PROVIDENCE – New England Construction, a family-owned construction company based in Rumford, is currently building Providence Community Health Center's 9th location. With this project, NEC is proud to support Providence's Olneyville community, a neighborhood that hosts some of the worst health outcomes and data in Providence. The new location will also include an Express Care department.
BOSTON – New England Construction, a family-owned construction company based in Rhode Island, is currently building Grace Apartments, an affordable seniors housing development located in East Boston. With this project, NEC is proud to support Boston’s commitment to increase the number of housing units available to seniors.
“Success demands singleness of purpose.” - Vince Lombardi
Coach Lombardi uses just a few words in this quote, but truly hits the nail on the head. When we consider building the success of businesses in our chosen industries we must have a clearly defined purpose behind every choice and action we make. Throughout 2017 this is something that the leadership team here at New England Construction has given a lot of thought. We devoted a sizeable amount of our time and resources towards bringing our vision for the company into focus; and purpose played a major role in that process.
Ongoing training and development is a key goal for our team at NEC and when we began to plan a new round of opportunities for learning for our Operations Team we delighted to get invited to Rens Welding & Fabricating for a tour of their facility and the chance to dialogue with this steel fabrication subcontractor. During last year’s Subcontractor Open House here at our Rumford Office, Rens brought the idea forward and we thought it sounded like a great opportunity!
“Moses Brown exists to inspire the inner promise of each student and instill the utmost care for learning, people, and place.”
The number one key to success in managing a construction project, of any kind is not the materials used, not the budget in place, or even the act of actually putting up the structure but listening. This becomes even more important when you venture into a project that is based on a Construction Management or Design/Build approach. These projects place a greater emphasis on the leadership and direction provided by the General Contractor than a simple traditional project. Clients place their dreams in the hands of their GC and expect success. We have a solid track record on these methods in our 34 years of existence but we also have learned some lessons we think could be useful if you are considering them for your next build! Specifically, four skills are paramount when entering a CM/DB Leadership Role:
I am excited to take you along with me to our job site, 4 Plaza Way, and give you a glimpse of my work here at NEC. Check it it below!
Every summer our Interns take over the NEC Blog to share their adventures with you!! We're kicking that off now with a welcome from Kade Woolverton. We're excited to see what the weeks ahead hold in store for them!
With the summer well underway here at New England Construction, I have become proficient with three types of construction management software, worked on four job-sites, and met far too many awesome people to list.
At New England Construction, when I first shared that my husband and I were expecting, the love and support we received from my ‘work family’ was overwhelming! I felt extremely blessed to work in a place where this type of support was outpouring.
There’s a chill in the air (most days at least!) so it’s hard to focus on anything related to our projects aside from keeping the job sites warm & working and forecasting the snow potential, but this is actually a great time to start thinking about the things you want to accomplish during the summer. That’s right, I said summer. Specifically if you are in an educational environment you know that often the summer provides your only window of time to make some major improvements while your campus population is lower than normal. Perfect timing, no? Well the other factor is that this wonderful window is small, like barely a month or two at times small. So what are you to do if you have objectives to meet?
When you become part of the New England Construction team, your opportunities are endless. If you are a dedicated and driven individual who is ready to move your career in a positive direction, New England Construction may be the place for you
Episode 6 of the Summer Intern Vlog is here, the FINAL EPISODE! I reflect on my internship here at NEC as my final week comes to a close. Come tune in!
Episode 5 of the Summer Intern Vlog is here! I reflect on my internship here at NEC as my final week comes to a close. Come tune in!
Episode 4 of the Summer Intern Vlog is here! I discuss one of my major projects for the summer, along with some new content that's in the works! Thanks for tuning in!
Episode 3 of the Summer Intern Vlog is here! Take a listen as I talk about the challenges of the unexpected during an internship. Thank you for tuning in!
Episode 2 of the Summer Intern Vlog is here! I discuss company culture, job fit, and my onboarding experience with New England Construction. Thank you for tuning in!
Our Summer Intern Vlog starts NOW! We embrace the family this week as I dive into my introduction to the NEC team.
