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Employee Engagement – 5 Ways to Keep Staff Feeling Motivated & Appreciated

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It can be hard enough in today’s fast-paced world to keep your finger on the pulse of day-to-day business operations. Throw disgruntled or unhappy employees into the mix, and your life as a business manager or owner just became that little bit harder. Keeping your staff happy is a priority in business, if not for their happiness in their job, but for your bottom line. If you want satisfied, productive and long-term staff, here’s how to get them:

Tokens of Appreciation

While you might believe that paying their salary every week should be enough to keep them happy, in many cases a non-monetary gesture in the form of corporate gifts and rewards can be even more effective in letting employees know how much you value and appreciate them. Whether in recognition of professional, personal or performance milestones, holidays or acknowledgement of a job well done, a thoughtful gift or reward can say much more than money.

Measure Employee Engagement

If you’re a business owner or manager, a certain degree of arms-length from the coalface of business can leave you unaware of complaints, staff unhappiness, or discontent. All you might see is low productivity that leaves you scratching your head. Disengagement costs organization up to $550 billion per year, so there’s every reason to find a solution. It pays dividends to look into software that provides a platform for staff to speak their mind in a safe and non-threatening medium. In doing so, you’re able to identify areas of employee dissatisfaction and lost productivity and develop strategies to address them.

Provide Opportunities

While you may have hired your team to do a specific job, that doesn’t mean they won’t feel the need to upskill. By offering educational and training opportunities to your staff, you have a higher chance of retaining valuable employees. Almost half of the millennials surveyed left their last job because there was no opportunity for growth. Help your staff to feel appreciated and motivated by actively encouraging education and upskilling. The long-term benefits to your business of the increased skill levels will likely far outweigh the short-term costs.

People Not Numbers

In large corporations, it can be challenging to see your team as more than just numbers. After all, if you have several hundred employees, knowing them all on a first name basis would be tough for anyone. However, viewing your team as more than just numbers can help to make them feel appreciated and motivated.

For smaller businesses, this process is simple. Arrange meetings with each person to find out what their goals are in life and business, and what they require improve their experience on the job. In larger corporations, assign the task to department managers. If you show personal interest in how your staff operates, they are more likely to feel appreciated in their job.

Incentive

Most people love a little bit of healthy competition, particularly when it can involve team bonding, camaraderie, and improved productivity along the way. Therefore, you may find that including contests, incentives and milestones into your workplace dynamic could help your staff’s motivation levels, while simultaneously boosting your bottom line. It’s important that the competition doesn’t lead to unhealthy rivalry and animosity. However, when structured wisely, most employees will thrive when such an option is available, making for better levels of motivation and engagement.

You can’t expect your staff to feel motivated and appreciated through regular income alone. It takes thinking outside of the square and being a responsible leader. Any of these five tips above can more than help to improve your workplace productivity while benefiting your employees at the same time.

5 of the most common mistakes people make while scrapping metal

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Let’s face it – the world of scrap metal is quite a tumultuous one. After all, scrap metal prices are rarely stable for a long period of time and are constantly changing. Most importantly, even experts are unable to gauge whether or not where the prices are headed and whether they will increase or decrease. That is a fact, whether you are visiting a wrecking yard in Sydney or anywhere else.

No matter how much scrap you may have, you can be sure of the fact that you have to make the most out of your scrap heap. No two ways about that, really. If you don’t end up making the most money from all of your scrap, then you will never know the true value of certain scrap materials. Avoiding some of the most common mistakes will help you go a long way in finding out just how much your scrap heap is truly worth.

On that very note, let us get into some of the most common mistakes people make while scrapping metal:-

– Not preparing your materials properly: This can lead to you not getting the proper amount of money with respect to the amount of materials that you have. Remember to strip the copper wire once you bring it into the scrap yard. No scrap yard will tell you to do that as that would mean that they would have to give you more money than usual. Also, make sure that you read up some basic guidelines about how to prep your metal for the yard.

– Visiting a scrap yard with a bad reputation: Although this may seem like an obvious thing to avoid, a lot of people don’t bother doing their homework and prefer to just rely on word-of-mouth interactions. That alone is not enough. You need to dig deeper in order to weed out all of the bad scrap dealers so that you can get to the good ones.

