Leadership often fails at the same point: everything feels urgent. When you don’t choose your priorities, your calendar becomes a voting booth for other people’s needs. The result is reactive work, shallow progress, and a team that can’t tell what “winning” looks like.

Prioritizing is a leadership behavior, not a personal preference. Define the one outcome that matters most this quarter, then translate it into a short list of “yeses” and an even shorter list of “nos.” Make trade-offs explicit, protect focus blocks, and set expectations early so you don’t have to renegotiate under pressure.

To scale it, push the filter into the team. Ask everyone to link tasks to the top outcome, kill or defer anything that doesn’t connect, and review the list weekly. When a new request arrives, respond with options: what will be dropped, delayed, or delegated. That’s how you turn busyness into direction.

Say no to 1 low-value request each day to protect your top priority.

Marker Construction Group treats BUILD BETTER as a daily method of working. By listening to client and team member feedback, adapting its practices, and staying current with new technology, the company aims to streamline workflows so the process feels as strong as the finished result.

That promise rests on people. Marker says its most valuable asset is its team, so it supports continuing education, recognizes the role of family, and encourages community involvement. The culture rejects “good enough,” holding exacting standards in choosing subcontractors, protecting the client and designer vision, and delivering on budget and schedule.

The company connects culture to accountability through results. It highlights more than 100 craftsmanship awards, multiple Craftsman of the Year awards, and the Eagle Award. It also emphasizes safety, meeting or exceeding OSHA requirements, and adding stricter internal standards, alongside a commitment to invest in the communities where it lives and works.

BUILD BETTER means turning feedback, talent, and standards into repeatable quality.

The U.S. Coast Guard just issued a record $200 million design-build award to rebuild and expand Station South Padre Island in Texas. The job bundles new operational buildings, housing, and waterfront infrastructure into a single sprint, with preliminary design and environmental work starting immediately and completion targeted for summer 2028.

For the construction business, the headline is the compressed front end. When planning and contracting accelerate, risk shifts into early decisions: site surveys, utilities, permitting, and constructability must mature faster than usual, or field crews pay later through rework, change friction, and schedule drag. Long-lead items and specialty waterfront work cannot wait for perfect drawings.

The best teams will run it like a mission-critical facility, because it is one. Protect operations during transitions, stage work to maintain access and security, and prefabricate where possible to reduce onsite uncertainty. Set clear decision gates for scope, submittals, and commissioning so the schedule is driven by verified readiness rather than optimism.

Compress schedules only after locking scope, permits, and long leads.

Building-code reform around single-stair apartment buildings is spreading fast. A growing list of states and cities is exploring or adopting rules that allow small multifamily buildings to use a single protected stair instead of two, aiming to make neighborhood-scale projects pencil out again; one report tracks 19 states already in the mix.

Removing the second stair can free up sellable floor area, cut construction costs, and enable corner-like units with better daylight and cross-ventilation on tight infill lots. Colorado’s 2025 law, for example, permits single-stair multifamily buildings up to five stories in larger municipalities, subject to detailed safety conditions.

For builders, the opportunity is a repeatable missing-middle product, but only if you design to the guardrails: full sprinklers, fire-resistant construction, limits on units per floor, short travel distances, and wider stairs. Early alignment with fire officials, insurers, and lenders matters as much as the plan set, because approvals and pricing will hinge on documented life-safety performance.

Design within guardrails; single-stair projects win when repeatable.

Good morning, crew. Today, we will handle and store cylinders safely. Secure every cylinder upright, protect the valve, and move them with a cart, not by dragging or rolling. Keep caps on when not in use, keep fuel, gas, and oxygen separated, and keep all cylinders away from heat, sparks, and traffic. Use the correct regulator, open valves slowly, and shut valves off when you are done. If you see damage, leaks, or missing labels, stop and tag it out.

A cylinder stores energy under high pressure, and a broken valve can turn it into a projectile. Leaks can create fire, explosion, or oxygen-enriched areas that ignite easily. Poor securing, incorrect connections, damaged hoses, and sloppy storage near heat or welding are the leading causes of most incidents. The proper habits are simple: keep cylinders upright and restrained, use the correct fittings and regulators, check for leaks, and maintain work areas clean so cylinders are not struck or tipped.

If we respect cylinders like the high-energy equipment they are, we avoid fires and sudden failures. Take the extra minute to secure them, protect the valves, and confirm the proper setup before flow starts. If storage is crowded or unstable, we reorganize it now. Speak up when you see an unsecured cylinder, a damaged hose, or a questionable connection, and we will correct it immediately.

Secure it, protect the valve, and control the gas every time.