I am not an actuary or a statistician, but my guess is that overall morale in our industry is quite low.  Employees who once worried about climbing the ladder of responsibility now feel that they are fortunate to have a rung to hold onto.  Business owners fear making payroll.  Production managers who used to fear they wouldn’t get all of the work on the board completed and on time may now struggle to keep people busy.  Even if your company is maintaining performance metrics, the evening news is filled with down notes.

I often discuss corporate culture in this blog and the vast impact that a sound culture has on a company’s bottom line.  If employees “buy in” to the program that the company promotes, everyone benefits.  Folks get to work on time.  Jobs can be finished quicker.  Pride in ownership displays itself.  But I believe a part of this equation is employee morale.  This is a tough time for all of us, and many construction business owners who are struggling to fill job boards and make payroll don’t have much sympathy for staff.  But your staff, even if they aren’t directly feeling the heat from reduced hours, pay or benefits may still be struggling.

I recall a time in my life when interesting projects that involved the use of my seldomly used timber framing tools was all that was needed to keep me motivated.  Working on many of the house museums in Savannah, GA, also helped me get excited to work each day.  But then marriage and family came, and my focus changed with their arrival.  Setting a timber truss wasn’t the only thing I needed to stay motivated.  I needed other things - job security, insurance and a check each week.  Our staffs are feeling these same pressures coupled with a deep uneasy feeling that something in our economy just isn’t right.  They may not be able to address it in scientific terms, but they know that something just isn’t right.

Now is not the time to withdraw to the daily struggles of the corner office and wall yourself off from staff.  To the contrary, now is the time to interact with them, and get a solid feeling of your construction company’s working pulse.  Meet with carpenters, team leads, superintendents and project managers. Most of all, communicate to your employees every bit of information that you are willing to divulge.  Empowering staffs with information won’t make them cut and run – instead, it will help them to better understand fundamental economics that are impacting their career and employer.  Ignoring questions of staff morale will surely lower it.

The gulf oil spill has given those of us in the construction industry a valuable lesson.  My guess is that if I took a straw poll of contractors, 99% of them would submit that they never cut a corner to reduce costs and speed up a project.  While the vast majority of them would be telling the pollster the truth, I would estimate that quite a few would be lying to both the poll taker and themselves.

I am certainly no expert in prospecting for oil, drilling wells or collecting crude.  In fact, I know very little on the subject.  But I do understand intimately well the pressures that we all face to keep our projects on time, on budget, faithful to the drawings and specifications and accident free.  Most of the time these goals are mutually inclusive and fit hand in hand with one another.  Sometimes, though –extraordinary time or financial pressure exists to subordinate one of these fundamental goals to the others. 

Don’t do it.

One of the great things about our industry is that much of what we are supposed to do is scoped out, drawn and specified for us beforehand.  The better the bid package, the less confusion and opportunity to skimp on details exists.  While this may sound like an advertisement for the American Institute of Architects, make no mistake that many important details are left out and remain up to the general contractor to faithfully execute.  Most of these issues have industry standards as a guide, but again some are open to interpretation.  When we sign a contract, our companies are given the fundamental trust by our clients to faithfully execute the bid documents and to perform all phases of the project to or above industry standards.

What the gulf oil crisis teaches us is that no time constraints or financial pressures are great enough to cause us to not perform our work to acceptable standards.  Checks and balances must remain in place at all times and not ignored.  Warnings from subcontractors must not go unnoticed.  Problems cannot be simply buried under stories of earthen backfill, hidden behind a layer of ½” drywall or sunk below a mile of ocean water.  These checks and balances exist to mitigate future damage or, especially sad in this case, eliminate the loss of life and property and the destruction of precious ecosystems.

Ours is an inherently dangerous endeavor.  Powerful equipment, falls, etc. are all part of our chosen profession.  Entire industries have sprung up to help make construction less dangerous and safer for our employees and clients.  By making our projects safer, we save lives and property and build our reputation.  But no industry exists to check and double check each and every phase of our work.  That alone is up to us and our project teams.  Each person must be empowered to have input.  Each issue must be addressed.  And above all, we cannot allow any of our fundamental goals to exclude the others.  Doing so may cost us a bit more at the time, but the cost of skimping on quality and not constructing to  or beyond acceptable industry standards will be paid for generations.  

