From June 6-9, 23 plumbing and HVAC project managers dived deep into training offered by the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors — National Association’s Educational Foundation.

The Essentials of Project Management class is a boot camp that packs more than 40 hours of instruction into an intense program that teaches construction project managers the real-world impact of the decisions they make every day on their projects.

Viega hosted and sponsored the class at its Educational Facility in Nashua, New Hampshire.

In the cashflow session of the program, lead instructor Kirk Alter of Purdue University explained that account receivables for construction subcontractors typically run past three months thanks to poor billing practices and delays in payment from their customers.

These delayed payments require that the subcontractor essentially provide a short-term loan to these customers as the sub pays its bills without cash coming in to cover those costs.

“By contract, you have agreed to be a bank and loan this money for 30 days,” Alter said. “But act like one. Banks always collect when payment is due, immediately, not three or four months later. Banks do not lend money for free. You must calculate and charge for your cost of capital – how much it costs for you to provide that funding.”

Attendees left the session knowing the impacts of their project cash flow on the company’s finances, bonding capacity and on the strategic decisions being made by the subcontractor business owner.

The next offering of the Essentials of Project Management class will be March 13-16, 2019 in Northern Virginia. More details on the class can be found at http://phccfoundation.org/essentials or can be requested by calling (800) 533-7694.