Jump to content

Celeste

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content count

    3,762

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

Posts posted by Celeste

  3. Posted · Report reply

    OMG - Noooooooooo Larry, you can't leave us :)

    In all seriousness - congratulations on a lifetime of work well done - enjoy your new endeavor :) It has always been a pleasure speaking and seeing you! You are an icon in our industry!

    Celeste

  9. Posted · Report reply

    One of the reasons I posted this is just to show what "small potatoes" the BBS folks are. THAT type of work is where the money is that keeps them working rather than hanging out on forums every day pissing on each other.

    Another reason - to show how important contracts are and how not being prepared can cost you quite a bit.

    As far as the "forced reclaim" comment - maybe you don't mind a little lead poisoning but most folks would prefer NOT to have the illnesses associated with it.

  10. Posted · Report reply

    Through NO fault of his own:

    Traffic Jam May Cost Bridge Painter $24,000

    A Missouri painting contractor on an interstate bridge recoating project faces a $24,000 state fine after an equipment breakdown delayed reopening of the highway in time for the Monday morning rush hour.

    Thomas Industrial Coatings, of Pevely, MO, was abrasive-blast cleaning bridge supports along a section of Interstate 64 in St. Louis on Sunday night (Oct. 17) when a “big vacuum system” being used for lead-paint clean-up broke down about midnight, Missouri Department of Transportation officials said.

    The malfunction forced the contractor to “do a lot of cleanup manually that they weren’t planning to do,” said Tom Blair, MoDOT assistant district engineer.

    As a result, the eastbound lanes into downtown that were supposed to reopen at 5 a.m. did not open until after 9 a.m. Monday, causing delays and backups for 30,000 to 50,000 vehicles, Blair said.

    $1,500 for 15 minutes

    The extended highway shutdown will trigger a Job Special Provision contract clause that allows MoDOT to impose a fine of up to $1,500 fine for every 15 minutes that the contractor remained on the road past the designated work time, officials said.

    Officials said Tuesday (Oct. 19) that the exact amount of the fine would not be determined for several weeks.

    Don Thomas, owner of Thomas Industrial Coatings, declined to comment on the issue Tuesday.

    MoDOT officials emphasized that the contractor had not caused any problem intentionally. “It’s not like they weren’t trying to get it open,” said Blair.

    “From what I understand, the contractor didn’t really do anything wrong,” he said. “They didn’t overextend their period of time and try to get more done than they should. They were working away.”

    Nevertheless, Blair added, the state had agreed to completely shut down the interstate each weekend in order to get the job as quickly as possible. The reopening delay, no matter the reason, inconvenienced thousands of motorists and caused a mile-long backup.

    ‘You Want a Contingency Plan’

    MoDOT has been putting the JSP clause into all of its interstate contracts, and not just for coatings work, said Matt Budd, district construction materials engineer.

    “Unfortunately, you can’t plan for equipment breakdowns,” said Budd. “But they could have had additional equipment out there, or available nearby, as a backup. When you’re doing that critical work, you want to have a contingency plan.”

    Blair agreed, saying the contractor had worked well and had “gotten a lot done” on the project.

    “We’re not trying to run contractors out of business,” Blair said. But “at the end of the day, our customers—the taxpayers and motorists of Missouri—don’t really care about [why a delay occurred].”

    ‘Part of Our Team’

    The clause is intended to make contractors “realize their impact on traffic,” said Blair. “They’re part of our team when they’re working for us, and we have a commitment to motorists and taxpayers. We broke that commitment to the public, and we take that seriously.”

    The clause “has in general helped” contractors keep on schedule, Blair said. “It’s a stick,” he said. “It does work. We’d rather use carrots, and we write those into our contracts as well. But we have to have a stick for certain situations.” The stick will work in this case, Blair said. “They’re definitely going to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

  20. Posted · Report reply

    UPDATE!!!!!!

    The way this interfaces with QuickBooks is BEYOND COOL!!! You select the receipts you want imported to QB - you map what you want it filed under...push the button and POOF, it's in your register :)

    You get to select the receipts you want added so no worries about overlapping expenses. Gotta get back to playing with this :)

    I am a happy woman!

  21. Posted · Report reply

    We're actually going to use this in the booth at Charleston to scan cards directly to the computer rather than collecting them (saves our contractor colleagues $$)

    I have NOT tried to import stuff into QB yet. Still trying to get the file system set up so I can find what I need but I am having way to much fun playing with it :)

  22. Posted · Report reply

    OMG - relief for the unorganized has arrived!

    I got my "Neat Desk" scanner & software recently and today I got to hook it all up and start putting it to work. This little bugger is THE COOLEST thing since sliced bread.

    The Neat Company - Neat Desk : PDF Creator Software : Receipt Organize : OCR : NeatCo.com

    There are two pieces of equipment available. A desk sized version for $400 (the one I got) as well as a portable version for about half the cost.

    IMO - this is the smartest little thing created for those who don't want to keep 10,001 receipts - or can't keep them organized. It integrates with several softwares (QB included!)

    post-7285-137772345401_thumb.jpg

    This is what one of the screens looks like after it is scanned - it picks up the information, puts it in files and then you get to select the folder where it is stored for future reports or export.

    IT IS JUST AMAZING!! :lgjump:

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Dan if you can wipe it with your fingers - it's topical. Mildew happens on ALL surfaces, you have to assume that it's going to come back on a problem area that is still primarily organic. Especially since it was wipeable, it certainly is not an indicator that the finish needs to be stripped, just that you have a deck that provides great mildew growth conditions. Or it could be dirt :)

    Also it's my understanding that the "cides" that are present in stains are not a "continuously" functioning component - their primary job is to prevent invasion during the curing process (which when THOSE fail are the ones that mildew growth is NOT wipeable and the problem is indeed in the coating).

×