed exactly where the work was to take place. I saved the images with the One Minute Summary as a 2-page PDF file that served as a mini-RFP (Request for Proposal). The original document was 4-pages, so I made the images a bit smaller and changed their order to get it down to 2-pages.

I did all of this work to make the project seem small, simple, and as easy to understand as possible. I know from experience that this attention to detail makes a difference in the quality of the proposals we receive and their price. If contractors think the work is going to be easy, the price is lower; if they perceive it as difficult, the price will be higher. By thinking through these details, as simple as it may seem, we make the project easier for the contractor to quote, easier to contract, easier to plan, easier to perform, easier to complete successfully, and easy to get paid quickly. THIS is how we get the highest quality and lowest prices!

Since this was my friend, and not a client, I then explained that he (rather than I) should ask for referrals from friends and colleagues, and search for qualified companies on services like Yelp, Angie's List, and other local sites that have a mechanism for ratings from past clients. Most people think getting a referral from a friend is better than a site like Yelp, but as a construction litigation consultant, my experience leads me to disagree. My experience has taught me that only competition leads to higher quality and lower prices; nothing else. I told my friend that he should send the document (our mini-RFP) to somewhere between 5-10 companies that seemed qualified. Not 100% will even respond. Then talk on the telephone to each who responds. Ask the 3-5 smartest sounding contractors to give you a proposal.

When making a selection, don't only consider lowest price. Sometimes “lowest price” means “dumbest contractor.” And when you get a dumb contractor, it leads to headaches, defects, and usually an even higher price than you would have paid a competent contractor with a higher (more sensible) price. I highly recommended that my friend ask for and call references.

When my company hires contractors, we typically do so using an industry standard form (like ConsensusDocs or AIA), but this is a small project, the Owner does not have easy access to standard form agreements, and he wants to make it easy on the most qualified contractor to get to work, so I told him to just make sure there were no really egregious terms, and to verify that the contractor carried a current Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance policy. Most state contractors license boards keep this information current, so I advised my friend to check there for license and insurance status.

Finally, after receiving the price, but before signing the contract I told him to ask, "What are the most likely ways this could cost me more than your proposal amount? I understand that if the motor does not work any longer, replacing it will be an additional charge. So what else could happen to cost me more? And if one of these happens, how do we price that additional work?" I told him to make sure to write down the contractor’s answers to these questions.

With all that, my friend was ready to get his gate fixed at a fair price by a competent contractor. But of course he said, "Ugh. That seems like a lot of work! I am busy and just want my gate fixed." I explained that most work like his project is contracted by owners using the "Hope & Prayer Method" rather than mine, and that he was welcome to do that, but it's the reason the home improvement industry competes every year with used car dealers for the most consumer complaints. Granted, my method will take 1 to 3 hours, but it will likely save 10% to 300% (literally) and is the closest thing possible to a guarantee of success.

Resources

• SAMPLE Simple RFP

• Click here for a PDF version of this post

• Who Would You Prefer As Your Contractor

• Contractor Pre-Qualification Checklist

Building Insurance, Inspections & Quality: Closing the Loop

Last November, Pete Fowler and Cary White of Ideate Insurance held conference calls and invited participants from the insurance and legal communities that have a vested interest in learning about and sharing experiences with regards to building inspections and project insurance.

Why We Care

Projects are routinely inspected during construction by the superintendent, project manager and in some cases the engineers and architects. Also, City and/or County inspectors will check for code compliance. Some jurisdictions also require third-party inspection for the building envelope. Generally third-party inspections include:  contractor, designer, manufacturer, municipal, financial, quality control and safety. The most important inspection is by the person doing the work.  

We all remember the apartment balcony collapse last June in Berkeley. Had there been better supervision during and post construction, this accident would not have happened. Developers, general and subcontractors should hire professionals to review their plans and conduct inspections. Building owners should hire inspectors to survey their properties. In addition to the loss of life, this tragedy revealed that conventional project insurance is inadequate for a loss like this. 

A wrap insurance policy can provide peace of mind knowing everyone involved in your project is insured properly. A wrap or wrap up insurance policy is a sweeping blanket coverage that protects the owner, the contractors and subcontractors.

When you are the owner or general contractor on a large construction project, you have a lot to think about. Completing the project on time and on budget, keeping your workers safe and making sure all subcontractors are doing quality work are only a few of your concerns. The last thing you want to worry about is whether or not your contractors and subcontractors are carrying the right kind of insurance.

Summary

The BEST builders have a process discipline of doing the preparatory work required for a project to run smoothly. Lots of builders and developers do NOT have the process discipline.  For a bad builder, there is no such thing as enough inspections.

Building Information Management & Modeling

Really!? Another Stupid Acronym!! 

We have a seminar / webinar called Building Lifecycle Management where we introduced the idea of BIM2: Building Information Management & Modeling. It's something I made up. But I think structured data is even more important than a 3D model. Call me crazy. 

1. 1D = A list of the Elements and Locations

2. 2D = Plans and Specifications

3. 3D = Model

4. 4D = Time (Think Einstein’s Space-Time Continuum)

5. 5D = Cost

6. 6D = Building Lifecycle Information. This is where virtually every “document” (and piece of data) is connected to the applicable Element and Location.

Organizing & Managing Building Data

ASTM E2166 is a 6 page standard that outlines a structure for organizing and managing all information related to buildings for the purpose of supporting informed decision making. The organizational structure is based on Uniformat II (ASTM E1557) which is based on construction assemblies ("elements") like foundations, walls, roofs, interior finishes, mechanicals, etc. Key aspects of the practice include making a list of all named spaces (rooms) and associating them with the elements in those locations.

This series on Building Information Modeling continues: 

1. Building Information Modeling: What is B.I.M.?

2. Building Information Modeling: Why Everyone Who Deals with Buildings Should Care about B.I.M.

3. Building Information Modeling: B.I.M. and Building Lifecycle Management (BLM)

4. (This post) Building Information Management & Modeling

PFCS Construction Claims Analysis Method

PFCS Construction Claims Analysis Method 

1. Collect: We organized and analyzed all applicable documents and information.

2. Plan and budget our work.

3. Issues/Allegations: We make a Sensible List that served as an outline of the analysis. 

4. Investigation: We apply PFCS Building Performance Analysis (BPA) Process.

5. Analysis: We execute an issue-by-issue inquiry of all available information.

6. Conclusions: We often document our conclusions for each issue in a comprehensive report.

7. Present: We deliver expert deposition testimony and trial or arbitration testimony when necessary.

---

Application Examples

• Landlord-Tenant Dispute Arbitration Testimony

• PFCS Saves Contractor $500,000 in Damage Claims

Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine 9/16/2016

If you are looking for an evening of great music mixed with adult humor, join Pete Fowler at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano to see America's loudest lounge singer Richard Cheese perform swingin' Vegas versions of rock and rap songs and "swankifying" popular Top 40 hits into retro vocal standards.  Imagine Sinatra singing Radiohead, and you've got Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine.

The finger-snapping, liquor-lapping, night-capping crooner first stepped into the spotlight in 2000 with his LOUNGE AGAINST THE MACHINE album.  This critically acclaimed CD featured "swankified" versions of alternative rock songs, such as Radiohead's CREEP and Limp Bizkit's NOOKIE, arranged for a big band sound. Thanks to radio stations including KROQ/Los Angeles, Z100/New York City, and the nationally-syndicated Dr. Demento Show, Cheese soon found an audience that shared his love of lounge music, including rockstar Brian Setzer, who hired Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine to play at his private Christmas party with The Stray Cats!

Richard Cheese's songs have been featured in the movie "Dawn Of The Dead," on ABC-TV's "Dancing With The Stars," and he's performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, CNN with Anderson Cooper, The Jonathan Ross Show, KROQ's Kevin & Bean Show, MTV's Say What Karaoke?, Howard Stern, Opie & Anthony, and as the house band 20 times on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly. 

The hardest working Dick in show business continues to perform sellout shows all over the world, from Las Vegas to London, from New York to New Orleans, from Hollywood to Honolulu.  Thanks to eighteen albums, hundreds of concerts, 120,000 FaceBook fans, and a million martinis, Richard Cheese has earned a prominent place in that prestigious pantheon of lounge legends:  Frank ... Sammy ... Dean ... and Richard Cheese.

Here is a sampling of Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine videos:

Baby Got Back:

Gin & Juice:

Kanban

Introduction

Everyone who was an adult before the 1990's remembers that cars used to breakdown regularly. Think back. It happened a lot. So what has changed? Why are we no longer using call boxes on the side of the freeway so often? Well... other than the fact that we all now have mobile phones ;) It was quality management in manufacturing that finally took root in America. Back then it was called Total Quality Management (TQM) and was taught to the Japanese after WWII by Americans like W. Edwards Deming and Joseph M. Juran.  It got bad for a while here in the U.S. In the 1970s and '80s Toyota and other Japanese manufacturer's almost killed the American auto industry with their inexpensive cars that used less gas and were more reliable. It took massive initiatives for the American auto industry to catch up. Ford had their famous "Quality is Job 1" campaign and there was even a popular and funny, but very serious, '80s movie called Gung Ho that told the story of the culture-shock American workers endured in making the change to a zero-defect mindset.

A lot has changed in the American economy and workforce since the 1980s. Far fewer of us are making things. Most people work in offices and type on computers all day. But much of what was learned about "quality management" is only now being translated and put to use in modern "knowledge work." Today's complex professional services businesses like software makers, attorneys, and "consultants" (like PFCS), are working on projects just as complex as automobiles or other manufactured products. But this modern work is being performed with a production system similar to the way old time craftsmen worked, relying on "judgement" and "experience" rather than engineered systems that include measurement of productivity and quality, with continuous improvement built in.

What Is Kanban?

"Kanban (看板 ?) (literally signboard or billboard in Japanese) is a scheduling system for lean manufacturing and just-in-time manufacturing. Kanban is an inventory control system to control the supply chain. Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer at Toyota, developed kanban to improve manufacturing efficiency." - Wikipedia

The fundamentals of a Kanban system: 

1. Visualize the workflow (i.e. Visual Management)

2. Limit Work-In-Process (WIP)

3. Focus on the Flow (Measure Cycle Time)

4. Defective products are not sent to subsequent processes. The result is 100% defect-free goods.

5. Start with the existing process

6. Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary change and continuous improvement

7. Respect the current process, roles, responsibilities, and titles

8. Leadership at all levels (Lead with a team approach)

Toyota studied supermarkets with the idea of applying shelf-stocking techniques to the factory floor. The supermarket stocks only what it expects to sell in a given time, and customers take only what they need, since future supply is assured. A process is the customer of one or more preceding processes. The "customer" process goes to the store to get required components, which in turn causes the store to restock. Kanban aligns inventory levels with actual consumption. A signal tells a supplier to produce and deliver a new shipment when material is consumed. These signals are tracked through the replenishment cycle, bringing visibility to the supplier, consumer, and buyer. Kanban uses the rate of demand to control the rate of production, passing demand from the end customer up through the chain of customer-store processes. (Wikipedia)

By limiting the work in process (WIP) at each step in the process, Kanban naturally exposes bottlenecks. These previously hidden bottlenecks can be opened, thus increasing the rate of the system's throughput.

Around 2010 Kanban started being applied to software development. In manufacturing of physical products, "visual management" is easy, because you can see the work by walking to the work area and following the physical flow of the process. In knowledge work, the fundamental "Visualize the workflow" (i.e. Visual Management) is less natural, but creating a visual management system dramatically increases the ease of understanding of the process and progress toward the objective. The power of Kanban changes the game even more dramatically when processes can (or need to) run in parallel, and the work of multiple processes is combined at various points in the process.

Why We Care

We know that professional services (generally) can be delivered with a much higher level of quality than they currently are; that is, faster, better, cheaper, more consistent. We want to create a system for increasing quality, improving consistency (decreasing variability), and continuously improving. We are already a really good consultancy. But it's our intention to be a great one; truly world-class. Like a professional services "solutions factory" for building problems. We think this manufacturing facility analogy is perfect (take a look at this video of the Tesla factory). "Problems" come into our "factory" and "solutions" are the resulting product that is manufactured inside and delivered to the customer, defect-free.

We know from our studies in quality management (including TQM, Lean, Lean Six Sigma) that using Kanban to control the process flow is a tool that will work for us. It's our intention to make a kanban system for world-class delivery of professional services. In our system, the technical consultants are the "customers" that come to the supermarket and our project coordinators keep the shelves stocked.

A Simple Kanban Application

A client of ours is the owner and manager of a multi-family residential project who needed to hire and manage a new on-site maintenance person. In one sitting we created a system that solved many of their issues. See the "To Do, Doing, Done" Kanban Board at the top of this post. We recommended they create a 4-foot tall, 6-foot wide board with these 3 simple columns. The maintenance person creates a "Kanban Card" (Work Order) for every service call, email, or written request for maintenance.

Kanban Card (Work Order) Contents

• Work Order Number

• Start Date

• Called in By

• Building Element

• Location (Building & Location / Elevation / Unit / Room)

• Description / Scope of Work / Materials / Equipment / Hold Points

• Scope Defined By (Who or What Source?)

• Estimated Duration (hours)

• Estimated Cost ($)

• Assigned To

• Actual Duration (hours)

• Actual Cost ($)

• Completion Date

• Completion Notes

• Technician Signature

• Approved By Signature

This Kanban Card (Work Order) is placed in the To Do column of the big Kanban Board. The maintenance person prioritizes for the week and day by placing the highest priority cards at the top of the To Do column. Every day work orders are moved into the Doing column for the projects in process. At the end of the day, Cards are filled in with Actual Duration, Actual Cost, and Completion Date. All of these work orders represent 100% of the time spent by the maintenance person. At the end of the week the work orders in the Done column are scanned and saved in the personnel file and used for payroll. Critical building maintenance information is saved into the building maintenance files to create a record that a building maintenance expert (like PFCS) can use to continuously improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the work. 

Since the Kanban Board was placed in the maintenance office of the community clubhouse, it created a transparent communication system that addressed concerns of the people living in the community who could now see the priorities and what was in process. Community members now negotiate with real information about prioritizing use of this expensive and important resource (the full-time maintenance person). 

Resources

We used our not-patent-pending Proving the Obvious Using Google method to research this post.

Google Search Results: "Kanban"

1. Kanban on Wikipedia: This is good to read completely.

2. Kanban (Development) on Wikipedia: This is a must read.

3. What is Kanban by Xxxxx:

4. What is Kanban by LeanKit: This is a great read.

5. Image Search "Kanban" by Google. There are LOTS of great examples of kanban being applied to professional services, especially software development.

6. A Brief Introduction to Kanban by Atlassian: This is a great read.

7. What is Kanban by Everyday Kanban: This is a great read.

8. Kanban Flow: Lean project management simplified. This is a good "free" (you can pay to upgrade) software tool.

9. Kanban by Crisp: A basic introduction that includes visuals of a simple system, benefits, and lots of other resource references.

10. Personal Kanban 101: "The human brain however, simply does not respond well to the stress of juggling multiple priorities... That’s where Personal Kanban can help... allows us to visualize the amount of work we have..." There is a 7 minute video that demonstrates the basics of using a To Do, Doing, Done personal kanban board.

11. Here are the 10 links above, printed to PDF, and compiled as “Proving the Obvious Using Google: Kanban Research.”

Other Awesome Resources

1. Steve Jobs 1990 interview video about Joseph Juran and Quality. The first 11 minutes 10 seconds (not the full 19 minutes) are key. When watching this, I am not surprised that he changed the world with technology and created in his own lifetime the most valuable company in the world.

2. Theory of Constraints

3. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. This is considered by many the best business book ever written. It is a parable of a factory and all of it's jobs saved by process improvement. The Theory of Constraints was introduced in this book.

4. Lean Thinking

5. The Deming Institute

6. History of Quality by ASQ (American Society for Quality)

7. Limited WIP Society

8. Please send us more!!

The Secret to Sustaining High Job Performance

Article of the Week

In a recent New York Times article by Tony Schwartz, he provided valuable commentary on sustaining high job performance from employees.

One Minute Summary

Countless leaders and managers are up at night thinking about how to drive sustainable high performance in an era of relentlessly rising demand. The vast majority of salaried employees are already putting in more hours and paying a price that they find less and less acceptable; being exhausted and overwhelmed.

What is the win-win solution for employees and employers? Most companies invest in building the skills of their employees, but few of them systematically invest in building people’s capacity to perform at their best. We feel at our best when four core energy needs are met: sufficient rest; feeling valued and appreciated; having the freedom to focus in an absorbed way on the highest priorities; and feeling connected to a mission or a cause greater than ourselves. More than 20,000 employees around the world were studied to confirm how powerful this can be.

Employees who took intermittent breaks throughout the day reported 28% better focus and a 30% higher level of health and well-being. Feeling treated with respect made employees feel 55% more engaged and 110% more likely to stay at the company. Employees who felt the most recognized and appreciated were 100% more likely to stay with their organizations.

Only one-fifth said they were consistently able to focus on one thing at a time at work, but those who did reported that they were 29% more engaged at work – and far more productive during the day.

Seek to meet the basic needs of employees, and they will bring vastly more of their potential and productivity to the job every day.

Why We Care

The goal of Pete Fowler Construction Services since its' inception was to do AWESOME work, but not have to beat the hell out of everyone to get it.  All employees want to feel appreciated and that they are an important piece of the puzzle.  Providing tools to complete our tasks is important, but providing respect and appreciation is vital and is the foundation of PFCS.

Portland’s 13 Best New Bars

In 2012 we did some Portland happy hour events under the clever title "Pete's Awesome Bars of PDX Tour." Well we saw a great article from Portland Monthly called "Portland's 13 Best New Bars" and it inspired us to map them and re-start the touring! Click the locations on map above and the info for that bar will show up in the map. 

