Factor Blog for Architecture & Engineering Firms

In our work with successful A/E firms, we’ve found that following these 10 rules are critical for effective accounting and financial management.

While developing and sticking to a budget is a common practice for business in many industries, that isn’t necessarily the case with architecture and engineering (A/E) firms. Yes, it’s true that sticking to a budget in the face of unexpected events can be hard. But that doesn’t mean that budgeting is a waste of time. Quite the opposite, actually.

One of the best uses of downtime is providing training for project managers (PMs). In fact, as baby boomers continue to retire in ever-greater numbers, the loss of project management expertise is having a bigger and more negative impact on A/E firms with each passing year.

In this post, we address the final piece to the negotiation puzzle: seeing things from the client’s perspective. And this is definitely a case of “last, but not least.” While negotiation is, by its nature, a very “us-focused” activity, putting yourself in the client’s shoes is essential to success.

Completing negotiations in a way that both your firm and the client are happy with the outcome requires that you prepare properly and fully for your discussions. But what, exactly, does “proper” preparation look like? We’ll begin to address that in this post.

An area of architecture and engineering (A/E) firm contract negotiations that can be especially challenging for those unfamiliar with it is government negotiations. If your firm is pursuing government work, there are some potential pitfalls you really need to be aware of.

Group negotiations that include key stakeholders from each firm are crucial, as the collective insights of the participants are needed in order to be ready to engage with the client.

Short-term accounting simplification can hurts long-term results. Here’s how and why accounting is more than an overhead function.

For A/E firms, setting the proper scope, fees, and contract terms for a project is critical to success. Check out these strategies for successful project negotiations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has left its mark in many ways. For architecture and engineering (AE) firms, it has created a seismic shift in the way they do business, including how to hire and keep top talent.