There are many tales told about the search for the perfect fit. Goldilocks was trying to find the bed that was just right. The Prince traveled the country side with a glass slipper in his hand looking for the foot of his true love, Cinderella. Much in the same way, a property or business owner is looking for the right General Contractor to complete their project. They cannot just put the names of all local GCs into a hat and pick one randomly, and achieve true success. They cannot just look at one factor, say bottom line bid cost or project resume, and know they have found “the one.” And if you can believe it, General Contractors have to be just as vigilant in their search for the right clients. I know, I know. It sounds preposterous to think that a GC might pass up work or pass up money they are offered in pursuit of the right fit with a client but it is a tact that the most successful will surely employ. The idea here is that regardless of what side of the table you sit, there are going to be key factors that help you determine if you have found the proper business relationship to ensure the success of your project. What are those factors? New England Construction client and founding partner of the Peregrine Group LLC, Jordan Stone and NEC President, Matt Sluter were happy to share their perspectives on this topic.
When it comes to metaphors, never has the phrase “diving into the deep end of the pool” been more appropriate than in the case of our construction of the Pods Swimming Facility in East Providence, RI. Pods is a collaborative design/build project that has run deep at New England Construction for several years now and we are very proud to see this one of a kind place open and serving the local community. I sat down with the Project Manager, Derek Venticinque, and the Superintendent, Dave Marchand, who worked on Pods to get their perspective on the project’s unique nature, the challenges they encountered along the way and their thoughts now that the project is over.
Do you need a personal user manual?
We all have our unique gifts. We also have preferred settings that generate optimum productivity and flow. Why not share our idiosyncrasies and preferred working environment with our employees, teams and colleagues, and develop a ‘user manual’ that captures our particular working style? Creating your own user manual can be a great exercise in self-reflection and when shared with others, this tool can be useful to highlight team dynamics and spark healthy dialogue around how to most effectively work with one another.
The days are growing shorter and there is already a chill in the air. As New Englanders, we know what this means, we are sliding down that slippery hill towards winter. While it would be nice to think we could stock our larders and close the doors to ride out the season, we know this is not realistic or fiscally responsible. The question for those of us in Commercial Real Estate becomes, start a project now or wait until the spring thaw has arrived?
Making the decision to expand your business is one that obviously requires a lot of forethought. You set goals with your managers, speak with your shareholders, and even discuss the pro’s and con’s with your family. Growing pains for a small business involve a fair amount of risk and must be thoroughly examined. When you do determine that it is time to grow, you cannot just rush into making changes, especially ones that involve the literal physical space you occupy.
Getting Started!
From an employer’s perspective, preparation is one of the most critical aspects to the success of a career fair.
Senior year goes by faster than the other years. The material seems easier but that is only because the knowledge and ability has grown throughout the years. The work in your courses become second nature. Confidence is at an all-time high as well because you understand every lecture, 线上德扑app官网homework and exam. At the end of high school, the end of colleges raises a lot of questions pertaining to the future. What's next in life? Where will I work? Will I succeed?
The end of my time at New England Construction is here and it has been quite the ride. Today marks the last day of my internship here and the last week of my summer. On one hand I’m looking forward to going back to school. On the other hand it’s been a positive experience that eventually had to end.
It’s finally the end of the road, senior year. After all my time here I sit back and reflect on all the things I did this summer and try to collect all my thoughts as I go back to school.
With an increasingly competitive job market students are looking for ways to get a leg up on the competition. Internships are a great way to get relevant job experience related to your field of study while looking good on a resume. In my experience the right opportunity can be tough to find if you are not properly prepared. It is time consuming to find the exact requirements you are looking for so it is smart to look early. Internships also offer networking opportunities that can be useful after graduation. Although they are most popular during the summer, often these positions are available year round. With that being said here are 5 tips to consider when searching for an internship.
Well, it’s finally junior year and we are approaching the finish line of the summer. Only a couple more weeks left to learn all I can and help as much as I can. My constantly changing duties at New England Construction continue to be my summer theme.
July has come and gone and August is here. The bulk of the summer has passed and as time is winding down you start planning and thinking about what is the next step in your future. Most people going into junior year shift their focus more on life after school. Thoughts of jobs location and what the plan is after college becomes increasingly commonplace as the year winds on. Here at New England Construction I can see the finish line. With a little more than a month till classes resume, the last quarter is here.
