The Business Development Best Practices are an ongoing effort by the AGC Business Development Forum Steering Committee to bring more BD resources and best practices to the AGC membership. Written and developed by industry experts in Business Development, these best practices cover a wide range of topics, from relationship building and sales to marketing and proposals.

At the AGC Annual Convention in Las Vegas, NV, the Building Division by acclimation elected Douglas Maibach as Chairman for 2017-2018. Doug is Chairman of Barton Malow Enterprises and Executive Vice President of Barton Malow Company in Southfield, Michigan. He is a very active leader in local community and industry organizations.

Christie DeLuca, AECOM Grow, increase, expand. These concepts form the foundation of a company’s strategic goals. Although not all strategies require entering new markets, at some point, firms must expand beyond existing clients or geographies to achieve significant growth. Whether you’re on the executive team or serve in the business development space, answering these questions honestly can help your team determine where your company should focus its resources to achieve realistic and meaningful growth.

Matthew Lee, Young Contracting Have you ever had to sit through a presentation where you spend the entire time checking you phone for emails and messages even though you know you haven’t received any new ones? At some point in your career, whether you are in business development, sales, marketing, management, or otherwise, most of us will have to get up in front of a group of people and make a presentation. Here are FIVE tips that may help you give a meaningful presentation.

Almost 70% of contractors are having a hard time filling skilled positions, according to an AGC survey. This article looks at what some builders and associations are doing to increase the pipeline of future workers and retain current ones.

Wal-Mart estimates that plans for new and remodeled stores will involve 24,000 construction jobs. The retailer is among companies focusing on domestic hiring and investment.

Mobile devices are increasingly the channel of choice for personal and business communications, especially among the young. Addressing contractors and their specific needs, Mayer Electric is offering a digital project-management app that works within a distributor's enterprise-resource planning system to deliver daily or even hourly project updates.

Construction contracts can be an unholy mess with their often unique provisions that too often thwart predictability and fairness. The ConsensusDocs coalition of 40 industry groups has formed over the past nine years to counter this trend, and its latest update offers wide-ranging revisions for its 2016 Design-Bid-Build prime and subcontract agreements.

January 31, 2017 | 2:00 - 3:00 pm EST Lean construction methods in the building industry have focused largely on coordinating work between various trades and eliminating conflict through more productive communication and coordination. Although these concepts are important in all construction work, horizontal contractors self-perform more work and build in a more linear fashion, resulting in a greater need to improve performance within its own operations. In many ways horizontal construction is more like manufacturing than building construction.

Applications for the 2016 Outstanding Student Chapter Contest have been accepted and AGC of America received applications from exceptional Student Chapters across the country! Each of the Student Chapters demonstrated a strong portfolio showing dedication to their community and public service projects. Three applications in particular stood out from the others and AGC of America is happy to announce the first, second and third place winners of the 2016 AGC Outstanding Student Chapter Contest: