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By Joseph Crabtree | Efficiency creates time, but how AEC firms reinvest that time determines whether quality, culture, and performance actually improve.

The leading source of business management insights, research, and strategies tailored specifically for leaders of AEC firms.

Pape-Dawson has acquired BHC, demonstrating a commitment to regional growth, innovation, and investment in communities across America’s heartland.

By Julia Moroney | AEC firms must protect flexibility without sacrificing mentorship and visibility for young leaders.

By Stacey Weiss | In today’s AEC market, content without social distribution is invisible, no matter how smart or well written it is.

By Duncan Robertson | Motivational leadership drives loyalty, ownership, and growth by connecting people’s individual goals to the firm’s larger purpose and vision.

By Morgan Stinson | Winning work in the AEC industry takes teamwork, trust, and humility to bridge gaps between marketing and technical staff.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and co-founder of Peralte-Clark, LLC, a firm that specializes in managing, planning, designing, and implementing public and private infrastructure projects.

By Michael Sanderson | This is one of the most powerful tools we have to reduce risk, train effectively, grow sustainably, and do better work.

By Steve McAdams | Firms that scale successfully evolve their leadership approach, formalize operations, and stay grounded in culture.

By Erik Stroemberg | Practical insights and recommendations for creating, communicating, and maintaining an effective AI policy.

By Kristi Weierbach | Incentive plans for employees should align unique performance measures with organizational success to drive retention, engagement, and results.

By Mark Zweig | Many AEC firms claim high quality, but without consistent action those promises quickly become hollow words.

By Mark Zweig | It is a basic human need to see one’s work go from start to finish, and leaders need to do more to empower their people with this perspective.

HP Engineering, a multidisciplinary firm providing MEP, fire protection, structural, lighting, low-voltage, energy modeling, and commissioning services, has joined IMEG, a full-service engineering design firm delivering a powerful combination of expertise and deep client relationships....

By Kyle Ahern | What high-profit 2025 Best Firms To Work For do differently to earn employee trust, loyalty, and performance.

By Megan Valencia | Every employee plays a crucial role in recognizing and attracting top talent, shaping company culture, and ensuring long-term business success.

Architecture, engineering, environmental, and planning firm, ISG, has acquired JDAVIS, a multi-disciplinary design firm with offices in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

By Josh Crawford | Our industry currently faces unique hurdles; success hinges on adopting tailored solutions combined with tried-and-true principles.

By Mike Danko | Building trust is not only good business practice but essential for the long-term growth and success of your firm.

The conversation dives into the importance of maintaining a vibrant company culture in the face of evolving work environments. They highlight how, despite the chaos that keeps everyone up at night, there are strategies to...

By Mark Zweig | These qualities will be essential for entrepreneurial leaders in the AEC business to have in the coming months and years ahead.

By Brandon Pinkerton | Integrity in leadership is sacrosanct and you must fight the urge to dilute your brand with cheap substitutes and compromised values.

RTM Engineering Consultants, a national MEP, civil, and structural engineering consulting firm, has merged with Select Structural, a highly regarded structural engineering firm based in Southwest Florida. This merger brings together two firms that share...

By Brad Thurman | Consistently nurturing long-term client relationships and adding value are essential to maintaining loyalty and avoiding complacency.

By Chris Connell | Purpose-built technical report management technology in AEC mergers drives cost savings, productivity, collaboration, standardization, and scalable growth.

By Mark Zweig | These four things are beyond essential if you are serious about building an enduring organization that will evolve over time.

By Eileen Shields | Growing from a startup to nearly 100 employees, this firm thrives through agility, teamwork, and delivering high-quality solutions at the core of its business.

By Greg Sepeda | Embracing a results-focused approach liberates us from the constraints of rigid processes, opening up new possibilities and opportunities for problem-solving.

By Matthew Miller | By understanding and addressing the factors that contribute to scope creep, project managers can mitigate its impact.

Zweig Group is proud to announce Tim Schroeder of Neumann Monson Architects as the recipient of the 2024 Jerry Allen Courage in Leadership Award, which recognizes outstanding leadership and exceptional achievements within the AEC industry. 

By Travis White | The rise of nearshoring can reduce costs, address talent shortages, and enhance growth opportunities for AEC firms.

