title: Markup & Profit: A Contractor's Guide
author:  Michael C. Stone 
description: I wrote this book after spending almost twenty years watching friends and acquaintances in the construction business work daylight to dusk, seven days a week and still go broke. Good, hardworking, honest to a fault, men and women who are the salt of the earth, that could not make a business work. As they went broke, their lives, their families came apart. It is a hard thing to do, watching your friends fail. I asked myself over and over, why? What are these people doing wrong? Why is it so difficult to survive in this business?
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  ![Image](graphics/9780135645963.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Contents
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Cover Page](cover.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Title Page](title.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Copyright Page](copy.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Dedication](ded01.xhtml#ded01)
  
  
  * [Contents at a Glance](toc01.xhtml#toc01)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Contents](toc.xhtml#toc)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Foreword](pref01.xhtml#pref01)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Preface](pref02.xhtml#pref02)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Acknowledgments](pref03.xhtml#pref03)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [About the Authors](pref04.xhtml#pref04)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [About the Contributors](pref05.xhtml#pref05)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Acronyms](pref06.xhtml#pref06)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [SEI Figures for Managing Technical Debt](pref07.xhtml#pref07)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Part I: Exploring the Technical Debt Landscape](part01.xhtml#part01)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Chapter 1. Friction in Software Development](ch01.xhtml#ch01)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [The Promise of Managing Technical Debt](ch01.xhtml#ch01lev1sec1)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Technical Debt A-B-C](ch01.xhtml#ch01lev1sec2)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Examples of Technical Debt](ch01.xhtml#ch01lev1sec3)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Your Own Story About Technical Debt?](