TZL 1550 (web)

August 19, 2024, Issue 1550 WWW.ZWEIGGROUP.COM

TRENDLINES

Employee relocation

Existing employees only New employees only New and existing employees

Business awards are an excellent way to gain recognition and highlight areas of excellence. Something to celebrate

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W e’re in the full swing of awards season, and Zweig Group has many reasons to celebrate. We’ve announced the winners for all our awards programs, we’re gearing up for the 2024 ElevateAEC Conference & Awards Gala this September, and now we have a few wins of our own to toast. We’re proud to be selected for the following awards: Inc. 5000 list of America’s Fastest-Growing Private

FIRM INDEX Fehr Graham.............................................................2 Midwest Engineering..........................................2 Vierbicher.................................................................. 11 Ware Malcomb........................................................7 MORE ARTICLES n MATT VERDERAMO: Stop being treated like the enemy Page 4 n MARK ZWEIG: Why your people can’t see the big picture Page 6 n ERIC TUTHILL & JORDAN WILSON: The IRS is gearing up to audit innovation Page 9 n Uncharted territory: Rod Zubella Page 11 The average American will go through at least five career changes in his or her lifetime – career changes that could very well require relocation. According to Zweig Group’s 2024 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Report , 39 percent of firms are willing to pay relocation costs for both new and existing employees. Conversely, 37 percent of firms offer no relocation benefits, while 22 percent support only new employees and 2 percent only existing employees. Participate in a survey and save 50 percent on the final or pre- publication price of any Zweig Group research publication.

Mailena Urso

Companies. Our inclusion in this prestigious list underscores Zweig Group’s commitment to continuous growth and innovation. dotCOMM Awards Honoring Excellence in Web Creativity and Digital Communication. We’re proud to receive a Gold for our Civil + Structural Engineer Magazine , and Honorable Mention for The Zweig Letter . These awards reflect our team’s creativity and dedication to delivering top-notch digital content.

At Zweig Group, we love celebrating our award winners, and we’re proud to be award winners ourselves. Awards like these are more than just accolades; they’re a testament to the hard work and talent of our teams. They help differentiate us from our competitors and provide a platform for showcasing our strengths and achievements. For companies in the AEC industry and beyond, entering business awards is an excellent way to gain recognition and highlight areas of excellence. These accolades are a reminder of Zweig Group’s ongoing commitment to excellence in every aspect of our business. Whether it’s through our publications, consulting services, or events, we strive to deliver the best. By setting high standards for ourselves and continually pushing boundaries, we can better contribute to the growth and success of our clients in the AEC industry. As we reflect on our recent achievements, we are grateful to our incredible team, whose hard work and dedication make these wins possible. We are also thankful to our clients and partners, who trust us to deliver exceptional services and solutions.

See MAILENA URSO, page 2

THE VOICE OF REASON FOR THE AEC INDUSTRY

TRANSACTIONS MIDWEST ENGINEERING ASSOCIATES JOINS FEHR GRAHAM Midwest Engineering, a 34-person engineering firm based in East Peoria, merged with Fehr Graham. Midwest Engineering co-owners, Robert Culp, PE, CFM, and David Horton, PE, chose Fehr Graham because the two firms share a focus on providing value and innovative solutions to clients’ problems. “We wanted a partner with similar values and business acumen,” Culp said. “Fehr Graham has grown over the years but has maintained a small firm feel by being attentive to clients, which resonated with our approach to client business.” For Fehr Graham, Midwest Engineering’s established structural and transportation engineering services combined with expertise in mechanical and electrical engineering align with strategic growth objectives. Fehr Graham President Mick Gronewold, PE, appreciates how well the strengths of the people from both firms complement each other. “When we saw the level of services and expertise Midwest Engineering brought to the table, we knew they would be a perfect addition to our team,” Gronewold said. “Their culture fits seamlessly with ours, and together, we’re stronger.” During the transition, Midwest Engineering will be known as Midwest Engineering Associates, a Fehr Graham company.

