5- rapidly, sometimes in advance of actual construction. This allows him to minimize this investment, increase his rate of turn-over, and to make the maximum profit. He can plan his operations in advance and, if his finances permit, can keep undeveloped land in inventory that will allow him a continuous operation. An important difference in the business approach between the speculative builder and that of the bidding contractor lies in the fact that the former can in some measure influence the demand for his product while the latter can do almost nothing to influence the amount of construction that is offered for competitive bidding. A good builder can be selling homes rapidly even when his competitors are finding homes difficult to sell. On the other hand, the decisions that control the amount of public construction, utility construction, industrial, or commercial construction are made on the basis of factors over which the contractor himself has no control. Even the level of construction costs and their trend are minor factors, for the decisions on building new plants - or new dams -or new airports - or new sewer works, all depend on a multitude of economic, social, or national defense factors that the contractor himself is powerless to influence. Because of this difference, the tract builder can maintain a stability of organization that the bidding contractor cannot. The third broad avenue of approach to running a construction company is to determine that as a matter of policy you will direct the affairs of your company along lines that will make it less necessary for you to depend upon competitive bidding as the key to your success. In other words, you will try to utilize your skills and your know-how, your men, and your equipment, in ways that make it possible for you to have more influence over your own destinies. This is the approach that has characterized many, but by no means all, of the larger and more successful construction companies. The Bechtel Corporation adopted it years ago by developing a superb engineering organization, particularly in the fields of process engineering, and using