At the end of the day, we have a solemn duty to do what is right, not just what we can get by with.  The scary thing is I understand where the pressure comes from.  We are all under it nearly every day.  I can put myself in the position of the project manager who is told it “should be good enough” by a subcontractor and struggles to balance costs, time and safety.  Some instances in life are the kick in the mouth we need to avoid complacency and acceptance of anything less than our best.  The photos of shrimp boats skimming for oil rather than shrimp is an image that should convince us that “sort of ok” is just not good enough. 

As an industry, we simply cannot tolerate “good enough” or assume that problems, once buried, won’t have catastrophic consequences down the road.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve noticed something very positive that has occurred in this recession and for the past few years.  Nearly every where I look, from the Discovery Channel to PBS, I see a movement that embraces blue collar work.  It doesn’t take much effort to find sites such as MikeRoweWorks.com that celebrates “…all aspects of hard work”.  It takes even less effort to sense that our manufacturing base – long forsaken to cheaper currencies and labor, is beginning to understand the virtues of building things at home.  In my home state, the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia (www.CEFGA.org) is developing curriculum to help teach our future builders outside of a standard apprenticeship program.  Indeed, building things is becoming cool again.

What does this mean for the construction industry?  It means that our craft is slowly, perhaps painfully, becoming a hip place for people to work.  We may be on the precipice of a movement that embraces Builders and Tradespeople as those who have sought meaningful work – not those left out of the movement towards professional services.  It wasn’t long ago I cringed in reading that America would become the accountants of the world.  That may yet indeed be the case, indeed I hope it does.  But that doesn’t mean we also shouldn’t make it a goal to become the designers, builders and tradespeople of the world, either.

But with this sea change must come the understanding of responsibility that we share as business owners and managers.  In order to capitalize on this movement we must provide opportunity for people to grow and prosper, not just earn a paycheck.  We must develop and promote our industry as a viable alternative to professional services and white collar work.  We need to accentuate the positive and fix the negative connotations that our industry has long been saddled with.  We need to reach those kids who want to become the Green technology innovators; the building scientists and the affordable housing problem-solvers of their generation.  I have written about this on several occasions and will say it again here – Ours is an industry that can know no limit for a bright, ambitious, imaginative mind.  But we have a long way to go for the hype of the moment to match the reality.  We don’t have to be the job of last resort for the broken set – but our tent should be large enough to provide anyone with ambition and talent an opportunity to grow. 

In this era of 40% revenue reduction and staff cuts it may be difficult to project out 3-5 years and see this coming.  But there will be more work someday.  And we have every opportunity to get quality people that we never thought would choose our industry, and allow our current crop of over-achievers to light the way and provide guidance.  Hard work has always been rewarding  and, in many case, enjoyable.  It is about darn time that the conventional wisdom of the era is catching up with what we already know – building things is just plain cool. 

I have to travel often for work, so I am a frequent flier on a large carrier located here in Atlanta.  I am fairly comfortable with the service they offer.  I feel that the airplane is airworthy and relatively clean; the crew is well trained; the staff members are reasonably courteous.  Aside from the baggage fees  that I don’t use because I  carry on luggage only and the fares that continually inch upward, I don’t feel that I have too much to complain about.

The other day I was in Dallas and flew on Southwest airlines for the first time.  I wasn’t too crazy about the method of boarding, but was pleasantly surprised by how efficient the boarding process was. The gate agents were courteous and the flight service crew seemed comfortable and excited to be at work.  The over-riding theme of the day for me was “Happy”.  Everyone associated with that flight in a Southwest uniform projected happiness and a fun atmosphere shrouded in excellent professional etiquette.  The standard FAA required pre-flight briefing was fun and even, dare I say, entertaining.  I didn’t feel cheated because it wasn’t delivered in a dour monotone.  I didn’t feel less safe because the attendant made a few wisecracks in the middle of it.  In fact, for the first time in a long time, I actually listened to the briefing!

The culture at Southwest has been written about ad nauseum.  Staff are empowered, executives are humble and focused; flight crews are excited to be at work; customer service agents seem to actually like serving customers.  How did they do it?  How did they create this culture that can only breed self fulfilling prosperity?  What can we do at our own organizations to make life more tolerable for our employees who then project that image to our clients?