Together with 240 employees, the merger promises clients a broader spectrum of professional resources. “Joining Fehr Graham opens doors to a large pool of expertise that will significantly benefit our clients,” Horton said. “It’s about providing a richer, more comprehensive service experience.” Staff at Midwest Engineering Associates, a Fehr Graham company, will continue to operate from their respective offices in East Peoria and Peoria, Illinois, and Coralville, Iowa, ensuring uninterrupted service for clients. Having served the Peoria region for 14 years, Midwest Engineering specializes in civil/site transportation, hydraulic, structural, construction engineering, mechanical, electrical, plumbing engineering, professional land surveying and landscape architecture services. Midwest Engineering Associates, a Fehr Graham company remains committed to its clients and community from its offices at 140 E. Washington St., East Peoria, Illinois; 1904 NE Monroe St., Peoria, Illinois; and 2000 James St., Suite 213, Coralville, Iowa. Fehr Graham is a premier provider of engineering, environmental and funding solutions for commercial, industrial, institution and government clients with Midwest office locations in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa.

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about the projects and ideas driving the AEC industry forward? Learn more with Civil+Structural Engineer Media.

PO Box 1528 Fayetteville, AR 72702

MAILENA URSO, from page 1

Chad Clinehens | Publisher cclinehens@zweiggroup.com Sara Parkman | Senior Editor & Designer sparkman@zweiggroup.com Tel: 800.466.6275 Email: info@zweiggroup.com Online: zweiggroup.com/blogs/news LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/22522 Instagram: instagram.com/zweiggroup Twitter: twitter.com/ZweigGroup Facebook: facebook.com/p/Zweig- Group-100064113750086 Published continuously since 1992 by Zweig Group, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. ISSN 1068-1310. Issued weekly (48 issues/year). © Copyright 2024, Zweig Group. All rights reserved.

Looking ahead, we are excited about the future and the opportunities that lie ahead. Don’t miss out on the upcoming 2024 ElevateAEC Conference & Awards Gala this September 18-19. Join us in Tampa, Florida, for an inspiring event filled with networking opportunities, insightful sessions, and a chance to celebrate the best in the industry. Together, we’ll continue to elevate the AEC industry to new heights! Click here to learn more. Mailena Urso is chief marketing officer at Zweig Group. Contact her at murso@ zweiggroup.com.

2024 ELEVATEAEC CONFERENCE & AWARDS GALA The largest in- person gathering of industry leaders and award-winning firms, this year’s conference promises to be bigger and better than ever, with a jam-packed agenda designed to help you connect, learn, and celebrate like never before. Join us September 18-19 in Tampa Bay, Florida. Click here to learn more!

THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 19, 2024, ISSUE 1550

OPINION

Stop being treated like the enemy

W e work with contractors all over the country who have the same problem: They want to know how to get their clients to treat them like a partner instead of like an enemy. When your clients treat you like a partner, you run better projects, win negotiated work, and have happier people.

At the end of the day, there may not be a more important problem to resolve for your business, because when you get treated like a partner, you run better projects, win negotiated work, and have happier people (because they aren’t fighting all the time). Let’s talk about how you can easily start getting treated like a partner tomorrow: ■ Know your worth. First, before you can get treated like a partner, you must believe you are worthy of it. It’s shocking to me how many contractors expect to be treated like crap, so they just accept it as a part of “being in construction.” I can’t stress enough that if you don’t believe you are great, then no one will act like you’re great. If you don’t see all the value you are providing, then clients will take advantage of you. It’s that simple. So, before you can ever do anything externally to be treated like a partner, internally you need to know your worth.

