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...
by Simplar | Oct 23, 2025 | Built Environment, Business of Construction, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Leadership, Risk Management, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
Businesses fail for any number of reasons but rarely is it a surprise to management. Only construction companies seem to experience sudden collapse when they unexpectedly run out of cash. The element of surprise expressed by most of the failed contractors I worked...
by Simplar | 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...
by Simplar | Apr 10, 2025 | Business Failure, Business Failure, Business of Construction, Business, Strategic and Project Planning, Leadership, Weekly Construction Message
My portrayal of the start-up process of most mom-and-pop contracting firms (which represent a huge portion of the $ 2.1 trillion industry) in last week’s blog was meant to describe the natural recruiting and training process that founders engage in as firms...
by Simplar | Mar 20, 2025 | Built Environment, Business of Construction, Financial Management and Risk, Financial Management and Risk, Risk Management, Weekly Construction Message
It’s tough to build something on time and exactly as specified. It is even tougher to make money doing it. It seems like the deck is stacked against us. A project in progress is like a leaky vessel that oozes money out of every crack. Cracks can appear in...