We are starting the tour on Friday 5/6/2016 at 4:00 PM at Hamlet (hamletpdx.com 232 NW 12th Ave, Portland OR 97209 T: 503-241-4009). Come let me buy you a snack or a drink or both, if you have time. I'll be visiting at least two of "Portland Monthly's 13 Best New Bars." If you can't join me Friday, I'll be visiting a few more on Saturday (5/7) and Sunday (5/8). It's going to be a weekend extravaganza!! 

If you have any questions or can’t find us, my cell number is (949) 433-8161. Let me know if you would like to join! 

The Complete List

1. Loyal Legion Pub

2. Hamlet

3. The Green Room

4. Bit House Saloon

5. The Sandy Hut

6. Bible Club

7. Victoria Bar

8. The Commons Tasting Room

9. Americano

10. Killingsworth Dynasty

11. La Moule

12. Paydirt

13. Likewise

Lorman Estimating Webinar 5/4/2016

On 5/4/2016 at 10 a.m. PST, Mike Villalba, Jordan Scott & Pete Fowler presented "Budgeting & Estimating for Construction & Claims" through Lorman Education Services.

Click here for the abbreviated version of the back-up materials for use during the presentation.

West Coast Casualty May 12th & 13th

Every year, PFCS attends the largest event of its kind in the world, the annual West Coast Casualty Construction Defect Seminar at the Disneyland Resort Hotel in Anaheim, CA. This year, we sponsored the WiFi in the main area, and exchanged business cards for bottles of wine! We had a great time seeing old friends and connecting with some new ones. If you missed us this year, we hope to see you next year! 

One of our premier consultants, Mike Villalba, greeting attendees at our booth. Gabriella Wittenberg, our project manager, and Chase Henry, one of our project coordinators, are behind the table.

Background

From the WCC website:

"Since 1993, the West Coast Casualty Construction Defect Seminar has become an institution, a staple and must go to event for all the members of the construction defect community. In no other single place can one learn so much about the prosecution, defense, insurance coverage, science and technology regarding this specialized subject of claims and litigation . . .  and . . .  in no other place will you be able to meet your colleagues where great long lasting relationships can be established which assist you in your claims and litigation handling throughout the business year. It has been long said about our event that it helps bridge the gap between parties by giving them an opportunity, in a neutral forum, to resolve many disputes that they couldn’t do otherwise.

The West Coast Casualty Construction Defect Seminar series is the largest event of its kind worldwide and continues into its 23rd year of bringing the national and international construction defect community its most informative event regarding this specialized subject.

Our attendees, from the legal, insurance, builder, contractor, subcontractor and numerous other communities averaging in number approximately 1,500 per year, come from all across the United States and several foreign countries to hear our speakers views on this continuing and emerging area of claims and law."

WSHB Legendary Party

This year, we also sponsored the WSHB Legendary Party in Downtown Disney. It was a studio 54 theme and everyone had a wonderful time!

Proving the Obvious Using Google

At Pete Fowler Construction Services, we work as expert witnesses in construction defect litigation, construction claims, and property related insurance claims. Sometimes in claims and litigation matters people say silly things. They do this to try to prove their point when they run out of sensible things to say that support their opinions. Often, these silly things that people say and write are surprisingly difficult to refute from a logic and critical thinking perspective. Sometimes, refuting silly assertions can come down to our word versus theirs. 

So, we developed our not-patent-pending exercise, "Proving the Obvious Using Google.” The thing to remember with this application is to separate the wheat from the chaff—the expert will still need to apply professional knowledge, judgement and experience in order to make this exercise successful.

Here are a few examples of silly assertions that we refuted using this deceptively simple exercise:

• An expert said that the "standard of care" in the building industry for a shower enclosure installer was that the shower enclosure should be completely 100% leak-proof and permanently sealed and no maintenance should be required. When we searched “shower enclosure standards” in Google, we found: (1.) “The Bath Enclosure Manufacturers Association is dedicated to raising consumer awareness of the advantages of bath enclosures as the quality alternative to shower curtains” (2.) That the ASTM committee, who composes the national standard, was not even addressing the issue of sealant use (3.) All sources we could find suggested inspecting sealant annually and maintaining nearly as often.

• We were hired by a plaintiff attorney after having represented the general contractor in a construction defect litigation matter that settled favorably to our client immediately following our deposition. The plaintiff attorney had taken an assignment of rights against the insurance company of another party and was pursuing a coverage claim, asserting that the building had not met the standard defined in the policy to be considered "collapsed." Ultimately, this was laughable, because when we entered the search term “building collapse,” almost none of the buildings on the first page of Google qualified as collapsed under the policy exclusions.