– Being mislead by the different grades of scrap metal: You will need to do a great deal of research in order to figure out the exact scrap metal grades and which of them your scrap falls under. Like stainless steel grades and the like. You don’t want to land up at the yard only to find out that what you thought was a copper cable is actually a bright wire.

– Not separating your materials beforehand itself: Make no mistake – none of the scrap yards are going to allow any metal separating process in their yards because that will lead them to make less money from you. Hence, you need to classify every material in your scrap heap and then make the trip to the yard. The money you end up making in the yard just by the prior process of separation really does add up in your favour.

– Forgetting to check on the price first: Before you rush down to the nearest scrap yard, make sure that you firstly call ahead to check on their prices. And also remember to go to the scrap yard that very day if you are asking the scrap yard to honor the price. Since prices tend to change quickly and often without warning, you can’t expect them to honour the same price a few days later.

At the end of the day, you can be sure of the fact that you need to do your homework thoroughly before even thinking of paying your local scrap metal yard a visit. Not having a clue about the content of your scrap is certainly not a good way to start negotiations with the scrap dealer at hand. You can be sure of that.

As long as you keep the above list in mind at all times, you are bound to get your scrap metals worth. Since most aspects of the scrap metal market are constantly in motion, checking and making sure that everything is set beforehand itself would be a smart and recommended move. That way, you can make sure that you are not getting cheated in any way.

Energy efficient heating and cooling solutions

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Image: https://pixabay.com/en/air-conditioner-ac-cool-cooling-1614698/

Keeping things cool in Summer and toasty in Winter is as easy as buying home air conditioners that can both heat and cool a room. But there is more to it than just buying a product to do the job for you. To keep costs down and your conscience in check, you need to think about energy efficient heating and cooling. This goes beyond buying a quality air conditioning unit and turning it on. You need to make sure you are using it properly while preparing your home to maximise results in an energy efficient manner.

You may think you need to start from scratch to take advantage of energy efficient heating and cooling but even for existing homes there are many ways to reduce your power bills and improve overall comfort without being a burden on the environment. The following tips will help you become energy efficient in both Summer and Winter.

Energy Efficient Heating

Reduce your power bill and save some cash with energy efficient heating. Keep you and your family warm all winter without breaking the bank with these energy efficient solutions.

No matter what home air conditioners you use, if you use and maintain it wisely, you can reduce those costs while keeping comfortable. You may even use quality air conditioning less.

● Keep your home air conditioners at a steady temperature. Ideally between 18°C and 20°C for you living room or lounge.

● You’ll want to avoid leaving your home air conditioning on overnight. Also, don’t leave it running when you’re not home. It doesn’t take long for a quality air conditioning unit to be effective so is a waste if you aren’t home.

● If your home air conditioners have turn off timers, use them. Set them to turn off at night or turn on in the morning.

● Control the area you want heated. Close doors to areas you aren’t using. Heating the one area you are using is a lot more energy efficient than heating your entire home.

● Keep the air flowing in your home. Make sure furniture isn’t blocking any ducts or optimal airways.

● Make sure you clean the filters of your home air conditioners regularly to keep them working at maximum efficiency.

● A bonus tip for those with a reversible ceiling fan. Use it to redistribute heat that has built up in high ceilings.

Energy Efficient Cooling

Being energy efficient with your cooling involves stopping the heat getting into your home during the day and making sure the cool air gets in at night. This can effectively reduce the need for turning on your home air conditioners. Most of our efficient heating tips work the same for energy efficient cooling but we have a few extras that you can try and employ.

● To stop the heat getting in try and shade north, west and east windows.

● Insulation is super effective for both cooling and heating. You’ll want to insulate your ceiling, walls and floors.

● Go around your home and check the seals around windows, doors and other gaps to stop that heat from getting into your house

● If you can, landscape your property to provide natural shade for your property.

