With all of the architecture and engineering industry-related content published on this blog in July, 2019, it's easy to let some important articles slip through the cracks, and get lost in the clutter. In an effort to keep you up-to-date on the hottest topics, PSMJ has compiled a list of our top ten most-viewed blog posts from last month.
10. How to Identify Your Future A/E Firm Principals – The first step in identifying future principals in your architecture or engineering firm is for you to consider what characteristics your firm
needs in future principals. That's right! What your firm needs in a successful principal should take precedence over any consideration of individuals.
9. How to Make the Best Valuation of Your Firm – Small architecture and engineering firms owners are likely to be fielding offers again. So if you've been thinking of cashing in, it may be a good time to get a valuation. Also, beware of lowball offers.
8. Key A/E Firm Performance Metrics Reach All-Time Highs – Median architecture and engineering (A/E) firm operating profit as a percentage of net revenue (before incentive/bonus payments and taxes) has reached an all-time high of 18.8 percent, according to PSMJ's 2019 A/E Financial Performance Benchmark Survey Report.
7. Can Scope Creep Be a Good Thing? – Scope creep is a good thing. That may sound counter intuitive, but it’s the truth—at least in some cases. The traditional view of project management, the way we teach it in colleges and universities around the world, tells us that scope creep is a risk at best. At worst it will cause your project to fail miserably.
6. Burning Question: How Much for Your Retirement?– While many architects and engineers indicate they want to keep working “forever,” and they plan to pursue projects that enable them to keep working past a normal end-of-career age, there are individuals who plan to retire.
5. Managing Overhead: Utilization versus Chargeability– Utilization—hours or payroll dollars—which one tells the story when it comes to managing labor-based overhead (time spent on non-project related activities)? A primary approach used by managers to monitor chargeability is reviewing time sheets or time reports for time put to projects. But what if you don’t look at time sheets but you do review the income statements for the firm, the business unit or the team—can you monitor chargeability as well using information on the income statement?
4. Rethink: Is Utilization the Best Way to Profitability?– Utilization is a matter of simple math for professional services firms—billable hours equal revenue earned. It’s also one of the most commonly and closely tracked metrics used to gauge financial performance in the design industry, and can be a borderline obsession for some architecture and engineering firm leaders.
3. PSMJ Resources Announces the Top-Performing Architecture and Engineering Firms for 2019 – PSMJ Resources, Inc. has announced the members of the 2019 Circle of Excellence. Seventy-two exceptional architecture and engineering firms made it onto the exclusive list this year.
2. Intellectual Property Rights: What Architects Need to Know – Architectural ideas are intellectual property just as much as a novel is the intellectual property of its author. In fact, one of Congress’s most important responsibilities is “to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries,” as stated in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.
1. Are Write Ups on Lumps Sum Projects Really Ethical?– If you follow PSMJ, you know that we’re passionate proponents of pricing services based on value delivered, and not on the cost of delivery, and we always advise A/E/C firm leaders to look more to fixed fee, lump sum pricing opportunities and less to selling hours. Inevitably this leads to a question of fairness concerning write-ups. The project is done, we’re below budget, and there’s a windfall of extra fee. Is this OK … is it ethical?
Thank you contributing to the growth of the PSMJ A/E/C Pulse blog in July 2019! For an archived list of our past blog posts, click HERE. We look forward to continuing to bring you powerful tips and top news from the A/E/C industry.
Thank you for reading!
Now its your turn: We invite you to submit a blog post on any hot topic related to the A/E/C industry.
