Construction is a risky business. Diving from the springboard of project selection into the deep end of the risk pool immerses the contractor in a virtual ocean of risk factors. Like Football games, project financial risk can only be effectively managed before...

Death By Ice Machine

Sep 18, 2025 | Leadership, Leadership, Risk Management, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message

Construction is a risky business. A wide variety of risk factors are piled one on another throughout the construction transaction making it almost impossible to manage all construction business risks. Building long term complex projects for a fixed price under the...

The Project Selection Program

Sep 11, 2025 | Built Environment, Project Selection, Project Selection, Weekly Construction Message

The most crucial element in construction profitability is selecting the appropriate project. It is not "cutting the payroll" or "speeding up the work" or "stretching the concrete", or "reducing a bid". It is not "bargaining with subs" or "negotiating with material...

Catch 22

Sep 4, 2025 | Business Development, Business of Construction, Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Financial Management and Risk, Growth, Weekly Construction Message

Top line growth represents survival to a lot of contractors. Without regularly signing new contracts most contractors would go out of business in short order. Growth isn't just an important thing, to some contractors, growth is the only thing. Every existing contract...

Growth Is Always Good

Aug 28, 2025 | Built Environment, Business Failure, Business of Construction, Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Growth, Growth, Leadership, Risk Management, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message

We begin this week with the first "belief" on last week's list - "Growth is always good ". The complex nature of the construction industry seems to lend credence to this belief. Since a construction business does not enjoy a "continuum" of business, contractors must...

More Unexamined Beliefs

Aug 21, 2025 | Built Environment, Business of Construction, Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Leadership, Leadership, Weekly Construction Message

I introduced the concept of beliefs into my teaching about 20 years ago. I noticed during my years of research and countless interactions with contractors that there were a multitude of assumptions about the nature of the construction business out there that were...