When sophomore year starts the training wheels come off. Expectations and responsibilities are high and the pressure is on. Sophomore year classes no longer give you the benefit of the doubt, or let you “settle in.” Ability has increased, therefore the responsibilities have increased as well. As a sophomore you hit the ground running and you use the knowledge you gained freshman year and build on it.
You know it has been awhile now since I started working for the summer. We are about halfway through my summer at New England Construction so it’s almost like sophomore year. At this point you’re pretty much caught up on everything going on with jobs that have started that you got throw into. You know all the subs (subcontractors) working by name, and for me personally it does not take a GPS to get around to all these job sites anymore. There was a little shake up with my project assignments too.
Familiarity. I’ve always looked forward to the middle of all processes and sophomore year of college is the definition of middle.The middle is great in my opinion. There are less nerves when compared to freshman year and less uncertainty when related to senior year. It’s the equilibrium where the beginning and end meet. This is the midpoint for my internship at New England Construction.
Major transitions in life always bring us excitement and anxiousness.The summer after high school graduation I was filled with these two emotions as I awaited my freshman year of college. As a student, I left an environment where I was a big fish in a small pond only to migrate to a much bigger pond where I would be a little fish. The unknown is a scary thought. Will i succeed? Will i fit in? However, the unknown is also exhilarating as you cannot wait to begin the next chapter of your life. When freshmen year finally begins, the nerves finally go away but the excitement remains.
Starting out at a new job site almost feels like the first day of your freshman year of college again. You don’t really know anyone and you just want to be able to find your role in it all. Now this is my second summer at New England Construction, but changing the job site that you’re working on is a big move for someone.
You know that feeling you get on the first day at a new school? You know the one where all you can think about are different ways you can fail and creating scenarios that are pretty much impossible? Whether it be a new job in a new state or your freshman year of school away from 线上德扑app官网home, we tend to focus on everything that can go wrong.
In 1985,David Sluter founded New England Construction as a family owned company built upon three major guiding principles – integrity, excellence, and commitment. Well, 32 years later, Matt Sluter, David’s son is now leading the company with those three principles in the forefront of his mind. If we could add one more term to our company tag line it would be – integrity, excellence, commitment, and family. When you become an employee at New England Construction, the Sluter family treats you as if you are one of their own. That’s why working at New England Construction is such a unique and rewarding opportunity.
“Buyout” is the transitional time between the preconstruction and the construction phases of a project. It is during buyout that purchase orders and subcontracts are issued. Working closely with construction management team and general contractors at this stage is crucial to the overall implementation, timing and budget of a project.
Spring Fever is settling in here in New England as the days get longer, the sun shines brighter and the frost has faded away. This is a great time of the year to plan a road trip. Of course when you sit down to do this you start asking yourself some questions, like:
As a Contract Administrator I get the pleasure of handling many different roles within the company here at New England Construction. Although the word is in my title, my duties don’t just involve contracts. In addition to making sure all contracts are processed properly in a timely manner with sufficient scope of work and accurate contract amount, I also take part in tracking certificates of insurance, the collection, review and processing of subcontractor requisitions, creating Owner requisitions, revising Owner contracts and much more!
Ever see that movie “She’s Just Not That Into You”? You know the part where Drew Barrymore is exhausted from the effort it takes to date in the digital age? This 50 second monologue describes what it’s like to be a Business Development professional in today’s world. Inbound Marketing, Targeted Sales Outreach, Buyer Personas, Client Journey, LinkedIN, FB, Twitter, Instagram, – the buzz word bingo alone is enough to make you feel overwhelmed. Is it possible to avoid the exhaustion that accompanies a never-ending stimulus cycle? Yes, focus on 2 hours of weekly Business Development planning.
What do you get when you put 1100 Professional Women in a room at the 20th Annual Bryant University Women’s Summit? 10 NEC women found out on Friday, March 17th. You get access to the free exchange of ideas. You get 3 keynote speakers, 2 breakout sessions and comments from the Governor. You redefine what leadership means for you and feel the energy you need to champion change and follow your passion. You get best practices. You get hacks and tips to elevate your own game or better yet create a NEW game. If you don’t attend you’re missing out and if you don’t invest in your employees’ attendance then your business is missing out.