By the way, the best way to know your worth? Be better than your competition! Execute relentlessly. Expect excellence from yourself and your team. Go be better, recognize it in yourself, then use the rest of this newsletter to establish yourself with your clients. ■ Set expectations. You must set an expectation with your clients that you expect to be treated like a partner and that you will treat them the same. Clients often think – based on their thousands of past experiences with other contractors – that because they hired you, they are in charge. You have to help them break this mindset. You need to teach them to treat you like a partner. You do this by being firm and direct when you recognize they are falling into that mindset. “I understand how your experiences with other contractors may make you feel this way, but we are not like other contractors. We are going to

Matt Verderamo, MS

THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 19, 2024, ISSUE 1550

be honest, do everything we can to make this a great job, and be a fantastic partner for you on this project. In order to be successful in doing that, can you be honest, fair, and treat us like a partner in return? If you do, I promise our relationship will be significantly better than most other contractors you’ve ever dealt with.” It’s hard to say no to that. ■ Stand up for yourself. Whether it is during the bid phase, during project kick-off, or the first time you experience a problem, a critical moment will occur: someone – whether you or the client – will make a mistake. It’s easy to be a partner when things are good but much more difficult once there’s a problem. If your client makes the mistake, make sure to treat them kindly and fairly, and to ask that they treat you the same when you undoubtedly make a mistake! If it’s your mistake, then listen and take your licks, but then stand up for yourself by setting an expectation that anger, screaming, or threats don’t let you operate at your best or be a partner to them. As a partner, you will admit and fix your mistakes, but you need them to trust you when you do. It doesn’t mean you expect there to be no conflict or repercussions, but it does mean that you won’t accept being treated like an enemy, because ultimately it will negatively impact the project!

Yes, they hired you, and yes, they are your client, but that doesn’t mean they get to boss you around. They hired you to do a job – and they need to let you do it! So, make sure you stand up for yourself so you can do just that. IS THIS THE BATTLE? OR THE WAR? One final thought: As you are standing up for yourself – especially after making a mistake – you should ask yourself: Is this the battle? Or the war? You should want to win the war: make money on the project, finish on time, build relationships so you can work together in the future. Sometimes, to win this war, you need to lose some battles. So, don’t be afraid to say:

“Yes, we screwed up.”

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“I see where we could have done better.”

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■ “You’re right, we need to be better.” Because it may lose you the battle, but it should put you in a position to win the war. Matt Verderamo, MS is a consultant at Well Built Construction Consulting. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

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THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 19, 2024, ISSUE 1550

www.amesgough.com

FROM THE FOUNDER

Limited office interaction, unclear business plans, and overly structured communication can prevent employees from understanding the firm’s big picture. Why your people can’t see the big picture

I hear a lot of AEC firm owners and top-level managers complaining that their people cannot “see the big picture” when it comes to what the firm is trying to accomplish.

While I certainly understand that frustration, it’s usually not that difficult to see WHY that is the case. More is within control of management than they think. Here are some of their practices that are contributing to the “lack of big picture thinking” problem: 1. Everyone is not in the office. Yes, I understand all of the benefits of remote work. No commute time, easier to have a life, yada yada yada. Those things are all true. However, there are also some big negatives that may outweigh those benefits for telecommuting employees. One of them is they are cut off from management and their peers. They also don’t see and meet the clients coming and going. They don’t get drafted to come into a meeting they weren’t scheduled to be in. They don’t hear the chatter and see how other people work. They don’t feel the energy and the hum of the workplace. If they work from home all day is there any wonder they don’t see the bigger picture of what they and the firm are trying to do?

2. The office layout itself works against this. Just getting everyone together isn’t enough. If the managers are all in private offices with their doors shut and the worker bees are all in cubicles, the two may never meet. That’s not good! And once again – yes – I understand that pretty much everyone would prefer a private office over being in an open workspace. But what is best for building culture and understanding and connections between people? Isolating workers from management? I think not. 3. The business plan isn’t known, and if it is, it isn’t substantive. So many companies do their business plans and then don’t share them with everyone in the firm. Or, they share only little pieces of their plan. So how can you expect people to see the big picture? On top of it, the majority of plans I see for AEC firms are so filled with jargon, buzzwords, and unsubstantive “values” statements, how could any intelligent person not think they were BS? Clean up and

