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By Scott Butcher | AEC firms use seller-doers, business developers, or both, and the best model depends on buyer preferences and firm capabilities.

By Karen Poist | State licensing and tax compliance can make or break your deal, so you must plan early to protect value, avoid liability, and ensure a smooth transition.

By Nam Douglass | Businesses across the U.S. face increased federal scrutiny, making proactive workforce compliance essential to mitigate risk and avoid costly penalties.

By Nam Douglass | Neglecting immigration compliance during mergers or acquisitions can expose firms to costly consequences.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of TPD, Inc. (Pottstown, PA), a consulting engineering firm specializing in transportation engineering and related environmental and construction services.

By Jennifer Nelson | New tax law creates major planning opportunities – R&D, bonus depreciation, and corporate rates shift, with key deadlines looming.

By Alec Russell | M&A activity in the AEC industry surged in 2024, driven by private equity, regulatory investments, and strategic acquisitions.

By Taylor Dolan & Nathan Greyard | How the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Chevron deference will impact design firms.

By Eric Tuthill & Jordan Wilson | It’s become increasingly apparent that Section 174 may be around longer than anyone believed possible.

This report details some of the biggest trends and movements regarding M&A activity in the AEC industry as of the end of Q2 2024.

By Jared Maxwell & Cady Sinks | AEC firms see growth opportunities amid gradual U.S. economic rebound clouded by insurer concerns over inflation, claim costs, higher risks.

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

By Katherine Nanowski | Understanding and participating in government affairs can play a valuable role in a company’s business development process.

By Ying Liu | Use this tool to uncover the macro external factors that influence your company and understand how those factors could create opportunities or threats.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and founder of ThinkForm Architects (Hopewell, NJ), a service-disabled veteran owned architecture and interior design firm specializing in “total environments.”

By Pete Hinojosa | Professional employer organizations provide a comprehensive range of HR solutions and technology to help businesses gain a competitive advantage.

By Rob Hughes | Many design firms that adjusted their workplace to address COVID-19 face heightened exposures to employment-related litigation and related negative consequences.

By Kevin Johns | Despite the uncertainty and impact caused by potential tax law changes, inflation, and the pandemic, forecasts are strong overall for the AEC industry for 2022.

By Mark Zweig | There are some things you can do to “tune up” your organization structure, even if you don’t completely overhaul it.

Domestic Transactions: Larson Design Group (Williamsport, PA), a national architecture, engineering, and professional consulting firm, has announced the acquisition of LWPB, Inc. (Oklahoma City, OK). LWBP is highly rewarded for its work in federal and...

Contract disclaimers reflect the reality that estimating is an art, not a science – and that design professionals cannot guarantee or warrant the actual costs of construction.

The ways our businesses and facilities function in relation to employees and customers are bound to adjust due to COVID-19.

Firms should evaluate their services, internal IT systems and controls, and check their insurance to make sure they have the protection they need.

Ten takeaways from the Ames & Gough survey of 15 leading insurance companies providing AEC professional liability insurance in the U.S.

Innovators should consider following these best practices to ensure that what they believe to be their trademarks and copyrights actually are their legal property.

If innovators find themselves on the wrong side of these rules, the law may deny them legal ownership of what should have been their intellectual property.

Chairman and CEO of Mabbett & Associates, Inc. (Bedford, MA), a verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business.

Just by doing what comes naturally for cutting-edge AEC firms, they are likely eligible for a refundable tax credit.

The R&D tax credit is the most widely applicable and powerful tax incentive, but it’s not the only one AEC firms should take advantage of.

Considering a design project in the fledgling cannabis industry? Make sure your professional liability coverage won’t go up in smoke.

AEC firms must be diligent during design and construction to avoid becoming ‘responsible’ for worksite injuries or death. Although site safety generally is the responsibility of construction contractors and subcontractors, when injuries or deaths occur...

The Spearin Doctrine: Public owners do not shed all design risk by contracting for design-build if there are specified criteria upon which the design-builder is to rely. On government projects you may sometimes hear a...

By Richard Massey Managing Editor It started with a Volkswagen, a traffic light, and a ticket in Beaverton, Oregon, back in spring 2013. Mundane enough. But enter Swedish-born Mats Jarlstrom, the Oregon State Board of...

Chairman and CEO of Maser Consulting P.A. (#12 Best Firm Multidiscipline and #16 Hot Firm for 2016), a 650-person firm with 22 offices across eight states. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “The most important formula for...

The acronym is PDB, not to be confused with PBR, the beer, or PBR, professional bull riding. Bone up on the latest method of project delivery. By some statistics, design-build accounts for some 40 percent...

Due to the absence of a comprehensive, federal Good Samaritan law, A/E professionals are hesitant to lend a helping hand after an emergency. We have all heard someone in a perilous condition say, “Don’t just...

Get the word out to your people that any form of illegal conduct – bribery and racketeering among them – will be grounds for immediate termination. Last week, attorney G. William Quatman, FAIA, Esq. wrote...

Campaign finance laws, bid rigging, price fixing, and bribery. We hear about this with contractors, but how about design professionals? Several times each year, there is an article about some contractor being debarred or convicted...

This year’s event, as in previous years, featured a full slate of breakout sessions with dynamic speakers. Here’s what they had to say about the 2016 conference. “As our industry heats up, good people are...

By assessing how they plan to use drones, and by carefully evaluating related risks, A/E firms will benefit from this new capability. As more A/E firms begin integrating drones into their operations, they need to...

Independent environmental firms are increasingly rare, but out on the East Coast, CEO Eileen Pannetier has succeeded by sticking to her small-firm roots. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Prior to founding Comprehensive Environmental Inc. (Best Firm...

ACI Boland Architects of Kansas City was betrayed by an office manager who, over a decade, funneled millions into secret bank accounts. By Richard Massey Managing Editor A long-time office manager at one of Kansas...

Six suggestions for firms seeking to work with the largest buyer of A/E and environmental services. Let’s face it: The government – be it local, state, or federal – is the biggest buyer of A/E...

It needs to be relevant, user-friendly and affordable but is well-worth the investment. Recruiting is not so simple an enterprise anymore. Like it or not, recruiting has become increasingly sophisticated over the years – in...

Press Release: February 2 , 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, AR — Firms in the architecture, engineering, planning and environmental consulting sphere are joining the national chorus of opposition to a provision that would significantly boost tax-reporting requirements,...