The Commercial Contracting Roundtable & Design/Build Seminar (CCR) — co-produced by Contracting Business and Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) — has always been a highlight of the HVAC event calendar. Success-driven contractors nearing the end of a busy year look forward to loading up on the business management and technical advice the show offers, in a mini-trade show format. They’re closing their books on the past year, and getting set for the new year that lies ahead.
CCR 2008, held Nov. 12-13 in Atlanta, was no exception. Twelve commercial HVAC industry experts inspired attendees with presentations on successful project management, budgeting, retro-commissioning, and more.
Leading the charge was keynote speaker George Hedley, president, Hedley Construction & Development, Costa Mesa, CA, who spoke on The Success Blueprint for Contractors.
“Successful business owners and managers know what they want, they have a written plan, and they always track and make progress towards what they want,” Hedley exclaimed, and then proceeded to outline a definitive path to success contractors could follow.
Named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Ernst & Young and Venture magazine, Hedley outlined the path a business person must walk to attain success. That path takes them from worker/employee/manager, to hands-on controller and supervisor, to entrepreneur/business builder, to company owner and opportunity seeker.
“Building a great business is not easy. It takes a burning desire to continually improve by trying new ideas, systems, and processes,” Hedley said. “You must love what you do, love your customers, and not be afraid to hire people better than yourself.”
Hedley also inspired contractors with a presentation on Winning More Design/Build Contracts. By moving customers away from plan-and-spec and toward more Design/Build contracts, a commercial contractor can have more control of projects, avoid many of the adversarial conflicts that arise with the plan-and-spec method, he said.
Other sessions included Servicing Large Tonnage Equipment; Succeeding in the Multi-Location Service Market; The Greening of Design/Build; Budget Like the Pros; Remote Monitoring; Successful Project Management; and Building Information Modeling.
Presenters included Pat Rucker, Entech; Brad Bolino, John Kirlin, and John Claybourn, Oklahoma Chiller; John Bevington, ChillCo; Bob Keingstein, BOSS Facility Services; Ellis Guiles, TAG Mechanical Systems; Skip Snyder, The Snyder Co.; Ben DiMarco, DiMarco & Associates; Larry Cook, Chuck Webb, and Ronnie Cox of TDIndustries; and Jason Merriman, A.O. Reed & Co.
During the awards luncheon, Contracting Business presented its 2008 Design/Build awards to EMCOR Services New England Mechanical, Vernon, CT; Harrington Engineering, Old Saybrook, CT; and Kahn Mechanical Contractors, Dallas, TX. (See CB, Oct. 2008, p. 35.)
Kahn Mechanical Contractors was also presented with the Contracting Business 2008 Commercial Contractor of the Year Award. (See CB, March 2008, p. 36.)