On the eve of D day, President Roosevelt led our nation in prayer. Every word was powerful, but the end particularly resonates with me: Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies…let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil. Regardless of which God you maybe …
I’ve found that networking and connecting are two very different things. To me, “networking” means interacting with your contacts, having a clear objective top of mind. “Connecting” comes from a genuine interest in people and creates a bond based on shared interest. Most people would rather talk to a connector. Through the experience of years, …
Price? Transaction experience? A combination of the two? Judging from a few meetings I’ve had recently, seems like it depends on who you talk to. Investors. Last week, I was talking with the vice president of a publicly traded real estate REIT. He said that when considering all parts, pricing should theoretically be the same. …
We like to consider the folks we work with an extended family. And, like most families, Stewart Perry has a few holiday traditions. Every year, we pick a weekend in December for all the team members who work on job sites come to our home office. We get a few meetings out of the way …
Negotiation is a part of our business, and for that matter, most things in life. CBS MoneyWatch recently posted 12 Negotiation Tips for People Who Hate Negotiating, and I was inclined to listen. Here they are: Go first. Be quiet. Know what you want. Assume the best case. Avoid setting ranges. Have a reason for …
Recently, I talked with a major architectural firm about their use of building information modeling. To them, BIM is just another advance of communications and drawings. I can relate. When I was in college, everybody used pencils. The quality of your lines on the drawings was most important. Then we moved to ink to give …
On construction jobs, the unexpected is…well…expected. Circumstances inevitably change. In our case, codes are updated, conditions in earthwork shift or we encounter any other variety of circumstances that affect the outcome of our work. To me, when considering a construction contract–or for that matter any written agreement–good communication and change management are essential to success …
The other day, I ran across an article with an interesting message: Create sparks instead of a big forest fire. To me, this means making small connects over time. The imagery resonated with me and prompted thoughts about business interactions. The type of “fire” one builds is as important as anything else in a relationship. …
For the past couple of years, we’ve started a blog for each of our large projects. The premise is simple: once a week, a designated person from the field office sends digital images and brief descriptions to our home office. We manage that information, and on Tuesdays post to each project’s page. So, why do …
Recently, our friends at Superior Mechanical were kind enough to give me a tour the new half-billion dollar Children’s Hospital expansion here Birmingham. I was interested to see how they are integrating Lean construction initiatives with their BIM work to be more efficient, and save their ultimate customer time and money. As background, Lean is …
In this economy, do you feel like you have to be in 1000 different places at once? If a customer or prospective customer has an opportunity, you want to be there, always staying close. But never too close. I know the feeling. The good news is, being out of sight no longer means you have …
We recently made a presentation to a prospective customer who had an adaptive reuse project that seemed perfect for us. It involved revitalizing an area of the city, which is exactly the type of project we enjoy. We confidently answered all the questions in the RFI, and the presentation seemed to go flawlessly. As we …