Challenges facing today’s AE firms

I spent my 43-year professional career working in or for architecture and engineering (AE) firms. I have been an owner in four of them, a board member in several more, and the firm we founded in 1988 that is today Zweig Group is the leading management consulting, research and training firm serving the industry. So, I have a good perspective on the industry. And while some may think AE firms are raking in the big bucks with the construction boom we still have underway here, they face many challenges. Here are some of them: Lack of public awareness and understanding of what these firms do. Most people think architects and engineers build things. For the most part, they don’t. They design them. And the design is critical to the success of any construction project. You can’t put a project out to bid unless you have detailed plans and specifications that allow you to know that every contractor is pricing out the same thing. You can’t get a building permit without a proper set of plans. You can’t design a site without a survey. Architects design buildings, both inside and out. Civil engineers and landscape architects develop the sites the […]

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