Related Links: Black & Veatch Practices Risk Control in a High-Growth Strategy Keep Your Guard Up Against Green Project Risks Is risk management oversold? We know that some government regulation creates risk and that veering business cycles are a source of uncertainty for any designer or contractor. In construction, too, it's wise to vet contracts in case an untrusting customer slips a risk-shifting clause into Section 7, Subsection (c), Paragraph 4, of your agreement.This isn't news. Entire categories of risk exist thanks to innovations considered vital to the future of construction: integrated project delivery, BIM, sustainable construction and the expanded
Related Links: Private Equity Goes All In For Construction-Sector Growth Viewpoint Returns to Estimating With Platform Upgrades Merriam-Webster defines the term Tipping Point as when "a series of small changes or incidents becomes significant enough to cause a larger, more important change."Software vendors often use the term to refer to the point when they go from being the one placing phone calls to potential partners— to being the one receiving calls from potential partners.As Bruce Kenny, vice president of global product development for Viewpoint Construction Software put it at the firm's recent user conference, "that tipping point has happened."Viewpoint has
LandiWe all have innate strengths and abilities that we use in our jobs and that come naturally to us—the skills necessary to manage a project, write specifications, produce design documents or create good estimates.Yet some of us find ourselves going down rabbit holes every work day—and we don’t know why. I read a book a decade ago that talked about individuals’ special skills or strengths. The premise was that if you can pinpoint your unique abilities and find a job or role that lets you use those, you will not only find success but also work enjoyment and career satisfaction.Instead
Related Links: Picking Up Good Vibrations From Napa Post-Quake Report At 3 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 24, a magnitude-6.0 earthquake centered in the American Canyon, about 9 kilometers south of the city of Napa, awoke much of northern California. The next day, television newscasts focused on damage sustained by a small number of unreinforced masonry buildings in Napa, fire damage to mobile homes in a trailer community, some older wood-frame homes that shifted off their foundations and extensive loss of wine inventory due to failed wine-aging storage tanks and casks.But contrary to the impression conveyed by the television news and
Image Courtesy of DLR Group The skin of the statue at FedExField is made of solar cells in an acrylic shell. The design community must lead the charge to advance the cause of sustainable energy in pursuit of Architecture 2030 benchmarks, which were established to dramatically reduce fossil-fuel consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions by changing buildings and creating a resilient built environment. To do it, designers must visibly and actively promote the viability of renewables. DLR Group has partnered with NRG Energy to design a series of on-site solar power systems for football stadiums for six National Football League teams. Recently,
Related Links: Brazilians Say Government Deserves a Good, Swift Kick for Broken World Cup Promises (ENR 6/16/14) Two Years to World Cup Kickoff for Brazilian Stadiums (ENR 8/22/12) Reports are coming in about abusive practices and possible corruption in the World Cup stadium construction projects in Brazil. With fresh memories of angry protests by Brazilians prior to the start of World Cup and Brazil set to host the 2016 Olympics, we have a unique opportunity now to learn.ELLISFor example, a recent government audit reportedly found that the project costs for the state of Brasília's brand-new taxpayer-funded stadium have tripled, to
I'd like to share with you some lessons learned from a long career in the construction business based on conversations with some of the best people I have ever met.LyonsWhether you're an executive, project manager or job superintendent, there is no more important task right now than attracting good people who will remain in your organization. Someone once said “don’t forget to make the good, gooder."Why my focus on leadership and why one must be great?It all started for me when I joined my local volunteer fire company. Nothing is harder than leading volunteers and that’s where I gathered my
Related Links: Managing a Profitable Construction Business Beware the Economic Recovery The end of a recession is the perfect time for contractors to rebuild their organizations using new and sustainable models because growth as a business model doesn't work in a cyclical market. The successful contractor of the future will be organized to go up and down in annual sales to cope with market conditions and avoid chasing inappropriate work just to maintain volume for its own sake. The secret to this strategy is a concept that I call flexible overhead.Since World War II, there have been more growth years
Related Links: Study Finds Big Cost Overruns on Global Dam Megaprojects The 10 Largest-Capacity Hydropower Plants A recent study on global large-dam projects by Oxford University's Saïd Business School says large-dam projects experience cost and time overruns and suffer a very low cost-benefit ratio and concludes that small-dam projects are better. However, in its argument against large dams in favor of small dams, the study provides a rationale for fossil-fuel energy plants. The International Commission on Large Dams finds the results of this study to be deeply flawed. The main weakness is its focus on time and cost overruns without
Above my desk hangs a picture of a woman born in 1869, Alice Hamilton, the mother of industrial hygiene and the ultimate safety professional. I recommend that every safety manager read her autobiography, "Exploring the Dangerous Trades," in which Hamilton details her investigative work in armament factories, mercury mines and lead smelters.In her book, Hamilton recounts a much-needed lesson she learned from a friend: Harmony and peaceful relations with one's adversary are not, in themselves, of value unless they accompany a steady push for what one has been trying to achieve.She had to learn to force herself to say "the
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