Culture change doesn’t happen over night.  It doesn’t happen in a month, either.  Culture modification is a profession in and of itself.  But in our construction organizations, I feel it doesn’t have to be.  As we continue to step through the worst economic downturn in decades, take a moment to analyze the culture of your firm.  Are the employees genuinely happy to be there?  Do they have a stake in the outcome of your organization aside from the proverbial pay check?  Are they empowered to offer ideas, point out problems and own the solution?  The first step to modifying culture is defining what you want your culture to be.  Too often we allow someone else to define who we are rather than defining our own companies.   Too often culture shifts from one crew to the next without displaying a focused message.  Too often we retain the rotten eggs with the understanding that all the eggs must be rotten, so let’s just stick with those  we currently  have.  Are your jobsites clean and well marked?  Do your superintendents own the project that they lead or simply act as a conduit to someone else?  Is every member of your staff asked to bring ideas and solutions to the table, or told to sit tight and watch the pros work?

Culture may be the one item that can’t be quantified in any legitimate manner, yet has an enormous impact on your company and client service.  Not all service companies can project fun in their marketplace like Southwest does.  But that doesn’t mean that we don’t define our culture and surround ourselves with staff and managers that support that effort.  A little bit of effort at making your company a rewarding place to work will pay off in spades in customer relations.  One short flight on an airline made all the difference in the world to me.  I will now actively pursue that company to pay my travel dollars to when the situation arises when I can use them.  Imagine that each interaction with a potential client does the same for your business. 

How do you want to be perceived?  As the company that is just going through the motions, however rote they may be, or the company that is focused like a laser on projecting the best customer experience possible from initial contact to signed punchlist?  As a customer, we may go back to the former out of necessity and convenience, but we patronize the latter out of choice.  The difference is subtle when written in words, monumental in scope.

“What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?

(Henry David Thoreau)

I’ve enjoyed the writings and philosophy of Thoreau for a long time.  Growing up on a farm with our very own scaled down version of Walden pond gave me nearly limitless area in which my mind could wander as a youth.  Although I am, by many aspects, a proponent of an agrarian lifestyle and a great fan of nature, I haven’t ever considered myself much of a staunch environmentalist.  I have, however, considered myself a student of economic theory and a fan of free and open markets.  I now find myself attempting to balance in practice what could be considered polar opposite philosophies – Environmentalism vs. Capitalism.

Proponents of each philosophy often antagonize each other.  One politically fights for the rights of the environment as defenseless entity, the other fights unmercifully for the quest of property rights, individual rights, open markets and profit.  Often the ideals are competing and place the environmental lobby at odds with economic pursuits.  At this odd juncture in our human existence, these two competing ideals must work together.  I would submit that each side not only must work together, but need each other.  This is one of those rare moments in history where competing philosophies have the same objective.

As builders, many of us have tried to follow the principles of reducing waste and maximizing efficient use of resources.  This is not only sound environmental stewardship, but it also makes excellent business sense.  We have often been at odds with environmentalists that demand ever fewer developments and ever greater density, much to the chagrin of our clients.  But the enemies we face are now common.  Fossil fuels are a finite resource that are becoming ever more expensive to move to market. When they do get to market, more and more people and businesses are competing for these scarce resources.  Economic law dictates to us that decreasing or static supply coupled with increasing demand raise prices.  The gas price shocks of a couple of years ago were the final push needed to tumble into a deep recession and there is no doubt that the excess dollars printed to ward off a severe depression will at some point cause inflation, further enhancing that ever skyward push in prices.

The nation that wins the race to develop viable and sound alternative energies and consistently develops and builds buildings and infrastructure that reduce consumption of scarce resources will own the next century economically.  Strikingly enough, the nation that does this will also lead the globe into an era of environmental stewardship never seen since the dawn of the industrial revolution.  The industrial revolution brought with it economic prosperity and economic freedom never before seen.  It also brought with it an insatiable requirement to consume energy and other resources.  Perhaps an ugly side of capitalism is that in many cases it takes no prisoners.  But the beauty of free markets is that capital flows to where it is most effective.  Currently, capital is most effective (and more available) for designing and constructing buildings that require less energy, energy production that requires fewer fossil fuels and leaves less waste by-product in its wake, and those practices which promote energy independence.  As developers, builders and contractors we may not fully realize our potential to be at the forefront of a vast and changing energy landscape, but we are.  In fact, our clients not only wish this from us, but expect it from us.

