The Zweig Letter

There are plenty of tell-tale signs your AEC firm needs a set of third-party experts to help you achieve your goals.

“There’s a lot to know about your own business that you cannot know if you aren’t intimately involved with every detail of it at some point.”

When your best junior associate ‘unexpectedly’ leaves, the decision was probably in the works for a long time, you just never saw it coming.

By Phil Keil | People need something to rally behind. Identifying a mission for your firm is more than just a box to check when creating a strategic plan.

Find your ‘why’ and ‘how,’ make a plan, and – with the help of a few strong mergers – achieve astronomical growth.

“Are you missing out on this valuable knowledge in these or any other areas that it is needed? If so, amend your evil ways and make better use of your marketing talent!”

As a 100 percent ESOP, 50-year-old Pennoni has the culture, history, and staying power to improve the lives of its employees and the community it serves.

President and CEO of LACO (Best Firm Multi-discipline #46 for 2018), a California firm with a famously branded shirt.

Jacobs (Dallas, TX) announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire The KeyW Holding Corporation (Hanover, MD), capturing leading position in the multi-billion dollar space intelligence market and the high growth...

If you want to run a successful firm, there are employees you just have to keep. But in other instances, turnover can be a good thing.

“This was the fourth or fifth time since 1997 that Zweig Group has done one of these events coupled with a racing school. They always get me thinking.”

The word growth is often associated with the bald pursuit of profits, but it’s really about the health of your firm and your staff.

When the veteran transportation engineer changed lanes from the public sector to a private firm, he used his blinker and stepped on the gas.

For S-corps and C-corps, ESOPs offer different, but significant, tax benefits to both the selling shareholder and the surviving company.

J.S. Held (Jericho, NY) expanded its portfolio of professional services in EHS and forensic engineering by acquiring Veritox (Redmond, WA) and GT Engineering (Redmond, WA), a division of Veritox. Link to details Healthcare consulting firm...

Is your firm an investment value candidate? If you’re looking to sell, this is the level of value at which you have the most opportunity to maximize your exit.

“A lot of managers in AEC firms – design and technical people who have become managers – need to learn a few supervisory basics.”

If you’re a firm owner or design professional, don’t leave contractors guessing. Using plain language, make your intent clear to avoid disputes, change orders, and claims.

President and CEO of Hitchcock Design Group (Best Firm Architecture #7 for 2018), a 35-person landscape architecture firm headquartered in Naperville, Illinois.

Whether it’s growth, ownership transition, diversity and inclusion, or technology, firms shouldn’t shy away from change if they want to be successful.

By Kyle Ahern | Employees at AEC firms say they need ample opportunities to learn and train. My advice is to give them what they’re asking for.

Portland office leader for PCS Structural Solutions believes in the legacy of engineering as a community builder.

If you’re like the rest of us, your firm is busy. But as the projects and revenue pour in, so do plenty of problems that you’ll have to deal with.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | At what should be an incredibly productive and exciting time in the lives of young professionals, the AEC industry is failing to engage.