With these tips in hand you, your home and your family will be cosy and comfortable all year-round while keeping costs down and energy efficiency at a maximum. If you need a quality air conditioning unit to help put these tips into practice head over to https://www.carrierair.com.au/ and they’ll help you choose a unit to complement these energy efficient solutions. You’ll be ready to beat the heat and grab hold of the cold.

Benefits of Outdoor Event Advertising for Your Business

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Are you planning on heading to a tradeshow, farmers market or any other outdoor event? Do you want to take advantage of this with an effective marketing strategy that won’t break the bank? Then advertising using banners, customized gazebos & printed marquees is what you’re after. There are many benefits to investing in banner advertising for your business. Maybe you don’t have the advertising budget of fast food chain but want results that imply that you do? What about wanting to target your exact audience and not waste time on cold leads? Or perhaps you’re after a form of advertising you can use time and time again at all your different events?

Read on and discover all the benefits associated with using banners, customized gazebos & printed marquees as a form of advertising at your next outdoor event.

Won’t Break the Bank

Using banners, customized gazebos & printed marquees as outdoor advertising is one of the most cost-effective strategies you can employ. There are a few reasons for this. Producing more complicated forms of advertising media can costs heaps. These costs can prevent some businesses from using these methods as a form of advertising. Banners, customized gazebos & printed marquees are very inexpensive to produce in comparison.

Not only do you save by using the inexpensive materials needed to create banners but you can save more by designing your own adverts. Most producers of customized gazebos & printed marquees will allow you to create your own ads which they then apply to the banners. This can save you big bucks in the long run. Costs are slashed when comparing to the creation of a video ad for Facebook or something similar.

Highly Targeted

Outdoor event advertising has one very important advantage of most other forms of advertising. When using advertising banners, custom gazebos or printed marquees you can be guaranteed that most people viewing the ads will be your target audience. This means automatically being placed in front of potential customers & not wasting precious money & time on uninterested people outside your demographic.

Banners continue to reinforce your company name each time they’re seen. If placed in a high-traffic area, a banner may reach the same customer several times a day. One that’s semi-permanently installed in a window or outdoor location may reinforce your company name or influence the same potential customers.

Reusable

Unlike most forms of advertising, like a newspaper or online adverts, you can use your banner, customized gazebos & printed marquees again and again and again. You can reuse them for as long as they are still relevant. Choose a design you like and use it as all your corporate & outdoor events. All you must do is take it with you. The more events you attend, the more bang for your buck you get.

Banners, customized gazebos and printed marquees are one of the most effective forms of advertising at any outdoor event. All the benefits roll up into one very effective package. Make you and your brand pop at your next outdoor event with banners, customized gazebos & printed marquees. Head over to https://www.altegra.com.au/ to get the ball rolling & get yourself seen at your next outdoor event.

How to Choose the Right Commercial Air Conditioning Unit for Your Business

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When choosing quality air conditioning for your business, it’s best to go for a custom-tailored solution for your commercial installation. You want your employees to be comfortable as overbearing heat can have a large impact on productivity. You’ll want to seek expert advice on your air conditioning installation so you can get the right fit for your business.

One of the biggest mistakes made by businesses, is choosing the wrong air conditioning unit. Anyone considering a commercial air conditioning should get in touch with an air conditioning designer who can tailor the solution specifically for you. These quality air conditioning professionals understand how everything needs to work together and what features you’ll need to get the maximum benefit from your units.

Read on for a rundown on what you should be considering when installing quality air conditioning for your business or commercial property.

Size and Scope

Size is the most important factor to consider before your commercial installation. Each space in your office or building should be treated individually. The air conditioning requirements of an industrial plant will be vastly different to those in a small office. Always choose an air conditioning system that compliments your intended environment.

One of the major decisions will be whether you’re after a single thermostat or if you’ll need to split the system up into different zones. A single thermostat is exactly how it sounds. A unit that is controlled from one spot with that temperature being consistent in the affected area. This is perfect for a smaller area that is self-contained. Businesses such as small restaurants or offices would benefit the most from this solution.

Breaking them up into zones however is the best option for large commercial properties or offices that are divided by lots of individual rooms. These systems have quality air conditioning that can be tailored to each specific room. Your large break room can have its unit working harder to cool the larger, traffic heavy space, whilst the unit in your office with be operating at the lower end as it doesn’t have to affect a larger space.

