This week, Musings welcomes Mark Buckshon of the Construction Marketing Ideas blog to Guest Post Friday.  Mark publishes several regional construction industry newspapers and websites. He can be reached at 888-432-3555 ext 224 or by email at buckshon@cnrgp.com.

If you can imagine a table or structure which needs foundation “legs,” you will appreciate how to apply these four supporting construction marketing concepts.

Properly measured and in alignment, all four will ensure your success, but you can get away with three (and in fact, your structure will be quite stable). Less than three, though, and you won’t stay above ground very long.

I tried to develop these concepts into an acronym, but the closest I could come up with is RIMC. Think of “hockey rink” but turn the N into an M for “Money” and you’ll have it.

It doesn’t matter which order these elements are available, but you need at least three to succeed.

R — Relationships

Your ability to develop and maintain relationships with employees, clients, and influencers is certainly a cornerstone of effective marketing. If you don’t have much relationship-creating power, you can blast your way with lots of Intensity, Money and Consistency (but you had better be sure to have lots of money!)

I — Intensity (or Focus)

If your relationships (and business) are all over the place, scattered here and there, without much energy applied to any element, just whispers in the wind, you won’t leave much of an impact, and you won’t achieve much in terms of marketing results. But if you have plenty of relationships, money and consistency, you”ll probably still succeed, simply because the cash will ‘buy’ you some intensity and if people like you, they will do business with you.

M – Money

Of course, money can “buy” the other categories, or help you work around them. No relationships, intensity, or consistency: You can bribe someone, or spend a fortune on advertising, or hire someone for great pay who is good at relationship-building. You can overcome deficiencies with lots of money (or waste it!).

C – Consistency

Your clients need to see you for who you are; you need to convey some consistency, even if that consistency is unpredictability. In other words, if your image one day is of a staid and secure organization appealing to quiet, mature people, you will not have much success if you jar them suddenly with an appeal to youthful exuberance. But you can overcome inconsistency with cash, relationships and intensity. (Think “rebranding” initiatives.)

What is the best way to achieve construction marketing success? Without spending much (if any money) build your relationships, intensity and consistency. Then, when you have the money, add it to the pot. You’ll dominate your market.

As always, please join the conversation with a comment below and contact Marc for more.  If you enjoy what you’re reading, please subscribe to keep up with the latest Construction Law Musings and check out the other Guest Post Fridays here at Musings.

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Happy 4th of July from Construction Law Musings.  As I sit here in my office after my first two days and weekend as a solo practitioner at The Law Office of Christopher G. Hill, PC, the idea of independence has a whole new meaning (hat tip to Carolyn Elefant of the My Shingle blog for pointing out my interesting, yet totally unplanned, timing for a move).

The independence of solo practice is both exhilarating and scary.  I feel like I am on a roller coaster at the top of that first, very tall, hill and looking down at the wild and great ride ahead of me.  I am in charge of my own destiny and feel like I am forging ahead into a new and exciting land of opportunity.  I don’t know if this is how the pioneers felt (I find it hard to relate to them as I type on a computer and see my blackberry blinking beside me), but the idea that I am both in control of and totally responsible for the future of my law practice is a wonderful feeling.

I will certainly be working as hard or harder than I was before, but I am working for myself and my family with total focus.  If I need something, I go get it (within reason of course).  No more “bucking it up the chain of command” because I am the first, last and middle link of that chain.

Thank you again to my absolutely wonderful wife and children for their awesome support throughout this change.  Without their support my transition never would have happened.

As I reflect on my move to solo practice, I can’t help but be thankful that I live in the United States where such a move is possible thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of everyone who works to keep this country free.

Happy Independence Day everyone!

As always, I welcome your comments below.  Please subscribe to keep up with this and other Construction Law Musings.

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Recently I was discussing the ConsensusDOCs with a colleague and friend and had a revelation. These forms are used often (though somewhat less than their AIA counterparts and less than they should be used). Quick disclaimer: I have been a part of a couple of drafting committees for ConsensusDOCs and am friends with Brian Perlberg, general counsel to the drafting effort.

Some of the reason that these forms are so widely used is that they can be applied in a general way to almost any situation. Both sets of forms have documents for small and large jobs. Both have forms for Contractor/Owner and Contractor/Subcontractor. In short, a form document exists for about any scenario.

I am writing now to let you know that while forms are great, they are just that. . . forms. Like with any set of forms, they need to be “tweaked” for your particular project. In my opinion they both have great clauses in them, and both have some flexibility built in (ConsensusDOCS more at the moment than the AIA forms). At the very least, construction professionals need to use this flexibility to conform the documents to their particular situation and do so within the documents themselves and not with addenda that “strike” or “modify” particular clauses.

