By Ross Edwards
For those of us in the construction business these words are ringing more true with each passing day. As more and more companies go out of business or lay off more people the hope of short term pain is becoming a fading dream. Most people attribute the” Innovate or Die” quote to: Damon Darlin in a 1997 article: innovate or die on the Net (1996) By CNET News.com Staff
The following is a summary from the AIA construction forecast for 2010:
Construction Volume by Sector:
- Retail: -28% in 2009, -12.6% in 2010
- Hotels: -25.8% in 2009, -16.8% in 2010
- Office buildings: -21.5% in 2009, -17.3% in 2010
- Education: -8.2% in 2009, -0.7% in 2010
- Healthcare: -1.5% in 2009, -0.8% in 2010
If your company has been doing work primarily in Retail, Hotels, and Office Buildings clearly the term Innovate or Die has taken on new meaning. The question is what does this mean for a Construction or Real Estate professional who has been doing this work for 20 or more years? Most people assume the market for these sectors will come back in the next few years. How long will it take for you to innovate into a new area? By the time you get there will your current expertise come back in vogue. Clearly the companies that have made their money and have established relationships in the Education and Healthcare areas are much better positioned than the players in the other areas.
The question then is where is the future of our business going? How long will the current malaise last? And finally, where will the money be for the next 2-5 years and how do we take advantage of that.
Over the next few blog articles we are going to focus on a few ways we are trying to Innovate at New Resource – stay tuned.