FMI Special Report: Survey of Construction Industry Business Development Practices

FMI, the largest provider of management consulting and investment banking to the engineering and construction industry, announced the release of the FMI Special Report: Survey of Construction Industry Business Development Practices. Despite encouraging signs that the economy is improving, new projects remain hard to find for contractors. In better times, the majority of contractors did not focus a great deal on business development, but that is changing as backlogs dwindle to historical lows and competition is tougher than ever.

In response to this heightened interest in business development, FMI decided to launch an intensive study of business development practices in the U.S. engineering and construction industry. The company’s aim was threefold: (1) to assess the extent of which the role of business development within the industry has increased; (2) to gain a deep understanding of the most difficult problems associated with building a strong business development culture; and, most importantly, (3) to examine how successful contractors are overcoming these challenges.

Some of their findings include:

1. Seventy-three percent of contractors surveyed were spending more resources (either in the form of time or money) on business development now than they were prior to the economic downturn.
2. Only 62 percent of construction executives think their investments in business development are achieving the desired result.
3. Senior executives (84 percent) and company owners (72 percent) are spending more of their time on business development.
4. Estimating and/or operations functions are getting more involved in business development (62 percent).
5. Only 66 percent of owners and executives were satisfied with the level of oversight and control they had with business development efforts.
6. Only 7 percent of executives rated the quality of their company’s presentations as near excellent or excellent.

Log on to FMINet.com to download a complimentary copy of the full report: Survey of Construction Industry Business Development Practices.