Frankly, the use of such addenda over time can lead to a lot of work for a construction attorney and a lot of headaches for a contractor. Eventually, use of such addenda without thorough periodic review can lead to clauses that nest and are internally contradictory leading to disputes over what the document means. Such ambiguity and self-contradiction within the documents only leads to another layer between you and the key question: Who owes whom money and how much?

In short, clarity is key. Adequate clarity is achievable with the AIA and ConsensusDOCs forms (among others created by the AGC and other organizations). However, you must use the forms as they are written and for the purpose for which they were created. If you cannot get to where you want to go with these forms, then consult an attorney and collaborate with him or her to create documents that achieve the specificity that you need and the clarity that is a must.

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Aside from my piece in the issue, fellow attorney and friend Tim Hughes (@vaconstruction and principal author of the well read Virginia Real Estate, Land Use & Construction Law blog) co-authors a piece on Practice as a LEED Accredited Professional.  Please read this piece, it’s a good one.

Again, I recommend this issue to lawyers, both in and out of Virginia, and hope that you will give it a read.

UPDATE:  How could I forget the good stuff from Chris Cheatham? (@chrischeatham)

As always, I welcome your comments below.  Please subscribe to keep up with this and other Construction Law Musings.

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If Musings has one overarching theme it is be careful with your construction contracts. The Courts remind us of that on a regular, if not daily, basis.

One such case, in May of this year and out of the Eastern District of Virginia is Hall & Wilson Construction, Inc. v. Sockwell. Sockwell is a good reminder that contractors should make sure to both include a written change order provision in their contracts and (importantly) follow that provision.

In Sockwell, Hall & Wilson filed a breach of contract action in the Eastern District of Virginia. The initial written contract was for an addition to the Sockwells’ office building. After completion of some fire repairs and the addition, Hall & Wilson sued for non-payment under the Contract and an invoice for “Homeowner Extras.” The last invoice for the extras was an add on to the initial contract for work that was performed without a written change order.

In response, the Sockwells, North Carolina residents who executed the initial written contract in North Carolina, claimed that the Virginia court was the wrong place to resolve the dispute.

The Court found that, while it had jurisdiction over the dispute that venue was improper. The Court stated that the “Homeowner Extras” were the only properly disputed items and that the Contract’s venue provisions requiring venue in Virginia did not apply because these last items were a new contract. The Court based this final conclusion on the lack of a written change order and the full payment by the Sockwells of all prior charges. The Court then dismissed the case.

Essentially, in this case, the contractor could not pursue its claim because it did not follow the change order provisions of its own contract. While I do not know if the decision would have been different had the “Homeowner Extras” been the subject of a written change order, I can tell that the Court would have had a much harder time dismissing this case.

In sum, make sure that you have a good venue and jurisdiction provision in your contract and be sure to follow your change order provisions to avoid such adverse consequences. As always, consultation with an experienced construction lawyer will help assure that your contracts are written as they need to be.

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As always, it was a blast.  I got to catch up with friends in the Virginia construction industry from across the state.  Just from a networking perspective, the “face time” that I get from these events is amazing.  I always return with at least a couple of new contacts that inevitably grow into friends.

This year’s gathering was a bit more intimate, down about 200 people from 2009.  While this may be a by-product of the economy, the smaller gathering was in many ways more laid back and relaxed, allowing more interaction.  Also, that the convention included over 300 people in the Virginia construction industry shows that commercial construction in Virginia continues to be a viable and healthy, if trimmed down, industry.  This was good to see.

I have written before about how just membership in the AGC has helped me grow my practice and make new contacts and friends.  Participation in these events not only helps to grow my practice, but reminds me of why I enjoy representing general contractors, subcontractors and other construction industry professionals on a daily basis.

I truly believe that attorneys, as people who generally deal with risk and the problems of construction, need to get to gatherings like this to laugh and have fun with clients and other friends.  Getting to interact this way dulls the potential cynicism of day-to-day dealings with that thankfully small percentage of cases where major problems occur.

My advice for all attorneys (in the construction field or otherwise) is to enjoy your clients and take the time to have fun with the people you represent.  I know that I do.

As always, I appreciate all of your comments.  Please subscribe to keep up with the latest Construction Law Musings.

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Thanks to all my readers and I look forward to getting going again next week.

© Construction Law Musings- Richmond, VA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 U.S. license.