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By David Coyne | New technology rarely eliminates professional demand, because greater efficiency creates new ways for experts to add value.

By Mark Zweig | Market cycles are inevitable, and firms that act before revenue drops will outperform those that wait and react.

By Mark Zweig | Long-term firm owners stay motivated by evolving the business, mentoring emerging leaders, and staying close to the action.

By Will Swearingen | Environmental M&A is where sustainability and strategy meet, driving growth across the AEC industry.

By Kraig Kern | Packed calendars hurt productivity, but smarter meeting habits can help AEC professionals reclaim focus time and boost meaningful work.

By Tracey Eaves & Will Swearingen | The first quarter of 2025 saw big moves, bold strategies, and a clear shift toward specialization.

By Rennee Richardson | Embracing cross-generational collaboration in the workplace helps bridge experience, skills, and fresh perspectives.

By Stuart McLendon | The professional labor gap is an opportunity to rethink, reshape, and revitalize how we work.

By Elizabeth Preston | How do AEC industry businesses use artificial intelligence effectively and responsibly for writing?

By Mark Zweig | Entrepreneurial firm owners understand that marketing is an off-balance sheet long-term investment in the firm’s future.

By Stuart McLendon | Facing a talent shortage exacerbated by baby boomers’ exodus from the workforce, AEC firms must innovate to succeed.

By Matt Verderamo | Prioritize building relationships with clients and potential clients to build trust, credibility, and alignment for better outcomes.

By Janki DePalma | It’s hard to shake off the feeling of being lazy, but it’s critical that we redefine our work-rest balance to enhance well-being and productivity.

By Mark Zweig | If you feel the need to diversify your business, here are some tactics to win clients in a new market when you don’t have prior experience.

  Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team here. -...

By Mark Zweig | In the new year, remember that we're responsible for creating our own luck. You can start by focusing on these five things.  

By Mark Zweig | If you really know your business, you can make money in any market – even one as crazy as this.

Zweig Group, a full-service AEC management advisory firm, announced its client Atlantic Environmental Solutions, Inc. has been acquired by J.S. Held, furthering the firm’s efforts to support clients on complex environmental and regulatory matters, especially...

By Mike Nunley | The pandemic highlighted the importance of workday social interaction, protecting key technical staff from burnout, and using technology to engage with clients.

By Mark Zweig | Being retired from the day-to-day business for nearly three years gives you more time to think.

By John Bray | Whether you’re an M&A enthusiast, first-time buyer, or an apprehensive seller, it would be naive to disregard these opportunities without understanding the dynamics of the M&A environment.

President and CEO of Blueline (Kirkland, WA), a firm that’s committed to building relationships, enhancing communities, and improving lives.

By Mark Zweig | Firm owners need to be thinking about and planning for the huge wave of business that’s coming just around the corner.

By Jane Lawler Smith | Make sure your marketing uses fresh ingredients, is thoughtfully assembled, and temptingly delivered.

By Mark Zweig | When times get tough, you have two choices: You can cut expenses and eliminate all investments, or you can double down on making improvements in your business.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | Companies are adopting fluid work from home policies and people have begun migrating away from dense cities.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | Celebrate the present, and focus on extreme flexibility and radical empathy going forward.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | With some ingenuity and proper planning, the AEC industry can adapt and thrive in any climate.

Growth and relationship management software turn marketing into the catalyst for growth: The four best practices for winning marketing teams.

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.

“If we know recruiting and retention are the biggest challenges and our employees are telling us that training and development are the solution, isn’t the investment in a training program at your firm worth it?”...

President of Gale Associates Inc. (Best Firm #18 Multi-discipline for 2018), a 115-person consulting firm based in Weymouth, Massachusetts. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Gale has been involved with a number of design-build procurements, primarily for...

Firms are super busy, but that doesn’t mean all is well. How are profit margins, recruiting, and employee training holding up? The AEC industry is busier right now than it has been in a long...

