Business Development within the construction industry presents multiple challenges as competition levels rise, continued supply obstacles occur, and labor shortages pressure companies to do more with less. On this episode, members of AGC’s Business Development Forum – Chris Martin, President at Atlas Marketing and Tonya Byrd (Jackson), Business Development Manager at Gilbane Building Company – discuss these challenges and share best practices and methods to help your construction company grow.

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Each year the AGC Education and Research Foundation offers undergraduate and graduate level scholarships to students enrolled in ABET or ACCE accredited construction management or construction related engineering programs. The application opened July 1, 2021 and closes November 1, 2021.

With COVID-19 restrictions lifting in the City of Philadelphia, GBCA’s Construction Leadership Council has come back together in-person! On June 10, 2021, the CLC hosted an in-person workshop and networking event at a local brewery. After 15 months of virtual meetings, virtual workshops, and virtual “meet-ups,” the CLC wanted an opportunity to rethink networking, and get a refresher on making business and industry connections. Matt Blank, Director of Business Development of Friedman LLP, spoke about building business through networking and relationships, as opposed to a hard sell. This approach to business development and relationship-building starts with a strong conversation.

On June 1, President Biden called for an “all-of-government effort to expand contracting opportunities for underserved small businesses across the country.” Among other initiatives, the goal is to increase the share of contracts going to small, disadvantaged businesses (SDB) by 50 percent by 2026, which the administration calculates as an additional $100 billion to SDBs over the five-year period. SDBs include 8(a) participants and other small businesses that are at least 51% owned and controlled by socially or economically disadvantaged individuals or groups. The Administration is silent about the other small business subcategories such as Women-Owned Small Businesses, HUBZone Small Businesses, and Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses. According to a recent Congressional Research Service report that analyzed federal contracts in FY2019, SBD contractors received 8.69% of all federal contracts and 10.13% of all small business eligible federal contracts.

As the director of marketing and social media for Small Giants, Kimberly Werner has worked in the design and construction industry since 2003, joined Small Giants in 2009 and moved to Colorado in 2015 to lead the expansion of Small Giants in the Denver market. In addition to her day-to-day responsibilities of proposal development, websites and social media, she focuses on Denver’s business development to showcase Small Giants as an industry marketing expert. In addition to being an active member of the AGC America Business Development Forum Steering Committee, Kimberly serves as the Denver Chapter President of the BD Guild, Communications Chair of the CoreNet Global Colorado Chapter, and the Communications Chair and Advisory Board for A Precious Child.

The Building Division by acclimation elected Michael Trettel as Chairman for the 2021-2022 term. Michael began his career as a Project Engineer and Project Manager and transitioned to business development. He is currently Director of Business Development for i+iconUSA (parent company of Joseph B. Fay Co. and i+iconSoutheast).