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Building Trades Resources Online ---+ |
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Please join us in the new btd online forum. Post your questions and participate in the discussion. Construction Education Programs Standard Construction Contracts Historic Resources and Organizations Home Improvement - Do it Yourself Architectural Model and Delineation Architectural Drafting Services BIM Architectural Modeling Services - Building Information Modeling Construction Business Management Services and Software Online Construction Business Marketing International Building Material and Markets Digital Online Printing Services
Construction Master Builder - India - Head Quarters,102/11 Tripti Apartments, Head Quarters, chennai tamilanadu 600008 Dee Ess Media - Bagrian House Lakkar Bazar Ludhiana (County: Punjab) Punjab 141008 Heritage Publishing Corp., LLC - 335 N 6th St Paducah KY 42001 Bookmark Inc - 13976 Santa Fe Trail Dr Lenexa (County: Johnson) KS 66215 Free Trade Magazines - 200 Route 17, Suite 5 Mahwah (County: Bergen) NJ 07430 New England Construction News - 100 Radnor Road Suite 102 State College (county: Centre) PA 16801
San Antonio Chapter of NARI - 1100 NW Loop 410, Suite 700 San Antonio TX. 78213 Interior Design Interior Design Network - 1450 Sunnyside Rd. NE Salem OR 97301 RESIDENTIAL DESIGN - 94 CRESCENT AVENUE BOSTON (County: MIDDLESEX) MA. 02150 Von Lowen Designs - 1262 Edgewood Rd Redwood City CA 94062
Australasian Building Trades Directory - Australia's largest online directory of building trades and services … builders, carpenters, cabinet makers, plumbers, roofers, electricians, tilers,... Building Trades Australia - email: admin@buildingtrades.com.au Online building and trades directory for Australia. Find your local plumber, carpenter, electrician, bricklayer, tiler, and much more... Building Trades Directory UK - btd-uk.com - Building Construction Services though the United Kingdom Notes to BTD Viewers Just because we at the Building Trades Directory see so many web sites in the design, engineering and construction industry, I would like to offer the following advice for those starting their own trades website for the first time. There are a few things we have found that lead to successful website development: 1. Follow the fundamental rule of who, what, when and where! Such as: Who is the Firm? – Be sure to have your full name clearly visible on the home page… abbreviated names (like IBM) may work for some firms, but even then it helps to spell it out, remember that the internet is truly global so IBM in Germany may be a toilet manufacturer. What do you do? – Take the time and space to be clear and fully layout the service or products that your firm offers. Do not get into the marketing hype and remember let your portfolio or catalog do the talking. Where are your services or products offered? Where are your offices? – I cannot tell you how many firms say that they have done work all around the world or sell products all around the world without a clear description of how clients would access these services or products. When? Availability. When can a client access the service or product? Time is a much harder question in the Building Industry but just as important…. IIf I order insulation when do I get it? What is the supply chain? If I am trying to get stone from Vietnam, how does this supply chain really work? Is it possible? Governmental reviews, customs regulations, money exchanges and contracts, shipping and insurance and so on can seem insurmountable from the start unless clearly addressed by the seller. The same with services. No architect or engineer shows a project schedule reflecting the time required to produce a project with only their pretty pictures in their portfolio. They also rarely say who the team of builders was. I think that one of the most important things that a professional can offer is the management of projects in terms of cost and time, and the firms that show they have a clear handle on this will be selected over firms that don’t. Oh, and how long did it take to build that library? Show a timeline from start to finish! Inform your potential clients from the start. 2. Keep it simple up front. I know that we are all competing on the web, but the internet works largely through text and text searches. So even if you have the coolest flash site in the world, you still need the text handles to do business and be found on the internet. If you want the flash, keep it as a “branch” well behind your entry pages. 3. You are part of a team. Show who you work with (yes… name them!) I think this is best done in the portfolio section of your website, but when you see a wonderful photo of a building don’t be shy about crediting the builder, engineer and the key trades. It too often seems that the architect does not really know who the mason was or who the glazer was, yet it is hard to look at great buildings and not wonder who the tradesmen were. These should be cross-linked to their web sites and ask them for links back to yours, as well. 4. Build your network. Make your entry page as accessible as possible (clear and fast to load), and work to get all of the search systems working for you. Get your team to list your site as a part of their sites. No one gets a job from their professional association, but you will from good relations with your past team members. Jobs come from the strangest places sometimes. An architect friend who was published in a trendy hot and current architectural magazine said he never got one phone call about new work, but when the same project was published in Sunset Magazine he had to add secretarial staff. It is not too much to have 100 cross-links in your website to start. The second point is that all buildings are made up of hundreds of components, and I think we should do much more to call them out, and in turn be recognized by the manufactures as successfully demonstrating their products in place. This took place a good deal in print, but you could imagine what the BIM systems will bring…. 5. Photography. While the web is text and code, we are in a show-me business and nothing does that as well as good photography. One good tool to help point #4 above, is to buy the photography of your project with the understanding that these images will be shared across the team. Yes, it costs a little more with the photographer but your firm will have better control (a stonemason that has access to a much smaller percentage of the project budget cannot fairly be expected to pay the same as another team member who has made much more on the project). If a team works together it can build a more effective and supportive network on the web. 6. Be seen! Look at your site in different formats; be sure that you’re in the game (iPhone mobile, Apple Safari etc.) Remember that most schools are on Apple, and so are school staffs. Your firm cannot be on the short list for the new dorm if they cannot see your website. For instance, when the carpenter did not show on time and needs to be replaced, the young assistant to the general contractor will make a “short list” in the field from his iPhone or Blackberry to get the project back up and running. Your site needs to be seen in whatever format he may have. Do not make the viewer download anything to see the core of your website, they simply won’t do it. Yes, go around town if you have to in order to check it from different areas, but be sure to call-up your site and test it on different screens and formats. We had an architect come into a conference room and try to call up his firm’s web site only to see it for the first time in another internet browser than what his office uses. The site was dissected in ways that did not make him happy and made for a short meeting. 7. It’s all about getting the job. It is my experience that your web site is not going to get you a job… but it will help to get you short-listed in order to get a job. Your firm will be looked at long before you are contacted and in that period, your website must speak for you. Remember that this is a very big decision on your clients’ part, in many cases the largest professional decision they will every make. Your best offering to them is clear concise information to illustrate your mastery of your profession or trade. We hope this is helpful. —The Building Trades Directory eyespeak@earthlink.net |
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architecture landscape contractors engineering schools trades listing in BTD construction law volume5 resources home listing in BTD |
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Building Trades Directory: June 1998 c/w. 2009 -- -->
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