Mark Zweig

THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 19, 2024, ISSUE 1550

ON THE MOVE WARE MALCOMB

ANNOUNCES

leadership and management, said Jason Dooley, regional vice president. “Her strong skills and dedication to the team and our clients make her the right leader to guide our team to continued success in the future.” Leyrer has joined the firm as civil engineering manager. In this role, she leads the overall growth and management of the Atlanta office’s civil engineering team. A licensed professional engineer in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia, she brings more than 10 years of land development and civil engineering experience to her new role at Ware Malcomb. “We welcome Lauren and look forward to her contributions to the firm,” said Ed Wilkes, P.E., regional director, civil engineering. “Her technical expertise and strong business development skills will facilitate the growth of our Atlanta civil engineering team and further solidify Ware Malcomb’s civil engineering prowess throughout the Southeast.” Before joining Ware Malcomb, Leyrer was a civil engineering group leader for a

regional land planning, civil engineering and landscape design firm. There, she led various commercial development projects throughout the state and focused on building market share in the industrial and healthcare space. Leyrer received her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. In addition, she is a graduate of the Urban Land Institute Center for Leadership, a past chair of ULI’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, and active in other industry organizations such as the Association of Medical Facility Professionals, and Women in Healthcare. Engineering Georgia Magazine recently recognized Leyrer as one of the “35 Under 35 - Women to Know in Georgia Engineering.” Established in 1972, Ware Malcomb is a contemporary and expanding full- service design firm providing professional architecture, planning, interior design, civil engineering, branding and building measurement services to corporate, commercial/residential developer and public/institutional clients throughout the world.

PROMOTION KOURTNEY PENNYCOOK, HIRE OF LAUREN LEYRER IN ATLANTA Ware Malcomb, an award- winning international design firm, announced the promotion of Kourtney Pennycook to studio manager, interior architecture and design in its Atlanta office. The firm concurrently announced that Lauren Leyrer, P.E. has joined the Atlanta office as civil engineering manager. OF Pennycook, in her new position as studio manager, will be responsible for the growth and management of the interior architecture and design studio. With more than ten years of experience in the interior design industry, she has a strong background in project management, space planning, furniture, and construction documentation and coordination. Her project resume includes various project types, including corporate office, landlord, industrial, retail, and multifamily. “Since joining the office as a project manager in 2021, Kourtney’s contributions have been instrumental to the team’s

simplify your plans, and then share them and talk about them with everyone in the business. Paint the picture for how achieving those goals and that grand vision is going to help improve the life of the individual employees in the business. Connect the dots! 4. The top leaders don’t believe in the vision nor see their jobs as selling everyone else. AEC firms are usually owned and run by highly intelligent people who each want to do things the way they want to do them. They don’t always agree on direction. And then on top of that, even if they do (agree on direction), they may have some rigid ideas about what their responsibility is (or isn’t) for selling everyone else on that direction. It’s a problem. The CEO has to get all of their managers to embrace the plan and then go sell it. Any cynicism or outdated thinking about roles has to be confronted! 5. The place is too structured and stratified, and the middle- and lower-level managers are over-relied upon to communicate the vision. Some top-level firm managers have the dysfunctional idea that they only need to communicate with the people who report to them and then those people have to pass things on to those who are their direct reports – instead of top management communicating directly with everyone at all levels. Have you ever played the game “telephone,” where someone whispers something in the ear of one person, who in

turn passes it on to the next person, and so on? Once the message goes through 10 or 20 people it is usually completely distorted. Stop thinking your managers are doing an effective job passing things down, especially when it comes to the big picture of what the firm is trying to accomplish. Too much is at stake to rely on them. 6. There’s too much measuring and reporting at the micro or unit level versus the overall firm performance. AEC firms really tend to do this. Project financial performance is overly scrutinized versus how the firm does on all work for any given client. Individual geographic office location performance is measured versus how the firm performs in market sectors across all offices. Individual staff utilization is the primary measure of contribution without considering the overall revenue generated by a given team. Bonuses are based on individual performance. None of these practices encourages cooperation nor big picture thinking about how the overall company is performing. ALL of these things are why, over the long haul, I prefer using the ownership carrot over all other motivators to promote big picture thinking. Creating value in the company stock or ownership interest takes a relentless focus on overall firm growth and profitability. And that’s the “big picture” right there! Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 19, 2024, ISSUE 1550

