About 6 months ago, the president of a local public university made the decision to end the UAB Football team. The result was an unprecedented rally of support for the school, and the #freeuab movement. You can’t drive down a local highway without seeing multiple bumper stickers supporting the UAB campaign. Truth is, some sports …
This week, I did something every contractor doesn’t like: I turned down two nice soon-to-start projects. It was painful for me, but the right thing to do. Because of circumstances during the past week, I determined we did not have proper management in place to do a good job for our customer and called the …
I could have titled this post something like “Remember the Right Steps” just as well. I didn’t do this recently, and it could have cost us. We have a small project of about 3000 sf, a new building on a site where a structure had been for years. I said to myself, “If a building …
This past week, I attended ICSC ReCon in Las Vegas, where I always enjoy visiting with longtime friends and meeting new ones. I had the pleasure of being introduced to Clark Johnson of Johnson Light Studio and EVOKE on the last day of the conference. He and his team have designed lighting for an impressive …
I’m going to a national convention next week with 30,000 of my closest friends. While preparing, I started thinking about whether I’m selling upstream or working downstream. Whether at a convention or in regular conversation, these are a few things I’ve learned over the years: Make Eye Contact. There is no substitute for this gold standard. Sincerity …
Like many companies, we have been enjoying this cycle of buoyancy, but remembering the financial crisis. I am not sure anyone that lived through the financial crisis will ever forget. I was in Nashville this week, visiting with one of our customers, and the topic of the economy took center stage. We discussed when it …
We are currently constructing an urban redevelopment project that will have a value of about $120 million when completed. Approximately 40% of the dollars required are coming from a little-known federal visa program known as EB-5. EB-5, which was designed to promote investment and employment in the US, has gained popularity in the real estate development …
All things being equal, attracting new customers is normally harder than keeping an existing good one. That makes retention one of the most valuable components to any business’s success. This week, I got a wakeup call about just this subject. We received an unsolicited proposal for our voice and high-speed data service. The price was …
I have found success in the leverage of our efforts by having solid “two-way street partners.” This is somewhat like loosely connected circles–watching out for each other, touching the perimeter and being able to help each other with opportunities. Sometimes I feel like a high school coach, forwarding my good recruits to my favorite NCAA …
We’re just starting on an apartment project where we decided to go with variable refrigerant flow (VRF) technology for the heating and cooling needs. Instead of each unit having its own HVAC system, these VRF systems use a central condensing unit. Each space is linked digitally to a central controller which manages conditions and monitors usage. Each …
Recently, someone told me that as a country, we are not over “mall-ed,” we are just under-demolished. There is still a place for shopping malls on good real estate, just not as many. Patterns are changing. I traveled to New England this week to visit a couple of our projects. Driving through smaller towns like …
In our industry, I’ve found that many times folks use too much stick and not enough carrot. Let me explain. Because of tight deadlines and performance pressures, resulting in little time, the industry tends to cater to impersonal emails at best, and raised voices at worst. Perhaps we could all practice better manners and carve …