Speaker Topics
Speaker Topics at NPE 2023
Click on a topic to view the topic descriptions and objectives
Management
- LINES OF CREDIT- HOW TO USE
- When is the best time to get a line of credit
- Building company credit
- Seek banks when your company doesn’t need money
- Using your Line of Credit to offset customers with 60-90 day payments
- SUBCONTRACTING
- Building a strong relationship with top vendors
- How to use subs and to keep them to a high standard
- How to add profit and maximize profitability when subbing
- Making sure Subcontractor has proper insurance
- JOB COSTING AND ESTIMATING SOFTWARES
- Understanding true costs of Equipment and ownership costs to capture burdens
- Understanding Labor costs, Salaries and capturing hourly rates fully burdened
- Software that simplifies the job costing process
- Foreman job costing and capturing every item for true job cost
- IPAD PRO IN THE FIELD
- Purchasing the right IPAD
- Pen and protective cases
- Training the Field Managers to properly use
- Communication from field to office
- Job Costing
- All job info in IPAD Files – No More Paper
- Pictures, Change Orders, Estimating, Maps ETC.
- UTILIZING TECHNOLOGY FOR TODAYS CONTRACTOR
- Setting your office up with the proper computers (Mac or PC)
- Cell Phones
- IPADS, Surface Pros, Laptops to be able to work in or out of office
- GPS units for trucks
- Zoom meetings, Microsoft Teams, Facetime
- How combining the technology will eliminate double work and create efficiency
Paving
- MILLING BASICS – WHEN TO BUY A MILL
- High Flow Skid Steer with Mill Head (24” 40”)
- Trimmers- Cutting edges, use for trenching
- Purchasing your 1st mill.
- Understanding the true cost of ownership
- Using Subcontractor
- Moving Machine- Buying a lowboy trailer
- High Maintenance
- Proper equipment used with milling
- Sweepers- Best sweepers- Pick Up, Truck Sweepers, Vacuum
- Best method of maintaining pickup sweeper damage
- ADVANCED MILLING – MULTIPLE MACHINES AND HIGH PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES
- Maximizing milling in parking lots
- Corners- best way to profile corners to eliminate broken asphalt
- Milling around utility structures
- Maintenance and best teeth options
- Leasing vs buying
- Understanding ownership costs
- Building an A team – Proper Equipment and team
- Sweepers- Best sweepers- Pick Up, Truck Sweepers, Vacuum
- Best method of maintaining pickup sweeper damage
- RESIDENTIAL PAVING DRIVEWAYS AND SMALL LOTS – BUILDING DRIVEWAYS
- Purchasing the right equipment to be productive
- Removing driveways- Excavator, Skid Steer, Milling- Best and Fastest method
- High Costs of disposal of broken asphalt
- Decorative edges- Creating designer driveways
- Best Specifications for driveways
- Best Compaction Method
- COMMERCIAL PAVING- PARKING LOTS, ROADS
- Overlays vs Milling
- Once milled and cleaned- Reconstructing failed areas
- Best Specifications
- Clay subbase vs sand – Specifications
- Proper Equipment Selection- Milling Machines, Paver Size, Roller Size
- Importance of compaction
Leadership
- HOW TO BUILD A STRONG TEAM
- Building Project Managers and Foreman’s
- Accountability- Understanding the power
- Middle Management drives the profitability
- Understanding how to elevate your crews
- Learning how to have crucial conversation
- Creating respect from your peers
Office
- GROWING PAINS-HIRING A STRONG OFFICE STAFF (Small Company) ▪ Delegating and empowering job duties
- Hiring the right people
- Bookkeeper or Financial Controller
- Outsourcing Bookkeeping
- HR, Payroll, Project Coordinators to create job packets
- CHANGES TO HR LAWS
- Overtime
- On-duty meal breaks
- Prevailing wage
- BYOD traps
- Diversity & gender
- UNDERSTANDING PAYROLL, HUMAN RESOURCES, OUTSOURCING PAYROLL, WORKMANS COMP AND INSURANCE (Large Company)
- Payroll Services- Timeclocks best way to capture employee hours
- Human Resources- Keeping employee info and best way to store the info.
- Workman’s Comp and Insurance
- GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR TEAM – UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF FEELINGS
- Personality Profiles- DISC TESTS
- Learning how to understand personality profiles to best communicate with team members
- How to build your teams by personalities to create “A” Teams
- How to use this tool for hiring and putting people in the right positions
Cracksealing
- CRACKFILLING AND MASTICS
- Purchasing the right equipment
- Push Kettles, Crackfill machines and trucks to pull material
- Cleaning cracks
- How to handle settlement
- Routing vs blow and fill
- Using sand, spray to prevent tracking
- Crackfiller that sticks to tires in hot weather – complaints
- Mastics to fill wide cracks
- When is it too late to crack fill
- CRACK SEAL 101
- Crack seal safety
- Crack preparation
- Why do we crack seal?
