Workshop: Financial Management for Service and Consulting Businesses

Many of the businesses that make up the built environment industry have service-based business models: architects, interior designers, engineers, accountants, publicists, strategists, brand designers, photographers, and more. These businesses can be challenging to manage and grow, partly because a service model tempts us to over-deliver value to please the client. We hope to sustain the project, perhaps earn repeat business, or win future referrals.

The online workshop will be led by financial management consultant, Yotam Kedem. While Yotam is an expert in financial management for architecture and engineering firms, insights from his experience will apply across many of the disciplines in our diverse professional community. We encourage you to join us!

Workshop: Financial Modeling for Real Estate Development

Want to build your understanding of real estate development deal analysis? Interested in starting your own speculative development project? This Workshop is for you!

Led by Lead Analyst at Accredev, Stephon Smith, this online session will cover the fundamentals of commercial real estate (CRE) financial model design. It will focus on the key elements that are most often omitted from financial models, including multi-perspective project cost analysis, income offsets, dynamic debt constraints, and financial statement design, among others.

Workshop: Newlab – A Public Affairs Case Study

Following a Brick & Wonder Site Tour of Newlab in the Brooklyn Navy Yards in February this year, we’re thrilled to present a Public Affairs Case Study of the Newlab development project.

Public Affairs and Partnerships are often overlooked aspects of taking a real estate development project from concept to commissioned building.

How do major and especially innovative real estate projects like Newlab take shape, and, in turn, shape our cities?

Workshop: Branding the Built Environment – The Strategic Process

Brand is as essential as it can seem ephemeral. How do we define it, craft it, and drive its visibility in a noisy and competitive landscape?

How should it evolve over time? And when is it time to throw it all out and start again, with the huge undertaking of a strategic re-brand?

Brand strategy matters to businesses – and to buildings – and there isn’t a fixed formula for making it work.

In this workshop, we’re thrilled to invite Alexandra Thom, Executive Creative Director at Revolver, to walk through project examples with substantial strategic foundations and share some guiding principles that shape the way she and her highly creative team think about designing and developing brands.

Workshop: Cultural Projects — In Conversation with Gabriel Smith

For this online Workshop, we’re thrilled to invite you to join Brick & Wonder Founder Drew Lang as he hosts a conversation exploring the dynamics of cultural projects with acclaimed museum architect and Brick & Wonder member, Gabriel Smith, Principal at Allied Works.

Cultural spaces hold a special place in our hearts, and for good reason: they are spaces devoted entirely to the joy of human expression and creation. They are also spaces to which access is largely democratic. Though great architecture can create exceptional private homes, luxury condo developments, cutting-edge office buildings, and even exceptional infrastructure, museums and galleries are one vehicle for architectural expression and creativity that anyone can enjoy.

Workshop: Is Design + Build the Silver Bullet for Optimizing Construction?

We invite you to join Brick & Wonder Founder Drew Lang as he hosts a conversation with acclaimed Design + Build Architect Tom Gluck, Principal at Gluck+ Architects.

In new construction, renovation, and adaptive reuse, traditional approaches to design and construction involve an architect leading the design phase, and a general contractor executing the construction by assembling the right team of subcontractors, creating a triangular relationship with the client.

While there is certainly room for mastery in both these siloed disciplines were not always as separate as they seem today. Each approach has benefits and drawbacks, but as US construction costs climb ever higher, there is a case to be made for streamlining project delivery. Design + Build approaches promise to do just that – but do they live up to the claim?

Art as an Amenity in the Built Environment

Join Sugarlift Founder Wright Harvey and Director Sylvie Kuvin to explore the role fine art plays in the built environment.

Whether it is a large-scale installation placed in the lobby of a commercial building, or a small still-life oil painting in a collector’s home, artwork curation and sourcing is a significant and often-overlooked element of spatial design.

Harvey and Kuvin will delve into case studies showcasing the impact that curated artwork can make in transforming public and private built environments.

Workshop: Designing for Smart Homes

We’re pleased to invite Brick & Wonder members and their teams to participate in this online workshop focused on Smart Home design.

Clients and end-users increasingly expect smart interactions with built spaces, whether to control the lighting, music, temperature, or access security.

As the teams building these spaces, we need to understand the user needs to which smart buildings must respond.

Workshop: Productizing a Service

We’re excited to invite Brick & Wonder members to participate in this online workshop exploring the process and experience of productizing a service.

Are you intrigued by the idea of transforming your professional service into a tangible product? Join us for an insightful presentation on the art of Productizing a Service. This program dives into the world of shaping your expertise into a product, offering a path to consistent delivery, predictable outcomes, and enhanced profitability.

What is a Fractional CFO?

We invite Brick & Wonder members to join this Member Workshop on financial strategies for small to medium-sized companies in the built environment industry.

The ins and outs of owning and operating a business are never-ending and at times can feel overwhelming, leaving business owners without the bandwidth or support to maximize financial opportunities.

With 13 years of financial management of the NYC design studio Roman & Williams under his belt, Jay De Bari leads De Bari & Co., a strategic financial planning practice that focuses on supporting and guiding businesses through all aspects of fiscal movement and growth.

Design your Annual Strategic Marketing Plan

With a clear, quantifiable, and realistic annual marketing strategy, you can continually achieve success with your advertising and sales efforts. No matter your industry or company size, a solid marketing plan can help you effectively meet your company goals.

Aligning Vision & Execution

Join us for an open Workshop on connecting vision and execution.

Led by Mark J. Sheeran, the Founder + Principal Advisor at Odyssey Advisors, we’ll be focusing on acquiring the perspective and structure needed to scale your business while reducing your own involvement in the day-to-day.

Hiring & Retention

We invite Brick & Wonder members, their teams, collaborators, and colleagues to join this open Workshop on building your creative dream team.

Billy Clark and Clayton Apgar lead BCCM Talent Acquisition and Everett Hollander leads BCCM Advisory, a business strategy and executive leadership practice focused on company culture, corporate finance, operations, and organizational structure. In this Q&A on attracting and retaining talent, the conversation will focus on the following: Hiring is Casting, Centrality of Culture, Comp Question, and Benefits of Benefits.

Collaboration for Growth

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members to join us for a conversation focused on collaboration as a tool for leveling up your work and growing your business.

Ask the Publicist

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members to join us for a conversation focused on the role of publicity in growing businesses and public visibility for teams and leaders.

Sales & Selling

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members for a conversation focused on sales and selling. Survival and growth in business depend on sales and selling, but, for many, the process is exhausting, emotionally fraught and a distraction from the satisfaction of doing the work we’re required to sell.

Managing Your Margins

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members for a conversation focused on managing margins in their business operations. In any business, but perhaps especially in service-based business models, managing margins can be an extremely difficult aspect of business management.

Growth Relationships

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members to join us for a conversation focused on the value of identifying, pursuing and building growth relationships in order to level up in your work.

On Time, On Budget

In this Discussion, we invite Brick & Wonder members to join our conversation focused on the tools and processes you use to keep projects on time and on budget.

Leveraging Thought Leadership

In this Discussion, our conversation will focus on using thought leadership to bring value to your team, clients and industry colleagues, elevating your profile and becoming more visible for the work you do.

Growth Strategies

In this Discussion we welcome all Brick & Wonder members to join a conversation focused on strategies they are engaging to level up and grow – personally, professionally and for their businesses.

Failed Flooring

We invite Brick & Wonder members, their teams, collaborators and colleagues to join this open Workshop on hardwood and engineered wood flooring installation.

Brand Stories

In this Discussion, our conversation will focus on approaches to ideating, developing and telling your brand stories to extend your reach and cut through the noise.