Some people never stop learning. Others were so glad when they got out of high school that they thought they never wanted to learn anything new again. If you feel like you are closer to the latter category than you want to be, the good news is that you can change. As an adult, learning is often much different from how it was when you were a kid. Here are five ways you can turn it to your advantage.

Embrace the Chase
Young children have a thirst for knowledge that is hard to quench. It might not be too easy to think back to when you were a preschooler, constantly asking questions of your parents. But that kind of drive is still accessible to you as an adult, and it may be easier to find the solution now. If you are driven to achieve a goal, like getting your contractor license, then you may have all the motivation you need to get started. Start figuring out what it is that you want to know, and let that pursuit build momentum that will help take you as far as you want to go.

Shop Around for Learning Opportunities
Although your capacity for learning is dependent heavily on your own personality, the teacher also makes a big difference. As a student, you can probably remember the difference in experiences based on the way that the teacher presented it to you. Teachers who are really engaged with the material and excited to teach will help you feel more excited about it as well. You may also have an easier time picking up new skills and retaining them. The good news is that as an adult, you can shop around for the best learning opportunities. If you take a class with a teacher, and you don’t notice a big result, you can feel free to look elsewhere.

Use Your Adult Experience
As you get older, you may realize that knowledge is something that builds upon itself. In order to learn how to do basic addition, you first had to learn how to count. It keeps working just like that. Even if you are not actively studying the subject, it’s likely that you are building knowledge and experience that you can apply later on. So feel free to use it. Learning about the best practices of a particular construction task may be a lot easier to master and remember if you can apply it to similar tasks you’ve done in the recent past. You might be surprised how quickly you pick it up, compared to younger students.

Take Advantage of Focus
Learning as an adult is similar in approach to learning as a kid, but it’s significantly different in scope. We teach young students how to learn, as well as a broad range of subjects that they will need in their daily lives as adults. Once you cross that hurdle, learning becomes something that you do as a way to achieve a specific goal. As such, you can limit your studies to the items that you really need in order to get your contractor license. This means that you may be able to get to the finish line much sooner than you could when you were studying to get out of high school.

Rely on Patience
Lifelong learning can earn you a variety of benefits that you may not have been able to use as a kid, and patience is definitely one of them. By now, you probably know that much of adulthood includes waiting: waiting for your paycheck to arrive, waiting until you have accumulated the right amount of experience to take the contractor licensing exam, and more. Patience is a hard skill to learn, and it takes kids years to develop it. As an adult, you’ve had much more practice. That allows you to take the time to master the skills you need to do well on the exam, without worrying that your peers might somehow be able to do it more quickly than you.

Keeping your brain ready to learn will help you adapt your business for the challenging demands of the future. To get started, contact CSLS today!

Once you start your contracting business, you’ll need to come up with a name. If you were planning to just use your own, there are good reasons to try to get a little more creative. Of course, coming up with a great name isn’t as simple as thinking of it and getting a business license. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you brainstorm.

Write Down Your Company Vision
Before you can come up with a great name for your company, it’s worth investigating how you want customers to associate it. A good way to start is by writing down your company vision. Think about what you want to be known for, such as:

• Friendly customer service
• Accurate estimating
• Great value
• Expert detail

Write down a bunch of words that you might be able to include in your company name that help to convey your goals for the business. Keep in mind that some words might have different connotations depending on the person. For example, “value” can sometimes imply discount, rather than return on investment.

Search for Names
At this point, you may have a few names in mind. Remember that in order to establish your business in California, you need to have a unique business name. The good news is that you can search for businesses online, so you can confirm that yours is not already taken by somebody else. Put each of your ideas through the search, and pay attention to names that are very similar but not exactly the same. If you end up choosing a name that is nearly identical or has the same acronym as another business offering similar services in your area, people may get them confused. And if that company doesn’t have a great reputation, you might end up losing business due to that confusion.

