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Subject areas
20 articles- Bidding public work for the first timeYour first state, county or school district bid: finding and registering, the sealed bid opening, what happens after, and how to read the bid tab.
- Managing cash flow with retainage: a working ledgerRetainage held from you and by you rarely match. A worked retainage ledger, the cost of a mismatch, a reduction at 50% complete and faster release.
- Over and under billing, walked through on the calculatorTwo months of one invented job in the over and under billing calculator: percent complete, earned revenue, a profit fade, and what an underbilling means.
- Pricing overhead on small construction jobsA flat overhead percentage undercharges small jobs and overcharges big ones. A worked fix: a per-job charge plus a smaller rate, checked twice.
- Preparing your company for a bonding line increaseA 12-month plan to ask your surety for more bonding: what moves the numbers, owner draws vs retained earnings worked twice, and what to have ready.
- OSHA paperwork a superintendent should knowWhich OSHA construction rules require a written record and which require an inspection you should document anyway, with each 29 CFR 1926 section to tab.
- Reading a surety's prequalification questionnaireWhat each part of a surety's contractor questionnaire asks, why the underwriter wants it, and a worked check that your WIP schedule ties to your books.
- When to hire an estimator: signs and the mathSigns a contractor has outgrown owner estimating, the extra revenue a full-time estimator has to bring in, worked twice, and cheaper steps in between.
- From contract award to the first pay applicationThe first 30 days after you win a commercial job: bonds and insurance, notice to proceed, the schedule of values, submittals and the first pay application.
- Construction cash flow, month by month, worked outA profitable job can still run short of cash. A five-month invented job worked by month: billing, retainage, a 30-day pay lag and the peak cash to carry.
- Construction closeout without the last-month scrambleCloseout runs from substantial completion to final payment: punch list, documents, warranties, lien releases, retainage. Start early, with worked numbers.
- Excusable, compensable and concurrent delay explainedWho pays when a job runs late: excusable vs nonexcusable, compensable vs not, concurrent delay, and how float decides whether a delay moves the finish.
- Your first federal construction job: what changesBidding federal work for the first time? Miller Act bonds, Davis-Bacon wage rates and weekly certified payroll, FAR clauses, and a worked labor price.
- How your safety record follows you into bidsOwners, general contractors and sureties ask for your OSHA log figures and experience mod before you bid. What they ask and what a mod costs.
- Stormwater on a commercial site: a working weekKeeping a SWPPP alive on a real site: the plan, silt fence and inlet checks, a rain event, sediment cleanout and records, worked from the EPA guide.
- Subcontractor buyout without bid shoppingHow a general contractor buys out a job after award: scope review, bid leveling, a worked buyout log, and where negotiation becomes bid shopping.
- Five estimating mistakes that cost points and moneyMarkup used as margin, unit slips, double waste, bare-wage labor and missed addenda. Each worked twice, for the NASCLA exam and your next bid.
- Reading a bid package like an examinerWhat is in a construction bid package, the order to read it, the numbers an examiner can ask about, and how to read a drawing sheet fast.
- The 25 NASCLA general requirements questionsGeneral Requirements is 25 of 115 NASCLA questions: jobsite safety, scheduling, submittals, records and closeout. What to study and where to look.
- The 31 NASCLA procurement questions: where the points areProcurement and Contracting Requirements is 31 of 115 NASCLA questions. The topics under it, worked arithmetic, and which listed books to open.
Study plans
4 articles- How to use the free NASCLA tabbing guideA session-by-session way to use our free NASCLA tabbing guide PDF: check editions, sort by color, tab indexes first, then topics, then test and prune.
- Using the plan-reading drills to practice takeoffsTurn our free NASCLA plan-reading drills into takeoff practice: a fixed reading order, a worked slab and footing takeoff, and what to do with misses.
- Open-book exams reward preparation, not memoryThe NASCLA exam is open book, but the clock gives about 2.6 minutes a question. How to split know-it, work-it and look-it-up, and build lookup speed.
- A 12-week NASCLA study plan for working contractorsA 12-week NASCLA Commercial General Building plan at about six hours a week, built from the question counts, for people running jobs full time.
Exam day
2 articles- You failed the NASCLA exam. What to do nextWhat PSI's bulletin says about NASCLA retakes (one year, at most three attempts, then reapply) and a plan to rebuild before your next sitting.
- What to do the week before the NASCLA examA day-by-day plan for the last seven days before the NASCLA Commercial General Building exam: books, calculator, ID, pacing and rest.
About the exam
2 articles- One exam, many states: what the NASCLA exam saves youThe NASCLA exam replaces the trade exam in participating states. It does not replace applications, business and law exams or other requirements.
- Why general contractors take the NASCLA examWhy commercial contractors sit the NASCLA Commercial General Building exam, who it suits, who should skip it, and what to check before you apply.