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Building Materials Managers: How Tall is Too Tall?

Posted by Heather Brautman | Wed, Dec 04, 2013 @ 02:00 PM

Having your company’s name associated with the trending architectural topic of the day can certainly bring fame and fortune to your business. Who wouldn’t want the free publicity associated with being the building developer for the world’s first, the world’s biggest, the world’s … something-est? But in the competition to reach for the sky, don’t forget to look down. The view from the top may seem lofty, but once those clouds in your head clear, you’ll see you’ll have quite a long way to fall.

BigBuildingMaterials

Massive Materials

Buying in bulk can be a building materials company manager’s dream. Never pay by the piece, right? But when you’ve been commissioned to work on a massively tall structure, you need massive materials. Materials you may have no room to house, requiring additional property, as well as buying and purchasing power. Sure, you may get a bulk deal, but it could overextend your budget multiple times over. And when the project’s over (or worse, if it stalls or is cancelled), you may be left holding the bag. Don’t let your materials end up in landfills.

Target Practice

Prior to 9/11/2001, there was nary a cap on the idea of bigger is better. “Can you take me higher?” wasn’t just a song by the 80s hair band Damn Yankees. It was a culture. Yet in the span of 10 minutes that Tuesday morning, our world changed, never to be the same again. Suddenly, workers weren’t proud to toil on the 108th floor; they worried about how – or if – they would get out if a similar attack happened. Smaller buildings started to crop up as the construction industry revived. Now, when large buildings are brainstormed, there’s an underlying factor of them calling attention to themselves as targets.

The World at Your Feet

When you’ve built the tallest structure, you’ll experience the usual rounds of accolades. There’s no one higher, so it may seem like the time to rest on your laurels. Actually, though, this is the time when you’re most vulnerable. Just as you had it as a goal to best the previously tallest structure, every one of your competitors now has you in their sights. That pat on your back isn’t congratulatory – it’s applying a target. From the moment you hit the record, you’ve had to deal with everyone else scrambling to take you down a peg – or couple hundred stories.

Avoid the Green Eyed Monster

There isn’t always a need to subscribe to “Go big or go home.” Working on a small scale lets you see your company’s impact nearly immediately, ensures things don’t get completely out of scope, and lets you and your workers really contribute to the greater good of the project. Don’t feed the green eyed monster when you hear about another building materials company’s involvement with the tall-teetering project of the month. Keep your feet firmly planted, and build a solid foundation from the ground up.

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building materials, green, eco-friendly

Topics: Building Materials

Written by Heather Brautman