The Zweig Letter

It might be a blunt mantra but it has a broad application across all facets of life and work, including the AEC industry. We all have leaders and figures in our lives who leave an...

It’s not about taking one step, but about taking 10. This could also be painful, but there’s a lot of additional revenue on the back end. The employee utilization rate is one of a handful...

CEO of Ware Malcomb (Hot Firm # 21 for 2017), a 440-person international design firm based in Irvine, California. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Succession planning has been an important part of our culture for more...

Editor’s note: Originally published 4/25/2005 Every A/E and environmental firm experiences those inevitable departures of key employees. After the notice is turned in and the hand-wringing, self-flagellation, and/or angry statements come out from management, the...

With the promise of passion, collaboration, and positive impacts on local communities, Blueline, based in Kirkland, WA., recently announced its merger with The LA Studio, a firm based south of Seattle in Tukwila. The merger...

Expanding its multidisciplinary services in Northern California, engineering firm LACO – based in Santa Rosa, Eureka, and Ukiah – recently acquired surveying firm DobleThomas in a match that increases LACO’s surveying capacity DobleThomas, based in...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 25) – Zweig Group recently deepened its bench with the addition of Bill Fox, who brings a wealth of expertise in small-business administration, financial management, and strategic planning to the firm’s full-service...

By Christina Zweig Niehues | A larger client database, higher shortlist rates, and measurable metrics. Yes, marketing is expensive, but it’s a good place to spend a bit of gold.

If you lead an AEC firm, you have a lot of tough questions to ask yourself, and the answers aren’t always pretty. But ask and answer you must. In a romanticized view of the business...

CEO of FRCH, a Nelson Company (Hot Firm #41 for 2016), a global design firm based in Cincinnati. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Everyone has access to the company’s financial information,” Tippmann says. “I believe this...

I’ve written about it before but apparently not everyone got the message. In business today, speed is everything. Whoever is faster will be the winner. Good leaders realize this is true and act accordingly. Here...

If you want to empower your millennial team members, you have to offer them choice, provide purpose, and safeguard the organizational trust. Millennials are part of the “prove it” generation, and their trust is made...

A lot of firms say they have a great culture, but for that to be true, a firm must be intentional about implementing its core set of values. At Mead & Hunt, we say we...

President and CEO of SEPI Engineering & Construction, Inc. (Hot Firm #74 for 2017), a 350-person firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “People need to feel like their work life is...

By Edward Friedrichs | Reducing consumption and finding new ways to re-use water will become increasingly important as populations grow.

Even with the long lead times, the proposal process can be stressful. Marketers have to own the process and enforce the schedule. Some people describe the proposal process as a marathon while others consider it...

Client management is something anyone who owns an AEC firm should be concerned about. After all, if you don’t do it effectively, not only will your projects probably turn out poorly, but your firm won’t...

Marketing text has to be what the project owner needs to see. If you can standardize to accommodate an array of proposal types, great. If not, develop new recipes. Standardizing marketing text seems like a...

Non-creatives have to understand and respect what marketers do, or we run the risk of demotivating those who are critical to our success. A recent study by InSource reported that “Creative professionals are being asked...

President of Long Engineering, Inc. (Hot Firm # 24 for 2017), a 90-person land surveying and civil engineering firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Begin to identify internally if you have potential...

It’s hard to believe that in this market there are still design professionals who don’t feel fairly compensated for what they do – especially when compared to other professionals. While I don’t think the $200K+...

Sharing something personal about your history is a great way to connect with a selection panel – and, of course, to win work. Making a strong first impression and connecting with the selection panel are...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 5, 2018) – Zweig Group has announced the winners of the 2018 Marketing Excellence Awards. The Marketing Excellence Awards recognize outstanding and effective marketing in the architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental consulting...

Be careful. While a design firm can retain its copyrights by contract, the firm can just as easily give those rights away – by written contract. Design professionals are, traditionally, reluctant to give up ownership...