The real "Change Order" boat(s)

Yesterday, I reached Paul Frazier at Bronze Construction in Memphis, Tennessee. Indeed, he owns a boat named "Change Order" but his boat is not the same boat whose image has found its way around the Internet over the past year. (Brian Ernest of Mississauga, Ontario, took that image). With Paul's permission, I'm posting some images of his boat. Below is the story we're publishing this month in The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) Construction Report. Misssissaga is in the Toronto area, so the story is now relevant to our print media readers.

The Change Order boat: An Internet hit from Misssissaga
Who owns it?
By Mark Buckshon

Misssissaga management consultant Brian Ernest didn't expect to create an Internet viral hit when he snapped a photo in July 2007 of a large yacht named “Change Order” moored next to a tiny dinghy named “Original Contract” while travelling in Ohio.

He sent the image to a few friends in the construction industry, and they sent it to a few more, and soon, thousands of copies of the image were circulating in emails between architects, engineers, contractors, and consultants throughout North America.

Mark Buckshon, president of the Construction News and Report Group of Companies, first noticed the image in September, 2007, and posted it on his Construction Marketing Ideas blog.
“Almost immediately, I saw a surge in visitors to my blog from Google keyword searches for the 'change order boat',” Buckshon said. “The image seems to capture one of the big issues of the construction industry.”

(Change orders are controversial. Some owners say that requests for change orders inflate the profits of general contractors and sub-trades; while many contractors and sub trades say they have trouble being paid for their true costs in implementing changes from the original project plans.)

Buckshon tried to find the Change Order boat owner, and discovered a U.S. Coast Guard registration in the name of Paul Frazier, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Frazier, president of Bronze Construction, indeed owns a boat named Change Order – but it isn't the same vessel. “I've heard about it – in fact about 20 people have sent me pictures of the other boat,” he said.

Frazier's office forwarded photos of his “Change Order” boat, generally moored on Lake Pickwick, on the borders of Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama.

So who owns the other Change Order boat – the one circulating throughout the Internet? This is still a mystery.

“I was on assignment in Vermillon, Ohio, in late July 2007 eating at the Red Clay on the River restaurant patio overlooking the water,” Ernest wrote.

“I noted the boat and tender moored in a slip across the water and given my construction background thought the boat and tender names highly funny. (So I) shot the picture with a digital camera that I carry, (and) sent some copies to a few close friends and associates who I thought would appreciate the humour.

“This year (March 2009), I was with a client in New Jersey, who had the picture in his office and said 'See my boat',” Ernest wrote. “My immediate answer was that it wasn't his boat since I shot the original image. I knew it was my original from the girl in black in the picture, the placement of her leg behind the piling and the bow of the boat just entering the picture on the lower left.

“I have no idea of who owns the boat other than that he appears to be a successful contractor with a great sense of humour.”

In Tennessee, Frazier says most people who see his boat, unfamiliar with the construction industry, wonder what 'change order' means. He said it started as a joke. People in the construction industry, of course, understand the story. “Our company, we're developers and site contractors, and we do a bunch of third party work,” he said. Change orders are part of the business, and can be a good source of revenue, he indicated.

Several thousand miles away, in Misssissaga, Brian Ernest said: “The interesting part of this story is that I had no idea the image would resonate as it has.

“I found that you can Google the picture and find it which is how I happened on your (Construction Marketing Ideas) website. I know the power of the Internet but had never really experienced how things of interest can travel so widely in cyberspace. There is a small part of me that wishes I had 10 cents for every computer this picture has been sent to. I might be in Tahiti with a beach house, etc. Oh well.

“But I am happy that many others seem to have enjoyed it,” he wrote.

Frazier, meanwhile, is thinking of purchasing a new boat. He's planning to name it: “Divorce Papers.”

Change order boat owner identified

I've confirmed through local construction association representatives that Paul Frazier of Bronze Construction in Memphis TN is the owner of the Change Order boat. I've left a message at his office.

See: Change Order Boat Mystery (Partially) Solved

Change order boat mystery solved

This image has been making its way around the Internet. And now I know who took it -- a Canadian visiting Ohio in 2007.