OPINION

It’s become increasingly apparent that Section 174 may be around longer than anyone believed possible. The IRS is gearing up to audit innovation

A fter being passed by a greater than five-sixths majority in the House, another tax reform bill (HR 7024) is slowly dying in the hands of the Senate. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the crescendo of questions as to “Why has the 174 issue not been remedied?” is potentially no longer the right question to be asking. At present the more apt questions are “Who wins?” and “How will the new law be enforced?” To answer these questions, you need not look further than Washington, D.C., which includes all legislators and our nation’s collectors, the IRS.

Eric Tuthill, CPA MSAcc

While the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) seems to be the focus of IRS ire, it appears to be more of a red herring as the underlying law regarding the ERC is particularly favorable to taxpayers. An investment in auditing legitimate claims will yield little revenue (though the case may still be made to go after fraudsters) while there are more appetizing adjustments to focus on. Section 174 represents just such an alternative collection vehicle. Millions of preparers inappropriately bypassed or missed accounting for Section 174, assuming legislative corrections would take place and would save them from their detrimental stances. Unfortunately, the much-needed legislation failed to take place, leaving

clients and their preparers exposed to extreme jumps in taxable income. If you think audits of R&D tax credit beneficiaries are a lucrative “revenue” generator for federal and state governments, Section 174 revenue generation, i.e. Section 174 audits, will make R&D audit values look like rounding errors. The enforced capitalization under IRC 174 applies to all companies, regardless of whether a taxpayer took the R&D tax credit allowed under IRC 41. This enables the IRS to examine taxpayers and obtain large adjustments even from those who believed they were safe from Section 174 capitalization. In fact, the IRS

Jordan Wilson

See ERIC TUTHILL & JORDAN WILSON , page 10

THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 19, 2024, ISSUE 1550

properly identify and amend to receive the credit, identifying appropriate components. If the taxpayer had previously participated in studies identifying these costs, the taxpayer would have been entitled to a $52,293 credit to offset their $164,250 increase in liability. This means that a taxpayer who failed to properly recognize their research expenses could end up $85,143 (not to mention interest!) poorer than a taxpayer who properly reported research expenditures. It’s starting to appear that despite many legislators’ best attempts to remove this aspect of the legislation it may still end up being the “law” of the land for 2022 and 2023, as retroactive treatment becomes less and less likely as time passes, taxpayers comply, and the IRS collects. Section 174 greatly increases the burden of compliance, however the cost of non-compliance with this requirement is much more substantial for the taxpayer. In effect, this layer of compliance has now become necessary for almost all taxpayers, which could thoroughly undermine and destroy businesses that have taken aggressive stances regarding the application of IRC 174. A taxpayer should ensure that they are in compliance by understanding the various aspects of the credit and what could be considered to be a research and development expense. They should do their best to claim the credit or identify which costs would be excludable under the rules. In the example above, the taxpayer, with a thorough R&D study, could determine that their rate of qualified expenditures is far lower than the IRS determination. However, without proper documentation of these expenditures, the IRS could easily adjust for a higher amount using extrapolative calculations. “Taxpayers who include the credit will generally see a net positive adjustment and a positive cash flow effect in approximately five years.” It’s also incredibly important to note that taxpayers who do not take advantage of the credit, while being subject to capitalization under 174, will experience a permanent, negative timing difference that will never be fully recovered. Taxpayers who include the credit will generally see a net positive adjustment and a positive cash flow effect in approximately five years. It’s become increasingly apparent that 174 may be around longer than anyone believed possible, as it punishes a core American value: innovation. Taxpayers who do not wish to engage in a study every year should contact their senators and House representatives and let them know the damage their inaction causes to the country and to normal, law-abiding business owners doing their best to thrive in the American market. Eric Tuthill is a tax manager with Corporate Tax Advisors, Connect with him on LinkedIn . Jordan Wilson is director of business development at Corporate Tax Advisors. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