Not all quality air conditioning units are created equal. Make sure to choose an air conditioner unit with all the features you need that’s within your budget. Your chosen specialist will work with you to design a system that’ll work for you.

Power Usage

The power usage of your air conditioning unit will be an on-going cost you’ll want to consider before your commercial installation. If you end up with a system that isn’t energy efficient it could end up costing you a huge amount of money in the long run. This is of paramount importance for those businesses that will have their air conditioning units running 24/7.

To make sure you get an energy efficient air conditioning unit you may need to pay a bit more money upfront. Don’t worry though, as this will save you big bucks in the long run by way of reducing operating costs. A little immediate pain for some huge long-term gains.

Air Filtering

A little-known benefit of a quality air conditioning unit is its air filtering ability. Air conditioning systems are very effective at removing dust, spores, mold and additional unhygienic particles in your commercial business environment. Removing these ‘baddies’ from the air will create a healthier workplace for you and your staff. Reduce those total sick days with a quality air conditioning unit.

If you’re considering investing in a commercial installation of a quality air conditioning system, always hire the services of the experts such as the team over at https://toshiba-aircon.com.au/. They’ll help you organise the type of system that your business requires. Remember these points when choosing your quality air conditioning and you’ll have a system that benefits you, your employees and your business.

Small Business

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You can choose to set up a customised bookkeeping system manually using accounting books cds , electronically via spreadsheets and cloud  or use simple  accounting software

Here is a list of Accounting software for Small businesses  to be compliant with ATO accounting methods according to ato website.

accounting software reviews australia

There are many software packages on the market that allow small business  to successfully control accounts and records without an accounting qualification.

Below accounting software is intended to be developed , keeping in mind the ato accounting guidelines.

accounting software australia calculator

Building and construction industry

As part of the 2011-12 Federal Budget, the government announced the introduction of taxable payments reporting for businesses in the building and construction industry.

The Taxable payments annual report will be required to be submitted by those businesses in the building and construction industry that have paid contractors for building and construction services

From 1 July 2012, businesses in the building and construction industry need to report the total payments they make to each contractor for building and construction services each year. You need to report these payments to us on the Taxable payments annual report.

A list of those developers who have registered their intent supporting the new Taxable payments annual report in their products for the 2012-13 financial year below

Small business accounting software

Accentis Enterprise

Web Address
http://www.accentis.com.au

Description

Accentis Enterprise is a fully-integrated accounting, business management and manufacturing system (ERP/MRP) suitable for businesses having between 2 and 100+ users. Designed for small to medium-sized businesses who have outgrown their off-the-shelf system, Accentis Enterprise is fully designed, manufactured and supported in Australia and has been tailored to suit Australian business who need an affordable, feature-rich and flexible business management solution.

All modules are designed as part of Accentis Enterprise, not third-party add-ons, and include:

– General ledger & financials
– Customers, receivables and Customer Relationship management (CRM)
– Suppliers, payables and Supply Chain Management (SCM)
– Inventory management & warehousing
– Job costing
– Manufacturing (kitting, BOMs, MRP)
– Payroll & Human Resources
– Fixed Assets
– Reporting (over 500 standard reports, all customisable)

MYOB AccountRight Enterprise

Description

Business intelligence and accounting software.
Like AccountRight Premier only more advanced. Use MYOB AccountRight Enterprise (formerly MYOB Premier Enterprise) to drill down to your accounts, payroll and warehouses from wherever you are using Terminal Services. It really does take your numbers to the big stage. It also comes with a 12 month membership to MYOB Cover.

 Xero.com

join for free trail 1

If you want  you can also Try the Demo Company (AU)  and have a play, try out new features and get familiar with Xero, before actually buying – but i would suggest just  getting the free trial first is better which can be done in a few steps (takes 5 minutes) as shown above and giving it a go.

 

 

 

Accrivia

Web Address
http://www.accrivia.com.au

Description

The Accrivia software package offers a range of accounting and operational modules software  (including General Ledger, Cashbook, Payroll, Debtors, Creditors, Jobs / Projects, Inventory and Web Interfacing) and caters for small and medium businesses that require more than an ‘off the shelf’ accounting package.

