Grantlun got us to assess our entire operation (the good and the bad). So far we are having real in-depth conversations as we work through the workbooks and are optimistic we will see real improvement to our quality and bottom line. Great approach, great product and great people.
Grant Lungren’s extensive real world construction experience and technical insight have been an invaluable help to our organization. Grant has helped us streamline our operations and helped us to implement many time saving automated systems. With his help we have trimmed our workforce while growing our revenue. I would recommend Grantlun to anyone that is interested in having a knowledgeable no-nonsense party on their advisory board.
Grant Lungren has been a tremendous asset to our company. He has helped us establish and define our corporate structure as well as aided us in the implementation of business processes that have allowed our company to grow. I personally, rely on him for his knowledge and insight to our industry – someone that I can lean on. We were taught very well how to run the equipment and get the jobs done. We just weren’t taught how to run a business. That’s where Grant comes in!
Grant’s knowledge of systems and procedures and, more importantly, his ‘been there, done that’ experience has helped us navigate the many pitfalls inherent to a growing construction company. In addition, Grant’s many contacts and nationwide exposure allow us to ‘benchmark’ ourselves against similar companies. Grant’s most important contribution has been to help me meet the company’s goals while at the same time meeting my personal goals for a balanced and full life.
Business Planning
Grantlun can help you build a plan that enables you to run your company like a job – with a plan, schedule and budget.
This multi-day in-house workshop guides you through Grantlun’s proven Strategic Business Management Process and produces a Strategic Business Plan for your company.
To gain the most from this service, it is best if at least one Company executive also receives Strategic Business Management Training.
Over the course of three or more sessions held at your facilities, consecutively in a single week, or, separately over a period of time, Grantlun helps you and your management team:
- Assess
- Examine and analyze your business practices.
- Examine and analyze your business environment.
- Plan
- Create a solid planning foundation: a clear identity, mission statement and value set.
- Devise resolutions to both the short and long term issues raised in your assessments by establishing clear objectives, strategies, action plans, and task assignments.
- Model
- Test the plan and facilitate its implementation with business practice, organization and financial models, each customized to your needs.
- Perform
- Document the full business plan for your team and stakeholders.
- Initiate plan execution and results measurement against a set of standards of success.
Bid-Build Process Customization
If you want to customize the Bid & Build Operations Control System’s (BBOCS) task maps and documents to make them perfectly reflect your operations, Grantlun can help.
Grantlun has partnered with TaskMap®, experts in process analysis and improvement. Its lead consultants have a world-class track record of driving change within the organization and delivering outstanding results.
Together, TaskMap® and Grantlun can help you expertly:
- Modify any of the system’s existing task maps to reflect the makeup of your operations;
- Add new task maps to the Map Directory to define exactly who, how and when each business process is to be accomplished in your company;
- Modify any of the system’s documents to your specifications, including custom headings, handling instructions, etc.
- Add new documents to the Document Library and link them to any map.
Charge Rate Development
Grantlun can help you develop accurate equipment charge rates for hard-dollar job cost estimating, T&M job billing, and job cost accounting.
To gain the most from this service, at least one Company employee must receive Equipment Charge Rate Training.
It works like this:
- You provide Grantlun your equipment list, using Grantlun’s data collection form.
- You subscribe to the Ironworks ECM Cost Estimator Module (ICE) https://support.ironworksecm.com/#subscribe
- Grantlun produces in ICE a “guideline” cost and charge rate estimate for your fleet.
- Grantlun works with your accounting staff to be sure all of your equipment related costs are accurately mapped for recovery so that there are no cost gaps or overlaps between the charge rates and your job cost estimates.
- Grantlun produces in ICE, using your customized rate data, a set of internal charge rates and a set of job cost estimating rates.
- You update your equipment list periodically and confer with Grantlun as needed.
Work Breakdown Structure Development
Grantlun can help you develop a comprehensive model of the work your company performs so that you can estimate job costs and account for them in an orderly and highly accurate way.
It works like this:
- You meet with Grantlun to outline the work you do:
- Routine work types (e.g. earthwork, paving, underground pipe, bridge work, concrete flat work, etc.);
- Routine activities (e.g. for earthwork: clearing, excavation to embankment, etc.);
- Routine methods and means (e.g. for excavation to embankment: scrapers hauling < 1500’).
- Grantlun organizes and refines the outline to produce a standard Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and then assigns unique job cost accounting codes to each cost item in the WBS.
- Grantlun works with your accounting staff to be sure all of your costs are properly mapped to the bid price structure of each bid proposal you produce so that no cost gaps or overlaps exist.
- You meet with Grantlun to establish your preferred approach to recovering through your bid prices your business overhead, job overhead and equipment overhead costs.
- Grantlun refines your approach and incorporates it into your custom Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS).
- Grantlun provides you with the standard CBS and a set of corresponding job cost account codes that you can upload to your estimating and accounting systems, respectively.
- Using your estimating system, you detail each Cost Item in the CBS and develop “storehouse” estimates and “job templates”.
- You bid jobs by reproducing the templates in pertinent part and customizing the cost details to suit the job at hand.
Operations Tune-Up
Grantlun can help you assess your company’s operations and implement the industry’s best practices.
An operations tune-up does for you what you would do for yourself – if you had the time. It fixes management issues in your company that are costing you time and money. Typical tune-ups involve one or more of the following areas of operation:
- Project management practices;
- Equipment management practices;
- Estimating practices;
- Job cost accounting practices;
- Equipment cost accounting practices;
- HD (Hard Dollar) estimating system implementation.
Operation tune-ups not only identify gaps between best practices and yours, but they also provide you with tactical advice and specialized tools.
Board Memberships
Grantlun’s principal and its consultants can be engaged to provide you on-going advice as a long-term member of your Advisory Board.
Such engagements provide you with no-nonsense strategic advice based on decades of first-hand “been there, done that” experience.
Because advisory board memberships require a thorough knowledge of your history, operating status, and business plans, they normally follow a business planning workshop.
Where | When | Fees
Our services are generally conducted at your facilities, though some involve the development of detailed work products that are best accomplished at our offices using our specialized tools.
Our services can be provided at any mutually convenient day and time.
Because consulting needs vary widely from company to company, we quote consulting fees on a project-by-project basis. Contact us to discuss how we can help.