Redefining Success in the A/E/C Industry

To say the last two years has been challenging for everyone in both our professional and personal lives, is quite possibly the understatement of the past 20 months. The construction industry has certainly faced a myriad of challenges, economic fallouts and other setbacks over the years, but none as far-reaching as COVID and its continued impact on all of our lives. As we reassess and begin 2022 with at least some sense of hope, the “challenge” now posed to the construction industry is to redefine our notion of success – more specifically, how we measure and celebrate successes both externally with our clients and partners, as well as internally with our employees.

Before redefining success, it is worth examining what the definition of the word “success” means. According to Dictionary.com, success is a noun with the following definition:

suc·cess  /səkˈses/

the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors;
the accomplishment of one's goals.

If your company’s success is only measured by the ROI (return on investment) of the firm or a localized profitability ranking, you may be missing out on several more ways to measure and thereby celebrate the many successes of your clients, your subcontractors and your employees.

Client Success Evaluation

Winning more clients is certainly a commonplace measure of success in the construction industry. The more clients you have, the more projects you can complete and the greater your chances to achieve overall firmwide success. But when was the last time you truly evaluated your client list to ensure they are good a fit for your company AND help contribute to your bottom line? What if client success was measured differently to consider both your firm’s impression of working with that client and the percent of total revenue that client contributed?

• Success Measurement Exercise #1 – Consider listing out your clients to perform an 80/20 Analysis that measures the overall project quality (e.g. Was the project completed on-time? Were there several Change Orders? Did the building project meet the goals of the end-user?) and the client quality (e.g. Did the client pay you on-time? Were there too many instances of miscommunication or no communication at all? Did your team members actually enjoy working with the client/owner group?)

The example below outlines an Excel spreadsheet that measures by company name/type of the Engagement/Project Quality (Rated 1-5; 5 = best and 1 = worst) vs. Client Quality (Rated 1-5; 5 = best and 1 = worst) vs. Percent of Total Revenue the client contributed. [NOTE: This analysis was developed by Travis Corrigan, CEO of Heavy Metal presented during IndeCollective Fall 2021 Cohort.]

By assigning number values to the quality of your clients and the projects with those clients, you can start to develop a different measure of success that accounts for more of a mutually beneficial relationship between your construction firm and your clients.

Perhaps one client is rated very high but does not contribute as much as you would like to your bottom line. Identifying these kinds of clients is helpful to your business development team, who can not only thank the client for being such a pleasure to work with but also to find out how you can work together more. Another measure of “success” can be the simple recognition of those clients that are not rated very high and do not contribute much at all to your company’s revenue. Eliminating or lessening the amount of work you do with those clients, can help your business development team focus on the right client for your firm, e.g., one that is a great fit for your company and significantly contributes to your revenue goals.

Employee Success Evaluation

In the midst of the Great Resignation where employees are quitting their jobs in record numbers with some leaving for other design and construction firms while others are exiting the architecture/engineering/construction (A/E/C) industry all together, how are you measuring success internally among your employees?

Employee retainment efforts can take many forms – from a bonus referral system for client referrals to an appreciation lunch every month on the jobsite to quarterly gift card giveaways for both your field and operations teams for community volunteer efforts. These activities can lead to greater employee retention and stand to increase overall morale amongst your employees, but what if you took that a step further to personalize measures of success based on the employee’s professional goals?

We have all suffered through the annual employee evaluations where we fill in ratings and complete questions to track goals, but when was the last time you collaborated with an employee to create a personal growth strategy? Most people accept a new position for greater salary, more benefits, convenience of work location, etc., but what if those same employees stayed at your firm for several years and achieved success in their professional and personal growth tracks?

• Success Measurement Exercise #2 - After an employee has been with your firm for over six months, consider creating a one- to two-year growth strategy for each of your employees that takes into account the skills and leadership qualities needed to grow within your firm.

Consider job-shadowing on the jobsite to match employees with supervisors or peer partners, to learn best practices and real-world problem solving. Another measure of success could be supporting an employee with outside training on public speaking and leadership development, so that particular employee can use those skills on the jobsite to increase the success of a project or another team member.

These past two years have been anything but “normal” and we could all use an extra boost by redefining our success in the A/E/C industry. Our new definitions of success can be used to uplift and/or maintain our own morale and those of our clients and employees, or to help increase personal job satisfaction from the leadership team down to the subcontractors in the field, or just to sustain the energy needed to continue achieving our goals despite the influences of the external environment.

About the Author: JULIE WANZER, LEED AP is the Owner and Principal of Business Rewritten, a marketing communication firm. She has over 18 years of experience in marketing communication with a focus on professional writing and digital marketing content for the A/E/C industry.  Ms. Wanzer developed this passion for the built environment and an in-depth knowledge of the A/E/C industry by working, over the last 13 years, with engineers, architects, project managers, superintendents, principals, and project executives from various firms in Colorado and across the nation. After working in-house at two A/E/C firms, she launched Business Rewritten in 2015, and has since provided insightful professional writing, targeted social media messaging, and strategic business development and marketing strategies to over 20 A/E/C firms. Business Rewritten also supports the Associated General Contractors of Colorado and the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado, as a PR and marketing consultant, for their public relations, social media and professional writing needs. In addition, Ms. Wanzer’s professional writing has been published by numerous entities, including ENR Mountain States, Water World Magazine, Denver Business Journal, Colorado Biz Magazine, and the Colorado Real Estate Journal.