QuickBooks 2012-13

Web Address
http://www.reckon.com.au

Description

QuickBooks 2012-13 allows access for up to 30 users simultaneously (depending on version used) and includes a comprehensive payroll module, industry specific editions, accounting reports and multi-user capability. QuickBooks 2012-13 also includes the ability to submit your BAS return via the Standard Business Reporting online system.

Classic Software

Web Address
http://classicinfo.com.au

Description

ERP Software for the Mining, Exploration and Oil & Gas Industries

ClearAccounts

Web Address
http://www.clearsoftware.com.au

Description

ClearAccounts is a complete windows based multi-user accounting system designed with flexibility for medium to large size companies, compliant with ATO regulations. The core modules include Debtors, Inventory, Creditors (Cashbook), and General Ledger and can include Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Payroll, Job Costing, Bill of Materials (Kits), Fixed Assets, Sales Quotes, Foreign Shipping, Overseas Creditors, Colour Selections (Tiles), Point of Sale and Masterviews & Charts, fully integrated. ClearAccounts includes electronic creditors payments bank file creation, electronic filing of BAS, bulk emailing facilities and can have custom modifications to meet specific company requirements

Arrow Financials

Web Address
http://www.arrow.net.au

Description

Arrow Financials delivers to businesses timely and accurate information, smart drill downs menus, extensive audit trails, real time interactivity for immediate data update and response. Arrow Financials is modular in its design, which enables you to select the modules in a combination that best meets your individual business requirements. Available modules include Arrow Financials include: Cashbook, Debtors, Creditors, General Ledger, Job/Time Costing, Fixed Assets, Payroll, Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Stock, Bill of Materials, Foreign Currency, Multi-Company, Security Matrix, Special Pricing Matrix, Front Counter, Serial Batch Tracking, Advanced Sales Analysis.

Tax Assistant

Web Address
http://www.softassist.com.au

Description

Preparation and electronic lodgement of all tax forms 2001 to 2013.
Tax Assistant integ

Attaché Accounts

Web Address
http://attachesoftware.com

Description

Attaché Accounts software is aimed at small to medium businesses that have outgrown off-the-shelf packages and require better network performance, customisation and control. Operational benefits include faster order processing, more flexible pricing, improved stock control and warehouse management, faster debtor payment and advanced reporting. In addition, Attaché Accounts provides specialist solutions such as CRM, Job Costing, Manufacturing and electronic document delivery. Attaché Accounts has no large upfront software payment, just a low monthly amount, and you can scale the software (up to 100 users) to match your growth

Interactive Accounts Manager [IAM]

Web Address
http://iam-online.com.au

Description

Web based online accounting software produces standard reports & SBR reports. The user can interact with their accounting professional well within the software.
This is an ideal software for ABN contractors, Sole traders and micro & small businesses.

E-record replacement

Software to replace E-record software  download is  over here

More information here http://www.ato.gov.au/businesses/paymentsreporting

Top 5 reasons to invest in an office fit out

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I’ll set the scene for you. You’ve been working in your office for the past five years, and of late (thanks in no small part to your hard work) you’ve started to experience incredible growth for your business. You have a dedicated team have been working diligently by your side the whole time, grafting with you, and growing your business to the point where you want it to be.

You’re a young and funky team and you know that you have a lot to offer the creative and digital space that you are moving into, but there’s just one problem. You happen to occupy and work in an office building where the cubicles are drab and atmosphere-less, the walls are special colour of grey that no one’s ever really seen before, and the atmosphere in the office building could best be described as funeral. So what do you do here?

Studies have gone a long way towards suggesting that the environment that a business operates in impacts the output, and that’s exactly what I’m suggesting here. When you have a creative team – or any kind of team at all really, you need to have exposure to natural light, greenery; at least some kind of stimulus in order to experience the kind of results and output that you are after.

If you are looking to breeze a new lease of life into your office space, you need to have a very well designed workplace in order to get the results you want. We all want maximized productivity, limited downtime and a positive work environment – they are all huge parts of productivity. A new office fitout can help you!