Environmentalism and Capitalism do indeed make strange bedfellows.  But they need not.  For the first time in my lifetime, the goals of the “Greens” align directly on this issue with the goals of the “Capitalists”.  Free markets and environmentalism singing the same tune?  If past distrust of each other can be worked out, the current energy era will be unlike anything we have ever seen.   There is no human force more powerful than pure idealism coupled with a profit motive.  At this select moment in history, these two forces are in agreement.

I simply cannot wait for spring to get here.  This has been an unusually long winter for us in the Southeast (snicker all you want, my Midwest and Northeast comrades).  But it has been unusually cool for unusually long stretches of time this winter.  When it is cool, potential clients stay inside and watch the Olympics. They aren’t outside raking or daydreaming of all the projects that they want to hire my team for.

Ours is an odd business to market.  For the most part, folks consider our service a commodity.  Potential clients generally think that Company A’s product and service will rival Company B’s.  This is even more true when they haven’t  gone through a bad renovation or home building experience.  But there is also something critical to our marketing efforts that is often overlooked – Social Networking.

As Generation X and Millennial clients become more and more the focus of our marketing efforts and an ever larger component of our client base,  it is important to realize that these age groups gather more and more information from non-traditional (electronic) means than ever before.  Social Networking (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) will not make you as a company.  But a lack of presence can break you.

Younger clients don’t just read your marketing material and ask close friends and relatives about you.  They dig online to find happy customers and disgruntled ones.  They use social networking to find the electronic “shadow” organization that depicts the real experience your company offers vs. the stylized version presented in your print marketing materials.  Like it or not, an electronic shadow company exists for each of our businesses.  Those companies behind the eight ball have this image controlled by those outside of the enterprise.  Proactive organizations are defining and monitoring their own image via means of the web and social networking tools.

I am not a big believer that social media will ever transplant standard marketing and face-to-face meetings. But I do know that as younger generations continue to control more and more of the client base, social media will become increasingly important to attracting and landing these clients.  Don’t be afraid to venture into social media and add your business to Facebook and update it regularly with photos and news.  The key point that I am making is that organizations today must control their electronic image, or others will do it for you.  Which position would you prefer?

The other day I had an early flight out of Atlanta and was sitting in my car about to reverse out of the garage. As a bit of an admitted geek, my radio was tuned to an am morning news radio station. For some odd reason, the local Atlanta channels don’t tune in real well within a mile or so radius of my home. We live in a rolling area and I have pretty much attributed this problem to physical geography. I fiddled with the dial and turned it up a notch to 760, which came in loud and clear. My point? AM 760 is WJR radio from Detroit!

Physics and radio technology aside (of which I know about zero), I was pretty happy to be presented with the opportunity to listen to WJR radio for about 3 miles of the trip to the airport. Don’t ask me how this was physically possible, I don’t know. Maybe someone can help me with that. But this radio station defined the “Center of Influence” that was Detroit during my youth. The sports teams of my youth came to life on that station. I still remember Ernie Harwell with his immaculately sweet southern lilt bantering about a Kirk Gibson home run, a Trammell to Whitaker to Evans double play or a Jack Morris fastball.  I remember hearing the play by play of Stevie Yzerman carrying his team yet one more time to the Stanley Cup playoffs; Barry Sanders twisting, turning and juking his way to superstardom; or Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumars teaming for an NBA championship.  The sound of WJR was always on in the background of my family’s home spilling the local and national news of the day.

I was born in the City of Detroit. I was raised a couple of hours north of there in Michigan’s rural thumb. The thumb is, socially if not physically, light years away from the big city, but Detroit was our center of cultural influence. The Detroit that springs to mental image to many folks now-a-days (abandoned, high unemployment, crime ridden) is not the Detroit I was born into and remember. Detroit was an international city that built automobiles and trucks for the entire globe. The Detroit automakers were the envy of the developed world thanks to an innovation by Henry Ford that brought the automobile to the masses and gave rise to high wage manufacturing work. Immigrants spilled into Detroit for manufacturing work and opportunity, creating small burgs and hamlets that resembled their homelands but melded into American culture and society – in fact, helped to shape our culture and society.

