Construction

    Construction and civil engineering are the two industries my team puts first, and this is the largest section on the blog. It is for subcontractors, specialists and product makers who want work on big programmes and public projects, and who are tired of finding out about jobs when the tender is already live.

    The way I read this market is as a chain of buyers. The client or programme sets the budget, but on most packages the main contractor or its supply chain team decides who gets the work. A notice tells you which job is out to bid today. It does not tell you who will run the job or pick the subcontractors. So I start where I always start: who signed the purchase orders on your recent jobs? Those exact titles, never a bare manager, become the list.

    Four habits cost contractors work: waiting for the portal, writing to the client when the tier 1 buys, burying the proof in an attachment nobody opens, and expecting a quick answer from a market that decides slowly. Public building is one of the slow ones, so the work has to start before anyone is buying.

    Three groups of articles follow. The basics: how construction firms, product makers and civil engineers win work with outbound, plus the product rules for Great Britain. Programmes and owners: HS2, Heathrow, Gatwick, the Lower Thames Crossing, the NHS hospital programme, Rail Baltica, Brisbane 2032, USACE, VA, GSA, state DOTs and more. Country and city guides from Ireland and Scotland to Singapore, the UAE and New Zealand.

    Start with the general construction piece, then the one for product makers, then civil engineering.

    Start here

    All articles in Construction