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By Contractors For Contractors!
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| July 2003 Issue - Click here to read other issues | |
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Welcome to the July 2003 Newsletter! Thank you for being my subscriber!! Before we 'get down to business' I'd like to thank you so much to all of you who have sent cards, letters, and goodies to my sister's family! My nephews are just absolutely awed at how many people care about them and what they experienced. :) I myself am awed and humbled over the response we've received. Thank you for helping these guys to smile again! Our hearts will be touched forever. :) Diane |
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| This month:
CALIFORNIA 01. SB134, sponsored by ASAC,
passes Assembly Floor NATIONAL 06. National 'Do Not Call' list is up SPECIAL MESSAGE 10. Update on my sister's family
1. SB134 passes Assembly Floor This bill, sponsored by the American Subcontractors Association California Inc., will require owners to notify any company, that has issued a Preliminary Notice, when a Notice of Completion is filed. It returns to the Senate for concurrence in the amendments made in the Assembly... then to Governor Davis. Please visit the ASAC website to read more and/or send an email to asac@asacalif.com to get a copy of a letter you can put on your own letterhead to send to Gray Davis requesting that he pass this bill. We mailed our letter a few days ago. :) Many thanks to the ASAC for their diligent efforts on getting this bill to this point. Now it's up to all of us to get it passed. [Back to Top] 2. Updated & New Construction Forms & Documents I've got four forms to announce this month, 3 updated and 1 new:
The layout of the three mechanic's lien forms have been revised to reflect California Government Code requirements, specifically GC 27361.5 and GC 27361.6. If you've purchased any of these three forms in the past please send an email to the corresponding address below and I'll email you a new copy: Mech Lien Form: newMclnForm@thecontractorsgroup.com The 'Well Completion Report' is new to our site. It's the same as the 'DWR 188 Rev. 11-97' except I created it as a 'fill-in-able' report, just like our other forms. Please click here to check out the 'Well Completion Report'. :)
The state announced Thursday that it will raise unemployment taxes a record 51% to stem losses that threaten the solvency of the unemployment insurance fund! Read the whole story, posted at the Sacramento Bee, by clicking here. [Back to Top]
Gary Oltmanns and Gabriel Hill, of Southern California Insurance Brokerage Inc., are the guys to handle your insurance needs. They've taken care of us for 4 years now and we couldn't be more pleased. Ever get tired of having to pay toll charges to fax a 'request for insurance certificate' to your provider? Using Southern California Insurance Brokerage Inc. you can request your certificates online! No more toll fees! I've created an online business e*card for you to print and put in your business card file or your insurance file (it prints the same size as a standard business card). Then when it's time to renew your policy, pull the card out and give Gary and/or Gabriel a call and soon you'll know why we've stayed with them for as long as we have! Southern California Insurance Brokerage, Inc. 5. Senate Panel Rejects Cell Phone Ban Legislation rejected recently a ban on handheld cell-phone usage while driving. During the short life of this bill so much was added to it by the politicians that the author of the bill ended up fighting its passage! When I hear more I'll let you know. :) 6. Have you registered with the "Do Not Call" list? The national "Do Not Call" list is up and running now. You can add your telephone number(s) to this list either via telephone* (1-888-382-1222; for TTY, call 1-866-290-4236) or online at http://www.donotcall.gov/. Don't forget to add your fax number(s); your cell phone number(s);
your pager number(s); etc. If you register between June 27, 2003
and August 31, 2003 most telemarketers must stop calling, and you
may file a complaint, after October 1, 2003. If you don't register
until September 1, 2003 or later, you'll have to wait 3 months for
