The Thinking, Given Away.
No selling here, just the argument.
Long reads exploring why construction continues paying for the same mistakes and what can be done differently, grounded in a research library of construction evidence and over twenty-two years on site.
The Thinking, on Video
The same ideas as the long reads, delivered in a few minutes.
Short films and talks covering planning, project delivery and learning from failure, with new content added as the channel grows.
Research and Learning
The Ideas Behind Better Delivery
Manifesto
Systematic Learning: Construction Needs an Open Loop
Aviation records failures, investigates them independently, and shares the lessons so they are not repeated.
Construction often does the opposite.
Here is how we close the loop.
Long Read
Construction’s Biggest Cause of Delay is the One Thing Nobody Teaches
Planning continues to be identified as the leading cause of delay, yet it remains one of the least taught practical skills in the industry.
Long Read
There Are Two Kinds of Planning. Most of Us Were Taught the Wrong One
Planning to defend versus planning to deliver, why dates can become unrealistic before work even begins, and why the contract may already be on your side.
Retention clauses become void three years from commencement, including in contracts signed before the ban. What the bill says, when it bites, and what replaces the five percent.
Avoidable error costs UK construction £10 billion to £25 billion a year, roughly twice the industry's entire annual profit. Where it hides, what causes it, and the training that halved it.
How to run a planning workshop that gives you a programme the whole team owns, and how a Tier 1 contractor makes it the standard on every job.
Coverage in the trade press
Where the thinking has been picked up outside this site.
How to bring a slipping job back: four key steps
“Projects do not fail all at once. They drift.” The first article in CM's new series on construction project management: the four recovery moves, in the order they need to happen.
CIOB Gold Medal winner shares project management lessons in free book
"The knowledge that finishes jobs walks out of our industry every Friday in the heads of the people about to retire."
Read the article →Retentions ban means quality work, installed, certified and paid
Andy's opinion piece on the retentions ban: what replaces the five percent, and why quality, certified and paid is the only version that works.
Read the article →Innovative Thinker: how companies can foster male allyship
From NCE's Innovative Thinker series: Andy, then at Willmott Dixon, on what it takes for men in construction to become active allies.
Read the article →Prefer to Use It Rather Than Read It?
The free tools turn these ideas into practical resources you can apply on your projects this week.
Blog Library
The Tier 2 Trap: Why Growth Breaks Construction Businesses
Why Construction Businesses Fail – Even While Winning Work