LandDev Consulting acquires CivilE to form rising Austin metro firm Zweig Group continues to increase its footprint in the AEC market for mergers and acquisitions in the booming state of Texas. A full-service consulting firm...

In the AEC industry, both individuals and firms need to brand and present themselves as ‘core brands for core viewers.’ Christina Zweig Niehues and I are conducting a Building your Personal Brand workshop at the...

President of Infrastructure, RPS (Best Firm Civil #36 for 2017), a 500-person firm based in Houston. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Our limitations are people,” Abbott says. “We could do more if we could find more...

CEO and chairman of Mead & Hunt (#82 Hot Firm for 2017), a 592-person national firm offering services in planning, design, architecture, and engineering. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “There is something to be said for...

Otak, Inc., an award-winning engineering, urban design, architecture, planning, and project management firm, announces the acquisition of Loris and Associates, Inc., a Superior, Colorado-based civil and structural engineering firm, effective August 1, 2017. This merger...

Portland, Oregon – Otak, Inc., an award-winning engineering, urban design, architecture, planning, and project management firm, announces the acquisition of Loris and Associates, Inc., a Superior, Colorado-based civil and structural engineering firm, effective August 1,...

They count, and they need to be made across numerous fronts if you want to get your foot in the door with a new client. As the saying goes, first impressions count. Although much of...

President of JLG Architects (#4 Best Firm Architecture for 2016), a 110-person, employee-owned North Dakota-based firm co-founded in 1989 by Laffen. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “We love organic growth but it’s dependent on developing internal...

Succession planning is tough, but if you put a plan in place and are careful to re-evaluate as circumstances change, you can succeed. Every privately-held/family-owned business can bank on a change in ownership and a...

If at first you don’t succeed, don’t give up. Cast your net again and chances are you’ll catch another fish. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Rob Matthews, president of Matthews Design Group, Inc. (#10 Best Firm...

HELIX CEO Michael Schwerin headed into the New Year with double-digit profits and a strong book-to-bill ratio. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent In 2001, Michael Schwerin started as an assistant environmental planning group manager with HELIX...

As a matter of personal “policy” and business philosophy, I don’t get into politics in these pages or any of the other publications or social media outlets used by me or my businesses. Just seems...

If you think there’s too much recruiting, then you probably don’t realize there is no ‘season,’ but an unending grind. There is no preseason or final game for recruiting. A/E firms that don’t understand the...

Bond issues, Trump spending could spell good year for AEC By Richard Massey Managing Editor While a three-person panel hosted by Engineering News-Record did not offer an outright prediction that construction would boom next year,...

Office amenities are shifting from a focus on whimsy to a focus on meaning, and that adds up to improved productivity and increased profitability. As someone who designs workplace environments, it’s fascinating to participate in...

Third-generation leader of multidiscipline firm embraces debate, seeks consensus, and likes anything with bacon. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent It started with his great uncle. Then his father. And now him. Firm president John Hiltz is...

Beantown’s tarnished redevelopment agency comes up with a new name, a new logo, and a new mission, but locals aren’t convinced it’ll do any good. By Richard Massey Managing Editor The Boston Redevelopment Authority may...

In decline since 1950, the city is finally reversing its downward trend, and architects and engineers are taking part in the recovery. By Richard Massey Managing Editor When architect Michael Tunkey graduated from his hometown...

Billion-dollar redevelopment of the Nashville International Airport a boon not just for the city, but for the A/E/P firms handling the project. By Richard Massey Managing Editor Faced with unprecedented traffic that is only expected...

A passionate and prolific engineer, a skilled expert in disputes, and beloved by those he worked with and for, Michael Burgess will be missed. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent San Diego-based Xpera Group (#77 Hot Firm...

Today’s workforce is multigenerational, so those with experience and seniority must learn to understand, and teach, younger colleagues. I was born in 1944, a couple of years before the Baby Boom. But my values and...