• In 2015, we had a case where the opposition argued that the interior of a multi-family residential repair project required three coats of paint (one primer and two top coats). Since there were many units, this made a significant difference in the cost. We searched "interior paint two coats versus three coats" and the results were virtually unanimous that under the vast majority of situations, with all but the darkest of base colors, two coats of interior paint were adequate.

• In 2016 and 2017 (two different cases) we were called to testify in construction litigation matters regarding the definition of "Fast Track Construction" and the impact of the concept on each of the projects. So, of course, we used our Proving the Obvious Using Google for "fast track construction" method. In the first case we were able to make clear the responsibility for the mess that had been made was mostly the responsibility of the Owner, Designer, and General Contractor for having started a project with an inadequate design. In the second matter, the Designer and General Contractor (owned by the same guy) argued as part of their defense that the project was being run as "Fast Track Construction." Unfortunately for the Owner (our client) they had no idea that the Designer-Contractor had thrust upon them responsibility for the risks inherent in Fast Track Construction.

How To: Step-By-Step

1. Google a simple search phrase like "shower enclosure standards," "building collapse," or "interior paint two coats versus three coats."

2. "Print" the results page to PDF and save the file with a name beginning with the date (ex: 2015-12-06), then the search term (ex: "Building Collapse"), then "00" so it sorts at the top of this set of files you're about to compile (Example complete file name: 2015-12-06 Building Collapse 00.pdf).

3. Open the first item in the organically returned list (non-sponsored listings). We like to open this link in a new tab in the browser by using the right-mouse-click. Print the contents of the link to PDF (or sometimes screen shot looks better… But later you’ll need to read and understand the contents so it needs to be complete). Save the file with a name beginning with the date (ex: 2015-12-06), then the search term (ex: "Building Collapse"), then "01" so it sorts after of this set of files you're about to compile (Example: 2015-12-06 Building Collapse 01.pdf).

4. Go back to the Google search page and open the second item in the non-sponsored list. Print the content to PDF and save the with a name beginning with the date, then the search term, then "02" (Example: 2015-12-06 Building Collapse 02.pdf).

5. Continue on with links 3-10.

6. Once the 11 files are compiled, save all of the files together in a single PDF file named 2015-12-06 Building Collapse 00 COMPLETE.pdf so that it will sort at the top of the list of these files. You can then delete all of the individual files.

7. Consider composing a memo summarizing the contents and offering commentary of "What This Means." Consider a 1-sentence to 1-paragraph summary for each of the 10 links. Then a 1-paragraph to 1-page summary of what you learned and how it’s applicable to your situation at hand. Read here for more on Communication of Complex Information on pages 6-7.

Jonny Lang 6/3/2016

On Friday, June 3rd, Pete Fowler and friends will be amazed by the guitar skills of Jonny Lang when he performs at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

Take a few minutes to check out this video of Jonny ROCKING  IT!

Born in Fargo, North Dakota in 1981, Jonny picked up the guitar at the age of 12 and played everything from modern hits to classics. Two years later A&M Records, then home of Janet Jackson and Soundgarden, spotted him at a showcase in Minneapolis, and he was suddenly the latest in a trend of shockingly young blues-guitar prodigies.

At 15, Jonny Lang made a blues album, 1997's "Lie to Me," which went platinum and hit No. 1 on Billboard's New Artist chart. At 17 he made another, "Wander This World," which earned a Grammy nomination. Lang's 2006 album, the gospel-influenced Turn Around, won him his first Grammy Award.

Lang has toured with the Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy, Aerosmith, B.B. King, Blues Traveler, Jeff Beck and Sting. In 1999, he was invited to play for a White House audience that included President and Mrs. Clinton. Earlier that year he was selected by the newly elected Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura to perform at his Inaugural Ball. Lang also makes a cameo appearance in the film Blues Brothers 2000 as a janitor. In 2004, Eric Clapton asked Lang to play at the Crossroads Guitar Festival to raise money for the Crossroads Centre Antigua.

Lang also appears regularly as a part of the Experience Hendrix Tour along with many other well-known guitarists to pay tribute the deceased guitar legend.

Answering the Tough Questions: A Forensic Approach to Consulting by David H. Heemann

The Most interesting Man Alive

David H. Heemann - Claims Coverage Counsel, Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance Group, is one of my favorite people in the world, one of my closest friends, and the only person I have ever met that qualifies as a true Renaissance Man. He's got a B.S. in Criminal Justice, a Masters in Forensic Science, a degree in law and has passed the State of CA bar exam, was an insurance executive, an independent claims adjuster, a CFO, a professional building inspector and consultant, a mold expert, a contractor, a technology entrepreneur, a lawyer, a professor, an airplane pilot, a sommelier, a Culinary Institute of America (CIA) graduate chef, and on, and on, and on... 

