While there are a number of contract forms for building services, they all sort of revolve around these four: Design and Bid. The architect prepares plans and the contractor builds. Fairly simple. Over the last several years, it seems the budgets for architectural design are getting tighter and thus there is not enough design money …
Your average apartment building might be changing. I’m referring to multi-family buildings that are taller than garden-style, but not so tall as a high rise–generally five stories or 75’ in top elevation according to current codes. Wood is coming back into favor as a construction material for multi-family construction. As one of the oldest and …
A while back, when I was working on a project with the CEO of a $2 billion company, his favorite phrase was, “there’s only one opportunity to make a good first impression.” It stuck with me over the years, and I have since boiled the philosophy down to four basic rules that go a long way toward …
I spent this week at ICSC‘s RECON, the gold standard annual convention for the bricks and mortar component of the retail industry. This year marked the event’s 3oth anniversary in Las Vegas. Retail feels like an old friend to me. For a decade or two when we first started building, retail construction was our mainstay. During …
To me, it’s always seemed like a good thing to give back just little of our time–maybe more–toward developing the next generation of professionals in our industry. Plenty of people certainly did the same for me. One way I serve is on the Advisory Council of the Auburn University Master of Real Estate Development program, …
Last Saturday evening, it was a privilege to be the guest of NPR Nashville and the Robinson family for the final showing of “A Prairie Home Companion” at The Ryman. (In case you aren’t familiar, it’s the only live music and variety show aired nationwide today, and has been on the air for more than …
Over the last week or so, we migrated from an onsite server closet to the Microsoft Office 365 cloud, for our email, Excel, Word and the rest of the Office suite. I will not say that the transition has been without headaches or easy, but I was told the change was for good reason. A …
Like other construction firms, we work with a lot of different companies that help us deliver. We’ve found that whether it’s construction, engineering or architecture, two things are vital: working with a firm that thinks creatively instead of always taking the textbook path, and finding the right person to work with at that firm. The …
We have been using pervious concrete paving for about 10 years now. In case you are not familiar with the product, I came across this clip that sums it up pretty well. Our success rate is pretty good, as long as we have had a decent drainage system underneath the concrete to allow the water …
Last week, I attended a dinner hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. There was a good round of discussion during dinner with those in attendance, all sharing our individual thoughts and perspectives on current business and the economy. While none of this was necessarily deep analytical thinking, it was our “boots on the ground” …
Lately, we’ve been involved in several urban projects that have utilized historic tax credits. One is complete, one is almost finished, and one is just ramping up. While I feel the ins and outs of dealing with this system could easily fill a book, let me sum up our experiences with HTCs as briefly as …
Starting with the EPA Clean Water Act that became law decades ago, it seems new environmental regulations are always coming down the pike. It’s a complex business, as not all of the states are consistent in their means and methods. To add another layer, the EPA is expected to update their general permit requirements again soon. …