Category Archives: Decoration

Get Your Construction Blue Card Online and Save Time

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If you live in Queensland, Australia, and need to visit constructions sites on a regular basis, you need a construction Blue Card. This card is required for construction workers, soil testers, architects, engineers and anyone else working on-site in construction.

In the past, construction Blue Card training only took place in person, with students listening while the instructor lectured. These courses took about four to eight hours-plus the inconvenience of travel time, finding the course location and parking. All told, these in-person sessions result in a lot of wasted time.

Online Construction Blue Card Training

The Internet provides many conveniences, and now, you can even get your Construction Blue Card online! Online training is flexible-you can do your training all at once or in short segments. You can log in at the office or anywhere else that works for you, and you can do it any time of the day. If you learn best in your pyjamas while eating ice cream, online training is your answer!

Online Construction Blue Card training can be completed in as little as one to two hours, freeing you up to spend your time working and earning money. For employers, this means they can put their employees to work that much sooner.

Note: Online Construction Blue Card Training Courses Require Identification

Queensland now requires trainees to provide identification verification when they utilize online training. The Registered Training Organisations want to know that you are who you say you are, and that you actually completed the training yourself. You will need to supply a certified copy of your Driver’s License or other form of identification, plus a Statutory Declaration that is witnessed by either a Commissioner for Declarations or a Justice of the Peace. You can usually obtain this in shopping centres, Post Offices, or office locations.

The Savvy Driver’s Guide to Construction-Proofing Their Auto Insurance Quotes

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You’ve undoubtedly heard of weather-proofing your house, but did you know you can also construction-proof your auto insurance quotes? Here’s a look at the who, what, when, why, where and how of keeping your insurance rates safe during the most notorious (and secretly sinister) season of the year.

What Does Road Construction Have to Do with Your Auto Insurance Quotes?

Before you can truly understand how to construction-proof your auto insurance quotes, you have to understand why it matters. After all, what can construction companies really do to your insurance? They can’t raise your rates. It’s unlikely they’d intentionally sabotage your car. They don’t have time to stand around with little video cameras and report everything you did that you weren’t supposed to! So really, who cares?

The thing is, nothing raises your insurance rates like being in an accident. And nothing screams, “Help yourself to a piece of this ten car pile-up” like winter and road construction! You’re obviously going to do everything possible to prevent yourself from ending up in that situation, but bad things happen to good people every day. The secret is to minimize the impact those “bad things” are going to have on your auto insurance quotes.

The 5 W’s (and one “H”) of Construction-Proofing Your Auto Insurance Quotes

Who

Anyone and everyone with a license should be aware of the risks that road construction pose to their auto insurance. If you can drive, sooner or later you’re going to get caught behind a pile of those little orange cones. Are you ready?

What

The key to construction-proofing your insurance lies in making your car (and your driving habits) as insurance friendly as possible. If you’re driving within their realms of not just acceptable, but excellent driving habits, you’re going to have a better chance of being forgiven for stumbling over a pot hole and slamming into a cement median than you will if your driving record is host to a list of black marks a mile long!

When

All day, every day. Every time you’re on the road, every time you take your car into the shop, every time you step onto a car dealer’s lot, you’re taking an action that could affect your insurance-and, by default, how construction-proof those auto insurance happen to be.

Where

I think we already answered that. See above.

Why

Because you don’t want to have to pay any more for your insurance coverage than you absolutely have to. Because road construction is a fact of life, and the last thing you want is to become a victim. Because you deserve better than to pay through the nose for an accident that isn’t really your fault. There are hundreds of reasons why, but they all boil down to the same irrefutable fact-anything you do to keep your auto insurance as low as possible can only be of the good.

How

This is the easy part. Keep your driving record clean. Don’t drive while you’re talking on your cell phone, and observe speed limits as though you were going to be forced to live on a lifetime diet of cat food and Ramen if you don’t. Keep your car in good shape, and upgrade your safety features whenever possible.

The safer you are, the safer your auto insurance quotes are going to be. It really is just that simple.

5 Handy Commercial Construction Tips

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You might have been put in charge of a commercial construction project recently, and though you appreciate your boss’s stamp of approval on the work you are capable of doing, you might not know all of the components that go into the project. Here are some handy tips to keep in mind as the project progresses.

1. Start by hiring a good general contractor and then put together a practical budget for your project. This budget will need to be presented to the project owner, aka your boss or maybe even someone higher up than that, for approval. Be sure it is comprehensive. Your boss will want to know just how feasible the project is when he or she presents it to the board for approval. That budget will also be what the finance team will use to obtain financing for the project. If the budget indicates that the project location needs to be moved or that something needs to be scaled back, now is the time to make those changes.

2. Your boss or the board of directors might have one vision of what they want to see, but it might not actually be practicable. The project owner should be a part of the planning process so he or she is comfortable with the changes that are made. Also, while you are in the planning process, be sure you bring in all of the stakeholders including those who will be using the building when it’s all complete.

3. Once you have the plan in place, it’s time to set up the schedule. If your project owner wants a specific date to open the building included, that should be the place to start and then work the schedule back from that date. Be sure to build in a buffer along the way to compensate for any delays that might happen. Actually, make that will happen. The unexpected is always to be expected. With a schedule in place, your general contractor can keep you appraised of the progress, and also let you know about any delays that were encountered.

4. Don’t be afraid to work within your own limitations. It’s OK to admit what you don’t know, and when it comes to construction, relying on your experts to guide you is not only okay, but a good idea. Your contractor will also know what will be needed in terms of how to best keep you up to date on the project’s progress.

5. Communicate, communicate, communicate. There is no such thing as too much communication. Your contractor will need to provide you with regular updates, and you will need to ask key questions to make sure you and your contractor are staying on task. Open communication reduces problems and generally catches them at a point where they are more easily solved. New apps available particularly for Apple products are great communication resources. From the bid process with SmartBidNet to portable CAD apps that let you do quick drawings on site and send them to anyone by e-mail, apps can help everyone stay on target.

These five tips are some of the main ones that will help you be successful. You can also check out some of our other posts for more information about commercial construction. Happy building!