Firm leaders would be wise to reflect on current happenings in industry and to prepare for what’s next. When you’re lucky enough to survive to a “certain age,” you suddenly become aware of “certain things.”...

Four items of political savviness can help ensure organizational newcomers are accepted and successful. A/E/P and environmental firms are in hiring-mode nationwide. This industry is booming, and we’re bringing on new people – some of...

Mark Zweig provides six directions on where the market is heading. Here’s a quick summary of where I see things going right now in the A/E business and the world at large: The housing recovery...

Press Release: August 31, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (August 31, 2011) —With a total land area slightly larger than the continental United States, vast mineral and energy resources under development, a gross domestic product ranking 9th...

By Jeff Clark, Principal, Investment Banking I have been a Nevada resident and have seen it all, from boom to bust, over the past seven years since I moved here from California. “Viva Las Vegas,”...

Press Release: June 23, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 23, 2011) –Social media is quite the hot topic, but are architecture, engineering and environmental consulting firms achieving their intended goals with the use of these outlets?...

Press Release: June 2, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 2, 2011) — After a boom in 2007 and near stagnancy in the years following, merger and acquisition activity is heating up for firms in the architecture,...

Press Release: April 1, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (April 1, 2011) – An expected resurgence in private spending in 2011 means that diversified architecture, engineering, planning and environmental consulting firms will be better poised to benefit...

Short term marketing fixes? There aren’t any. You can hold a lot of meetings, make some calls, and get out and aggressively try to sell some new projects, but it probably won’t make any real...

I just got back from the ninth annual Zweig Letter Hot Firm Conference and Awards Celebration, held in Chicago this year. It was, as it always is, a great event filled with optimistic people— something...

There are no easy businesses in this economy. And if you think there are— still— watch out. You’ll probably learn soon that I am right about this one. Everyone— no matter what they do— has...

As the economy inches its way toward improvement, we are seeing A/E/P and environmental firms rekindling their interest in merger and acquisition activities. In fact, it’s almost a mini-boom of activity that’s occurring right now....

Ask any expert and they will tell you that you should be doing succession planning at all levels in the organization. What is succession planning? It’s simply answering who is going to take over when...

It is so valuable… being THE place to work. What I mean by THE place is the firm that everyone wants to work at. It is the cool place, the desirable place to be, the...

Friday afternoon finally rolled around. Joe Jetson gathered up everything he needed to work at home over the weekend and tossed it all into his briefcase. This was the worst week Joe could remember in...

If there was ever a time when the moon lined up with the stars and the timing was right for A/E/P and environmental firms to raise prices, this is it! Never before has the unique...

Now’s the time of the year a lot of folks in the A/E/P business start to take a look at their business plan. Traditionally, there’s some discussion of what’s going on outside the firm that...

This week, you get three topics for the price of one. What makes for value? An article in the February 21 edition of The Boston Globe under the headline “Internet ad company stock gains 57%...

Just ask anyone in this business— it’s damn difficult to hire good people today. And the situation doesn’t appear to be easing up. As long as this building boom continues, the competition for talent is...

Call me any names you want. It won’t be the first time. But it doesn’t matter. I’m tough. I can take it. I have the power of my own convictions and conscience to get me...

My daughter pointed out a great bumper sticker to me last weekend. It said “Stop Global Whining.” It got me thinking. With the state of the economy right now, it’s hard to understand how anyone...

We’re in the throes of our annual business planning process here at ZWA. You know the routine— get everyone together, have an office party and a holiday dinner at a nice restaurant and spend a...

I visited one of my favorite client companies the other day. It’s a mid- to large-sized consulting engineering firm that has been around a while. The principals are entrepreneurial. The staff is pretty good, too,...

After countless management consulting assignments involving turnarounds and strategic business planning for A/E and environmental consulting firms, it has only recently become clear to me why so many companies in this business don’t believe in...