The point is, he's really smart. I had the honor of working with David for a long time and was the beneficiary of his brilliance, knowledge and wisdom. In this article, Answering the Tough Questions: A Forensic Approach to Consulting, David shares a small slice of his hard-won experience with us. 

One Minute Summary

INTRODUCTION: Merriam-Webster says forensics is “relating to or
dealing with the application of scientific knowledge to legal problems“. The forensic approach: Following a set of scientific rules, including the use of the research enterprise, scientific method, detailed and complete documentation, and integrity.

THE RESEARCH ENTERPRISE: This is your project plan; the processes and principles for a systematic pursuit of information, and problem solving. The research enterprise includes defining the project and its purpose, the manner and type of information to be collected, and the variables are defined to create what is called the research. From there, the information is analyzed, its validity tested, and its reliability checked. 

SCIENTIFIC METHOD: A scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses. Steps include: 1. Problem Formation 2. Research Design 3. Data Collection 4. Analysis of the Data 5. Interpretation 6. Conclusions 7. Final Report / Presentation 8. Publishing 9. Re-Test.  

DOCUMENTATION: Detailed documentation is critical. You need to create detailed field and research notes, project background summaries, charts and graphs, photographs with annotations, indexes of documents reviewed, and summaries of statements and findings. 

INTEGRITY: Without your integrity intact, none of the other issues matter, because no one will listen.

FORENSIC APPROACH: You have a legal responsibility to provide your client with complete and accurate information at a level of a competent consultant. The information you prepare will be viewed by your client and their attorney, possibly the court and jury, and by the other side. When you use a forensic approach there really are no tough questions, you have all the answers documented.

CONCLUSION: Creating a system of checks and balances is what the forensic approach does naturally, standardizing your approach to every project in the same way. This tool provides you with a pre-established approach to dealing with any situation.

Why We Care

PFCS' job is to combine technical construction expertise, project management discipline, technology and standards to solve building problems. This document is one of the key standards that we apply. All of our work should conform with the guidelines established by this article.  

US Legal Presentation Calendar

Summary

Experts from PFCS will be presenting continuing education programs in 7 US Legal Support offices in Southern and Northern California during April and May, 2016. US Legal Support surveyed their contacts surrounding each office, asking which topics they would most like to see, and the results are in! One of our most popular presentations, "Allocation of Responsibility of Construction Defects" won the majority vote at several of the locations.

If you would like one of our presentations delivered to your office, let us know!

Dates & Locations

• 4/6/2016 San Diego, CA - Allocation of Responsibility of Construction Defects by Mike Villalba

• 4/12/2016 San Francisco, CA - Random Selection and Extrapolation of Construction Defects by Pete Fowler

• 5/3/2016 Fresno, CA - Evaluating Water Leakage of Buildings by Pete Fowler

• 5/4/2016 Costa Mesa, CA - Contracting 101

• 5/18/2016 Sacramento, CA - Allocation of Responsibility of Construction Defects by Pete Fowler

• 5/24/2016 Los Angeles, CA - Allocation of Responsibility of Construction Defects

• 5/25/2016 Rancho Cucamonga, CA - Contracting 101 by Mike Villalba and Pete Fowler

PFCS Expert Presenters

Paul Kushner

Mike Villalba

Pete Fowler

Pictures

Fresno

Costa Mesa

Leon Russell 6/2/2016

When

On Thursday, June 2nd, Pete Fowler and friends will be entertained by the infamous Leon Russell at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

Summary

Leon Russell is a legendary musician and songwriter from Tulsa, Oklahoma who has been performing his gospel-infused southern boogie piano rock, blues, and country music for over 50 years. Leon was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011.

Leon led the famous Joe Cocker "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" tour and performed with George Harrison and Friends at the Concert For Bangladesh.  He has played with Eric Clapton, The Beach Boys, Ray Charles, Edgar Winter, Dave Mason and countless other artists.  He performed his song 'Dixie Lullabye’ with the Zac Brown Band at the 2010 Grammys. 

His songwriting credits include 'A Song For You', ‘Delta Lady’, ‘Hummingbird’, ‘Lady Blue’, ‘Back To The Island’, ‘Tight Rope’, and ‘This Masquerade’.  Leon and Sir Elton John recorded a duet album, The Union, with T-Bone Burnett as the producer.

Multitasking is Killing Your Brain

Many people believe themselves to be multitasking masters, but could it all be in their heads? The founder of WordStream, Larry Kim, recently published an article in Inc. about the affects of multitasking.

Summary

Our brains weren't built to multitask. There is perfectly clear science that our brains are "not wired to multitask." Some even refer to email/Twitter/Facebook-checking as a neural addiction.