ERIC TUTHILL & JORDAN WILSON , from page 9

has access to large databases of information, which can help it determine whether a company should have had expenses related to research, and flag those companies that obviously didn’t take capitalization into account. Exams can and will be opened to ascertain how much of their expenditures were related to research, and the IRS will enforce the adjustment, resulting in possibly large penalties and unreasonable tax bills. Historically, of the average 20,000 annual R&D tax credit beneficiaries, a third are professional service firms, which the IRS can easily leverage to ascertain industry averages with NAICS/SIC codes, leaving service firms particularly vulnerable to this examination technique. “It’s important to note that taxpayers who do not take advantage of the credit, while being subject to capitalization under 174, will experience a permanent, negative timing difference that will never be fully recovered.” As an example of just such a scenario, let’s look at a civil design engineering firm that never took the R&D tax credit and paid $1 million in wages in 2022 and $1.25 million in 2023. The taxpayer took the stance in 2022 and 2023 that because they never took the credit or broke out their research component from the rest of their costs, they did not have to capitalize a portion of these expenditures under IRC 174. The IRS can look at industry averages and ascertain the likely percentage of qualified research expenditures for a civil engineering firm (generally between 15 percent and 30 percent), verify that no asset was placed into service on form 4562 in 2022, and open an exam. Let’s say that the IRS, upon evaluation of a sampling of projects, determines that projects on average contain 20 percent expenditures related to research and development and attributes the amount to both W2 wages and overhead accounts, creating a capitalized amount of $300,000 in 2022 ($200,000 wages and $100,000 overhead) and $375,000 in 2023. This results in $270,000 and $277,500 deduction overstatement in 2022 and 2023, resulting in an underpaid liability (assumed effective rate of about 30 percent) of $81,000 and $83,250 in 2022 and 2023 respectively – a total of $164,250. This also results in a possible substantial underpayment penalty, which would be 20 percent of the portion of the underpayment of tax due to negligence and disregard. With the notices and other information provided for this capitalization component, practitioners may also have this penalty imposed on them for intentional disregard or aggressive stances by not informing their clients of their new requirements to allocate research expenses. Furthermore, although the IRS attributed a percentage adjustment for Section 174, they do not have to adjust for credit that should have been created through the application of IRC 41, the research and development credit. In fact, due to the incredible amount of legislation and tax law surrounding the credit, the taxpayer would need to engage a credit provider to

THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 19, 2024, ISSUE 1550

PROFILE

Uncharted territory: Rod Zubella President and CEO of Vierbicher (Reedsburg, WI), a community planning and engineering firm that is a proven partner for thriving Wisconsin communities.

By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent

I n 2024, Vierbicher was once again name a Best Firm To Work For by Zweig Group and Zubella most attributes this to being a firm that inspires its team to perform at a high level. As a whole, the company has created an environment where staff feel valued and like they can make a difference. “We’re a very open book here,” Zubella says. “We share financial data and always ask staff for input. I surround myself with smart people.” ASSESS AND ANALYZE. When Zubella reflects on the firm’s history, he’s reminded of how important it is to learn from mistakes, correct them and move on. For instance, prior to the Great Recession, he says the company had far too many corporate initiatives; not many were getting accomplished. “Our financial performance was subpar,” he says. “So, in 2011, we deliberately stepped back and examined our entire operation and stopped doing things that weren’t producing value.” They went through the 80/20 program with a consultant

and analyzed their complete client list. They took steps that allowed them to place focus on their best clients and to simplify their business practices. For example, Zubella asked his accounting manager to come up with a list of how she was spending her time. They learned that a surprising amount was spent on invoicing. As a result, they eliminated non-productive

activities and overall, streamlined the system. Zubella says the results have been amazing.

