ShowcaseBuildings.com showcases projects from around the country. It is an open website for any company to showcase their best work for FREE! ShowcaseBuildings.com now syncs their projects with Free, Lite, and Standard Ascribe accounts, so everyone can take part! So if you are looking for some free exposure for your company, get your free Ascribe account and sync your Showcase with this fantastic site. A new showcase project is being added to ShowcaseBuildings.com almost every 30 minutes! Find, and Be Found!
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
AIA Florida is on board
November 23, 2008 – 11:06 am
Great news! The Florida state chapter of American Institute of Architects will soon be allowing their member’s to synchronize their Ascribe Project Showcases with their website http://www.aiafla.org/
The 3700 Member chapter will be displaying an Ascribe Powered showcase of their members’ projects. If you are looking for an architect in Florida, this will be an exceptional tool for you to use to find the kind of experience you are looking for.
iPod nano Winner!
November 18, 2008 – 12:43 pm
Congratulations goes out to Cathy Bickle @ Brandt Construction. You are this months winner!! Call 616-726-2490 by November 30, 2008 to claim your iPod.
Masonry Construction Online - Projects of the Year Showcase
November 18, 2008 – 9:58 am
Masonry Construction Online, a division of Hanley Wood Publishing, is running their 2008 Projects of the Year contest from their website. This awards showcase is being powered by the new Ascribe Awards Manager, a great online management tool which gives the ability to organize and display project awards, as well as vote for your favorite project right from their website. Click below to browse this impressive awards showcase and to cast your vote.
Ascribe Awards Manager Goes Live!
November 12, 2008 – 3:23 pm
We are pleased to announce that Ascribe has just released its new Awards Manager for Industry Associations and other institutions that run awards programs around construction projects. The Awards manager gives the association an online management tool to organize and display awards on their website.
Create award categories and show award entries on the association’s website. Select and publish a winner and the website will be dated to show the winner, instead of the entries. People can even vote for their favorite entries right from the website. Check out these new awards displays:
Ascribe in the News
September 5, 2008 – 2:11 pm
There has been a lot of new and exciting things going on at the Ascribe HQ lately which has been keeping our team busy! Early this week we went live with a new update which includes features that will give users more control in managing their project network. Each project within the Ascribe system now displays the directories and companies that are showcasing this project giving the user the ability to decide where they want their company information, or links, showing.
You may also have noticed some additions to the Ascribe website. We now have added a “Help” and “See It” section to the site. Here you will find useful “how to” videos that will assist users with many aspects of the Ascribe system. Not a user yet? The “See It” section provides an overview video of Ascribe or you can choose to view by a specific topic.
Click on the links below to read about us in the news:
New and Upcoming Features
August 11, 2008 – 7:08 am
The HQ has been busy in the last few weeks working to get the new business card feature up and running. Although our integrated websites have not yet been completely converted, you may have noticed that the “marks” have now been replaced by a business card when you mouse over a company name. The business card features your company logo, role on that project, company contact information, and links to your company’s homepage and portfolio (see below). We’re really excited about this new feature and we hope you are, too!
In The News:
You may have read about us in the latest issue of MiBiz Portal - Technopreneurs Section, pg. 8. Click this link to read full article titled “Virtual Construction Zone”.
User Resources:
We now have video tutorials available to help guide you through Ascribe’s many features. Currently we are in the process of developing a support section for our users on our website that will give you easier access to these and many more helpful items. We will keep you posted as to when this user section will be up and running.
Click on the links below to view our series of “How To” videos:
As always, we value your input, so let us know how we are doing by sharing with us your comments or suggestions. Keep sending those referrals and project invites! All of our Ascribe users thank you.
Ascribe Presents to ASA West Michigan Members
June 27, 2008 – 3:16 pm
C.J. Shroll speaks to the ASA Members
Ascribe is partnering with the ASA West Michigan in efforts to provide its members with a way to find “new customers and help new customers find them” through the displaying of projects and associating with other team members. In conjunction with this month’s program topic “Identifying New Customers”, our team presented the Ascribe system to the ASA members in order to demonstrate how Ascribe can be used to get more exposure through a company’s project experience.
C.J. Shroll, Executive Director of ASA West Michigan, spoke intently on the evolving mindset of marketing in the construction industry. Due to the competitiveness of this industry no longer can a company rely on getting more business solely by word of mouth. Instead, today’s industry needs to look for ways to get their business name out there in front of more potential customers. C.J.’s comments gave great credence to the Ascribe system and it’s marketing benefits.