the calls to stop and to file complaints for calls that don't stop. * To register by phone, you must call from the phone number you will be registering (ie: use your home phone to add your home phone number and use your work phone to add your work phone number). 7. Is your email inbox crawling with virus emails? I have been inundated recently with virus emails, literally 100+ emails per day. The emails have attachments that end in .zip, others in .exe, .pif, and .scr. I am fortunate in that my computer has never had a virus. I truly believe that the #1 reason is because I ALWAYS check with the sender to make sure they did indeed send me the attachment. Just send the sender :) a quick email asking them if they sent you an email with an attachment and include the file name of the attachment. Believe me, avoiding just one virus infection is worth the time spent checking before opening an attachment. The reason I so strongly suggest that a person check with the sender is because these days, 99 out of 100 times the email does NOT come from the address indicated as the sender! It used to be that a person's computer would become infected with a virus and then would send emails to all the addresses in the infected computer's email address book. Now it's a little more complicated... These days, the virus in the infected computer not only sends the infected email attachments to everyone in the address book but it also randomly selects an email address from that same address book to put in the 'from' address. It looks like the virus came from your friend's computer when in reality your friend's computer had absolutely nothing to do with it! That's why I always check first before I open attachments. Another thing to be aware of, the more email address books your email address is in, the more virus-laden emails you'll receive. But that's not the worst of it... In addition, there will be more infected emails out there with your email address in the 'from' field! I took a huge blast from a guy some time back over emails he was receiving that A) had viruses attached to them and B) had my email address in the 'from' field. Boy, talk about 'Internet Rage'! So, please help to stomp out viruses by never opening attachments without knowing for a fact that it was sent by friend rather than foe. [Back to Top] 8. Preliminary Notices and Mechanic's Liens made EASY! If you haven't taken a look at Levy VonBeck & Associates yet, you really do owe it to yourself to check them out. They can do your preliminary notices and mechanic's liens for you, no matter which state you're in! If you're a contractor then you're probably not a lien specialist with legal training, same thing if you're a material supplier. Levy VonBeck & Associates is a law firm specializing in lien law! These guys ARE lien specialists, they do it right and for less than it costs you to do it yourself. I'm telling ya, there's a lot to consider when doing your preliminary notices. If you don't do it perfectly, miss just one entity, you could lose your lien rights. Levy VonBeck & Associates WILL perfect and protect your lien rights. Their fees are astoundingly low, we are a 'mom and pop' very small suspended ceiling company and we use Levy on every job we do. They're too affordable not to use them, I'm sure it'll save you time and money plus there are no contracts to sign and no minimums to meet, you can use them on all of your jobs or just some of your jobs (although we recommend using them on all of your jobs), it's your choice. Here's their business card, their website, and their contact info: Levy VonBeck & Associates, P.S. 9. Helpful tools of the trade Various 'tools of the trade' designed to make your job easier!
10. Update on my sister's family... You folks are the best! The kids are having an absolute blast with cards, drawings, wishes, etc., and I thank you all so much! :) Below is an update... Tony (dad) is out of the hospital right now, staying 'down the hill' at his sister's house. The time frame he's been given to walk on his leg again is about 6 months. My sister and the kids are staying there also. It's a strain on the kids so she's looking at trying to spend a couple days at home each week for the kid's sakes. Tricia has healed so well that her cuts are nothing more than faint scratches at this point. When she was in the hospital and for quite some time after she was released she was afraid to look at herself in the mirror, but now she's back to her cute little self. Michael's face is still paralyzed. They were told that if there was no improvement in 4 to 6 weeks that chances are it won't get better ever. Then they were told 3 months, so they're in a wait and see mode right now, having Michael trying to exercise the muscles every day. [I gave him handfuls of bubble-gum so he could blow bubble-gum bubbles in an effort to exercise those muscles! ;) Bobby's 'hangin in', feeling good enough to harass his dad when he's asked to massage his dad's leg and foot. They've all got their sense of humor about them, my entire family has always had such a wicked sense of humor and it sure does help to get through things... ;) Thank you again to each and every one of you for taking the time to let these kids know what heroes they truly are. You've made a difference in each and every one of our lives. :) For anyone who would still like to send in get well messages, please send them here: The Lopez Family Thank you! :) As always, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me a line and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. :) Have an absolutely terrific day! TheContractorsGroup.com was created to help construction contractors and other business owners with their day-to-day and on-going administrative needs. |