By Jeff Bornemiss | This investment enhances employee engagement and serves as a powerful tool for recruitment and retention.

By Will Swearingen | The latest data highlights key trends in AEC policies, emphasizing pay, remote work, and transparency for growth.

Zweig Group is proud to announce the release of its  2024 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Report, which provides AEC industry leaders with industry statistics on policies and procedures, so they can support policy decisions with hard data. In Zweig Group's 2024 Policies,...

By Kevin Brown | Five resume red flags to help AEC firm recruiters identify and set apart the best applicants from the rest.

By Ezequiel Tovar | What qualities give founders peace of mind and the necessary trust to hand over the reins of their business?

By Mark Zweig | At some point leadership has to take action and act like leaders versus just talk a good game.

By Rolf Armstrong | This exercise empowers employees and provides clear direction, allowing leadership to let go and focus on success during periods of growth.

By Stephanie Putzke | As the AEC industry continues to push boundaries, the importance of building relationships has emerged as a cornerstone for success.

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

By Ezequiel Tovar | In turbulent times, strategic capital allocation is crucial for firm survival.

By Mark Zweig | If you take an honest look at people who are really good project managers, you’ll find they have some specific personality traits and abilities that lead to their success.

By Matt Johnson | Client managers face new challenges post-pandemic, requiring increased client contact, realistic budgeting, and managing expectations for success.

By Chris Askins | Four ways to use CAD efficiently in a small to mid-size engineering firm.

By Daniel Houf | Build a resilient design firm with quality work, attentive service, and a strong team for long-term success and adaptability.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Davis & Floyd, a firm with more than six decades of experience solving complex engineering, planning, and landscape architecture challenges.

By Tyler Suomala | LinkedIn is an underutilized tool for building relationships, expanding opportunities, and attracting high-quality clients.

By Mitch Fortner | As demand for our industry’s services continues to increase, the firms that listen to their employees and evolve to meet their needs will continue to grow.

By Mark Zweig | These are the most important qualities that decide who gets to move up as firm leaders, managers, and future owners.

By Houston Matthews | If your team can keep communication at the forefront of all of your projects, you’re sure to be a success.

By John Watkins | Great partnership between groups inside and outside the firm don’t just happen on their own.

By Jared Maxwell & Cady Sinks | AEC firms are navigating more complex risks and an evolving market for professional liability insurance.

By Matt Verderamo | Defining your mission, vision, and values is key for uniting, motivating, and differentiating your firm.

By Chad Clinehens | Firms that take the time to learn and adapt to AI could gain a competitive advantage over those that are slower to adopt.

By Mark Zweig | Choosing the right partners for your business, and then keeping a good relationship with them, has always been an important subject.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of FullStack Modular (Brooklyn, NY), a leader in the design, manufacture, and construction of mid- and high-rise modular buildings in urban environments.

Zweig Group – the leading research, publishing, and advisory services resource for firms in the AEC industry – advised Vierbicher through the acquisition process.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of Waggoner (Jackson, MS), a civil engineering firm of planners, designers, and engineers with a passion for helping communities realize their potential.

By Mark Zweig | People who exhibit these qualities are likely to be well-thought of by their people and, more importantly, are able to achieve goals that others deemed impossible.

By Mercedez Thompson | Many of the biggest obstacles AEC marketing teams face are ultimately the same – regardless of firm size.

By Kevin Bertrand | Strong connections lead to strong communications and successful outcomes, so it’s important that we listen, understand, and respond in ways that are supportive.

By Mitch Fortner | To be effective over the long-term for an organization, our personal ambition must be grounded in mutual respect, collaborative teamwork, and integrity.

By Kart Vaith | Provide added value to your clients and approach every project with an emphasis on building trust and exceeding expectations.

By Katie Batill-Bigler | Delegating demonstrates a strong sense of organization, self-confidence, and trust in your team – while also allowing opportunities for your team to grow.

Zweig Group is excited to announce the addition of Sara Karstetter, MBA in the role of Mergers & Acquisitions Advisor, and Storm Bureau, in the role of Client Services Coordinator, to the ZG team!   Sara brings 20...

