Ron Pestone’s Elm Contractors Post is truly “a resource for the construction industry”. This is a blog where words count far more than images; where the substance is in Pestone’s experience and passion rather than high-level sophistication; where intelligence is measured by what you know than how many long words you can string together.
Take a look, for example, at this two part post regarding prejudice from September, 2012. I’m perhaps destroying the story by excerpting these paragraphs, but after you read this snippet, please go back and read the whole thing.
I was just a kid and he was the king and I did anything he needed doing.? I helped him with the surveying, cleared areas where the monster worked.? Ran errands for him including picking up his Irish whisky. I did it all and I did it gladly.? I wanted to climb the mountain.? For his part he always treated me great and could always get me to laugh.? Back then I really felt like part of something.? I was going places.
Late one cold winter afternoon I walked into his warm shanty and by one quick look at him I knew he had been into the Irish whisky.? When he saw me he motioned for me to come on in and take a seat.? Sipping his Irish coffee from a paper coffee cup he leaned back in his chair smiled and with a gentle slur in his borough changed my life.? To this day I can remember what he slurred out as if it was yesterday.? ?Lad,? he slurred, ?You?re a good lad but brown eyes will never be blue eyes.?
I felt as if I had been punched in the gut and in that split second I didn’t know if I should smash him in the face or sit and cry.? What a shot, it really hurt.? I though he liked me and that I was on my way up.? One sentence and my whole world came crashing down.? For this god who had the power to move me up I had the wrong color eyes and ethnic background.? I was going no place.
Part I?http://www.elmcontractorspost.com/all-you-knned-to-know-about-prejudice-a-two-part-series/
Part II?http://www.elmcontractorspost.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-prejudice-part-2-of-a-2-part-series/
The blog also includes a classified ads function and a news release feed.
Why has Pestone started his blog/site? ?You can’t find much of a sales pitch for any of his own services in the blog’s pages, but this reference from his LinkedIn profile provides a clue:
I developed a working job costing system that is simple, effective and inexpensive. To me job costing simply means, “What is it going to cost in dollars, time and resources to finish a contract on any given day”.
The system I have developed is very different. There is no cost coding by man. Instead, it lets a foremen do what he does best, run the installation and the project manager do what he does best, manage the project. I am in the process of writing a book on the system that is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2012, with a working title of, COMMON SENSE SUBCONTRACTING THROUGH ELM JOB COSTING AND MORE.
If Pestone’s book is late, I think it will still be worthy reading. (If you ever want to go out on a limb and try to write a book, you’ll know that — especially the first time around — that the initiative can truly take much longer than you initially expect. My Construction Marketing Ideas book, for example, required two years from conception to publication — with plenty of delays for a variety of reasons along the way.)
Nominations for the?Best Construction Blog competition?are open until January 31.?You can learn more and suggest your own blog or one that you like by completing the nomination form here.?
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