Letter from the President, August 14, 2018

How lucky are we that we get to do something we love for work?  Helping others is a core value that every CPM employee possesses and is something that drives us all to better serve our Small Contractor community.  Like many other Small Businesses, we started CPM not because of money, but to develop and maintain a better quality of life for ourselves and our families.

In July, we hosted several industry events to better inform Small Contractors about available contracting opportunities with both primes andagencies.  One such event with Granite-Teichert, JV, was so well attended by potential subcontractors that there was standing room only. Not only do we listen to you, we put together action plans and events based on your feedback to improve small businesses odds of contracting on large programs. 

This past June and July, we sent out a Small Contracting survey asking for feedback on what obstacles your company encounters when searching for relevant, public works projects. Not surprisingly, out of the 254 respondents, 24% reported that bonding was the single most challenging issue faced as a Small Contractor; 22.5% said prompt payment; and 11% responded that estimating assistance and competitive pricing were prohibitive for winning contracts.

Our response to the survey feedback is to schedule time to connect you, the Small Business contractor, with those that want to provide both technical assistance as well as potential contract opportunities. In addition, we will be hosting an Estimating Workshop with Teichert on August 24; a Labor Compliance Workshop on September 27; and a Prompt Payment Workshop with Ferrovial on October 12.  We are also currently working with the LAOC Building Trades on coordinating these workshops in Southern California, so make sure to check our events page for more information!