About
From the deal to the keys
I'm Claudio Manhaes, a general contractor in Palm Beach County, Florida. I run Haez Construction and Design, and I have worked every stage of a project, not just the part with the tools.
Most construction advice is written for one slice of the job. Estimators write about estimating. Lawyers write about liens. Software companies write about their software. But if you run a small contracting business, you don't get a slice. You get the whole thing, usually on the same day, often before lunch.
That is the person this site is for: the contractor who does a bit of everything. You price the job at night, chase the permit in the morning, meet the inspector at noon, and still have to figure out why the draw hasn't hit the account. You learned most of it by doing it, and you know there has to be a better way than doing it all from memory.
The whole cycle, in seven stages
Every post here maps back to one of these. They are the stages I work through on real projects, and the places where small contractors lose the most time and money.
- The deal. Is this property, addition or remodel worth doing at all? Numbers first: purchase or budget, scope, risk, return.
- Design & engineering. Turning an idea into drawings that a building department and an engineer will sign off on.
- Permits. Applications, plan review comments, resubmittals, notices. The part most contractors dread.
- Estimate & contract. A price you can defend and a contract that protects both sides.
- Build. Crews, subs, materials, inspections, change orders, weather, and the hundred small decisions every day.
- Money. Deposits, draws, invoices, liens, and knowing whether the job actually made money.
- Keys. Final inspection, closeout, warranty, and a client who sends you the next job.
Why the technology angle
Construction has a paperwork problem more than a building problem. The tools that fix paperwork have gotten good, fast, and most of them were not built with a five-person crew in mind. In The Contractor Brain I take one problem at a time and work out what actually helps. Tools & Tech covers the devices and software themselves, prices and limits included. And Paper Trail tells the stories of what happens on a job when a conversation never makes it into writing.
That work is also why I'm building JobsiteAI: a set of AI tools for the paperwork side of contracting, made by someone who has to live with the results on his own jobs.
House rules
- Numbers are cited. If I can't source it, I don't print it.
- Practical over clever. Every post should leave you with something you can do this week.
- No legal or tax advice. When something needs a lawyer, an engineer or a CPA, I'll say so.