I want to outline for you the top 5 reasons to invest in an office fit out so that you can move forward with your business success.

A new lease on life

When your business starts to expense growth (or continues to grow), it’s important that you grow your business surround with it. Companies with the best office fitouts in Sydney are usually the successful ones who saw the value of a well-designed office space for their teams.

Creative control

When you occupy an office building that has been decorated by previous tenants or a landlord, you have to deal with the poor design decisions that have been made before you. If you choose to invest in an office fit out, you are actually investing in the future of your business. This is a great decision for anyone looking to identify or re-identify their businesses aesthetic.

Elegant updating

Part of getting a new office fitout is taking huge amount of gratification from throwing out all of the horrible shabby decorations that have been there up until now. You can be as elegant or as cutting edge as you like with your design, the fact is is that you can control all of the design elements yourself. Creative control is a powerful thing!

Clients will be impressed

If you are a business that has clients coming into your office to do business, then you will need to ensure that you have a office space that suits your style. It simply doesn’t do to have clients coming into your office and seeing shabby furniture, crummy bookshelves, or just plain old tatty furniture. You need to ensure that your office fit out suits your clientele, and the style of business that you are hoping to secure.

Employee morale

Last but definitely not least is the benefit to employee morale. The benefit to employee morale is a huge part of getting a new office fitout. Staff and people feel that you are invested in their enjoyment in the space if you spend time and money on getting the office painted and refurbished. Employees will feel a lot happier about coming to work every day in a funky, fresh environment and will be more attached to the workplace.

Navigating the Modern Scrap Metal Jungle

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There was a time when businesses and people consumed materials and moved onto new resources as necessary. There was so much supply available, nobody worried about shortages, production schedules, market competition for supplies and sustainable strategies. Those days are long gone now.

Changing Times

Today’s business in production is as much about locating sufficient material supplies for manufacturing need as well as squeezing the most out of every component, even used materials. Scrap metal is one such resource that many businesses find themselves dealing with. In the past, this would just be considered garbage, and fees would be paid to clean it up and haul the material to a local dump. However, today, scrap metal can be easily remelted and formed to make new, functional metal material as well as product. So not only does it have value for a new commercial user, it has value for the person holding the scrap metal and needing to recycle it timely.

Comprehensive Re-use Demand

Metal type doesn’t matter anymore; it’s all recyclable. And there’s a scrap metal price for almost all metal. And some metal types are worth more than ever. Copper, for example, is in high demand for electrical wiring applications. Scrap copper easily sells for premium prices, and it has high demand internationally. Platinum and palladium are also both in shorter supply and sell for healthy pricing as well. Both are needed for automotive construction, particularly exhaust systems.

Sydney Copper Scraps has been in the business of helping partners utilize and liquidate their scrap metal in the most effective ways possible. No two cases are exactly alike, and scrap metal deposits are often comprised of different mixtures and materials. An expert like Sydney Copper Scraps staff can evaluate and determine the best removal and liquidation for a given situation quickly, efficiently, and with the best value return.

Recycling Has Gotten Complex

The connections involved with multiple material liquidations in fluctuating scrap metal price markets typically involve coordination with multiple players. Smelters, transport, sorters, buyers and sellers all make up important links in the re-use chain that scrap metal enters. Sydney Copper Scraps is connected at every phase, making them a one-stop solution for any business that has a load of scrap metal waste to deal with and no idea how to go about it.

Don’t Get Stuck in the Government Quicksand

Additionally, working with a licensed and professional scrap metal processor helps avoid multiple regulations and rule pitfalls that can easily capture a well-meaning company that isn’t familiar with applicable bureaucracy. Rules and regulations cover everything from waste removal to environmental impact and necessary licensing, and reporting it all correctly represents potential pitfalls. Violations in this area can quickly result in expensive and damaging financial penalties as well as criminal sanctions for key managers involved.

A Working Solution

So when your business is facing a major plant deconstruction or facility change or your business regularly builds up a large supply of scrap metal, connect with Sydney Copper Scraps to make the process far easier with better scrap metal price returns. Don’t stumble blind into the recycling arena. The penalties and possible sanctions are entirely avoidable, but one needs an expert to navigate them.