  Domestic Transactions: 11/8/2022 Full-service, multidisciplinary consulting firm LJA Engineering (Houston, TX) acquired multidisciplinary engineering and surveying company Alliance Engineering & Planning (Alpharetta, GA). Link to Details.   11/9/2022 Pennoni (Philadelphia, PA, a multidisciplinary consultancy, acquired civil engineering and land surveying firm CH...

By Todd Perry | Early successes, failures, and significant challenges, and how a young firm navigated through them.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of DOWL, LLC, a firm that offers a wide range of engineering services to public and private clients, from the Arctic Ocean to the Rio Grande.

Chad Clinehens, president and CEO of Zweig Group, discusses Zweig Group’s ElevateAEC Conference & Awards Gala. Attendees will experience three days of celebration, learning, and networking that will allow them the chance not only to let loose, but...

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.   Domestic...

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Martin/Martin (Denver, CO), a full-service civil and structural engineering and surveying firm founded in the 1940s.

By Mark Zweig | These are some of the most important qualities to look for in a potential business partner.

By Josh Blair | This intriguing and fulfilling career path leads to new experiences, new opportunities, and new ways to expand your skills every day.

By Liisa Andreassen | Managing principal of RDLR Architects (Houston, TX), a community-driven architectural firm that is recognized throughout Texas.

By Roger Marquis | It’s in your project’s best interest for you to pay special attention to this person and find ways to get to know them better.

By Jim Toby | Taking the time to get it right the first time will lead to faster approvals, better plans, and overall project quality.

By Justin Smith | Training is an investment with big payoffs, so do your research when determining the best fit for your firm.

By Liisa Andreassen | Senior principal at Lamar Johnson Collaborative (Chicago, IL), a full-service design and architecture firm committed to enhancing the quality of the human experience.

By Brittney Odom & Eduardo Smith | In today’s fast-paced and mostly remote work environments, the processes described on paper often don’t resemble the way work is actually conducted.

By Ryan Gallagher | Firms that actively work to attract these rare creatures will be best positioned to grow and prosper.

By Matthew Poling | Often overlooked, the simple checklist can empower your people to coordinate more, reduce mistakes, and focus on bigger picture items.

    We recently sat down with Raouf S. Ghali, CEO of Hill International.  Raouf oversees one of the largest “pure-play” Construction and Project Management firms with a global reach.  Hill provides program, project, and...

ADEC Innovations, a recognized global leader in designing, developing, and delivering solutions and services in critical areas of sustainable development, announced it has completed its acquisition of Cameron Cole, LLC, a full-service environmental services and...

By Jim Toby | The quality of your projects sets your firm apart from the competition, so urge your prospective clients to look beyond the costs.

By Tim Schroeder | By focusing on teams, you could deepen employee engagement, enhance communication, and improved your firm’s agility.

Domestic Transactions: Universal Engineering Sciences, (Orlando, FL) a national leading engineering and consulting company specializing in geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing, building code compliance and environmental consulting has announced that BDT Capital Partners, LLC (Chicago,...

By John Bray | How will the new infrastructure bill impact M&A activity in the AEC industry?

By Tim Schroeder | Making incremental changes to pay attention to what’s important to your people and rallying your team behind a common goal could lead to astonishing results.

Domestic Transactions: Facility planning, design, construction management and commissioning firm, Salas O'Brien, (Santa Ana, CA) has acquired Girard Engineering (Falls Church, VA). Girard Engineering will further strengthen Salas O'Brien's presence in the Washington, DC area....

By Liisa Andreassen | Owner of 3-Tier Alaska (Fairbanks, AK), a firm that specializes in land surveying and civil engineering in the interior of Alaska.

Engineering News-Record Top 500 firm, Adurra Group, (Tampa, FL) a consulting and engineering services to public and private entities throughout the United States has acquired and merged with Infrastructure Engineering Corporation (Poway, CA). IEC is...

By Katie Crawford | Look beyond the project scope and consider how the client or even the community will be impacted by the improvements your team is making.

By Frank Johnson | Be deliberate in identifying those who have the potential to grow into leadership roles, and help them develop the skill sets they need to be successful as future managers.

By Mitchell Shope | Leveraging reinforcement theory will connect the action to the reward and bolster your firm’s morale and cultural identity.

