Owners, Developers, Contractors, and Designers are all experiencing the current economic expansion. With project volume up, most parties are enjoying a profitable 2014; however, now is often when management makes the critical mistake that has a long term effect on the company. The key pitfalls...

When starting a construction program owners will take one or two completely different approaches to create the project budget.  Each approach has its hurdles and obstacles.  Without discipline the approach selected by the development team can have significant impact on the project costs. When a design...

Large development programs needed a method of cost control during the design process.  Often these programs are so complicated that tracking design changes becomes a laborious task and feedback on a series of changes can take days or weeks to develop. ASTM Standard E1804 was developed...

As Atlanta was constructing the Olympic venues, the impact on development was felt around the southeast region.  Design and Contraction firms focused on Atlanta for a part of the $1.5 Billion Olympic development program.  The labor force migrated to Atlanta and the competition for materials...

Over the past few weeks, multiple TV talking heads have been discussing the pros and cons of our economic recovery.  It has been interesting the generalities they use to offer an opinion as to what is going on but rarely do they offer facts to...

December is when businesses take time to assess their successes and establish goals for the following year. Looking forward into 2014, business goals will include increasing revenue and adjustments to construction products and services. Price adjustments for 2014 will have an effect on your project...

Perspective can radically change what you achieve without changing anything in your existing environment. When projecting construction trends and their resulting costs, I have long been a proponent of finding leading indicators that can provide the insight and perspective related development and construction. Recently we hosted a...