Avoid Puns or Inside Jokes
Sometimes it can be good to keep a lighthearted attitude toward your business name, but not always. People might find your business name easier to remember if it’s based on something silly or comical. On the other hand, jokes don’t always stay relevant over time, and many of them don’t cross language barriers very well. The last thing that you want is to establish your business on a pun or an inside joke that nobody is going to get. If you’re struggling to come up with something clever, keep it simple and easy to remember. Your clients will keep coming back for service if you do a good job, not because you made them chuckle at the beginning.

Think About Designs and Logos
Once you’ve narrowed down the list to one or two choices, it’s wise to think about how you will represent them. For example, people in construction often use their own names for their businesses, especially if they are independent contractors. But if you have a particularly long name, you might want to shorten it to just your initials. In our shorthand, abbreviated texting world, it’s good to look at an acronym for your company to make sure that it doesn’t mean something else. After all, naming your company LOL Construction might get more attention, but it could also make you seem ridiculous. Research companies that can help you design a logo that helps to promote what you want from your brand.

Get Feedback
When it comes to choosing a company name and building a brand for your business, a second opinion is an absolute necessity. Get feedback from multiple people. Ask friends and family to look at your company name and any ideas you have for a logo and give their opinions. Be prepared for them to give an answer that isn’t particularly constructive, such as simply not liking the name or how it looks. Be prepared to ask additional questions to drill down the feedback to something that you can use. You’re not required to change your company name because your mother doesn’t like it, but it’s worth figuring out why before you decide.

Your company name is one way of establishing your commitment to excellence. Passing the contractor licensing exam is another. For expert test preparation online, available all across California, visit CSLS today!

A lot of construction professionals tend to choose either commercial or residential construction, and then they stick to it. Right now, there is so much need for new housing that many pros are reconsidering their commitment to just one or the other. Of course, it’s hard to know from the beginning if building housing is the best choice for your future career. Here are a few ways to determine whether residential construction might be a good fit.

Does Your Area Have Room to Grow?
One thing about new construction is that it needs space to grow. Although many custom home builders will take down an old home and construct a new one in its place, most of the new construction developments in California require some open spaces. A city that is almost completely built up may not have as much room for new construction as one with lots of open fields on all sides. In short, if you’re living deep into the suburbs or even on the outskirts, there may be a lot of opportunities for residential construction.

Do You Like Working With Housing?
Although it’s important to choose a field that allows you plenty of work and opportunities to make money, what you want to do with your career also plays a heavy role. The commercial sector has a lot of unique aspects that might not translate as well into residential construction. For example, if you want to construct, maintain, or repair elevators, residential construction may be relatively limited for your skillset. However, if you love to see a building come to completion from start to finish, you may get more satisfaction from building homes instead of large office buildings.

What’s Your Commute for Residential Construction Work?
If you happen to live in an area with lots of housing construction potential, you might be able to find all the work you need within a short drive of your home. Of course, this isn’t going to be the case for everyone. If you live in a built-up area that is more commercial than residential, you may need to commute farther out to find where the newest construction is happening. Set a driving distance you are willing to make for daily work, and figure out how far from your home that will take you. That should give you a range that you can compare for possible job opportunities.

Are You Looking for Steady Growth?
Experts were thinking that residential housing was going to decrease somewhat in 2020, but they didn’t anticipate how it was going to play out. Instead of tapering off just a little, housing plummeted due to the pandemic and now is rising steadily again. If you want a career with steady growth, now might be the perfect time. With the millions of new housing units that California still needs, it’s likely that anyone who gets into residential construction will have a lot of work to do for the next several years.

Do You Have the Ability to Work in Both Industries?
Ultimately, you may not have to make the decision to work exclusively in residential or commercial construction. Although many contracting businesses do generally focus on one or the other, and some have no choice but to stick to one, most have a fair degree of flexibility. The ability to move from one to the other, or choose projects from both throughout the year, is a highlight of building your own contracting business. With the right knowledge and training, you can find the part of the industry that suits your needs most.