This trip down memory lane does have a point. Detroit was the manufacturing capital of the world for a number of decades. Not just the Big 3 car companies themselves, but the suppliers, engineers, designers and product developers that sprang up to compete for and build components and sub-components for the automakers. Much of the economy of the area I grew up in reveled in the status of being the world’s great manufacturing giant. We became complacent with the status quo. We grew up with the expectation that additional education was a nice but not necessary accomplishment because one could earn a solid middle class living in the factories. In fact, the financial paradigm was tilted towards manufacturing work!  One could earn more money in the factories than many positions requiring college degrees. I never did work in a factory personally, but my siblings and many of my family, friends and neighbors did indeed choose that route. It is simply what one did. As a state and as business leaders, we grew complacent with success and status and failed to innovate. It is difficult to innovate when you have no one to emulate – and we did not. We scoffed at the “junk” imports that foreigners tried to make and introduce into the global market. For the most part, those initial attempts by foreign auto companies deserved some skepticism. They were not very good. We chuckled under our breath and went about building the best cars in the world. Since trucks and high powered muscle cars were the most profitable segment of the auto industry, most of the product development and marketing dollars went into them. The small car was best left for the “foreigners” to build. Who in their right mind would buy a small, shabby car from a foreign auto company? Why buy a glorified golf cart when you could listen to and feel the rumble of a 396 Super Sport Chevelle? The world must be mad to even consider such a thing.

But as history would show us, the world can be made mad very quickly.  Any great business or product can be rendered obsolete by forces outside of their immediate sphere of influence. The oil embargo of the 1970’s was the initial shock that sent our version of the world, and the fortunes of my home state, careening on a difficult path. Unbalanced trade laws, archaic labor rules and outsourcing are providing the final few notes of “Taps” to an industry and keeping the state in turmoil. We have not yet recovered, although by most appearances at least two of the companies have a good shot at becoming profitable again – although incredibly smaller and leaner versions of themselves.

The foreign auto companies, not wanting to compete head to head with muscle cars and trucks, developed small, fuel efficient cars from the get go. They looked to our automakers and emulated what worked and, more importantly, learned from what did not. They were hungry for success, yearning to gain market share in an arena dominated by huge national conglomerates. They were crazy for even attempting to do so. They failed, sometimes miserably, at first. They were small and nimble organizations that focused on efficiency way before Process Engineering became the consultancy de jour. They kept working, adapting, fine-tuning their development and engineering processes until that day when external forces beyond their control (the Oil embargo and fuel rationing) suddenly made their products a viable and desirable product for the consumer.

The trap was set, by no one in particular other than the hand of fate. Detroit would spend the next 30-40 years playing catch up in a game that they mastered in a market that they created. The masters had been overtaken by the student. I know it is easy to see with the benefit of hindsight, but no one (or at least a very few in my home state) saw this coming. The fortunes of Michigan would be forever changed the day that OPEC stopped shipping us oil in October of 1973 in response to the U.S. supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur war. The 20% interest rate cycle of the late 1970’s added even more fuel to the economic situation – but the city and domestic auto industry was already metaphorically burning. I think the same parallel on a broader scale can be seen in our peculiar relationship with Communist China. They are learning what we do well and are improving on what they can in several industries – not just manufacturing.

What is the lesson in all of this? Events that are unforeseeable often play enormous impacts on our fortunes. In a blink, what seems like common sense is lost to a new reality. If organizations do not remain nimble, agile and capable of rapid market corrections, those that are capable of those qualities will dominate the new industry. To those that are managing successful companies now – understand that your competition is studying how you do things and are learning to do it even better than you. They are seeing where you market, how you develop your products and services and the efficiency with which you convey them to your clients or customers. They are scouting what you do well and what they can improve upon. They are preparing to compete with you, in a market you may dominate currently, with improved versions of your own processes! And, if another of those unforeseen events occurs, (think cash crunch, credit markets freezing, etc.) these outsiders will be in a position to become the hunted rather than the hunter.

