Yesterday, one of our customers stopped by to talk about a new mixed use development that we will start end of the 1st quarter–retail, apartments and condominiums. “You may have the curse of being an engineer,” I told him. When he gave me a puzzled look, I explained that a lot of our customers are …
“Be Prepared.” The 100-year motto of the Boy Scouts could also be well-suited for the Adaptive Reuse or Historic Restoration arena, along with having “the vision.” Here you see a circa-1908 brick structure being transitioned to a new medical research facility. The existing 3-wythe exterior masonry wall facade will be saved. This means removing interior structure …
This time of year, there are always resolutions about this and that floating around for the new year, the things we say we are going to do better. It’s just the same with me, but I always start by taking a good look in the rear view mirror. What could I have done different here …
Sleep and I have a precarious relationship. On the one hand, it’s a necessity. But the downtime can feel wasted, like I could have been getting more accomplished. I’ve heard it said that the uninspired sleep late, while those perusing a passion naturally wake up early. I can relate. I relish the quiet hours before …
In the last few days, I was talking with our CFO about what distinguishes between a good hire and an average one. He said something like this: By watching how someone handles their personal life, we get a good glimpse of how valuable they can be to the company. Character, values and good judgment sometimes …
A portion of the ULI 2018 Look Ahead keyed in on retail. Their commentary may best be summarized, “Retail isn’t dead, it’s just changing. Give it some time to adjust.” In 2016, total retail sales approached $5 trillion, broken down: $4.3 trillion from traditional, or maybe not so traditional, bricks and mortar transactions $.5 trillion …
This week I attended our annual ULI Chapter meeting here, where Anita Kramer of ULI’s Washington headquarters presented ULI’s “Emerging Trends in Real estate 2018,” a real estate lookahead produced jointly with PWC. They interview several thousand in the industry, gathering thoughts and opinions combined with data from the field. A few summary takeaways: The “What inning are we …
When I am faced with a problem to solve and there is not a clear path at the time, it has been my experience that consciously filing it in my mind for further processing is the best temporary solution. It is amazing the way this works. Over the next few days, it will surface from …
A couple of weeks ago, I was on one of our projects in Tennessee which, fortunately for us, is a rock job. As luck would have it for us as well, the cut material is below optimum moisture content. We have the best of both worlds for a winter grading project. This, combined with our …
Over time, we all move through life cycles. Friends and customer relationships may change jobs, and their personal circumstances are in flux as well. It is always easier to reach out to those who have something we need, but what about other times, when there is a rough patch or someone is out of work? …
For the last 25 years or so, I have taken some time each fall to head out to Buffalo Gap, South Dakota, to chase those multicolored birds around the prairie, the swamps and the millet. In reality, hunting is just the excuse. The real trip is to visit with my long time rancher friends, enjoy some good wine and …
Several years ago we started using PlanGrid (a cloud-based system) and we now use it on every job. Our project managers upload plans/specs, reports and schedules on their particular projects, and the mobile app syncs with online document management software, allowing us to access all our files from anywhere that has WiFi. Prior to …