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Go online and type in "construction, estimating" and you will get over 25 estimating and takeoff software programs. There are programs for all the trades and for large, midsized, and small contractors, in both building and heavy construction. Now type in "construction contractor, failures" and scan the various responses. You will learn that according to the Surety Information Office the contractor failure rate is about 25% for trade contractors and 22% for heavy, highway contractors. These figures have been fairly constant for years. You will also learn that poor estimating is a major cause of these failures. This book will focus on small construction contracting firms, but the concepts presented are equally applicable to heavy construction. It is written for contractors that either do not use estimating software or use packaged software that frequently does not include all the items of work that they are called on to do.

Building --- Construction cost estimates --- Construction industry --- Quantity surveying --- Estimates. --- Costs --- Price books --- Estimates --- Construction bidding --- Construction estimating --- Construction estimating: overhead and indirect costs --- Construction estimating: beyond direct costs --- Construction estimating: project scheduling --- Construction estimating: work analysis --- Construction estimating: assigning costs --- Construction estimating: Value Engineering --- Construction estimating: subcontractor selection --- Construction estimating: explaining your estimate --- Construction estimating: order of magnitude estimates --- Construction estimating: preliminary or conceptual estimates --- Construction estimating: detailed estimates --- Construction estimating: architect/engineer's estimates --- Civil engineering. Building industry

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In April 2014, the Government of Benin launched the entreprenant status, a simplified and free legal regime offered to small informal businesses to enter the formal economy. This paper presents the short-term results of a randomized impact evaluation testing three different versions of the entreprenant status on business registration decisions, each version including incremental incentives to registration: (i) information on the new legal status and its benefits, (ii) business training, counseling services, and support to open a bank account, (iii) tax mediation services. The study included 3,600 informal businesses operating with a fixed location in Cotonou, Benin, which were randomly allocated between three treatment groups and one control group. One year after the program launch, all versions of the program had significant impact on formalization rates. The impact was 9.1 percentage points in the first treatment group; 13 percentage points in the second group; and 15.8 percentage points in the last group. The program had a higher impact on male business owners, with more education, operating outside Dantokpa Market, in sectors other than trade, and that before being offered the incentives to formalization had characteristics similar to businesses that were already formal. Data from a second follow-up survey, which is expected to take place in March 2016, will explore the impacts on other outcomes, like business performances or access to banking.

Access to bank --- Account --- Accounting --- Administration --- Administrative process --- Advertising --- Artisans --- Bank account --- Bank financing --- Bank loan --- Banking system --- Beneficiaries --- Bookkeeping --- Budget --- Business --- Business activity --- Business entry --- Business environment --- Business facilitation --- Business in development --- Business management --- Business performance --- Business plan --- Business registration --- Business regulation --- Business services --- Business training --- Cash transfers --- Certificate --- Chamber of commerce --- Check --- Collateral --- Commerce --- Commercial bank --- Commercial law --- Communication --- Competitiveness --- Competitiveness and competition policy --- Contact information --- Contract --- Cost --- Customers --- Data --- Database --- Debit card --- Debt markets --- Deposit --- Developing countries --- Direct costs --- Dummy variable --- E-business --- Economic activity --- Electricity --- Enabling environment --- Enterprise development --- Exchange --- Finance --- Finance and financial sector development --- Financial products --- Financial statements --- Firm performance --- Future --- Good --- Human capital --- ID --- Impact evaluation --- Impacts --- Implementation --- Implementing agencies --- Information --- Information banks --- Information services --- Inspection --- Institution --- International bank --- International development --- International finance --- Legal environment --- Levy --- Liability --- License --- Limited liability --- Link --- Loan --- Market --- Medium enterprises --- Microenterprises --- Mobile phone --- Monitoring --- Network --- New markets --- One-stop shop --- Open access --- Option --- Ownership --- Performance --- Phone --- Phone number --- Private sector development --- Productivity --- Profit --- Protocol --- Quality --- Quality of services --- Registration process --- Registration system --- Result --- Returns --- Sales --- Selling --- Share --- Small business --- Tax --- Tax exemption --- Tax forms --- Tax obligations --- Tax rate --- Tax regime --- Tax system --- Technical assistance --- Trade sector --- Trading --- Transparency --- Turnover --- Unfair competition --- Uses --- Web