Year-end for construction finance professionals: the bane of our existence. Trying to complete all of the year end tasks along with all of our day-to-day responsibilities can make this time of year very difficult. 40 to 50-hour work weeks become 50 to even 70-hour weeks almost overnight. The stress of the extra responsibilities and time involved become a constant source of complaints, and excuses, for missed deadlines and oversights – both professional and personal, as extra time in the office can cause friction at 线上德扑app官网home.
Many images come to mind when you think about an automobile showroom in general. Most involve a clear, crisp look that showcases the vehicles for sale. You might also think about a comfortable, modern feel that invites a buyer to explore their choices. Now think about that showroom again, but this time imagine it is for one the most highly respected and customizable brands available, Ferrari. Does the image in your mind change? What new factors might come in to play now? These are the questions our team at New England Construction had to consider when we found we were partnering with Boch Enterprises to update their Ferrari and Maserati showrooms in Norwood, MA.
To say that New England Construction is a family company is certainly an understatement. Our founders and owners want each employee to feel that they are a real part of the Sluter Family. And while this feeling is alive year round, it certainly manifests itself in several concrete ways during the winter holiday season.
There’s a chill in the air (most days at least!) so it’s hard to focus on anything related to our projects aside from keeping the job sites warm & working and forecasting the snow potential, but this is actually a great time to start thinking about the things you want to accomplish during the summer. That’s right, I said summer. Specifically if you are in an educational environment you know that often the summer provides your only window of time to make some major improvements while your campus population is lower than normal. Perfect timing, no? Well the other factor is that this wonderful window is small, like barely a month or two at times small. So what are you to do if you have objectives to meet? A well planned “Summer Slammer” is your solution and I sat down with our Vice President of Operations, George Malakidis, a seasoned Summer Slammer veteran, to dive into the details and benefits of these projects.
2017, a new year, and a new you. Sound familiar? It’s that time of year when we set our resolutions and hear that little voice in the back of our heads saying, “This is my year! This is the year I will lose a few pounds, start exercising more, get eight hours of sleep, wake up early, balance my work & personal life more (Never a challenge at New England Construction, right team?)…etc.” In our last blog, Mike Gorman discussed our team's attitude toward resolutions and goals. Today I want to follow up that feature and look at ways we can all triumph when we make our goals!
In three days we will say goodbye to 2016. Don’t worry, I am not about to take you down a path of complaining about the year that has passed. This topic has already been beaten to death across every social media platform and multiple news sources (real and fake.) Instead I wanted to broach a topic that focuses on moving us forward into the year to come, that is, resolutions.
The recent presidential election was the most contentious and divisive I have experienced in my 50+ years of following them. It set new lows for civility, decency and veracity. About half of the voters were disappointed and many were outraged with the results. This election continued the trend of both national and local politics of highly partisan positions on issues. Polarization on both ends of the political spectrum is increasing and moderate views get lost in the noise of today’s media – both traditional and social. To be sure, social and economic inequalities in our country exist. They are amplified and scrutinized via social media which helps to promote polarization, anger and disenfranchisement.
Leadership Team Initiatives. Annual budgets. Department Strategy Wheels. Company Vision Statements. Tactical Objectives. High level business planning is no longer a fourth quarter task. Effective leadership teams are business planning 365 days while still executing the blocking and tackling of their day jobs. The New Year is looming, all the achievements of 2016 will be history and the sales button resets to 0. Are you and your leadership team ready?
A new project just came in! As the Estimating Administrator at New England Construction, this sets my day in action. Each new project proposal requires proper attention to detail and generates a new set of deliverables for our department. It is my responsibility to ensure that every aspect & requirement of a project is reviewed prior to sending it out to the subcontractors for bidding. Each new venture comes with a new set of deadlines for our staff, therefore creating a strategy for gathering the necessary information and meeting those deadlines is vital.
Attention to detail is important in our everyday work and especially important in the renovation of a Ferrari Dealership Showroom, which is one of New England Construction’s active projects. When one thinks of Ferrari they think fast cars and perfection and what else then would you expect to see in their Showroom?
As soon as a construction schedule is published it is out of date. It is the inherent nature when taking a snapshot in time with something as fluid as construction. We create our “look ahead” schedules each week, distribute them to our trades, and by the end of the day something different than originally planned will be happening. It’s the challenge of our business. Schedules change. Conflicts exist and it’s our job to schedule with and around them to the best of our ability.
