This week, we were finalizing a contract with a first-time customer when a breakout number of the total contract value changed by a relatively small amount. Our project manager felt the customer was under stress for other reasons. This difference troubled the customer, who asked our project manager if he could be trusted, point blank. It …
Growing up, I often visited South Georgia, where my father told me what it was like in the early days of a cotton farmer. As I recall, they would plant the same crop annually, repeating year after year. There were lots of reasons for this of course–I am certainly not chucking spears at the farmers–but …
Over the last few days, unusually high winds and a lot of rain overtaxed the storm water controls of a recently completed building in Kansas. Water infiltrated the first level of the structure. We studied the problem a few days ago, making recommendations to our customer and the civil engineer. There was still more wind …
This week, we were finalizing a contract with a new customer. The process of the last few days did not go as I had expected. Confusion from too many details had gotten in the way, and our customer did not understand the final proposal. In short, he was somewhat frustrated. While all of the facts …
This week, I attended 2013 RECon Las Vegas, or the “ICSC” as it is commonly called. It was an impactful 4 days, with 30,000 of my closest friends from around the country and beyond. Through listening, conversation and observing behavior, here are my quick take aways from this year’s event: In years past, the conference has …
The last few decades of have brought impressive technological advances to the means and methods of alternative foundations systems. We found ourselves taking advantage of one of these newer technologies at a brownfield site adjacent the Tennessee River, where we are currently working. We recently finished about 140 geopiers in just a few days. If you haven’t been …
A couple of years ago, we had the opportunity to work on a piece of Americana. Rickwood Field, the oldest baseball park in the country, called on us to remodel the locker rooms, perform structural modifications to the grandstand and our favorite–build a historically accurate scoreboard. Our work there was a part of history, something to …
Last week, I had breakfast with Ken Simonson, chief economist with the Associated General Contractors of America. While we see a good bit of positive news, it was interesting to listen to his national perspective, hearing the facts and the trends as he sees them. Construction spending totaled about $854 billion in 2012, a 10% …
While I’ve been visiting the Blue Ridge Mountains for a long time, a few years ago I found a place that captivated me. I connected with the story of Lonesome Valley and the beautiful land there. Last week, the Jennings family (brother Dick, sisters Sally and Binford) stopped by our place for a visit. They shared …
While they were strangers in the past, it seems to me that bricks and mortar commerce and the e-commerce experience are coming closer together, two strangers no more. I’m convinced that before long, a combination of the two experiences will just be “retail.” A few years ago, everyone was “shorting the stock,” counting the demise …
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet with several senior advisors to the National Economic Council in Washington DC. Our “Gang of Nine” business leaders from the South included people involved in construction, agriculture and the food industry. We were invited to the Capital to discuss immigration reform. Interestingly, we all found fairly common ground. After …
Retirement is a strange word to me, as it seems few people ever really stop working. Perhaps we just shift our interests a bit. Last week, I was talking with the recently “retired” Mike Prior, who formerly managed a mortgage loan investment portfolio of $5-6 billion for a major life insurance company. Mike now offices in our quiet …