Architectural design firm SWBR (Rochester, NY) acquired planning and design firm, 3tarchitects (Troy, NY). 3tarchitects has project expertise in the higher education, multi-unit residential, retail and hospitality, offices, and mixed use. This acquisition will allow...

Brandon Pinkerton and Steve Williams, president and COO respectively of HP Engineering, discuss how their firm has survived and actually grown during the pandemic.

President of EPS Group (Mesa, AZ), a full-service consulting firm that is dedicated to exceeding expectations.

Partner at LERA Consulting Structural Engineers (New York, NY), a firm that has created innovative, yet constructible and economical structural designs since 1923.

Marcia Alvarado from TRC Worldwide Engineering discusses how she got into engineering, how her modeling career organically grew, and why diversity, equity, and inclusion are so important to her.

Parametrix (Seattle, WA) has acquired Civil FX (Las Vegas, NV), a company that blends civil engineering with visualization and immersive reality. The acquisition will expand the firm’s visualization as well as augmented and virtual reality...

Leaders of employee-friendly firms talk about recruiting, culture, and the importance of employee feedback.

The Vertex Companies Inc. has acquired Xpera Inc., a premier construction forensics, quality assurance, and real estate consultancy firm headquartered in San Diego. Xpera Group’s team is recognized as the West Coast’s most comprehensive team...

To get the most return on your marketing investment dollars, leaders need to help build dynamic, collaborative relationships between principals and marketing teams.

WGI (West Palm Beach, FL) strengthened it's civil engineering, transportation planning, land planning, landscape architecture, structural engineering service lines with the acquisition of Team Better Block (Dallas, TX). Team Better Block will retain its branding...

Co-founder and principal at CWE (Fullerton, CA), a  civil engineering, water resources, and environmental engineering firm whose experts pledge to create a better tomorrow, today.

The tools that Revit provides have the power to help firms save time and money, while improving the quality of the final product.

Digital twins, photogrammetry, and analytics are paying off for owners and developers when this technology is in the hands of experts who push it to its limits.

Niles Bolton Associates (Atlanta, GA) has acquired Dye Aviation Facilities Architecture (Atlanta, GA), a 40-year old design firm known for its expertise in aviation design spanning the continental United States, Hawaii, Caribbean, Middle East and...

“It will take everything we have as leaders to get our firms and ourselves through this.”

Cross-marketing is the low-hanging fruit of business development. But will it work for your firm?

AEG leader Woolpert (Dayton, OH) acquired Southern Mapping (Johannesburg, South Africa), an international aerial survey and mapping company that specializes in high-accuracy lidar, imagery, and remote sensing technologies. Link to details American Engineering Testing (AET)...

By Phil Keil | If you’re struggling to build a productive team, it might be time to take a long look in the mirror.

CEO of Caldwell Associates, a firm that’s not afraid to fail, and that’s strong enough to pick up and keep going.

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

Should the US Women’s National Team have let up on Thailand during the World Cup? Of course not, and let that be a lesson to you.

President of Baldridge & Associates Structural Engineering, a full-service structural engineering and forensic consulting firm based in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The effort to chart a new path should begin long before firm founders retire, and should be exhaustive.

President of DY Consultants, a nationally-recognized aviation consulting firm based in New York City.

When identifying your next generation of leaders, there are some qualities you should look for, and some you should avoid.

Industry leader NV5 (Hollywood, FL) acquired 91-person GeoDesign (Wilsonville, OR), a geotechnical, environmental, and geological firm with five offices in the Pacific Northwest. Link to details Westwood Professional Services (Minnetonka, MN) acquired EA and environmental...

Do you want to survive the next year, the next recession, and the ongoing reset of the workplace, the marketplace, and the recruiting space?

In this era of recycle/reuse/renew, instead of discarding boilerplate information, we should embrace it.

A culture of employee empowerment will define innovative, leading organizations in the years to come.

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’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.

“Always be recruiting! That has to be the mantra for anyone who’s an owner or manager in an AEC firm today because finding people is crucial to your growth.”

It might seem far fetched, but it’s true. AEC firms can learn a thing or two from the fast-food industry.

“If any of these situations sounds familiar – and you have tried to correct the situation by directly confronting it – it may be time to let that person go.”

Our success, as people and as businesses, depends on the quality and speed of our response to problems and opportunities. This play on the word responsibility is not new, but it has never been more...

