Harry Truman often said give me a one handed economist because they always seemed to be offering two opinions of the future. January offers a great opportunity for economists to prognosticate on the future; however, there has been a common theme among the forecasts. We are...
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...
Download Article Here International work has limitations and challenges. Many firms fail in the global market because they view international business as an extension of working in the United States. Recognizing the difference between international business and American business practices can be a painful lesson. Some examples...
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...
In Jim Dornan’s book “It’s Simple, Not Obvious” he describes four (4) levels of leadership. When comparing each level to a leadership style, it reveals the leader position as an individual. Any leader can be an asset or a liability to an organization. As a...
Unforeseen Consequences Our last newsletter spoke about the potential labor shortage and its impact to the construction industry. Recently I heard a presentation that described the make-up of our future workforce and the challenges companies should expect along with the monetary impact. Many experts have spoken about...
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...
Mountain climbing and running a business are very similar. A climber focuses on their next hand hold or step and will often lose track of how far they have climbed. Climbing the mountain face, a climber will gauge their distance traveled by looking down. As...
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...