To find out more information about how Sydney Copper Scraps can partner with your operation, visit their website or call them directly. Services include bin delivery, scrap pickup, scrap sorting and liquidation, clean-ups and complex removals.

Outdoor Patio Trends for 2016

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Outdoor Patio Trends for 2016

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The backyard has always been recognised as one of the hot spots for entertaining and living. Whether it’s roasting marshmallows by the fire on a cool winter night or getting friends over for a BBQ on a sunny Sunday afternoon, outdoor living is definitely at its peak.

Even as trends continue to come and go, outdoor entertaining still remains as popular as ever. Colours and styles will go out of fashion but the beauty of outdoor living – especially in Australia – stays strong. According to a recent survey porches, patios and decks are the most cherished paces of homes; with 69% of consumers adding a pretty patio to their backyard space. Find out what outdoor patio trends are in store for 2016.

1. Get the Right Furniture Look

For your patio area to truly look complete, you need to get the right furniture look. For 2016, the natural look of Rattan and Wicker is back in fashion combined with clean lines and contemporary shapes. It has the ability to transform your patio into a modern outdoor living space and is durable enough to last the distance and weather conditions too.

Think exquisite sun loungers, chairs, dining and coffee tables made of white fibreglass and Rattan to create that fresh, crisp Mediterranean look. Sofas and chairs should have a high back and padding to promote a high level of comfort and relaxation – perfect for summer days on your patio. Dress your outdoor furniture up with cushions, padding and throws in neon brights with naturally high saturation of colours to create a playful look. This pallet is great for fabrics, bistros, outdoor themes and patio furniture.

2. Popular Patio Designs

Gable patios are still in front as the most popular option in patio designs. Flat roof patios have been declining in attractiveness for a while now as designs like gable are more in vogue. In comparison to standard flat patio roofs, gable designs have much more overhead space to ensure outdoor areas don’t have that horrible closed-in, claustrophobic feel. Gable patios can help a small space to appear larger with the arched height and have a variety of attractive designs to suit all homes.

Dome patio designs have also been booming in popularity with their soft curves and complete protection. Dome patios use curved sections of metal or other materials to produce the desired shape and can complement your home’s architecture beautifully. Whilst they tend to have a more unique design than gable patios, they can have a tendency to trap in more heat because of the curve so be wary of this when choosing the best design for your needs and location. Above anything, make sure you chose a patio design that offers a sufficient amount of shade to boost comfort levels and all-year-round use.

3. Indoor/Outdoor Living

Merging the indoor world with outdoor living is by no means a new thing, but this home design trend is set to boom even more for 2016. It doesn’t matter whether you are living in the city suburbs or nestled out in the country, the indoor/outdoor living trend works with any home design.

Think dining areas that open up to your patio area, a stone fire place or fire pit to make the space versatile for the cooler months and decked out with sophisticated features like built-in speakers and audio and visual equipment for the ultimate entertaining and outdoor living experience. This open space concept is a design that homeowners are craving for in 2016.

The flow between your indoor and outdoor space is an important part of merging these two worlds together so opt for a patio design that works with your home’s current appeal. Complementing colours and design schemes will create that seamless look between the two, even if your patio area is new.

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4. Outdoor Patio Colours

Whilst you definitely want the colours of your outdoor patio space to complement your home’s exterior, adding fresh pops of colour will brighten the space. Aqua blues and teals are in for 2016, creating a feeling that’s fresh and welcoming. Complete the look with ocean creatures like beach house seashells, which are set to be a part of outdoor furniture too.

In addition to the bright numbers mentioned in the first point of this article, Tuscan colours and excessive patterns are out for 2016. As people grow tired of Tuscan inspired blends and patterns that are too busy, outdoor designers have advised to keep things a little simpler. Instead, add interest and texture with natural greenery and pops of citrus colours and neon brights. Solid colour choices for pillows and throw blankets are in fashion for the New Year, too. Other colours to watch out for include berry, greys, mango infused orange and vanilla white.