Project delivery is much more difficult than filling up the fridge at home, but there are plenty of similarities, too. Good project management that includes a thorough planning process is key to successful project delivery....

We’re all busy with our personal and professional lives, but that doesn’t mean we should stop educating ourselves. I have spent a good portion of the last eight months crisscrossing the country training professionals in...

Leading through accountability takes a willingness to do a better job at recognizing challenges and accepting feedback toward positive change. Have you ever worked with someone who can’t perform their basic job functions? Have you...

We all know it does, but it’s also hard to define, hard to achieve, and if we fail in our pursuit of it, the consequences can be severe. The word “quality” seems to be constantly...

Firms are using social media for marketing, but the frequency, consistency, and quality of the content needs to improve. Chaos. Zero strategy. Lack of metrics. Zweig Group’s just released 2018 Marketing Survey shows that while...

We just finished our 19th annual Hot Firm + A/E Industry Awards Conference. It was in Dallas this year, and based on what we heard from attendees, was one of our best ever! We had...

After being a part of the AEC industry for more than 38 years now, I have witnessed a problem too many times – one that hurts both the company and the people working in it....

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...

Zweig Group has announced the 2018 Hot Firm List, a prestigious list honoring the fastest growing firms in the architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting (AEC) industry. Firms are ranked on three-year growth in revenue, by...

Zweig Group offers plenty of opportunities for education and training, but among the crown jewels are The Principals Academy and CEO Roundtable. If you work in the AEC industry, it almost goes without saying that...

In dealing with my workers on a quality problem in my other business – Mark Zweig, Inc., a design/build/contracting/development company – I had an epiphany: Everything we do is either excellent OR it’s something else....

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...

“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...

You lament the commoditization of your services, but are you doing anything to differentiate your firm, and in turn, earn better fees? We have all had the experience of standing with a group of our...

A Note from Melissa Swann Events Manager My first year at Zweig Group reaffirmed my faith in the power of face-to-face communications. I developed an appreciation for the profound contributions that architects, engineers and environmental...

I'm concerned we have a quality issue at my company, but I don't know how to adress it. What's the best way to encourage people to do their best work? Mark Zweig, Founder & Chairman...

Sustainable design is becoming a must, but you need to drill down to the roots of every project to get the most out of the process. First, full disclosure, I have never been a “climate...

Participate in the Policies, Procedures, and Benefits Survey and save $320! The 2018 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms provides you with industry norms on policies and procedures,...

Some people think of it as a four-letter word, but when accountability is backstopped by reasonable policies, it can make your business better. If there is one issue that I have heard repeatedly in working...

We have an expression in the management consulting ranks at Zweig Group. It is this: “The names and faces change but the cast of characters remains the same.” What that means is we keep seeing...

In this episode of the podcast, Randy Wilburn speaks with Brenden Sherrer, an M&A consultant with Zweig Group. They covered a number of topics, including Sherrer’s experience after joining Zweig Group and the overall view...

President of WestLAND Group, Inc. (Best Firm #41 Multi-discipline and Hot Firm #45 for 2017), a full-service civil engineering and land surveying firm based in Ontario, California. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “It’s important to identify...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (June 12, 2017) – Zweig Group has announced the winners of the 2017 Marketing Excellence Awards. The Marketing Excellence Awards recognize outstanding and effective marketing in the architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental consulting...

You might think a Facebook post about a stolen office stapler is cute, or that an Instagram photo of donuts in the breakroom is quaint. Think again. In my last article, we covered some tips...

The word “strategy” is kicked around a lot in the A/E industry when referring to the “business” of the business. But, like many other words, I find it widely misunderstood and subject to different interpretations....

President and CEO of Hargrove Engineers + Constructors, a Mobile, Alabama-based company with 1,200-teammates in 11 states. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent For Hargrove, success starts with company culture. In fact, he says, culture to a...

You want your firm to be more valuable at the end of the project than it was at the beginning. Start to GRIPE. Many of our clients turn to us for assistance in providing project...

President of LJA Engineering (Hot Firm #2 for 2016), the largest employee-owned civil engineering firm in Houston (600-plus employees). By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Ladner has more than 35 years’ experience in civil engineering serving both...