- Difference between crack sealing to filling
- How clean is clean when preparing cracks
- Material A-Z
- Hot pour vs. Cold pour
- Direct fire vs. Oil jacket kettles
- Hand carts, pour pots and squeezes. Advantages and disadvantages of each.
Sealcoating
- SEALCOATING FOR BEGINNERS – LEARNING THE BUSINESS
- Purchasing the right equipment
- Equipping your trucks to win
- What size tank to buy?
- Truck pulling Trailer vs Truck Mounted
- Coal Tar vs Asphalt Emulsion
- Applying by hand brush, squeegee, spray wand or spraybar
- Using additives and sand
- Coal tar shortage and price increases
- When is it too late to seal
- SEALCOATING PRO TIPS
- Purchasing the right equipment
- Yard Tanks – 8,000 – 10,000 with meters
- Ride on applicators
- Double Coat vs Overlap
- Creating Sealcoat Plans for your customers
- Proper timetable for sealcoating – Not over sealing
- Coal Tar, Asphalt Emulsion, Rejuvenators
- Discuss Tire scuffing
- Price Increases and Shortages- How to handle the supply shortages
- How to handle white spots that come through the sealer
- Pricing Strategies
Pavement Marking (Striping)
- LINESTRIPING FOR BEGINNERS
- Purchasing equipment – Ride On or Push Unit
- Understanding Layouts
- Stencils
- Paint Types
- Equipping truck to win
- LINESTRIPING ADVANCED
- Using Lasers
- Layout Techniques – How to use the auto layout
- Striping on radius – layout tips
- Thermoplastic – Units for beginners
- Thermoplastic – Truck Units
- ADA Layout
- ADA COMPLIANCE
- Understanding the ADA laws
- Using a 2-foot smart level – 2%
- Concrete ramps
- Truncated Domes
- Proper Signage
Sweeping
- USING STORMWATER AND AIR POLLUTION DATA TO SELL SWEEPING SERVICES
- University and private studies are clear on the environmental benefits of sweeping
- Use this data to create credibility and need, in your sales pitch
- Help in getting local entities to not ignore national regulations that require sweeping
- JOB COSTING FOR SWEEPING SERVICES
- What your numbers should be telling you
- How to develop your own primary KPI’s or KSI’s
- How to use non-numerical data as a KPI (i.e. Customer Satisfaction)
- When are you measuring too much
- NEXT GENERATION SWEEPERS – ELECTRIC, AUTONOMOUS
- Discussion includes infrastructure needed, mechanic training, financing with grants
- An over the horizon look at what is coming AND what is already here
- Timelines in some states for mandatory adoption (Electric)
- The changing legal framework for autonomous fleets
- USING THE ANSI POWER SWEEPING STANDARD TO PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS AND HOW TO USE IT AS A SALES TOOL.
- How best to reference it in your contracts to maximize protection
- What to share with your defense team when involved with trip & fall litigation
- How to make sure it is not used against you
- GETTING BUY-IN FOR DASHCAMS AND IN-CAB CAMERAS
- Privacy issues
- Eliminating Distracted Driving: How Technology and Coaching Can Improve Fleet Operations
- Sample employment policies and forms.
- Machine learning and artificial intelligence are making fleets safer. How it is introduced can make a big difference.
Sales and Marketing
- DIGITAL MARKETING
- Using the proper platforms ( Linkedin, Facebook,Instgram, Twitter etc.)
- Website design – Creating a clean impactful site that is easy to use
- SEO
- Using Drones in the field to create strong Before and After
- Keeping your company relevant
- Highlighting your services with great videos and client testimonials
- SELLING TO COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS
- Understanding Customer needs
- Discussing budgets and expectations
- Creating maps and clarity of areas in need of repair
- With retail and commercial building not 100% occupied – finances are low
- How to create a multi-year plan to get site in top standing
- CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION: AFTER JOB IS WON- BEST WAY TO COMMUNICATE
- When Qualifying customers finding the best way to communicate
- Setting Schedule and keeping customer updated
- What happens if rain or production pushes project
- Unhappy customers if project moves and customer can’t be onsite
- When crews arrive on site – Communication method- (Text, Phone, Email etc.)
- How to handle customers that do not want to meet onsite
- How to wow your customer