Steve Richbourg

Gulf Coast Construction Jobs Report Construction employment in the Gulf Coast is booming compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors Florida Gulf Coast. In the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area, the construction employment base is up 34.7% since the beginning of 2019, ABC Florida Gulf Coast reports. Other areas on the Gulf Coast that have added jobs at rates faster than the statewide pace include North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, which saw a 23.8% increase in construction jobs since the start of 2019; Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, where construction employment was up 21% over the same period; and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, which has experienced an 18.1% increase in construction jobs since 2019, according to ABC Florida Gulf Coast. “The impressive growth in construction employment across Florida's Gulf Coast region, especially in areas like Cape Coral-Fort Myers, underscores the strength and potential of our industry,” ABC Florida Gulf Coast President/CEO Steve Cona III says in a statement. https://lnkd.in/eZ3NKvAF

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Wife for Sale: George Wray tied a halter around his wife’s waist and headed to the nearest market. He wasn’t there to buy anything—he was there to sell his wife. Onlookers shouted as he auctioned her off to the highest bidder, William Harwood. After Harwood turned over a single shilling to Wray, “Harwood walked off arm in arm with his smiling bargain,” reported an onlooker, “with as much coolness as if he had purchased a new coat or hat.” It was 1847, and Wray had just gotten the equivalent of a divorce. . Joseph Thompson, who allegedly sold his wife in 1832, listed his wife’s bad qualities, calling her “a born serpent” and advising the buyers to “avoid frolicsome women as you would a mad dog, a roaring lion, a loaded pistol, cholera.” Then he listed her assets, which included the ability to milk cows, sing, and serve as a drinking companion. “I therefore offer here with all her perfections and imperfections, for the sum of fifty shillings,” he concluded, adding a fun flourish to the end of his marriage. . The sales took on the form of cattle auctions of the time. After announcing the sale, the man would put a ribbon or a rope around his wife’s neck, arm or waist and lead her to “market”. Then, he’d auction her off, often after declaring her virtues to the onlookers. Usually, wife sales were merely symbolic—there was just one bidder, the woman’s new lover. Sometimes there wasn’t a designated buyer, though, and an actual bidding war broke out. Men could announce a wife sale without informing their wife, and she might be bid on by total strangers. . The scene sounds like an elaborate joke. In reality, it was anything but. Between the 17th and 19th centuries, divorce was prohibitively expensive. So some lower-class British people didn’t get them—they sold their wives instead. Wife sales were crude and funny, but they also served a very real purpose since it was so hard to get a divorce. If your marriage broke up in the 1750s, you had to obtain a private Act of Parliament—essentially, an exception to Britain’s draconian divorce law—to formally divorce. The process was expensive and time-consuming, so wife-selling arose as a form of faux divorce. It wasn’t technically legal, but the way it unfolded in public made it valid in the eyes of many.

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🔗 https://lnkd.in/egBYGgMz 🛠️ Strategic planning isn’t just about big visions—it’s about action. Learn how to take control and lead your construction business to success. Full episode here! #StrategicPlanning #ActionLeadsToSuccess #ContractorLeadership #Podcast

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For construction project owners and developers, understanding the importance of precise health and safety language in contracts is really important. In addition, understanding the interface between quality control needs and the relationships on site is critical. You have every right to build and manage your contracts. You just need to know the facts behind how you can accomplish this while protecting all aspects of your business. ✅🇨🇦 We’re here to help.

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Managing design, submittals, and other construction document reviews for different projects simultaneously can be challenging. But with the right document management and collaboration platform, you can keep all project information and stakeholders in one place, reduce errors, and meet project deadlines. Here's an example ⬇️

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