Residential construction is a growing part of the industry and will be for a significant amount of time. If you want to break in and start building a career that offers you flexibility, security, and steady growth, you have picked a good time. For more information about residential construction careers, contact CSLS today!

Now that 2020 is starting to fade into the past, you may be reminded that you have a whole new decade full of potential. Is 2021 the year you’ll start in construction? The choice is yours. Here are five reasons you can be optimistic about your decision.

Construction Is Rebounding in 2021
Lots of industries shut down or slowed down for most of 2020 due to the pandemic. Construction is no exception. Plenty of investors and property owners decided to scale back or even abandon projects that they were thinking about doing because they weren’t sure if they would be able to find qualified professionals to handle it or how the economy would look by the end of the year. But as 2020 started to come to a close, the interest in new construction starts began to rebound. And now, the demand for housing is still high. The next few years are going to be really interesting for the industry, and those who get in on the ground floor are more likely to reap the benefits.

California Needs New Construction
At the end of 2019, the need for buildings in residential and commercial sectors in California was already high. Cities like Los Angeles were neck-deep in urban renewal projects to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. And not much has changed since then. California still has a housing crisis, especially since many people have shifted to working exclusively from home. Although housing needs often wax and wane from one decade to the next, this is a problem that’s likely to continue for many years into the future. The state needs qualified construction professionals who are able to meet the challenge.

You’ll Have Lots of Opportunities to Learn
Along with a new understanding of the building needs of the state, you may see a renewed interest in professional trades. There was a time, decades ago, when trade schools and apprenticeship programs started to fade away in favor of colleges churning out degrees. Now, people are realizing that they needed these professional trades all along. If you’ve been looking for the perfect opportunity to study on the job or find a paid apprenticeship that gives you the expertise you need for a challenging career, you’ve picked the perfect time to get started.

Growth Potential Is Still High
If you’ve read anything on the subject, you probably know that construction has had a labor shortage for almost a decade now. It just keeps getting worse as the most skilled professionals in highly-competitive fields retire with no one to replace them. With the right training and experience, that person could be you one day. Right now, there’s a lot of interest in investment but not as many professionals who can fill the roles that complete the projects. A targeted career trajectory could get you exactly where you want to be with less competition than you might have had 5 years ago.

Your Career Is Waiting
Any year can pass by in a flash. Blink, and you’ll miss it. And for any big opportunity, the first step is often the hardest. Once you get started building experience and the requirements you need to become a licensed contractor, you’ll be so glad you did. So what you are waiting for? The sign that you should get started has been shining brightly for some time. Follow it now and see where it takes you.

Starting your career in construction may be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made for your life and your future. All you have to do is make the choice and get started. To learn more about making construction your future, contact CSLS today!

For 2021, the California State Licensing Board has introduced a new type of contractor classification. The B-2 classification relates to specific types of remodeling work. It’s not quite the same as a B classification, and there are a few differences you should know about. Here are several important details about the new classification, with tips to determine if it might be right for you.

Class B Licenses vs. B-2 Licenses
Contractors who hold a Class B license are considered general building contractors. They are allowed to create a structure from nothing or to supervise others in the construction of buildings that require more than two unrelated trades. As such, a general contractor is a role that requires a lot of experience and knowledge of various types of trades, even if a person does not necessarily carry a specialty license in all of them. Of course, there are limitations to the types of projects that a general contractor can accept without a specialty license, like fire protection or well drilling.

By comparison, the B-2 license is meant for existing structures only. Imagine that you’re a homeowner and you want to renovate a room in your house. You want new drywall, flooring, and painting, but you’re not making any changes to the structure of the room itself. You could hire individual contractors for each of these, but many homeowners don’t want the hassle. The B-2 license was designed to allow contractors to meet a variety of these needs at once, as long as they stick to a setlist of 12 types of services and obtain a specialty license for any others they plan to offer.