Even the best organizations with a large market penetration must constantly re-imagine, re-tool and re-think their processes and methods of engagement and be prepared to react when the unforeseen occurs. How many builders and developers were laughed at when they did not hold huge notes on land positions a few years ago? How many were scorned for not loading up on overhead and debt – even though debt was thought to be the magic carpet to affluence and overhead was code speak for “Positioning for future growth – because we will grow forever and ever, amen”? Those organizations that have been at the forefront of energy efficiencies and emerging technologies now hold the upper hand. Where does your company fit into this equation? Are you reacting to the marketplace or are you proactively defining your place in a new one? Discerning the difference between the two isn’t easy – but failing to do so has many negative consequences.

To wrap up – always, always remember and keep it as your organizations guiding influence – the competition is agile, smart, efficient, capable, proactive, always learning from you and hungry. You must behave like the competition – even in markets you may currently dominate.

The quest for efficiency from our supply chains is important to any business.  In an industry like ours, where our supply chain consists not only of raw materials but of finished goods and labor, our suppliers and subs present as much of a public face of our organizations as our own employees do.  “Squeezing” them for every last dime just doesn’t cut it.  Threatening to fire them unless they reduce their fees isn’t a magic solution, either.  Instead of fighting a losing battle with our suppliers, lets partner with them and get their feedback on where they think efficiencies may be found.  It may sound like an irrational statement, but oftentimes, getting more efficiency out of our supply chain has nothing to do with the suppliers and subs themselves, but how we and our staff manage these relationships and our projects.

Many of us have been there before.  The client dawdles in making selections on unspecified items (Terrible inefficiencies – thus wasted dollars – exist in allowances.  Eliminate them whenever and wherever possible).  They choose an ornate Italian stone that must be steamed over on the next ship, which may take six weeks.   In the interim, the quarry union went on strike.  Another two week delay occurs.  We can’t finish our custom bath tile.  Without tile, we can’t trim out the plumbing.  Without trimmed out plumbing, we can’t complete the project and final bill.  The plumber wants his payment, the tile setter is getting out of whack with his schedule.  The client wants the crew out of their home.  Anger ensues and a great project can easily turn to mush.  Sure, we will ultimately get the project done and the final bill will be sent and paid, but we are floating the project with our company’s money until we get it wrapped up and bills in and accounted for.  I don’t know about you, but I would much rather use client funds to float the project, not my company’s.  Cash flow is paramount.

While it is easy to blame the client and the supplier for this mess, we aren’t paid to lay the blame at someone else’s feet.  Clients don’t pay us to be finger pointers. Believe it or not, construction is not a production business.  It is a customer service business with a production component.  Our suppliers and subs, like it or not, are part and parcel of the public face of our organizations.  Choose them wisely, and not based solely on price.  Look at them as a critical component of your business, not the enemy.  While the example above is not the fault of any supplier, but the choice and delay in selections, it does not matter one bit to a client.  Let’s work with our suppliers and subs at the onset of a project.  Work hard up front to find areas that will cause problems down the road.  Selections are always a project delayer and game changer.  Your subs should be able to compile a list of items that are often found on punchlists or tend to be longer lead items, like the example above.

In this environment we are all trying to do the same or more with less.  This includes your subs.  Browbeating them now will not produce the intended result.  It will only drive a good sub away the moment they have enough backlog.  The only way this efficiency equation works is if we get more efficient in managing our projects, staff and supply chain.  Don’t expect everyone else to have all the answers, but, rather, work with them and gain their particular knowledge.  Small efficiencies can add up to big dollars.  We can’t manage a successful company unless we manage our supply chain as efficiently as possible.

Happy New Year.

The dust hasn’t yet settled from the residential real estate correction and we have begun to discuss a similar correction in global commercial real estate markets.  Already we are being sold by numerous outlets on the business potential of “green” products, alternative energy and sustainable construction being the “Next Big Thing”. 

We all want a differentiator for our businesses.  We all want to have that one special thing about our companies that helps us to market and define our niche or specific position in the marketplace. It may be tempting to jump on the the bandwagon and market ourselves as green constructors.  But there is a proven folly in chasing bubbles.  When they finally slow down enough for you to catch up with them, they pop – and leave us with nothing.  My careful market research has uncovered that anything that grows beyond what fundamentals say they should or becomes the next big thing before it is proven as viable eventually deflates.

