Zweig News

While clients want to be in the hands of an expert, they also want that expert to care deeply about the success of their project. A best practice in business development/project initiation that you can...

Attention to performance metrics can enhance business value, so you might try using a few new financial ratios in your spreadsheets. For those of you involved with firm financial management, you expect to regularly review...

President and CEO of HRP Associates, Inc. (Hot Firm #76 for 2016), a 120-person engineering consulting firm based in Farmington, Connecticut. “Big, bold, rapid changes are exciting and sometimes needed, but well planned, steady change...

When it comes to our projects, we need to know as much as we can to ensure we stay on track for our firm and our clients. There’s a fine line between what we know...

All of us in the A/E/P business are consultants. Sure, we are either engineers or architects or planners or surveyors or designers – but we are also consultants. I have been studying consulting firms and...

Social responsibility can be one of the biggest and most powerful marketing and recruiting tools at your disposal, but be careful. How much should your firm be concerned with social responsibility? And are charitable donations...

Some say that Project Management is a science. We're not sure about that but here are some simple things you can do to be the best Project Manager you can be! Find out what the...

As great as business is right now for most AEC firms, believe it or not, there are still some out there struggling. Struggling to grow, struggling to make a profit, struggling to be successful. If...

Whether it’s a monthly email campaign, promotional event, thought leadership piece, or blog post, firms need to give marketing the time it needs to evolve. “Do you want the job done right or done fast?”...

Ditch the sleazy misconceptions. When you’re talking about how much enjoyment and pride you take in your work, and making connections, you’re selling. What sets you apart? That question is asked of all of us...

Autonomous vehicles are on the way, and when they arrive, parking decks will increasingly become obsolete, and will need to be repurposed. Cars that can drive themselves, using radar, LIDAR, and other imaging devices will...

CEO of The Thrasher Group (Hot Firm #77 for 2016), a 350-person architecture, engineering, and survey consulting firm based in Bridgeport, West Virginia. “By definition, a good project manager is someone who delivers. Period,” says...

Jamie Claire, Zweig Group's director of consulting looks at valuation from a merger & acquisition perspective: EBITDA is the most common valuation metric in M&A, but I agree with Warren Buffett - “When CEOs tout...

Will Swearingen Director of Research Zweig Group recently released the 2018 Salary Survey of Engineering Firms. This survey is published as three different regional collections: Northeast and South Atlantic, Central, and Mountain Pacific. Go West,...

Chad's very real, (although slightly less than serious) outlook on 2018... What will happen in 2018? The words “ solutions”, “creative”, “unique” and “innovative" will continue to be in the industry's most overused buzzwords in...

By understanding the various risks associated with P3s and taking appropriate steps to manage them, A/E firms can put themselves in advantageous positions. As our nation turns to the urgent need to repair, replace, and...

You’ll lose control of your office if you have no performance metrics, no accountability, and put employees in the wrong roles. The difference between leadership and management is quite substantial. Make no mistake, as a...

Now is a good time to make good on your 2018 work resolution to improve your team by turning the saboteurs into loyalists. The new year brings with it the opportunity for change, growth, and...

I have been traveling my entire professional career, and as much as I hate to admit it, that is 38 years now. I’m sure I could have flown to Mars or something with as much...

President and COO of DCI Engineers (Hot Firm #62 for 2017), a 320-person Seattle firm with offices in seven states. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Start early,” Heeringa says of ownership transition. “Make it a standard...

At all times, there can and must be all four seasons within a person and a company – tilling, planting, toil, and harvest – to create growth. The start of a new year always brings...

Clients have evolved, and if you want stay connected with them, you have to learn who they are, what they want, and where you fit. Change – a simple yet loaded word, particularly these days....

It can be harder than writing more, but oftentimes it’s necessary, so learn how to cut without gutting your message. When I started writing this column in 2004, the size limit was 800-850 words. Sometimes,...

“Quality” is an elusive thing. It’s like a moving target. One person’s definition of high quality could be completely different from another’s. For firms providing architecture, engineering, planning, or related services, it is really all...