It’s October.
The leaves are changing and even falling. The air is crisp and the last remnants of summer are basically gone. For many of us in Commercial Real Estate in New England, we are poised with a simple question with not such a simple answer: Build now, or wait to the spring? Why does this happen every year? Every owner’s favorite phrase, WINTER CONDITIONS, explains a lot of the debate.
You know your project is a success when the Electrician sends the Project Superintendent a text on the last day that reads “I can’t believe this is our last day on site. Cry emoji. Cry emoji. Cry emoji.” The electrician is not alone when it comes to sentimental feelings surrounding the RI Mall redevelopment project. What made this 8 month, 252,000 SF renovation so special?
Candid, professional feedback is critical to professional growth. Upon project completion, we often host a “Lessons Learned” meeting with our clients. We celebrate successes and identify challenges and areas for improvement. At NEC, we’ve recently started conducting the same meetings with subcontractors. What about the extended team that contributed to project successes and challenges?
Often, we pay more attention to the flash and excitement of a project’s golden-shoveled groundbreaking, or the long anticipated ribbon cutting when the client assumes occupancy of a space. But, it is the mindful Close Out Process that truly brings the hard work of a project to its fruition. If you’re not familiar with the Close Out Process in general, the American Institute of Architects presents a great overview here.
This summer, the owners and leadership team at New England Construction decided to implement a new “Summer Friday Program” for our office staff. The expectation was made that our hard working staff would continue to accomplish all of their goals for the week as needed but would then be allowed to end their Friday at 3:00pm as opposed to our usual 5:00pm closing time.
I was watching the CBS news program Face the Nation on a recent Sunday morning when I heard the phrase “The Tyranny of the Inbox.” The speaker used the phrase in the context of a discussion about hasty, ill-considered foreign policy communications that were driven by a need to respond to public opinion, the press or criticism from political opponents. The phrase hit 线上德扑app官网home for me and I immediately thought about its origin and impact on our personal and business lives. The emails and texts in our inboxes and cell phones are tyrannical in the way they demand our time and attention. We respond to them with varying urgency depending on our perceived priorities. Most of us allow them to constantly interrupt our attention to the task at hand. This is the “Tyranny of the Inbox.”
The 2016 Summer Internship Program at NEC has finished its final inning and come to a bittersweet close. I am excited to share that it was an overall 线上德扑app官网homerun! A successful program is a two-way street from both the preparedness and readiness of the company, but also the commitment and dedication of the intern. From my perspective, NEC gave both Blake and Brendan the resources to be a successful intern at NEC, and they both gave 110% every day when they came to work. You can’t ask for more than that!
With the count at 3-2, this is bound to be the last pitch of the at-bat, unless a foul ball is hit. By now, I know exactly what pitch to throw to get the strikeout. I've learned a lot during this at bat, and am ready to finish it off. Back at NEC, I am getting ready to finish off my internship and head back to school. The summer has gone by extremely fast, and I feel like it was just yesterday I was a nervous first day intern walking into the office. A lot had happened since then, and I've learned a lot about this industry, being a part of a team, and myself. My internship this summer has been a very valuable experience and I've taken away a lot from it.
This is it. I could walk, strikeout, or get a hit. I’m shaking because I know the team is looking to me to win this game for us. If I mess up, I could be shunned in the locker room. I know what I need to do, so I compose myself and step back into the box. This is my chance to show the team I can help.
The count is at 2-2, and it’s time to come through with a big pitch on the mound. An out here would be key in winning this game. This has been a great at-bat, with both the batter and I really focusing in on the moment. Back at the job site, I am watching the Rhode Island Mall project make its completion. It has been awesome seeing the progress made in just the couple of months I’ve been here.
The at-bat is taking a toll on the pitcher, and myself as well, but I feel like the more I have him throw, the better advantage I have on him. The count is all evened up at 2-2 and I can see the stress in the pitcher’s face. I continue to survey the pitcher and let thoughts of what his next move could be run through my mind. This next pitch could be it. I could strike out on this very next pitch and that would be it. I could let the team down, but I can’t think like that. I brush it off and step back in.
Now with a 2-1 count, I’m entering the most crucial pitches of the at-bat. I must perform my best to close out this batter, and the game. At my internship, I’ve recently been called upon to help out with the close out of the Rockin & Roastin Café job.
The count is 2-1 now, and I feel like I’m ready for anything coming my way. I step into the box and wait for the pitcher once again. The pitcher seems frustrated that I’m not biting on any of his stuff. I keep telling myself just stay calm and play relaxed. I was expecting a changeup, and boy did I get one.
I’ve spent my first two pitches getting a feel for the batter, and now it’s time to really deliver in the big moment. At NEC, I’m fully caught up with everyday life in the office and at the job site, and feel like I am making important contributions. It feels great to go to my internship everyday feeling like I am an important part of something. In my first two posts, I’ve been writing about pretty general information on my experiences thus far, but wanted to take the time on this post to really describe what a typical work day at NEC for me is like. The batter steps back into the box, and I contemplate which pitch I should throw next.
By now I’ve seen some of the pitcher’s stuff. The more and more I observe his windup the more I feel like I can knock these runs in. I just keep trying to predict what he is going to come with next. But with too much overthinking, you’ll freak yourself out. Sometimes it’s best to just go with your gut feeling before second guessing. I step back in the box and wait for next pitch.
After delivering my first pitch to the batter, I am beginning to settle in on the mound, feeling better about my next pitch. At the office, I am getting a good feel for the atmosphere and culture within New England Construction. I came into this internship with a lot of questions, like “How big is the company? “How well does everyone know each other?” and “How well do people interact?” to name a few. I was afraid of walking into a situation where I was the “new kid,” sticking out like a sore thumb, feeling intimidated by everyone. My actual experience at the company these first couple of weeks has been the complete opposite. On the first day of my internship, I was escorted to my desk to find a “Welcome Aboard Brendan!” sign and a schedule of onboarding tasks waiting for me.
As I step out of the box for a second to catch my breath, the nerves start to settle, and I finally feel myself becoming more confident. I feel like I am finally settling in, and picking up on things I did not as I was walking up to the plate. Every time I go on site I feel like I actually belong there.
It’s a sunny day in May, warmer than usual — the perfect day to get my first steps on the pitcher’s mound, and my first steps through the door at New England Construction. The pitcher before me just walked three straight batters, and now it is finally my turn to prove myself on the mound. I’ve waited a long time for this opportunity, sitting in the bullpen, and I knew I was ready, but nervous.
You ever feel like the batter on deck, just waiting for your shot to step up to the plate? Well that’s what I felt like ever since I got my internship offer letter. I waited and waited just to get my shot at the plate. I’m staring out looking out at the field, man on first, and a man on second. The guy ahead of me gets the 3-1 pitch. Ball 4. My turn.
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To ensure a successful summer at NEC, we are running a robust internship program. As their coach, it is important for me to see that process through. Generally, our interns will work in the Operations Department and report to our Senior Project Engineer. The overall goal is for the intern to gain experience in the office as well as on job sites. The intern will be assigned a mentor in the office and a Superintendent in the field. To run a successful internship program, you will need to carry out the following plays:
New England Construction works with landlords and tenants on a variety of projects ranging from preconstruction to design/build to construction management. Often, these projects require the introduction of large machinery such as cranes, which makes the process bigger in scope.
At NEC, safety is always a top priority, and working with a large crane on site requires the utmost safety — and meticulous planning. In this blog post, we’ll detail how to effectively plan ahead and cover all of your bases so as to ensure safety on the job site with the presence of a crane.
Constructing and renovating active retail and commercial buildings is no easy task. The contractors, owners, architects, and tenants involved all need to be conscious of each other’s timeline, operations, and, most importantly, the safety of everyone who inhabits the space. Active shopping centers and commercial buildings can have a variety of different types of tenants such as retail, gyms, restaurants, and offices that must maintain “business-as-usual” during construction; however, for the contractors involved, business can be anything but usual.
Developing and renovating a retail shopping center is no easy task. Although developing a shopping center may be rich with opportunity for potential owners and investors, it is equally rich with risks, challenges, and threats. In order to ensure success, you’ll want to mitigate those risks, avoid the threats, and curb any challenges before they impact your progress. That may be easier said than done, but by involving your retail construction partner in the process as early as possible, you will be setting yourself up for success.
