Minority Ownership of Construction Firms Increases

A study by the National Association of Home Builders found that the number of minority owned construction firms rose 44% from 2007 to 2012, from 109,000 up to around 157,000 in the United States. David Adelhardt at Adelhardt Construction has worked on programs that support minority owned construction firms and has also worked with other industry executives to increase minority participation in construction projects.

The number of one-person minority firms without a payroll increased 49% during this period of time, while the number of firms with paid employees increased just 5%. This reflects the overall industry trend of an increasing number of one-person residential construction shops. At a recent Associated Builders and Contractors diversity conference in Washington D.C., construction executives like David Adelhardt met to discuss minority involvement in the construction industry.

Minority owned construction companies have the advantage of being able to participate in minority business/disadvantaged business programs that require a percentage of publicly funded projects to be reserved for minority owned businesses. High performing minority owned businesses have an opportunity to get large contracts in these circumstances.

Construction companies like Adelhardt Construction seeks to attract minority workers in order to address the skilled labor shortage. By the year 2030, according to the Brookings Institute, 15 million Caucasians will have exited the workforce while 3 million African Americans, 17 million Hispanics, and 4 million Asians will have entered into the workforce. As a result of these trends, David Adelhardt and Adelhardt Construction have made it a priority to hire minority workers.

4 Common Scheduling Mistakes in the Construction Industry

Any successful construction project requires proper and realistic scheduling. In spite of this importance, scheduling remains one of the most common areas where mistakes are made, resulting in project delays, changes and claims. Construction industry surveys commonly find that scheduling performance is often underwhelming, with clients and client representatives regularly claiming to be dissatisfied with scheduling results. On the other hand, many contractors are unaware that there are problems with their scheduling practices, resulting in a negative cycle where best practices are never implemented and scheduling performance never improves. Below is a list of some of the most common scheduling mistakes that are commonly overlooked, provided by Adelhardt Construction, as a resource for contractors that aim to improve their practices and their limit project changes, delays and claims: 

Mistake #1- Setting Unrealistic Schedules 

Stakeholder pressure can result in construction firms setting unrealistic schedules. More than anything, schedules should be realistic so that all parties have reasonable expectations. This also involves breaking down large duration deliverables into smaller clear deliverables. 

Mistake #2 – Creating a Difficult to Understand Schedule

Taking the time to plan a schedule that is easy to understand is always beneficial for the success of any project.Schedules are commonly underutilized because they are not properly understood by all parties involved. For example, subcontractors may have a difficult time complying with schedules due to their complexity or disorganization. While the schedule is created and planned, consideration should be kept in mind for every party that will need to utilize it, as a way to maximize adherence. A schedule that all groups can stick to to is an asset to the project, while a difficult to understand schedule often results in inefficiency and project delays.

Mistake #3 – Not Incorporating the Available Resource Pool 

Every company has a set amount of unique resources available for a project. This must be considered during the creation of the schedule in order to keep it practical. Problems and delays occur when schedules set in place without considering available resources or with the unstated assumption that there are unlimited resources. Critical resources can be properly utilized and allocated with this level of planning, and delays can be avoided that result from waiting for resources to become available.

Mistake #4 – Not Setting the Proper Dependencies 

Within every construction schedule there is a logical order of dependencies in order for each deliverable to be completed at the expected date. As a simple example, wall foundations must be constructed before the walls themselves, and this must be properly represented on the schedule. If the schedule is not set with the right dependencies tool, it may show a wall construction step prior to the wall foundation step. Schedules should be thoroughly checked to ensure all dependencies are in the proper logical order to avoid delays. Taking the effort to improve scheduling practices has a clear benefit for bothcontractors and clients. By implementing the best practices described above, contractors may be able to significantly improve theirs scheduling outcomes. Proper training is also essential, as well as a commitment from construction executives to continually push for improved scheduling practices.

The 5 Target Issues for Sustainable Construction

Although there is almost universal agreement that sustainability is of critical importance for the future of the construction industry and global society, it is sometimes unclear how the broad goal of sustainability should be implemented.In order to make sustainable construction more understandable and applicable to the construction industry, the LafargeHolcim Foundation provides 5 “target issues” for sustainable construction as outlined by Adelhardt Construction below.

Ethicalstandards – Sustainable construction projects should adhere to the highest ethical standards and incorporate social inclusion at every step, from the planning of the building to ensuring that it will have a net positive impact on the community it is built in. Construction proposals should detail how the building will affect the community, and participation should include local authorities and relevant non-governmental entities.

Innovation – Sustainable projects should demonstrate their innovation and explore new potential areas of improved designs. This includes incorporating greener building materials, better mechanical systems and enclosures, less impactful structures and more. An attempt should be made to push the envelope for more efficient methods by every firm, and any recent advancements in architecture and civil engineering should be incorporated as relevant.

Economic viability – Sustainable construction projects should be economically feasible and have the goal of a net positive impact on the local economy. Profits and funding sources for the project should be transparent. The project should have the flexibility to adapt to any new environmental regulations and economic changes, as well as ownership changes. 

Aesthetic and contextual impact– Projects should have a positive impact on the cultural environment of the area where the building is located with the highest standard of architectural quality. Designs should meet requirements for durability and safety while offering appealing or unique designs, and the design of the building should aim to improve the existing conditions of the area in some way, incorporating both the manmade and natural environment.

Environmental and resource performance – Natural resources use must be sensible properly managed throughout their entire life cycle. The environmental and ecological footprint of projects should be minimized, with the maximum net positive impact on the local and global environment. 

This includes land use policies that maintain the natural landscape as much as possible, a focus on utilizing renewable energy when it is available, lowering CO2 emissions to the greatest extent, avoiding the use of toxic building materials, waste reduction, reuse and recycling, and more.

The 5 Target Issues help construction firms identify areas to improve upon

The LafargeHolcim Foundation aims to support sustainable construction throughout the world, and their “5 Target Issues” help construction firms identify target areas to improve upon. By outlining some of the specific goals of sustainability, construction companies can improve their understanding of sustainable construction and clarify some of the most important principles that are currently being used to guide the cutting edge of construction.

Adelhardt Construction remains committed to sustainable construction methods and has provided this information as a reference for organizations and individuals within the industry. Learn more about the 5 Target Issues and a wide range of other sustainable construction topics at https://www.lafargeholcim-foundation.org

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