We design buildings to last 50, 75, even 100 years. That's one of the things I love about construction. We're not just building for today. We're creating places that will be part of a community for generations. But here's something I've been thinking about. Are we designing those buildings for the climate they'll experience over their lifetime, or the climate we've grown accustomed to? A building completed in 2026 could still be occupied in 2100. That's a long time to as

I've spent a good portion of my career around construction materials, and there are certain things you just assume will always go together. Steel and structural framing. Glass and windows. Concrete and cement. That last one, apparently, is no longer a requirement. ACCIONA, the Spanish infrastructure and construction company, has been testing a concrete alternative that doesn't use traditional Portland cement as its binder. And considering cement has been one of the fund

I’ve always liked construction materials that make you look twice. Not because they are necessarily flashy or futuristic, but because they challenge something we have been doing the same way for a very long time. A newly reopened museum in Ghent, Belgium, has done exactly that. The new wing of Design Museum Gent is covered with more than 80,000 pale bricks. At first glance, they look like a contemporary interpretation of the masonry that has defined European cities for centur

I've spent most of my career around construction materials, so it takes something a little unusual to make me stop and think, Wait...concrete can do what? A company in Spain managed to do exactly that. PhotoKrete, a Bilbao-based technology company that grew out of European research, is developing a photonic cementitious material designed to do something we normally don't associate with concrete: Help cool buildings and cities. Not by running pipes through it. Not by conn

There are projects that are interesting because of their size, and others because of what they may tell us about where construction is heading. The University of Oregon’s Tykeson Child Behavioral Health Building in Portland falls into the second category. The 54,000-square-foot, two-story facility is being built with a mass timber structural system and will become the permanent home of the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health and the Prevention Science Institute

When specifying a commercial roofing system, two of the most common single-ply options are TPO and PVC. At first glance, they can look remarkably similar: both are thermoplastic membranes, both use heat-welded seams, and both are widely available in reflective colors that can help reduce rooftop heat gain. But their formulations, performance characteristics, and best-fit applications are not identical. Understanding those differences early in design can help architects, owner

In hospitality, a door is more than a way into a guestroom. It contributes to privacy, acoustics, durability, life-safety performance, and the overall impression a guest has of the property. That makes the choice between solid-core and hollow-core doors an important specification decision. What Is a Solid-Core Door? A solid-core wood door uses a dense engineered or mineral-based core beneath its face material. The added mass gives the assembly a substantial feel and can suppo

For decades, commercial roofing contractors have operated in a market dominated by a relatively small group of major manufacturers. These companies have built strong brands, extensive distribution networks, and proven roofing systems. But the roofing industry is changing. Contractors today are under pressure from nearly every direction. Labor remains challenging. Material costs affect already-tight margins. Building owners expect more options and greater value. And contractor

Every construction project is built around controlling risk. Schedules are planned. Materials are tracked. Subcontractors are coordinated. Safety procedures are established. Millions of dollars can depend on keeping a project moving according to plan. Yet every night, construction sites across America are left holding an enormous amount of valuable equipment, materials and tools, often behind little more than fencing, locks and cameras. The result is a theft problem measured

I've spent a lot of my career in business development, and the longer I do this, the more convinced I become of something pretty simple: People trust people, not sales techniques. There are countless books, seminars, podcasts, and training programs designed to teach us how to build rapport with clients. Ask this question. Mirror their body language. Use their name. Find common ground. Follow this process. And I'm sure some of those techniques have value. But there's also a po

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to work with some exceptional sales leaders. I've also worked for a few who taught me just as much, just in a different way. One experience reminded me that there's a significant difference between holding people accountable and helping people succeed. Every sales organization wants better results. That's not the challenge. The challenge is how leaders respond when those results aren't there. Public Accountability Isn't Always Leadersh

For years, triple-glazed glass was viewed as a premium product. It was specified primarily for high-performance homes, cold climates, and specialized buildings where energy efficiency justified the additional cost. Today, that conversation is changing. As building owners face rising energy costs, stricter building codes, increasing occupant expectations, and a growing emphasis on renovating aging buildings instead of replacing them, triple glazing is finding its way into proj

As our cities continue to grow, we've unintentionally created something known as the Urban Heat Island Effect. Every new parking lot, road, concrete sidewalk, steel structure, and glass building absorbs the sun's energy throughout the day. Instead of reflecting heat or cooling the surrounding environment, these materials store it and slowly release it back into the air long after the sun has gone down. The result is cities that can be 5–12°F (3–7°C) warmer than the surroundin

Construction has always been a global industry. The buildings we design and construct are local, but the materials that make them possible often come from around the world. Steel. Aluminum. Glass. Electrical equipment. Cement. Aggregates. Over decades, the industry has built supply chains that balance cost, quality, availability, and logistics. That's why the recent 50% tariffs on Canadian cement and aggregates are about much more than the price of concrete. They raise a much

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a developer working on a large mixed-use multifamily project on the West Coast. Like many projects today, it wasn't waiting on financing. It wasn't waiting on contractors. It wasn't waiting on materials. It was waiting on approvals. The project is still making its way through the entitlement process, and it reminded me of one of the biggest challenges facing housing today. Everyone agrees we need more housing. The difficult part is agreein

If you've been in construction long enough, you've probably noticed something strange about this market. Ask ten people how business is going, and you'll get ten completely different answers. One contractor says work has dried up. Another says they're booked solid for two years. One supplier is sharpening their pencil on every bid. Another can't produce product fast enough. One developer is putting projects on hold. Another is racing to break ground before demand outpaces sup

For years, discussions around solar and wind energy tended to follow predictable lines. One side talked about carbon emissions. The other talked about costs. The debate often centered on environmental priorities versus economic realities. What's interesting today is that those two conversations are increasingly becoming the same conversation. Because renewable energy is no longer being deployed simply because it's cleaner. It's being deployed because it makes economic sense.

When most people hear the words "data center," they think about technology. Servers. Artificial intelligence. Cloud computing. The digital infrastructure powering our increasingly connected world. What they don't think about is how data centers are quietly influencing projects that have absolutely nothing to do with technology. A school in Texas. A hospital in Tennessee. A manufacturing facility in Ohio. A municipal building in Arizona. Yet all of these projects are increasin

For years, construction has been talking about the labor shortage. At this point, it's become the industry's version of discussing the weather. Everyone knows it's happening. Everyone is experiencing it. And everyone is trying to figure out how to work around it. The challenge is that this isn't a temporary problem anymore. It's becoming a structural one. As we move through 2026, Associated Builders and Contractors estimates the industry will need to add roughly 349,000 new w

I work remotely. That means I spend a lot of time on the road visiting clients, attending meetings, and exploring project sites. When I'm not traveling, I'm usually working from my home office. And honestly, I have a pretty good setup. A comfortable desk.Good lighting.The technology I need. A quiet environment. It's a space designed exactly the way I like it. Yet, despite having everything I need sitting just a few feet away, I often find myself grabbing my laptop and heading