Our Blog

February 22, 2025

5 Tips on the Art and Science of Highway Cost Estimating

Estimating Ain't Bidding

Why Your Next Big Project Should Start With a Press Release

What's Possible vs What's In The Bid

The Art of the Takeoff

A Beginner's Guide to AI for Civil Contractors

Celebrating Your Most Important Asset

How Not To Hire

The Real Measure of Success: How Many People Have You Developed?

The Innovator’s Dilemma in Civil Construction: AI Will Reshape Everything

The Big Job Playbook

Cash Is King

Why Costco Is Stealing Your Next Superintendent

Why Horizontal Contractors Need a CRM

🧠 The Estimator of the Future Isn’t a Spreadsheet Wizard - It’s a Data Analyst with an AI Copilot

The Edge Podcast - Making Work Fun with Jay Winford

Losing a Bid at 0% Profit

What Field Crews Need to Know About Your Estimate

My First Bid as a Paving Estimator

If it ain’t broke, then break it

A Woman Who Paved The Way

Relentless Bidding

Bid Reviews That Don't Suck

The Most Heartfelt Compliment I Ever Received

Working for the Wrong Crowd

Decoding Construction Bidding: The Margin Conundrum

7 Things Every Estimator Should Know and a Bonus Challenge

Getting out of the office to see the work

5 Tips on the Art and Science of Highway Cost Estimating

The Call Every Construction Leader Dreads (And How to Handle It)

“You Either Win Or You Learn” - Jalen Hurts

Consistent Bid Preparation and Review

What it takes to win: Segment and target

How Emery Sapp & Sons Gains a Competitive Edge with Edgevanta

The Roulette of Roadwork - IDIQ Contracting

Why preparation prevails in the project acquisition process

A framework for learning from competition

Brutal facts and learning from competition

Look Good Feel Good

Resilience in close bidding defeat

The Two Pizza Rule

The Zillow of Highway Work

Giving Away My Legos

The Secret Sauce of Great Contractors: Growing Your Own Leaders

Becoming a Master Observer, Like Peyton

11 bits of unsolicited highway bidding advice

Lump sum and fixed price bidding: Scope matters

The Hidden Cost of 'We'll Fix it Later'

A+B bidding and its awesomeness

Highway Bidding: It's all about the dollars

Market Analytics and AI

The Edge Podcast - Building Palmetto: Shawn Godwin's Journey from 25 to 1,000

Goals

Picking up the phone and talking to vendors

Inclusion and debate to de-risk bids and make reviews more engaging

Peter Kiewit's Motto

Sam Walton's Playbook for Outpacing the Competition

Thinking, Fast and Slow, About True Cost

"All the Pieces Matter"

De-risking public bids through deep understanding of contracts, specs, drawings, and owners

When They Decide to Leave

Why preparation prevails in the project acquisition process

How do highway contractors succeed in the project acquisition cycle?

The Number That Almost Got Me Fired

The Edge Podcast Launches: Exploring Leadership and Legacy with Patrick Nelson

Breaking up your company

Why Doubling Up Is The Future of Estimating

Skin in the Game: Why Your Estimators Need to Build What They Bid

Good superintendent, bad superintendent

How to Guarantee Your Family Business Fails

The Problem With Bid Reviews & How to Solve Them

Spotlight Series - Dan Garcia: Solving Workforce Challenges at C.W. Matthews Contracting 🏗️

Building Trust and Profit Through Better Client Communication

Spotlight on Barnhill Contracting: Legacy and Innovation in NC Construction

Good Estimator / Bad Estimator

Put Yourself in Their Shoes 👟

Outfox 🦊 the Competition with Tabs

Wearing the Pants 👖

Spotlight Series: Brandon Finn with Emery Sapp & Sons

Why We Don't Like Adding Profit to Bids

Mastering Night Work Without Losing Sleep

Edgevanta Weekly 🚀 🛣️ 7.19.24 - How to Build Work at the Lowest Cost

Edgevanta Weekly 🚀 🛣️ 5.24.24 - Complacency

Edgevanta Weekly 🚀 🛣️ 4.5.24 - How trust yields profit in construction

Edgevanta Weekly 🚀 🛣️ 3.29.24 - How to build the work 🏗️ and make money 💸

Edgevanta Weekly 🚀 🛣️ 2.2.24 - Good division manager, bad division manager

Edgevanta Weekly 🚀 🛣️ 1.26.24 - What is margin capture and how it will change your business

Edgevanta Weekly 🚀 🛣️ 1.19.24 - How to make 44% more profit this year without working any harder

Let the robots do your dirty work