B-2 License Limits
There are a few common-sense limitations to the services that B-2 remodeling contractors can offer. As a general rule, they relate to the support of the structure and the function of its major systems. For example, someone who only holds a B-2 classification won’t be permitted to change load-bearing aspects of the building, such as changing the foundation or relocating a load-bearing wall. They also can’t update the electrical, plumbing, or any mechanical aspects of the building if they don’t hold a specialty license to do it.

Practical Uses of the B-2 License
Many experts are lauding the creation of this new license as a way to legitimize popular handyman services in California. If you’re a jack of all trades and you love to work on multiple aspects of a project and see it come to a fine completion, the license might be the right fit for you. You’ll still need to prove your experience and take an exam like you would for other licenses, and these requirements will be available in time.

New License Rollout
Since this new law creates a license for a busy field in construction, it’s not surprising that many people may be looking forward to the ability to apply for it. The CSLB needs time to create a program that helps people discover what knowledge they will need to prove for the exam and start to process applications. At present, they hope to start accepting applications in spring and approve the first licenses by the end of the summer.

If you’ve always wanted to work in remodeling, now might be a good time to start. California has a new license that might be the perfect fit for you. For more information about how you can become a licensed contractor, contact CSLS today!

When you start thinking about a career in construction, you might start by deciding whether you’d like to specialize in commercial or residential construction. But the way that property owners are thinking about development indicates that you might not have to commit to one or the other. In many cases, urban or suburban renewal creates a space that combines the two. Here’s what you need to know.

What Is Mixed-Use?
Mixed-use construction is only unique when you compare it to what city planners have done for the past several decades. In many parts of California, you live in one place and work in another. Most people live in residential areas and commute to a place zoned for commercial use. Mixed-use turns this concept on its head. Instead of separating living and working spaces, a single development might have residential units, small shops and entertainment outlets, and even green or recreation spaces. Mixed-use construction often relies on multifamily housing to achieve efficiency, but this isn’t always the case.

Is Mixed-Use a New Construction Concept?
As a concept, mixed-use construction is actually hundreds of years old. In the sense of a town or village with a definable commercial square, people have often lived where they worked. Medieval towns and cities in Europe often built towering housing developments on top of street-level shops. More recently, people can usually find these types of building artifacts in any part of the country where space is scarce. Zoning regulations that divided residential from industrial or commercial came up during high periods of industrialization. They were most popular in the time period before environmental regulations against industrial pollution. Since then, however, living near a place of business isn’t necessarily any riskier than living in an area zoned for residential.

Why Is Mixed-Use Becoming Popular?
Mixed-use construction is coming back into popularity because it is more efficient and offers flexibility to developers and cities. For much of the 20th Century, people tried to keep commercial spaces and residential spaces separate. This increased the need for roads and for vehicles to get people to and from work or shopping. In states like California that have areas with high population density, this is a nightmare. The demand for housing increases the cost and the affordable suburbs keep spreading farther away.

Instead, mixed-use construction allows cities to create a practical, useful community with work opportunities and housing in the same space. They aren’t doubling their efforts to build roads or lay sewer lines because both are available in the same efficient space. As an added benefit, people drive less, so they use less gasoline and put fewer cars on the road. This improves traffic and makes services more accessible.

What Are the Possible Drawbacks to Mixed-Use Construction?
Although mixed-use construction is certainly trending toward the norm in many parts of California and the country as a whole, it is not without drawbacks. When you’re trying to renovate a space from something that was entirely commercial or residential into a development that combines the two, you may run into zoning problems. In this case, developers need to work with the municipality to determine what can be done, which might include changing the zoning for the land. If the plans include an extensive increase in population that requires improvements to roads or access to water or electricity, the city may or may not be willing to take on that burden.

Mixed-use construction is a hot building trend in California. You will probably see it coming to a city near you. To learn more about the latest trends in construction and how you can prepare for a career in the industry, visit CSLS today!

