Leaders of the national PHCC said at their mid-August utility competition conference in Minneapolis that they would try to convince members to approve a dues increase to raise $150,000 to see that our industry gets a fair shake against utility competitors.

Alan Levi chuckles over all the commotion about consolidation in the PHC industry.

Everyone in this affluent crowd had a contractor horror story.

One of the most coveted association executive position in the industry has opened up with the pending departure of Jack Tester as executive director of Contractors 2000.

Two themes play out month after month in the trade press as the biggest challenges facing the industry.

Some called it the “put up or shut up” resolution.

Kevin Kanekoa, vice president of Pacific Mechanical Co. in — get this — Honolulu, has attended about as many of my hometown Chicago Bulls games as I have during their 1990s championship run.

The more you look at them, the more they look like sucker purchases.

Formed in 1996, Contractor First LLC provides merger and acquisition, investment banking, and intermediary, business brokerage and consulting services to middle-market contracting companies.

Plenty of honorable service firms pay technicians on a commission basis, but the downsides outweigh the pluses.