I am not preaching that we stop pursuing education in sustainable practices, LEED accreditation or building science.  I firmly believe it is best to build energy efficient structures and reduce the amount of waste, energy and materials that goes into each one.  This practice is called stewardship and should be another differentiator for our organizations.  What I am suggesting is that a better understanding of building technologies and practices should be a part of our overall strategy for our companies, and not the main focus of our efforts.  Being certified green by an agency may gain you a customer lead or two.  But instilling sound business, marketing and trade fundamentals into your organizations, along with keeping abreast of and becoming expert in bleeding edge technologies will be the method of differentiation that we all seek.  Believe it or not, a company built on excellent business principles and sound management is in a very unique position that should be a huge part of your marketing plan.  Especially in our current market.  The marginal operators are ripe to be sent packing to different pastures.  There is one thing I have learned through the years and that is that recessions correct inefficiencies and weed out poor performers who make poor choices.  Unfortunately, this deep recession has removed even decent companies from the marketplace.  But those that have survived thus far should realize that sound business processes are the reason that these organizations are still around.  Not luck, not timing, not an expense account from Aunt Mildred (although these things are nice).  Don’t be afraid to market your permanence and position in the marketplace. Being on top of new technologies is a no-brainer.

So go ahead and chase new opportunities all you want.  It is incredibly important to be diverse and seek new avenues of growth. Your organization may make some money in the process.  But don’t ever forget to follow sound fundamentals and never, ever, never betray your core business.  Watch your debt load, be mindful of overhead and discretionary spending, don’t ignore staff training, define your market niche and keep abreast of new technologies.  These items have helped to define successful companies for generations and will define them for generations to come.  Chasing bubbles never has and never will.  Market corrections make certain of that.

The holidays tend to make us wax nostalgic, and this one is no different for me.  In fact, our collective economic struggle makes the simple joys of the season even greater.  While I am not yet willing to hoist the surrender flag that our industry is fundamentally different than it was a short while ago, there is no denying that our lives have been dramatically altered the past couple of years.  Some of these changes are part of the natural business cycle and will bring with them positive changes – whilst others will bring more tough decisions to make.  In this holiday message I would like to, for just a moment, ignore the tough issues and focus on the positive.

I hope that your families will continue to grow and prosper.  Our industry and economy are changing, but the traditions that we should focus on during this time of year do not have to.  My fireplace will still crackle with life on Christmas Eve.  My five and two year olds will still be overjoyed at the site of the Christmas tree on Christmas morning and will so eagerly tear open their gifts that lie beneath it. My wife and I will still enjoy decorating the old Cedar tree that has grown in our front yard for years.  Christmas carols will still play in the background, and the smell of freshly cut Pine, fully regaled in holiday trinkets and ornaments, will grace the inside of my old house.  Across the country churches will fill with praise and song – while those of us that choose to not exercise the religious aspect of the season may rejoice in the brotherhood and good will of the Christmas Story and holiday season. 

Indeed, there is much to be thankful for this Holiday season.  There is much work left to do, and many struggles yet to be fought. 

That said, I will cherish every Christmas, every season, every day I am granted to work in the industry that I have chosen to.  The blessings of this season are often clouded by “50% off sales” and a fundamental materialism so pervasive in our society.  It is easy to be swept up by all of it, throw our hands in the air and give up hope.  The real meaning of this season is that hope is everywhere – if we are willing to work and look hard enough for it.

I cannot thank you enough for reading this blog this year.  I hope I have managed to strike a nerve or two or at least make one ponder an idea or two.  I have learned quite a bit from notes and emails sent my way.  Regardless of the outcome of this rough economic period, we all belong to an industry that is a necessary and needed one.  We help to provide shelter to families, meeting places for the engine of commerce to be managed, schools to teach in and hospitals to care for the sick.  I firmly believe ours is a noble profession made nobler by doing the right thing and managing our businesses with sound fundamentals.

I wish for you and yours a safe and blessed holiday season.  May 2010 see a continued improvement in our economy and industry.  Most of all, I wish you some quiet time to reflect on the successes you have had and the ability to plan for more in the next year and years to come.