Joe Stoddard is an industry consultant and the director of builder operations for Dynami Solutions; www.joestoddard.com.
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Remodeling gurus agree: A fixed-price catalog is a must for service or handyman work. zShops uses "Amazon Payments," including major credit cards and online escrow.
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Ten years ago I coined the phrase "CAD-Assisted Estimating" to describe early attempts by CAD vendors to provide take-off and bill-of-materials functionality. Now, using CAD to automate the take-off process can be a reality. Most builders will still need to tweak results in a spreadsheet or...
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A digital camera plus imaging software like Paint Shop Pro (www.jasc.com) goes a long way toward eliminating project misunderstandings. Created as a video/chat product, Netmeeting moonlights as an excellent remote control package, and it's free, unlike LapLink or PCAnywhere. --Joe Stoddard is a...
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You may be leery of the "paperless office," but the fact is, it costs less to manage documents electronically than to keep buying filing cabinets (and a place to put them). Subscribe to eFax Plus and fax paper documents from your fax machine to your own eFax number. They'll show up attached to an...