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BUSINESS NEWS MANHARD CONSULTING OPENS NEW KATY, TEXAS OFFICE: FOURTH TEXAS OFFICE IS CLOSER TO KEY CLIENTS AND PROJECTS, STRENGTHENS PRESENCE IN AND COMMITMENT TO THE HOUSTON AREA National civil engineering and surveying firm Manhard Consulting has opened a new office in Katy, Texas. The location will be home to Manhard’s commercial site team, led by Senior Project Manager Guillo Machado, P.E., who manages industrial, office, multi-family, and mixed- used projects for the greater Houston area and beyond. The Katy office will also handle residential and land development, one of Manhard’s core services nationally, for projects in the region. “We’re thrilled to have the workload and reach
in the Houston area and Texas to support this location. With a growing list of clients, partners, projects, and team members in Katy and the surrounding region, this new location will make it more convenient for everyone to connect,” said Jon Unterreiner, region manager – Houston operations. “It also gives us better access to the talented workforce in the Katy area as we continue to grow locally and statewide.” The Katy location is the firm’s fourth office since it established a presence in Texas, joining existing offices in The Woodlands, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio. Manhard associates in the area or visiting from one of the firm’s 10 other offices nationwide will be able to work from the Katy or Woodlands
offices, depending on their needs and the locations of the clients and projects they’re working on. Manhard Consulting is a full-service civil engineering and surveying firm that serves public and private clients nationwide. Our associates collaborate with your teams to address safety, functionality, and quality-of-life issues where it matters most: on your site, in the community, in everyday life. With more than 250 employees, 11 offices across the United States and more than 10,000 clients, Manhard Consulting continues to lead the industry as one of the most responsive, innovative, and technologically advanced civil engineering and surveying firms in the country.
STEPHEN LUCY, from page 4
Bottom line, we have to be willing to reinvest if we want to change our firms. After all, if you do not personally invest, why would new talent in your firm, much less some external investor, put their funds at risk? ❚ ❚ Invent then deploy. Many firms develop and deploy innova- tive solutions for their own use, but some are now creating entirely new businesses to provide those same innovations to the industry. We know our industry best so it only makes sense that we also understand how best to innovate our industry. We should not talk about the AEC industry as a “mature” industry as so many societal challenges must be ad- dressed by us and will require innovation. There is also increasing collaboration between academia and industry. Both sides recognize their symbiotic relationship in which neither can succeed without the other. This includes the industry pushing for improved curriculum and academia requiring industry input to shape and fund research with the ultimate mutual goal of attracting and retaining the best and brightest talent. Seek out and participate with the source of your future employees. ❚ ❚ Look to the future. Generational differences are evolving and how generations keep in touch and interact with their clients while still creating meaningful relationships differs considerably. My social media platform involves one-on-one facetime, not clicking “like” on LinkedIn, but social media apps are definitely less costly, more accessible, and do not add inches to your waistline. Younger staff will also adopt and deploy technology more rap- idly, and, given they do not have all the preconceived ideas of what is the norm, they tend to think outside the box on how to approach and address challenges. Let them be creative. There is risk with this approach, but our most dramatic and exciting changes in firm operations have been created when our young staff asked the question “why?” There is no better way to avoid commoditization than to actively engage in our industry and with our clients. Embrace generational changes, become more adaptive, reinvest in your firm, and be willing to challenge the status quo. A little change will do us all good. STEPHEN LUCY is CEO of JQ with offices in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Lubbock, and San Antonio, Texas. Contact him at slucy@ jqeng.com.
are also a problem-solver putting issues into context. Trust is gained over time as the client turns to you when they face a challenge requiring your expertise and perspective. It may also mean that you need to make a decision that is not in your personal best interest in the short-term to have bigger gains in the long-term. ❚ ❚ Recognize market changes. By abdicating some of our re- sponsibilities and being slow adopters of technology, we have allowed others to take over some of our space. Manufacturers of specialized systems have stepped in to provide consult- ing as a “free” service to their customers as their costs can be hidden within the cost of their product. Granted, keeping up with the rapidly changing technology of some of these sys- tems can be daunting, but your client needs unbiased profes- sional advice which may not be forthcoming from the product producer. Our technical expertise has to evolve so we can remain relevant to the discussion. “If asked how to avoid commoditization, typical responses for our industry are to specialize, differentiate, and diversify. These are all valid approaches and have worked well for many AEC firms. However, we should also look outside our industry to gain a broader perspective.” ❚ ❚ Capitalization to enhance growth. The lack of available capital from either internal or external sources can be chal- lenging. Most firms are self-funded, and the owners remove the profits from the firm instead of investing for the future. This immediate reward approach may block the type of inno- vation and investments in technology that lead to specialized capability. As our industry margins may not be as appealing as newer markets, sources of external funding may also be limited. And we have to approach outside capital with a bit of apprehen- sion as venture capital often comes with performance expec- tations that may not be achievable, and that may lead to a “bundle and sell” result a few years down the road.
THE ZWEIG LETTER July 22, 2019, ISSUE 1305
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