Today, I received an email from Mississauga, Ontario (in the Greater Toronto Area) whose writer says he took the "change order boat" picture that has been making its way around the Internet largely by viral emails.

This image and earlier postings relating to it have been the most popular keywords and page searches leading to this blog (other than the obvious "construction marketing" word combination), since I first posted the reference last year.

While I know the email writer's identity, he has requested I not publish his name. However, his letter is worthy of posting here:

I ran into your website with the picture of Change Order.

The history of the picture is simple. I am a management consultant who does a lot of work with construction companies. Mostly finance and organization.

I was on assignment in Vermillion, Ohio in late July 07 eating at the Red Clay on the River restaurant patio over looking the water. I noted the boat and tender moored in a slip across the water and given my construction background thought the boat and tender and names highly funny. Shot the picture with a digital camera that I carry, sent some copies to a few close friends and associates who I thought would appreciate the humor.

This year (March 09) I was with a client in New Jersey, who had the picture in his office and said “see my boat”? My immediate answer was that it wasn’t his boat since I shot the original image. I knew it was my original from the girl in black in the picture, the placement of her leg behind the piling and the bow of the boat just entering the picture on the lower left.

I have no idea who owns the boat other than he appears to be a successful contractor with a great sense of humor.

The interesting part of this story is that I had no idea the image would resonate as it has. I found that you can Google the picture and find it which is how I happened on your website. I know the power of the Internet but had never really experienced how things of interest can travel so widely in cyberspace. There is a small part of me that wishes I had 10 cents for every computer this picture has been sent to. I might be in Tahiti with a beach house etc. Oh well. But I am happy that many others seem to have enjoyed it.

So, we can trace this picture to the U.S. Midwest and to a Canadian who just happened to be there. The world is smaller than we think. My correspondent concluded his note with this PS: " ... and yes we Canadians also have a sense of humor."

Note: I have since discovered there are two change order boats, one owned by Paul Frazier of Bronze Construction, In Memphis, TN. (not the one pictured). The person who discovered the boat also agreed to have his identity published. See this posting which resolves the issue as much as possible.

This image of the yacht "Change order" moored next to a tiny dinghy "Original Contract" has been making the rounds of viral email in architectural and contractors' offices for the past several weeks. Dozens of people are trying to find who owns the boats -- I can tell because of the number of daily 'hits' from Google searches to this blog using the relevant keywords.

When you put a cross-section of the construction industry in a room for a public forum on the topic, such as at a recent Ottawa Construction Association gathering, you'll hear the often-stated line: Change orders are inevitable, best avoided, and generally are ideally resolved early on in the process through good project co-ordination.

But the underlying issues here are not so simple.

One of example in my Seven Tips for Construction Marketing Success cites a (necessarily) unnamed Pennsylvania general contractor who constantly wins local hospital work, despite the hospital's requirement that all jobs be publicly tendered and awarded to the low bidder. In this case, the GC and hospital administration have an unwritten agreement that the scope of work would be loosely defined, with pre-planned Change Order opportunities. Knowing this, the GC always bid low, with the clients' understanding in advance about the impending Change Orders, which are accepted and paid without fuss.

You might not like the ethical optics here -- but this is a blog about construction marketing, and clearly the contractor has done something right, to virtually guarantee a win every time.

So, are change orders part of the marketing mix; and how do you handle them effectively and creatively? Within the next few days, I'll be communicating a survey on the topic, but these thoughts come to mind.

Do some contractors bid low, knowing that they can make up for lost ground with Change Orders? Absolutely -- and these contractors make sure that the right paperwork from owners is signed before they proceed (while perhaps conveniently forgetting to sign the paperwork for their subs and suppliers).

Do some owners and owners reps lay hardball with Change Orders? Certainly -- they refuse to accept them; or fight reasonable mark-ups, or dispute the details, knowing if they make enough noise and refuse to pay they can drag or force the General Contractor or sub trade into a "compromise" (capitulation?)

Are many change orders caused by sloppy documentation; perhaps caused by low-ball bidding by architects or consultants; or under-budgeting by owners, or simply because things are rushed because of a tight schedule? Certainly.