Make your marketing count. Here are seven marketing metrics you need to be tracking. Revenue/Sales goals: While not exactly a measure of your firm’s marketing success, revenue or sales goals should be the cornerstone of...

Growth is all but assured in a healthy market, but if a firm doesn’t watch out, it can grow helter-skelter to the point of extinction. Many firms are experiencing growth during this post-recession period and...

Michigan firm takes the extra steps to create a family atmosphere, and that translates into employee retention, quality work, and client satisfaction. By TowerPinkster Best Firm #1 Architecture for 2016 Our firm culture is at...

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...

A command of soft skills is essential to delivering a project that’s on time, on budget, and with no surprises. If you’re in the business of infrastructure and you manage projects, staff, or both, you...

Florida multidiscipline firm Kisinger Campo and Associates, with four decades under its belt, knows how to treat clients and employees. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Kisinger Campo and Associates (Tampa, FL), a multidisciplinary engineering firm of...

“John,” the president, CEO, and co-founder of a 250-person midwestern E/A firm, was frustrated. After so many years of success, it seemed to him that all he was doing now was de-fusing irate clients, talking...

Earthquake engineer Kit Miyamoto travels the world to dispense knowledge and training to those who need it most – those who have lost it all. By Richard Massey Managing Editor Globetrotting structural engineer Kit Miyamoto,...

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...

Familiarity, loyalty, promotion, marketing investment, staff satisfaction, and corporate reputation – to achieve these things you must be consistent. Disney is the world’s most powerful brand. The Brand Finance Global 500 report also ranked Lego...

We have all heard the adage, "Hire for character and train for skills." A/E/P firms really need to "get" this idea. Most don't do it. They're focused on PE registrations and degrees and knowledge of...

The marketing of ‘quality’ is ubiquitous in the A/E industry, but oftentimes, the difference between perception and reality can undermine a firm’s brand equity. Many firms are dealing with record high workloads. That translates into...

A professional firm should have professional collateral, but all too often, bad photos, poor design, and sloppy writing dilute the brand. Of course you’re not an amateur. You are a professional. You work for a...

If a firm wants to succeed at a high level, it must keep a keen eye on the documents, and have an ear for what the client needs. It’s my experience that too many firms...

Fayetteville, AR. — June 13, 2016 — Zweig Group survey on incentive compensation plans for the architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental consulting firms is due for release at the end of June. Profit sharing, bonuses...

Fayetteville, AR – April 20, 2016 — Zweig Group provided consulting over the recent HFA Architectural and Engineering firm acquisition of ALLEVATO Architects. The Northwest Arkansas based HFA is consistently ranked nationally in the top...

You may have long-term “relationships” because of your company’s reputation with people you don’t even know. I've always been a long-term relationship kind of guy. I still have friends that I went to grade school...

CMTA Inc. is increasing its presence in the Washington, D.C. Metro area via a merger with TMR Engineering (Arlington, Virginia). The transaction was facilitated by Zweig Group and closed on January 1, 2016. Zweig Group...

The successful management of architectural and engineering projects in today's challenging environment is something of a science that has been evolving over the centuries. Project management has existed in some form for thousands of years,...

Smith Seckman Reid, Inc. (Nashville, TN), a 375-person engineering firm, is the fifth place winner in the Online Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its new website. SSR leadership wants to...

AC Martin (Los Angeles, CA), an 85-person architecture firm, is the fourth place winner in the Online Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its new website. The AC Martin team wanted...

Harris & Associates (Concord, CA), a 200-person engineering and construction management firm, is taking home second place in the Online Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its new and improved website....

When it comes to generating opportunities for your firm, the more, the better. Entrepreneurial architects and engineers all do one thing well – they create lots and lots of possibilities. The more possibilities, the greater...

Are you getting all you need from HR today? Three suggestions from Mark Zweig. Human resources management often gets a bad rap. That isn’t without cause. In my experience, too many HR managers forget whose...

(The following is an excerpt from the book Successful Project Management for A/E/P and Environmental Consulting Firms, by Ernest Burden) Client service. Client-focused. Client-driven. Client-centered. Every A/E/P and environmental consulting firm includes these words in...