Multitasking lowers your work quality and efficiency and multitaskers experience significant IQ drops similar to what you see from skipping a night of sleep or smoking marijuana. Multitasking increases production of cortisol, the stress hormone and reduces your effective IQ by 10-15 points!  

Protect yourself: establish an e-mail checking schedule. Commit yourself to checking emails only three times a day, (maybe when you get into work in the morning, at lunch time, and before leaving work at the end of the day). Turn off texting notifications and choose specific times to check your phone as well. Turn off notifications, create set email checking time slots throughout the day (rather than constant inbox refreshing), and put your mind to the task at hand.

The damage could be permanent: MRI scans on the brains of individuals who spent time on multiple devices at once (texting while watching TV, for example) showed that subjects who multitasked more often had less brain density...  Multitasking men have it the worst.

Why We Care

Our work is hard and requires us to think. We should consider setting company standards around email and other interruptions. Our work space design has an impact on distraction and we should think about it hard.

Who Would You Prefer As Your Contractor?

You Might Be Surprised By My Choice

I have said this hundreds of times, and I have even testified to it once or twice: I would prefer a competent criminal contractor over an incompetent contractor. Time and again I have seen incompetent contractors cost Owners more than a criminal would ever dare to steal. 

I am working on a project now where the Owner signed a contract with a general contractor for $850,000 to construct a new home. He chose this contractor because the competing bid was $20,000 higher. Through negligence in the contracting process, negligence in the building process, and negligence in the billing and change management process, the project cost the Owner more than $1.2 million. The project changed VERY little from the time the design was completed by the architect to the time the project was completed. And yet the cost increased more than $350,000.   

So if the Owners would have chosen the other contractor for $20,000 more, they would have been FAR better off, even if he was a criminal who stole $100,000 from them at the end of the project. Think of that. I'm not kidding. 

Open Source Construction Contracts

Are you tired of the existing methods for getting a construction contract drafted, negotiated, finalized and signed? So are we. And we think we have a solution. 

What is Open Source? 

Open Source is a development model that promotes universal access via a free license to a product's design or blueprint, and universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone.

Did you ever see the game show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" Remember how when the contestant would "Ask the Audience," the audience was almost always right? The cleverest among us have known for a long time that "Everybody is smarter than anybody." Open Source is a technology-enabled way for us to take advantage of the wisdom of the crowd. 

Probably the most commonly used and known Open Source body of material is Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. There have been many research studies that have verified that the content is equally reliable as other scholarly sources such as Encyclopedia Britannica. 

Why Should I Care About Open Source Contracts? 

I think the industry standard contracts that we are all using now are terribly flawed. And they are expensive. And they are cumbersome. Since Everybody is smarter than anybody, we should all get together and write a great contract. Then we can all use it on our client's behalf, for free.

In addition to a place where we can all contribute a small amount of time and get the HUGE reward of a really good construction agreement, we will also have training modules and recommendations showing how to use these awesome documents. Maybe we will even host open training forums, seminars, and webinars that will count toward continuing education requirements! 

Just imagine: Someday the Contracting 101 family of open source construction documents might be more popular than the standard form agreements that are so widely used today! You could be one of the founding members of a movement that improves contracting henceforth and forever more! 

What's Happening at Contracting 101.com?

We are getting smart people together to draft and continuously improve a family of inter-connected construction contract documents. 

These documents might include: 

1. Owner-Owner's Representative (CM) Agreement

2. Owner-Designer Agreement

3. Owner-Prime Contractor Agreement & General Conditions

4. Owner-Prime Contractor Change Order

5. Owner Purchase Order (For purchase directly by Owner)

6. Contractor-Subcontractor Agreement

7. Contractor-Subcontractor Change Order

8. Purchase Order

9. Payment Application

How Do I Get Involved?

At this point, all you have to do is tell someone at PFCS that you want to be involved, and poof! You're involved. We will maintain a list of people who want to be involved and we will send update messages from time to time. 

Next Actions

1. DONE Setup documents for electronic collaboration (probably Google Docs and Sheets)

2. IN PROCESS Collect and organize what other industry standard documents (AIA, AGC, Etc.) have to say on these key subjects (sections and clauses).

3. IN PROCESS Get a diverse team of collaborators together including property owners & managers, developers & contractors, product manufacturers & suppliers, insurers and lawyers.

4. Outline the first document to identify all sections and clauses.

5. Make another draft of the list of documents that will be included in this family of construction documents.

6. Start writing our own clauses.

7. Make a more detailed plan :)

8. Publish our first draft document for use.