“Business simplification and a focus on clients and priorities that move the needle have been guiding principles for us ever since,” he shares. “We constantly remind ourselves that our current and future success is due to a clear focus on priorities. And, while we have a great client list, a large range of experience, and a well-rounded and talented staff, we don’t plan to be everything to everybody.” Since then, the company has seen its highest profitability.

See UNCHARTED TERRITORY , page 12

THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 19, 2024, ISSUE 1550

UNCHARTED TERRITORY , from page 11

ADAPT TO GROWTH. As it’s continued to grow, a need to hire additional resources for teams arose. They hired a human resources manager and a quality assurance manager to help take some of the training and recruiting responsibilities off the department managers. The human resources manager helps the leadership team recognize that managers need to focus more on their teams and staff to increase efficiency. In April 2023, significant strategic organizational changes included a shift from geography-based service to sector-based service, and adding more managers. “These changes have allowed managers to focus more on our people and their individual career development goals and to better shift work between teams,” he says. Now, Vierbicher has teams working across office locations to help better balance the workload and to increase collaboration between offices. The greatest challenge is finding staff to fuel this growth and being proactive in recruitment is key. Referral bonuses have led to a few hires. “We recognize that traditional recruiting isn’t good enough anymore,” he says. “We’ve significantly stepped up our investment in training for staff at all levels and are developing leaders from within.” Training initiatives encompass a broad spectrum and include CAD design, project management, and leadership development to ensure the team remains equipped to tackle evolving challenges and to drive progress toward its shared vision – One Team for a Better Today. Vierbicher has also engaged Zweig Group to develop a project management program. “We’re just getting started with the program,” he says. “In the past, we sent folks out for training, so this will be a game changer.” And, in leadership development, they’re updating their “Career Ladder” program. Zubella is happy to start succession planning now as he plans to retire in about eight years. THE NEXT CHAPTER. Last year, Vierbicher merged with Mau & Associates and that’s already proven to be a success with a rapid expansion and presence in Green Bay and Northeastern Wisconsin. This quick success is mostly due to a positive cultural alignment and complementary services between the two.

HEADQUARTERS: Reedsburg, WI NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 110 YEAR FOUNDED: 1976 OFFICE LOCATIONS:

Vierbicher staff enjoying a baseball game together.

The strategic plan for the next five years is to stay committed to growth because to date, they’ve embraced the benefits growth can bring and have started implementing a variety of initiatives to facilitate it (e.g., evaluating and expanding service lines, geographic markets, and staffing mix). They also plan to hire more entry-level staff to create a pool of future leaders and delegates. “Expansion not only opens up avenues for our staff’s advancement, but also spurs innovation, and increases the potential for more interesting and high-profile projects,” Zubella says. One such project that springs to mind for Zubella is the Community of Bishops Bay. This project is a 780-acre master plan community that stretches across two municipalities. One issue that arose during the project’s fifth phase of planning was how to serve it with utilities. This phase was separated from the existing utilities by a corporate boundary and a private golf course which the developer didn’t control. “We thought outside the box and provided the developer with a solution to obtain an easement from the golf course for the utilities and have one municipality sell their water to the other,” Zubella says. This was a complex undertaking, but the team’s wide range of experience combined with its trusted relationships made the solution a reality. Intergovernmental agreement amendments and coordination with various other public and private entities were all needed. “Maintaining open communication and fostering strong client relationships has always been a key in allowing us to navigate through uncharted territory with confidence,” Zubella says.

Reedsburg, WI

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Madison, WI

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Milwaukee, WI

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Prairie du Chien, WI

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Green Bay, WI

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MARKETS:

Commercial

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Education

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Healthcare

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Hospitality

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Industrial

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Multi-family housing

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Municipal

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Recreation

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Single family housing

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State government

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SERVICES:

Civil engineering

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Economic development

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Land surveying

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Landscape architecture

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Municipal engineering

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Planning and community development

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Public funding services

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Water resources engineering

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THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 19, 2024, ISSUE 1550

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