Years ago, when you wanted payment for your contracting business services, you had only a couple of options. Mostly, you sent an invoice and waited for a paper check. But the times have changed. These days, many clients are looking for seamless websites where they can send you payment through a variety of methods with a click of a button. Here are a few you should consider.

Invoicing
If you are working primarily with businesses, you’ll probably need to get comfortable with sending an invoice. You have a variety of options:

• Creating your own invoices individually
• Searching for invoice templates
• Using invoices through an online payment system
• Whether you choose to design your own invoice or use a template, you need to make sure that the invoice includes all of the relevant details. Specifically, you need a date, the amount due, methods of payment, time that the payment is due, and where people can submit the payment. All of this information is necessary to ensure a timely payment that is correct and submitted in the right format.

Credit Card Payments
If you are working primarily with customers, not businesses, you may want to consider setting up to accept credit cards. There are a few different ways that you can do this. The most traditional involves setting up a merchant account with one or more credit networks, like Visa or Mastercard. If you take this route, you will need to set up a merchant account for each type of card you would like to accept. Merchant accounts usually have restrictions on the way that you can handle transactions, as well as a fee you pay for the service. Since a lot of people conduct business mostly or entirely by credit card these days, including businesses, finding a way to accept credit cards is a worthy goal.

Online Payment Systems
Although setting up your own merchant accounts is a viable option, there are other ways you can accept credit cards. Online payment systems like PayPal or Stripe charge fees so that you can accept payments through them. The added benefit is that you can rely on their extensive protections of consumer information, instead of having to maintain that degree of security for your own website.

Systems like Square are useful when you need to accept payment in person. Square and companies like it have tools that you can attach to a smartphone, tablet or other device to turn it into a Point of Sale device. This way, you don’t have to direct customers to your website when they can just hand you a credit card for processing.

How to Accept Payments
If you maintain a website, it may be practical to put in writing how you handle billing and when payment is expected. Keep in mind that people may be used to different payment options than the ones you are expecting. If you work primarily with businesses, you can expect that they will either pay by credit card or mail you a check on receipt of your invoice. Customers who aren’t business owners may expect to pay with a credit card, personal check or even cash. It’s wise to outline which forms of payment you will accept before you agree to do the work. This avoids complications and stress at payment time.

Billing Tips
Ultimately, you need to get paid for the work you do. The best way to set that up depends on the business, but it requires consistency. For example, if you choose to invoice clients, you can’t let it become a last-minute task that you are forever putting off. If you bill on a net 30 days or net 90 basis, you are waiting for that amount of time from the date of invoice. If you’re taking a full payment on the date of service, however, the consistency is built into it.

Getting paid is one of the most important ways to keep your contracting business going. With a variety of payment options, you can find a system that works best for your clients. To get started building a great construction career, contact CSLS today!

Repetitive stress injuries are fairly common in construction. When you spend a lot of time repeating the same physical tasks over and over, you’re at higher risk. But once you get the injury, it can be tricky to heal and avoid making it worse. Here are a few of the most common types for people who work in construction, and how you can reduce your risk of ending up with one.

Tendonitis
Tendonitis is one of the most common signs of a repetitive stress injury. Different forms of tendonitis often have names associated with certain sports that require a movement repeated over and over. For example, tennis elbow is a type of tendonitis that occurs on the outside of your elbow. Golfer’s elbow, on the other hand, refers to the tendon running along the underside of your elbow. You’ve got tendons everywhere, and any task that causes repeated stretching of those tendons can lead to temporary or long-term damage.

Nerve Issues
The way that you put pressure on your joints can trigger nerve problems. These don’t necessarily involve permanent nerve damage but in some cases, they do. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition where pressure on the wrists and hands leads to pain, tingling, and loss of feeling in the hands and fingers. Cubital tunnel syndrome creates similar feelings in the hands and arms, starting with the elbows. If you’re holding your arm at a 90-degree angle for very long periods of time, you may trigger this condition.