Find out what you should be really pursuing and go for it. Mark Zweig predicts success. Some years ago, Toyota’s Lexus brand promoted itself through the slogan, “Lexus: The relentless pursuit of perfection.” That decision...

Recruiting may not be immediately seen as a great branding tool, but it is. I’ll bet you never imagined your recruiting process could be an important brand-building tool for your firm. How can that be?...

Need help identifying targets for potential recruiting? The answer is in the headline. Sometimes in the recruiting world, you’ll hear the term “sourcing.” It sounds like something you would hear in the buying/procurement business, right?...

Having it is one thing; using it is another. Over the years we’ve received several inquiries for off the shelf QA/QC (quality assurance and quality control) plans and manuals – typically prompted by requirements in...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 986 Originally published 12/10/2012 They are essential to this business. Mark Zweig offers five pointers. Regardless of their value to your business, the...

By W. Hobson Hogan Principal, Investment Banking Our ego makes us think that we are irreplaceable; there is no way that our organizations could soldier on without us. You imagine your office falling apart the...

Press Release: August 2, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (August 2, 2011) – Whether it’s a company-sponsored gym membership or paid parking, most companies offer incentives to staffers beyond their paychecks. These measures are looked upon as...

Press Release: July 6, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (July 6, 2011) – The entire Chesapeake Bay — an estuary with a 64,000-square-mile watershed covering part of six states and the District of Columbia –is in trouble....

Debbie Frederiksen | Marketing Consultant | ZweigWhite Consulting Debbie Frederiksen’s career spans 17 years in the architecture / engineering / planning industry. After graduating from the University of Nebraska, she worked for a 10-person firm...

Press Release: March 7, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (March 7, 2011) — ZweigWhite has partnered with American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) to produce and publish a co-branded version of the 2011 Financial Performance Survey of...

One of the primary challenges following a merger or acquisition in the architecture and engineering industry is the integration of financial systems. It’s an extremely complex process, says Bernard Freiheit, director of financial development and...

Business is starting to get better and hiring activity is restarting for many A/E/P and environmental firms that have shrunk over the last few years. That’s good news for the economy and for some of...

I was recently interviewed for a magazine article about the residential redevelopment projects we do here in Fayetteville. In addition to figuring out why my houses sell either before we start working on them or...

Sometimes I think people in our business forget that the culture of the organization guides the behavior of its members. Sure— you can always have a bad apple who exhibits some crazy or bad behavior....

2010 is here. And, it’s going to be a year like none before. If you aren’t particularly happy with your firm’s performance these last couple years, it’s a great time for change— radical change. Out...

Making money is rarely the reason one either buys into or starts their own A/E/P or environmental firm. It certainly can work out that way— i.e., that one makes a lot of money in this...

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...

There’s a popular book out right now in the education field entitled The Global Achievement Gap written by a fellow named Tony Wagner, the co-director of the Change Leadership Group at Harvard University. I picked...

Steve Tomlinson was in shock. He always took great pride in the work output of his now 80-person environmental firm, Tomlinson Consultants. But the truth was, as they grew, their quality was getting worse and...

One of the many things I have learned over the years about architects and engineers is that they are can-do, independent people. As such, they like to do everything that they can do themselves. Yet,...

Lawrence Tunican was really starting to wonder what was wrong. Was the company he started nearly 30 years ago— Tunican Engineering— that uncool of a place to work? He could not hire young people any...

Although I have been generally getting calmer with age, I’ve found myself getting mad lately— mad at design professionals who will NOT do what they should do to build a reputation for themselves and the...

When I passed the baton to Dick Ryan as our CEO three years ago, it allowed me to move on and do some other things I have always wanted to do. One of those activities...

  It seems like hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear from a reader with a question or two about organizational structure. I thought perhaps I should put together a list of some...

I should be reading now, sitting here in my tight blue “pleather” Northwest Airlines seat on my umpteenth flight this month. But I’m not. Instead, I just wasted a half hour on “Brick Breaker,” a...

We are now in our 17th year of working with A/E/P and environmental firms of all types and sizes around the world. And, over that time, we have seen literally thousands of different companies’ business...

Regardless of your opinion of Bill Clinton (and I am sure, for the majority of A/E firm principals, it’s negative— as a group, you are 48% Republicans and only 17% Democrats!), you cannot deny one...