There were over 30 members in attendance for this month’s meeting. If you are interested in learning more about ASA West Michigan, please visit their website at www.asawm.org or visit their showcase to see examples of their members work. Contact www.ascribehq.com to learn how you can create your own project network. If you are an ASA member, get in and join Ascribe, and start adding projects or joining the 1000’s already in there!
Building Your Ascribe Network!
June 1, 2008 – 2:50 pm
Project Invites:
One of the unique features of Ascirbe is the Project Invite tool which allows you to invite other companies to join to your projects.
A few of the benefits of using the Project Invite tool:
- The more companies associated to a project expands your network by increasing the number of webpages your mark is displayed on.
- It’s easy! You only need the name of a person at the company, their email, and the company name. Once logged into your Ascribe account you simply fill in the information, and hit Invite.
- For every company that you refer to Ascribe, you earn $ 100 when they sign up for a paid subscription
- Your marks are essentially advertising. Getting targeted links to your homepage in front of the correct audience, by using conventional internet marketing techniques, is expensive. With Ascribe, it costs the same no matter how many links you create. In fact, your “cost per link” goes down the more you associate with other companies. Brilliant!
So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and invite your contacts to join the Ascribe party today!
User Update: The Multiple Photo Upload option is now available.
Check out this updated feature which now allows users to upload 10 photos at a time, 10 MB each - making creating a project or joining to one even simpler.
Project of the Week: Resurrection Life Church Addition
Summary:
Type: Religious
Size: 36,000 SF
Budget: $ 3.5 M
Project Definition: Addition
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Resurrection Life Church is located on Grand Rapid’s southwest side. This project was an addition to an existing structure. Project includes arena-style sound system, high-performance acoustics, multi-media projection, professional rigging, concert lighting, and video feeds to monitors throughout the complex and contains a full-service kitchen and coffeehouse capable of a diverse menu of foods and drinks
Ascribe members currently linked to this featured project are Pioneer Construction, Steel Systems, Progressive AE, Driesenga & Associates, Plune Service Company, The Skilled Trades Company, and Classic Engineering.
If you are a current subscriber and are associated with this project or any of the others already posted on Ascribe, you may join them by logging into your Ascribe account.
If you are interested in becoming a subscriber, click here to see how easy it is to become an Ascribe user. Our team is always available to answer any questions or assist you with setting up your Ascribe account.
Linked on The Web!
May 23, 2008 – 10:40 am
We’re happy to announce that Ascribe is starting to gain more exposure in the AEC industry on the web. This past week, we were added to the Construction Marketing Ideas blog by Mark Buckshorn. In return, we’ve added his blog to our links section on the right. His blog is always fresh with new ideas for marketing in the AEC industry.
Also, our Ascribe informational video is now available on www.YouTube.com. Make sure to click the “Watch in High Quality” for best viewing.
A helpful tidbit: We heard through the grapevine that as of June 1, 2008, the yearly subscription price for Ascribe will be increasing. If you’re thinking about becoming an Ascriber, get off the fence and upgrade your account now to lock in at the lower price. If you are already a subscriber but have friends that may be on the fence, spread the word and send them our way. They’ll be glad you did.
Some great tips on writing project descriptions for Ascribe:
Keep it simple: Develop a standard format that you can use to talk about what you did on the project. It is likely that your company will typically perform similar tasks on job sites, so having a standard format will allow you to just fill in the information that is related to that specific job, without having to recreate a new summary each time. By following a standard format, you take the guesswork out of the write-up. A typical outline may be as follows:
1. Information about the project
2. What your company was hired to do on the project
3. What your company did on the project
- Project Highlights
- Obstacles you overcame
An example of a project description:
The Icon on Bond project is a new building in Grand Rapids with open concept suites featuring 9 foot ceilings, deluxe kitchens, and an on-site gym and movie theatre. The building is located in the Renaissance Zone with spectacular views of the Grand River and Downtown. Driesenga & Associates was hired to provide site design and roadway reconstruction plans for improvements to the streets surrounding the project, including Bond Avenue and Trowbridge Street. As part of the project, Driesenga also constructed plans for the streetscape amenities consisting of decorative street lighting, parking meters, masonry seatwall planters, accent pavers, and landscaping. Major design and construction challenges included working around an extensive network of aged utilities which needed to remain in service.
Some info is better than no info:
When visitors browse your project profiles, there may not be any other indicator on your page telling what it is that your company does. If they happen upon one of your project profiles, it is helpful if you even have a few sentences about what you did on the project. A simple sentence such as “For this project, our company provided the exterior landscaping design” will let your reader know that you were responsible for the trees rather than the parking garage - thus, they can focus their attention to those beautiful trees in the picture rather than the design of the parking garage.