Last night, one of my customers, Phil Frey of B&F Partners, had a surprise 60th birthday party. Since Phil worked as a dentist on a Navajo Indian reservation in the 1980s, his wife Pati threw him a “Phil Missed the 1980s” party. My costume, like most of the men, consisted of turning up my collar on a polo shirt. TBW, on the other hand, went all out with an Olivia Newton-John work-out outfit and won the prize for best costume.

Lots of people I work with in the development, design and construction industry attended. We enjoyed talking shop in the 1980s environment (which doesn’t seem that long ago to me). What fascinated me was the enthusiasm and new directions I encountered.

One developer just launched a sitework contracting company by hiring some fantastic personnel available due to the challenging times. Beyond doing his own sitework efficiently, he can deliver some great values to customers, treating them like friends. So while many sitework companies are teetering on bankruptcy, new ones are opening with different strategies.

A mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) firm I often utilize has branched into new markets and has been looking for a talented young Professional Engineer to help their designs improve even more. They’ve been looking for quite a while and haven’t found the person that fits. So for any MEP engineers out there, here’s a great opportunity.

Another developer recently bought property in Panama, knowing that lots of earth fill on the property would be utilized for another large project. He’s teamed with a local excavating company to provide expertise and investment to get the work done in Central America.

Generally, people in the development, design and construction industry aren’t a doom and gloom bunch. We’re innovators looking for opportunities. As I talked and listened last night, and from what I’ve been reading, now’s not the time to double down and bet your hand. Now’s the time to innovate. Evaluate what you do, what your market has done and where it might be heading. Try to position your firm, or yourself, to be where the fun projects are.

Speaking of fun, Pati arranged for an old style photo booth for the party. TBW and I had a go.