It’s one of those certainties, like death and taxes. Managers are supposed to hold those who work for them accountable to reaching certain goals or achieving certain performance metrics. It sounds good to say, “I...

I can’t tell you how many business planning meetings I have sat in on in large firms where someone comes up with the novel idea of checking all project deliverables before they go out. It’s...

As management consultants to the A/E/P and environmental industry for many years, we get up close and personal with literally hundreds of firms each and every year. Many of these are very successful companies that...

We just ended our most successful Zweig Letter Hot Firm conference ever. It was successful from three points of view— attendance numbers, attendance quality, and speaker quality. I won’t bore you with the numbers but...

I am sitting here this morning, in our Natick office, staring at my computer. I need to write a talk for our upcoming Zweig Letter Hot Firm 2002 Conference and Celebration in Boston. I am...

I’m seeing a lot of firms following a program of short-term profit-maximization right now. It’s easy to understand. Industry profits are down as the results from our 2002 Financial Performance Survey of A/E/P & Environmental...

It just doesn’t take that much to be so much better at serving clients than the rest of the firms that do what you do. And it’s so important! Do a lousy job (or just...

I just heard a story the other day about one of our clients from another clients (both large A/E firms). Evidently, the first firm had been called by a big client for help on a...

Say “strategy” to an architect, engineer, planner, or scientist and you are bound to get a negative reaction. These folks have been through all of the strategic planning meetings conducted by the management consultant of...

You want to know something that drives me crazy— right up the wall? It’s all of the darn committees that A/E/P and environmental firms keep creating for one reason after another. Most of the time...

As A/E/P or environmental consulting firms, we love to tell our clients that we can meet the schedule, stay within the budget, and provide high quality. Then under our breath, we mutter: “Pick any two,...

“The client will hire us because we have a long-standing relationship.” Don’t get too comfortable. Many firms take existing clients for granted. And when this happens, the deterioration in service quality is almost imperceptible (in...

A lot of firms are successful right now. But the question they should ask themselves as the new year approaches is, “Are we successful because of what we are doing as management, or in spite...

“You’re only as good as your reputation.” Somebody wise must have said that somewhere along the line! It’s certainly true. When your reputation is good, the phone rings with new work opportunities, your competitors’ staff...

If you’re not worried about who is going to take over when you’re gone, you should be. The second-tier management in an A/E/P or environmental firm is every bit as important as the first. This...

I spoke last week at the Iowa Engineering Society’s Annual Meeting in Cedar Rapids. My topic was “The Future of the Engineering Profession: Engineers as Leaders.” But before I get into that, I want to...

There are lots of different success formulas for A/E/P and environmental consulting firms. It’s always interesting to me when one of our consultants discovers that a company we are working with is successful in spite...

The experts will say “You have to learn to delegate if you are going to be an effective manager.” On this point, conventional wisdom is actually right. Delegation is critical to your ability to get...

I have tremendous respect for any A/E/P or environmental firm that has learned to successfully manage a network of satellite or branch offices. It's not easy. There's no question that having multiple offices greatly complicates...

On Monday, December 20, 1993, William Edwards Deming, the 93-year-old management guru of Total Quality Management (TQM) died in his sleep. A statistician with a doctorate in Physics from Yale, Deming was credited with engineering...

We were talking in our office the other day about the “Big 6” accounting firms and their problems. One of our newest staffers just joined us from a Big 6 firm, and, believe me— those...

Ask anyone who has risen to the top of a consulting engineering, A/E, or environmental consulting firm where are the greatest weaknesses in their staff, and they will almost always say it’s in their “soft”...

The importance and difficulty of maintaining quality was driven home to me personally last month. We sent out 12,000 pieces of mail promoting a new book, only to discover after the fact that the price...

Reflecting back on all of the A/E and environmental consulting firms that we came in contact with during 1992, one thought comes to mind. By and large, our industry’s management expertise has significantly improved. The...

TQM (Total Quality Management) for A/E/P firms is nothing more than a fad. I’d be willing to bet right here and now that in two or three years, you won’t hear anything about it. TQM...

Last week, I spoke to an engineer laid off from the consulting firm where he had been employed for the past 18 years. Unfortunately, his layoff was the direct result of a recommendation contained in...