These questions explain why Change Orders are such a thorny issue within the construction industry. Each case is different, and in the end, the issue of whether Change Orders represent opportunities for profit; or challenges for conflict, often depend on the character and quality of working relationships.

From a marketing perspective, here are my tentative 'takes' on the situation. (I will revise my thinking here in the weeks ahead as I gather additional reader feedback.)

Your ideal circumstance is to achieve closeness with your client so your reasonable Change Orders will never be disputed -- you achieve this by your integrity and the quality of your working relationships (in extreme cases, such as the Pennsylvania hospital and contractor, Change Orders are worked into the process from the beginning to allow the 'right' low bid to win.)

Realistically, done right, and with thought, Change Order mark-ups can be highly profitable -- and if you are a general contractor or sub trade at the bidding stage and see that Change Orders will be likely, you can, and should, factor your knowledge into the bidding process (but be very careful about this -- if you know the 'higher ups' will fight Change Orders, or you don't know their attitude towards them, you are taking a big risk, and if you see the mistake before bidding to a trusted GC/Owner, isn't the right thing to do to tell them about the problem and likeliness of change orders in advance, even if that means an addendum is filed and someone else comes in low as a result.)

Change Orders should be resolved and documented early in the process, and pre or early-stage project meetings are helpful in discussing potential problems and possible solutions.

If you are a lawyer or forensic consultant, watch for marketing opportunities where you see lots of Change Order tension. A good dispute over Changes can produce many billable hours!

Note: See this posting from March 24, 2009, where the original photographer reports he took the image while in Vermillion, Ohio in late July 2007.

Image from On Site Systems -- Construction Management Services, in Colorado

Change orders and construction marketing

Key in the Google keywords "change order" and "construction marketing", and you'll quickly find references to my "Seven Tips for Construction Marketing Success" (available by request through the online form on the side of the page.

The example in "Seven Tips" relates to the relationship building initiatives of a local contractor and hospital. By doing great work, and securing a reputation for reliability, the hospital wanted to have the contractor return, again and again, but faced constraints -- it needed to post its jobs publicly and accept the low bidder. The work-around -- by mutual understanding, the hospital understood the scope of work descriptions would be loose enough that the contractor could file change orders, and make enough profit to achieve satisfactory results.

Woahh, you may say, does this smack of bid-rigging and 'corruption'? I suppose so -- but variations of the qualitative evaluation system now used for many public projects have the same element of subjective and pre-existing relationship judgment. If you are 'in', your happy clients will find a way to work with you to work around the "low bid must win the job" mentality -- assuring your continuing relationships, and profitability.

These examples, of course, point to fundamentally the most important issue in construction industry marketing: Your current projects and relationships are your most precious marketing resources -- focus your primary marketing resources on current client relationships, and you'll likely do far more profitable business in the future than by searching blindly for new business.

P.S. I'm continuing my search for the Change Order boat owner; in the meantime, the boat has become a screen-saver on my laptop.

The name of the boat is "Change Order" and the name of the dinghy is "Original Contract".

Who paid for the boat?

I discovered this image by visiting the leads service Constructiondeal.com and its Contractor Update blog. Ryan at architecture.mmp tracked down the photo (and Ryan's blog is an impressive resource for architects, though it appears focused more on design than marketing issues).

Constructiondeal.com has the friendliest and most positive interface I've seen yet in lead referral services. Only trouble is, while I'm receiving their weekly newsletter/update (well designed, certainly not spam!) there are no leads showing for my selected market areas and categories. (I chose certain areas of North Carolina and cast a wide enough net that there 'should' be some worthy leads/projects in these regions.)

This shows one of the most interesting paradoxes of marketing. If you do everything right, impression wise, but have nothing to sell, you will sell nothing. And, as the dinghy/boat image reveals, sometimes the real money is not in the sale but what happens after you receive the order!

P.S. Constructiondeal.com may be more effective for residential rather than B to B or commercial projects (the leads I am seeking) -- in this sector they face entrenched competition from well-established leads resources such as the inexpensive and comprehensive McGraw-Hill E-leads service.

Note: See this posting from March 24, 2009, where the original photographer reports he took the image while in Vermillion, Ohio in late July 2007.