Executive Corner: Is It Time for a Shareholders’ Agreement Tune-Up?
A well-crafted shareholders’ agreement is the foundation of any professional service firm’s ownership transition plan. In privately held firms (which make up the vast majority of firms in the A/E industry), this is the document that governs how ownership is transacted by and between the company and its shareholders. A good agreement will speak to virtually any circumstance that may arise, and specify the obligations of the company and shareholders in each circumstance with respect to ownership....
Code Update: A Seismic Monitoring Systems Snapshot for Building Code Compliance in California
California is most associated with earthquake risk, but the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) points out that while all U.S. states have some potential for earthquakes, 42 of the 50 states “have a reasonable chance of experiencing damaging ground shaking from an earthquake in 50 years.” Even with this assessment, it was only in the last decade that California building code required seismic monitoring. In the rest of the United States, there are no seismic monitoring building codes, except in Oreg...
Infrastructure Outlook: We Need 21st Century Solutions for America’s Infrastructure
Americans know how bad the country’s infrastructure has become, particularly our roads and bridges. The growing U.S. population, currently at 328 million people and rapidly approaching 400 million, puts a tremendous strain on our already taxed infrastructure. Commuting to work, going to the doctor’s office, and getting the kids to their activities are taking us longer due to worsening roads and congestion. The people expect their federal elected leaders to act to improve these problems, but so f...
From the Editor: Managing a $10 Trillion Construction Industry
Several years ago, the trillion-dollar global construction industry (projected to hit $10 trillion by 2020) caught the eyes of Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Much has been written (including in this column) about the industry’s inefficiencies, and there’s much interest in capitalizing on efficiency improvements. The result was and continues to be a flood of money pouring into construction technology. One area of particular interest is project- and design-management software platforms intende...
Final Thoughts: Which Costumes Have You Worn Throughout Your Engineering Career?
It’s Halloween season: the time of year when we get to dress up and act like a different person or character for a day. We can take on another role, different from the role we play at home or at work. I asked my young neighbor what he was going to be for Halloween, and he said, “Harry Potter, just like the last two years.” He must like playing the role of that character; he can be magical! How many characters have you played as an engineer? How many costumes have you worn? Do you like the cha...
ReEngineering the Engineer: Teaching IPD: Integrated Project Dharma
In 2016, Fitzpatrick Engineering Group was invited to be a signatory for a true Integrated (Lean) Project Delivery (ILPD) project for a regional hospital system. Most of the design team (everyone but the architect) as well as the general contractor and his subs had all worked together at this hospital on a previous project. There were 11 signatory companies to the contract: the owner, the design team (A/S/MEP), the general contractor and some of his subcontractors. We worked almost six months...
Infrastructure Outlook: The Competitive Cost of Waiting to Invest in Infrastructure
As the U.S. population keeps growing, we can’t simply maintain the status quo. And to bring change, we need infrastructure investment: approximately $57 trillion during the next 12 years. In the past, the United States spent billions of dollars on improvements to outdated infrastructure; and although there’s a need to repair and upgrade, it can’t be our sole focus. We can no longer spend billions of dollars solely on improvements. It’s time to invest in “smart” and connected technology to mee...
From the Editor: Where Do You Go When You’ve Reached the Peak?
For the last 17 years, I’ve worked with surveyors, contractors, and engineers to help them lower their costs and increase profits. In doing so, I’ve seen many firms get to the point where they’ve reached “peak efficiency.” It’s exciting when an organization puts in the effort, makes upgrades, tweaks the process and gets positive results. But then what? Where do you go when you’ve gone as far as you can? In the early 2000s, I was consulting on earthwork operations. Earthwork is one of the larg...
Code Update: SMDI Updates Guide Specification for Highway Bridge Fabrication
High-Performance Steels (HPS) have been used in bridge projects for more than two decades, helping builders reduce weight, ease construction and improve design flexibility. HPS made a rapid entry into the bridge industry, with the first HPS 70W bridge completed in December 1997, only three years after starting the cooperative research effort to develop the material. Today, it’s estimated there are more than 500 HPS bridges in service in the United States. Although HPS use isn’t a new trend, o...
Executive Corner: Why Is My Company’s Valuation Lower When Selling to Key Employees vs. Selling to Another Company?
I’ve spoken with countless exasperated A/E firm owners through the years who’ve asked why their firm’s internal valuation doesn’t reflect a number similar to what they believe they can reasonably expect from an external sale. Most, but not all, are first-generation owners who aren’t sure why they’re expected to sell shares internally at a discount to what they might receive on a pro-rata basis if their company were to sell to an outside acquirer. Understanding the various value levels can hel...
Video: Crashes Drop Measurably After Rural Road Safety Improvement Project on US 521 in Lancaster County
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June Issue 2026
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