by Simplar | Jul 30, 2026 | Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Project Selection, Project Selection, Risk Management, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
Vacation schedules have interrupted our strategic planning series, so we are repeating an important message on risk. If risk recognition and assessment is so fundamental to the construction transaction, why do so few contractors engage in formal risk management? As I...
by Simplar | Jul 23, 2026 | Business, Strategic & Project Planning, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Growth, Leadership, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
“If you don’t know where you’re going – you’re probably not going to get there.” I quote this ancient Chinese proverb every time I talk about strategic planning. The contracting business does not lend itself to long-term planning....
by Simplar | Jul 2, 2026 | Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
The unique complex nature of the construction financial transaction cannot be overstated. I make this point repeatedly because my experience working with contractors is they do not see the complexity of the business of contracting the same way I do. The unfortunate...
by Simplar | May 21, 2026 | Built Environment, Financial Management and Risk, Leadership, Leadership, Risk Management, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
Magicians only perform a trick once for the same audience. A second time and the trick loses its luster. The third time around the audience figures it out. The trick no longer fools the audience and the magic is gone. Legacy Tricks of the Trade We contractors start...
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 | Nov 28, 2025 | Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Risk Management, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
Dennis Birch, a well-respected construction accountant, argued that “many US contractors are watchers instead of managers of their financial affairs.” He claimed that “they do a lot of responding to things that happen to them but don’t have much...
