by Simplar | May 7, 2026 | Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Growth, Growth, Weekly Construction Message
Despite its vast size ($2 trillion in annual sales) and impact on the nation’s economy, the construction industry remains, at its core, a collection of small businesses. Unlike other American industries, construction has never become a darling of Wall Street,...
by Simplar | Apr 23, 2026 | Business of Construction, Cash Flow (Getting Paid), Financial Management and Risk
Last week we settled on this definition of business which bears repeating: Business is the purposeful pursuit of profit through the commercial activity of satisfying customer needs at a cost that is less than the selling price. To be classified as a business, an...
by Simplar | Apr 2, 2026 | Built Environment, Business of Construction, Contracting Methods, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Organization Transformation, Risk Management, Risk Management
I have been haranguing the industry for years about what is wrong with the contracting business model. Many of you agree with my discomfort but ask, “How do we change the long-held structure of the standard construction financial transaction?” Let’s...
by Simplar | Jan 22, 2026 | Built Environment, Business of Construction, Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Financial Management and Risk, Project Selection, Project Selection, Weekly Construction Message
The human mind is a problem-solving machine. It takes in data through the 5 senses then stores and classifies the data as either good or bad for survival of the entity. The brain then amplifies the “good” classification with neurotransmitters like...
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 | Dec 26, 2025 | Built Environment, Business Failure, Business of Construction, Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Leadership, Leadership, Weekly Construction Message
In my experience, construction firms do not operate under firm budget disciplines like most other industrial concerns. Contractors usually craft project budgets in advance but rarely use them as a management tool. Because of the complexity and variability of each...
