by Simplar | Jan 10, 2026 | Built Environment, Business Development, Business Development, Business of Construction, Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Labor & Labor Issues, Leadership, Project Delivery, Weekly Construction Message
Even as the New Year has dawned, I offer these final thoughts on the year just passed. If I could sum up this past year’s dialogue into one overall theme I would say, “Managing a construction business is a completely different activity from managing a...
by Simplar | Nov 20, 2025 | Built Environment, Business Failure, Business Failure, Business of Construction, Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Cash Flow (Getting Paid), Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Weekly Construction Message
Construction companies have few investible assets. Contractors are service providers. Over the years they will have acquired some depreciating assets like vehicles and equipment, but vehicles and equipment are only used to generate income and retain limited value...
by Simplar | Oct 30, 2025 | Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Leadership, Leadership, Weekly Construction Message
I have been wrong in my criticism of contractors for ignoring financial statements in the day-to-day running of their businesses. Their instincts, as it turns out, have served them well. They saw something flawed in relying on interim financial statements that were...
by Simplar | Sep 25, 2025 | Built Environment, Business of Construction, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Labor & Labor Issues, Leadership, Leadership, Organizational Change Management, Project Selection, Risk Management, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
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...
by Simplar | 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...
by Simplar | 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...