Other nerve conditions relate specifically to types of work common in construction. Hand-arm vibration syndrome, for example, is practically exclusive to construction work. If you work with equipment that vibrates most of the day, every day, you may eventually develop symptoms of this condition. Common signs include muscle aches, tingling or loss of feeling in the arms.

Bursitis
Your joints have little pockets of fluid that help to cushion your joints for impact. These pockets are called bursae. If you engage in activities that put constant pressure on them, they may swell and become painful, which is called bursitis. People are more likely to get bursitis in bigger joints like the shoulder or hip. In most cases, bursitis happens after holding a particular position for long periods of time. For example, if you kneel for hours a day, you may develop bursitis in one or both hips.

Treating Repetitive Stress Injuries
The way to treat repetitive stress injuries depends on the type and the severity. Most of the time, you should start by a visit to a doctor with experience treating these types of conditions, like a sports medicine doctor. They may recommend that you rest the affected joint, which may require some rearranging if the task is one you do every day. Pain-relief components like ice, heat, or over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications may help. Once your condition is starting to improve, you will likely need physical therapy to help rebuild use of the joint without reinjuring it.

Reducing Risk of Injury
Ultimately, your best bet is to avoid creating these injuries in the first place. That may be the most difficult thing since it is so easy to keep going with a task until it is done. Experts recommend that if you want to prevent this type of injury, you should:

• Change tasks regularly
• Avoid sitting or standing in the same place for long periods
• Use pads under your feet or knees
• Use braces when needed
• Seek treatment at the first sign of symptoms

As a business owner, you should also encourage your employees to avoid repetitive stress injuries. Making it easy for them to follow healthy practices will help to ensure that they can continue to provide good work into the future.

Repetitive stress injury is a common hazard in construction work, but you may be able to avoid it with these tips. For more information about starting your own contracting business, visit CSLS today!

For most businesses, growth is a good strategy. You need to keep growing in order to ensure that you don’t become obsolete. On the other hand, explosive growth can be difficult to manage, particularly if you don’t have a ton of business experience. With these tips, you will know if your business growth pattern is starting to shift out of control.

You Can’t Say No to New Work
In the early years of your contracting business, you may not have to say no to new work opportunities. In fact, at some point you may be delighted to get them. But on the other hand, some businesses are so successful and in demand at the beginning but they are quickly inundated. This can be a problem. After all, saying yes to every job opportunity can leave you burned out and may even pressure you to make shortcuts on the jobs you have. It isn’t a good long-term strategy, because it can leave you without a reliable, satisfied client base.

Your Backlog Is Longer than Your Client List
For most people in construction, a little bit of a backlog can be a good thing. You don’t want to be finishing projects so quickly that you have days without work before the next one. On the other hand, too much of a backlog can make it difficult for you to focus on a more gradual rate of growth. The right backlog depends on the field that you’re in. If you’re regularly taking projects that will last weeks or months, it’s common to have a backlog that could last you several months. But if most of your work takes a week or less, you don’t want to be booked out so far that people conclude you are simply unavailable. There’s a good balance between booking out past the end of the calendar and being ready to do the work tomorrow.

You’re Hiring People Faster than Paying Them
Having so much work on your plate that you need to hire employees to help is a great problem to have. You just have to make sure that your workload can sustain the expenses. In many small businesses, payroll is the biggest single expense. For every person that you hire, you need to be reasonably certain that you have future work sufficient to continue their services. And this isn’t just about protecting your relationship with employees who may be difficult to find. Logic and laws dictate that if you hire people to do work, you have to pay them for it. Sometimes, if you hire too many people too quickly, you may run out of work and money faster than you expected.

Your Expenses Are Doubling
When your clients are coming out of the woodwork, it’s tempting to look at all these projects and think only of the future profits. But you also have to consider how this can increase your expenses. For example, trying to run twice as many projects in the same amount of time may require you to rent or purchase more equipment, or order more supplies. The value of the projects may significantly exceed the expenses, but you’ll need to keep a close eye on it. When your total costs to run the business are much higher than they were a few months ago, it may not take much to send your cash flow spiraling.