As a business owner, I work at growing wealth by investing in my core business – commercial construction. I also recognize the need to diversify my investments to manage risk. I look at investing as placing bets. I can determine my own financial future and control risk by betting on myself and my team – a good bet. Commercial real estate development has been my primary means of investing outside of my business for nearly 20 years. By carefully investing in select properties, I have been able grow additional wealth outside my primary business. By sharing my commercial real estate investments with partners and investors I also share the risk.
Those of us who have experienced rapid growth or contraction understand the difficulty and impacts of managing our businesses through these periods of dramatic change. As managers, we all must make important decisions in a short period of time that affect our businesses, our families and our fellow employees and all of our futures.
In some cases, we don’t have the luxury of time to prepare or plan for these rapid changes or we haven’t anticipated change and therefore have not developed plans to deal with it. Most rapid growth or contraction results from the business cycle – the periodic changes in our global, national or regional economies. How we prepare for these changes will directly impact our ability to minimize the pain of contraction or maximize the opportunities of expansion. There are important keys to prepare for and manage change, which include:
We all have peer relationships that add value and richness to our lives.
As friends and teammates can share experiences, provide support and give advice. As a business owner, finding valuable peer business relationships and opportunities for sharing and learning can be very difficult. A business owner often has to rely on their own abilities and experience to make decisions regarding important business issues, tactics or strategy. They certainly can and do solicit input from subordinates, however, the perspective and advice of a successful and experienced peer can be extremely valuable and help avoid costly mistakes. Organized peer groups can offer tremendous opportunities for mutual support, learning, advice and different perspectives for a business owner, executive or manager.
What are we to make of the recent events surrounding China?
The bursting of their stock market bubble; the slowing growth; the devaluation of the yuan; last week’s state visit to the US by Premier Xi Jinping. I am not an astute follower of China or international monetary policy, however, my observations of these events and recent news articles have led me to be cautiously optimistic about the future relations between America and China. My view is that economic self-interest drives international and intranational relationships.
How often do we take the time to be introspective?
A useful definition of introspection is self-contemplation; self-examination; the contemplation of one’s own conduct, thoughts, desires, emotions. How often do we take the time to be introspective? For some of us, not very often. We only look in the mirror when we have no other choice. We would rather look elsewhere to find the cause of our stress, our discomfort, our problems. It is a lot easier to blame circumstances or someone else than to examine our own role or contribution and accept responsibility for our actions. In my recent post on Leadership, I failed to mention introspection as one of the qualities of a great leader.
Rhode Island is known for many wonderful things – a great place to live, fantastic beaches, Newport and great restaurants to name a few.
The stock market fluctuations the past few days has many holding their breath and wondering what the impact on the economy will be. I am not an economist but after experiencing three recessions, I have a longer term view of the business cycle and I believe that market fluctuations are not an accurate way to predict future economic conditions. My reaction to the past week’s events is to take a breath and let things play out.
I received the subscriber bulletin below in my email this morning from ITR (Institute for Trends Research) Economics and thought it might be worth sharing. I have been following their economic forecasts for over fifteen years. ITR accurately predicted the downturns of 2001 and 2010 more than a year in advance which helped me make early adjustments to my business planning and operations. ITR Economics is based in New Hampshire and works with its customers to help them manage their businesses through the business cycle.
The following excerpt takes a deep dive into the devaluation of the Yaun:
What is a delivery system?
A delivery system is a method to undertake or deliver a construction project. The most popular delivery systems include design-bid-build, design-build and construction management. We will discuss all three methods to give you some insight as to which delivery system might work for you.
What is leadership? Anyone who has led a family, an organization or has been led by others has their own understanding of what leadership means. I am not sure one can easily define leadership with a few words or thoughts. One way to understand leadership is to describe what good leaders do and how they act.
After thirty years in business, it has been fun to reflect a bit on the past successes and great relationships that we have developed and enjoyed with our partners – employees, customers, vendors, advisors and friends.
Along the way I learned more than a few things (usually the hard way) that have helped me lead our business, form the foundations for those relationships and have led to mutual success.
