So, let me ask; what’s covering your walls? If you’re developing challenging terrain, perhaps you’ve hung the Geotechnical Bore Plan square and in the middle of everything. You’ve marked it to show the distance down to bedrock or water. Or, maybe you’re moving mountains of dirt and want to chart daily, and cumulative, haul production. Large sheets of graphed paper work well for this. Once, when I worked on a utility project for a major West Coast airline manufacturer, I diligently charted pipe installed and the weather. In fact, I noted the weather twice a day; once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I did this in case we were impacted by rain. Such graphics can come in handy later should contract schedule issues arise.

If you are monitoring a schedule or establishing a baseline for pay quantities, perhaps you have already hung the utility plans on your wall. With sharpies, you are marking them to show daily pipe production. Add some weather data and bingo; you’ll have a dependable record to consult should you later need to recreate a production summary or explain utility installation costs.

But what I really like about spreading my business all over the wall is that I can use the exhibits to communicate anything, to anybody, concerning what we are doing onsite. Sales people concerned about grades can view profiles and learn how driveways and street drainage change from station to station. I have used updated plan sheets to portray onsite progress to accountants. After all, it is easier to share percent complete with pictures than it is with statistics. For extra emphasis, throw in some color. Do you want to discuss multiple locations for disposing topsoil? You will better express your thoughts to a contractor if you rely on illustrations to make your point. Walls dripping with information provide an edge if you need to convey complicated concepts to consultants and team members. At the very least, having data visually accessible helps prevent people from rummaging through your world, monkeying with your files, and making a mess of everything in search of what may already exist on the walls.

Most of all, hanging details on the wall forces you to look at them every day. As the pages age and the ends curl, consider this antiquing no less than fine seasoning. If a plan sheet changes, just replace the old exhibit with new wallpaper. And here’s the big secret. If you listen closely, if you shut your door and concentrate on certain sheets, you’ll hear the exhibits talk to you. Usually, they speak softly. In measured whispers, they may offer hints on how to squeeze more lots into the next development area or suggest ways to save on installing less sanitary sewer. Other times, they can yell in deafening tones, almost berating you for not earlier recognizing how dropping grade in one area will generate more cut for another area thereby alleviating importing expensive offsite material. A plan sheet hung high on the wall, colored and redlined to show smart tactics or record production, displays attitude. It possesses gravitas!

So remember; since nobody has a handle on land like the land-guy, use your walls to help get your message across. It’s your wall décor that counts. SLDT