5. Mixing Materials

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Mixed material trends are one of the best ways to integrate your indoor/outdoor living space together. In 2016, outdoor living is focused on mixing materials to create contrast and promote a dynamic interplay to outdoor living spaces.

Look for patio furniture and outdoor decors that mixes resin with wood, wood with iron or teak with stainless steel. Natural materials are super-hot; like stone, copper, wood and wicker, and play into different design themes like vintage, rustic and environmentally friendly. This trend of mixing materials has been growing significantly over the year with more homeowners moving away from the matching styles. Don’t be afraid to get those creative juices flowing and blend different textures and colours together to create a unique yet cohesive design that’ll give you patio an updated look and feel.

Which 2016 trends will you be incorporating into your patio design?

Author Bio

This article is written by Jayde Ferguson, who writes for Great Aussie Patios – Perth’s leading patio builders with a solution for every outdoor space and trend. You can catch her on Google+.

Mobile cranes have revolutionised the construction industry

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cranes and hire equipment

Ever thought of what was the world was like before we were able to lift construction equipment mechanically? Well, you’d probably have to go back a very long way to reach that point. For all we know, prehistoric peoples might well have invented some sort of leverage device to relieve their aching backs from the strain of lifting boulders and dinosaur carcasses.

We do know though, from excavations at ancient sites, that the ancient Greeks and Romans certainly had quite sophisticated crane-like tools, including winch and pulley systems, which were probably used to lift the heavy stone blocks necessary for building temples. Structures built by the Greeks, like the Parthenon in Athens, show what good uses they were put to.

The Romans who followed came up with their own variations, which allowed one person to lift up to 150kg. They also devised the treadwheel, a device whereby just two men could lift up to 6,000kg. This allowed them to build structures like the Colosseum in Rome and the mighty Septimius Severus Arch in Libya.

To understand the development of mobile cranes though, we have to look to the Industrial Revolution of the early to mid nineteenth century. This period of rapid technological development and expansion accelerated the steps towards the kind of machinery that we would recognize in the mobile crane hire industry today.

The demands of the Industrial Revolution

 

The Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom but quickly spread to the United States and Western Europe. It heralded the introduction of new manufacturing processes, including the move from hand production to machine generated products, and the advent of new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes.

These advances were aided by the increasing use of steam power, which drew on fuels such as coal. The first steam-operated cranes were developed by a German company in the 1830’s and started to be mass-produced in the 1840’s. They dramatically decreased the number of men needed to operate lifting machinery, and also increased the load such equipment could bear.

In 1838, the industrialist William Armstrong designed a hydraulic water powered crane for loading coal onto barges at the quayside in Newcastle, U.K. It was so successful that his company immediately received orders, for the same model, from the city of Edinburgh, Northern Railways and Liverpool docks. By the early 1860s, Armstrong was employing 4,000 workers and producing over 100 cranes per year. One of his products, commissioned by the Italian Navy in 1883, was still in use in Venice up until 1950s and is still in situ today, although it has fallen into a state of disrepair.

Mobile Cranes

A major problem with the nineteenth-century cranes, however, was that they were static, and so relatively inflexible. Eventually, manufacturers started to fix the structures onto flatcars (railway rolling stock consisting of a flat deck mounted on a pair of bogies), which gave some limited movement. But it would take the involvement of the internal combustion engine, in 1922, along with the invention of telescopic jibs, to really start revolutionizing things in the construction industry.

To cope with the increasing demands of post-war reconstruction and rebuilding work in the early-1950s, a group of men, namely crane expert R.H. Neal, hydraulics genius F.Taylor and designer Bob Lester, came together to create the first of the modern-style industrial cranes with fully telescopic booms, followed some years later with versions that also included a four-wheel drive capability. And so, the truly mobile crane was born. Over the years it has developed and evolved into many forms to meet the demands of modern construction, which requires equipment to be both robust and also as flexible as possible to complete the huge variety of jobs it is required to undertake.

Today, skylines dotted with the cranes, from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai, are a sign of that city’s popularity and prosperity. The workhorses of modern construction have become powerful symbols of success.