The time to start managing the schedule is before it has begun. Your urgency is a sign of your reactivity; your reactivity puts your lack of planning on full display. A marathon is not won on the last mile but in the first 25.

Authority does not mean dictatorship. It does not mean all-knowing, and it most definitely does not mean all-powerful. Becoming an actual authority takes years. Over time, as knowledge expands with new experience, small tranches of authority are handed over.

We are in the budget control business. We develop a budget during preconstruction and manage it throughout construction. Sometimes, it involves difficult conversations, or it reveals an underestimated or missed scope item, but all calculations are figured in the open with margins and cost transparency.

How researching specific code requirements and available exemptions for fenestration U-factor saved the new French doors on my remodel in Belmont, Massachusetts.

Never underestimate the effectiveness of a small gesture of kindness. Sometimes, it’s coffee on a cold day. Sometimes, it’s just about relationship building. Sometimes, it’s about repairing bridges that needed mending after a very long and challenging rough-in. We need our relationships to function and flourish with the people we work with. Build it with donuts.

A project is not a definable thing. It is a process; it is a development; it is the sum of many parts. However, we can start to define it more accurately if we look at it as synthesizing three key elements: budget, schedule, and design. Our role is to control all three.

The carpentry trade lacks the infrastructure to easily distinguish a master carpenter from a cowboy with a saw. The apprentice is defined by their master, the journeyman by themselves, and the master by their peers or by the public. One cannot declare themselves a master; the community decides.