Your Cash Flow Isn’t Improving
The last sign that your business is growing out of pace is your cash flow. Cash flow is the liquid assets you have to keep your business running:

• Pay yourself and employees
• Pay bills
• Order materials from suppliers
• Outsource administrative tasks, like taxes
• In theory, if you average about 70% expenses on each project you do, that leaves at least 30% for cash flow and possible profits. But this depends on the projects that are most in-demand. If you go through a period where you were doing more work with a lower margin, you might watch your cash flow evaporate.

Once you start your contracting business, you want it to grow at a steady rate. For more information about beginning your career path in construction, visit CSLS today!

Environmental hazards have a way of affecting the way you think and even your health. Although you might be most concerned about your living space, your workspace also deserves careful consideration. You may need to conduct a detailed analysis, especially if you’re already encountering symptoms. With these tips, you can discover the common health risks presented by workspaces, both office and industrial.

Sick Building Syndrome
Sick Building Syndrome is not a particularly new concept, but it’s something worth keeping in mind when you’re working in spaces built in the last 70 years. In essence, Sick Building Syndrome describes a pattern of health problems for the people who live and work in the space, tied to the construction of the building itself. It’s kind of like chronic illnesses and health concerns that people might develop if they live in an area where the water or soil is contaminated. In this case, it’s the construction, layout, and function of the building that triggers issues for the people inside it.

Signs and Symptoms
Environmental exposure to contaminants or irritants is common enough that you might not even think about it. But there’s a difference between an occasional issue and one that seems to come up all the time. People who are getting sick at their place of work often experience the following:

• Colds that never seem to go away
• Chronic allergies that get better with time away from work
• Chronic headaches or migraines
• Exhaustion or inability to focus
• The quick spread of communicable diseases
• Unfortunately, these symptoms are sufficiently mainstream that people may not realize they are tied to the workspace. But just as you would clean up your home if you suspect a problem, you may have to inspect your workspace in the same ways.

Sanitation
If you have been paying attention to anything that has happened in 2020, you know that sanitation can be a significant factor in your health at home and work. The recent pandemic has made a lot of people rethink their sanitation strategies, particularly related to diseases that spread by contact, droplets or aerosols. Protecting yourself from common conditions involves more than the extra clean-up tasks you do to prevent COVID-19, however. After all, you can contract colds, influenza and even food poisoning at your workplace. If you find that you spend half the year with a sniffle at work, you know that increased sanitation is something you’ll need to keep.

Ventilation
Improvements in modern construction techniques have solved problems while simultaneously creating others. For example, changes in the ways that people envision the building envelope have greatly improved energy efficiency by controlling the airflow. Unfortunately, this presumes that every system has an ideal ventilation system, and that people will use it regularly. In a building that is tightly sealed, ventilation makes the difference between safe spaces to work and harmful off-gassing of VOCs. This is as much a concern of behavior as it is a factor of the equipment. In some cases, increasing the filtration minimizes the harm. In other cases, people have to convince themselves to use the ventilation in the first place.

Chemicals and VOCs
Sometimes, certain features of the building or activities inside it can trigger a lot of these health problems. Many products that people use at home or work contain volatile organic compounds. These VOCs can release contaminants into the air over time. Some of them are relatively harmless, but others are not. For example, if a warehouse cleaning crew is using cleaning products or solvents that are meant to be used outside or with proper ventilation, there may be problems when they use them inside with the doors closed. In many cases, a funky smell is an indicator that you need to increase the ventilation. However, you can’t guarantee that you will know a toxin by scent. After all, carbon monoxide is deadly but also odorless.

Getting work done means ensuring that your workspace isn’t causing health concerns. With these tips, you’ll know if you have a problem. To find out about the benefits of expert contractor licensing exam preparation, visit CSLS today!