Most teams slow down not because people lack talent, but because every decision has to climb a ladder. When authority sits far from the work, small questions become meetings, and intelligent people wait instead of acting.

Bock’s advice is to hand over just enough trust to make you a little nervous. Define the outcome, the constraints, and the “stop” signals (budget limits, legal checks, customer risk). Then let the closest expert choose the method and timing.

Make empowerment visible: ask for “I intend to…” proposals, review decisions weekly, and treat mistakes as data to tighten guardrails, not as reasons to regain control. As ownership spreads, you’ll see faster cycle times, higher engagement, and fewer escalations.

Delegate one decision daily with clear outcomes and guardrails, then review results weekly.

R. C. Stevens Construction Co. has been building in Florida since 1926, growing into one of the state’s most experienced construction leaders. Its work centers on high-quality commercial construction, including new builds and renovations, with a strong design-build emphasis that serves industrial, commercial, and healthcare clients.

The company’s mission treats partnership as the engine of performance: exceed expectations through strong execution, training, and education, while actively supporting the community. Leadership also frames culture as a growth strategy, fostering teamwork, excellence, integrity, and honesty while sustaining innovation. Internally, “we are family” shows up as collaboration, communication, and a deliberate avoidance of silos.

Nearly a century in business suggests a lesson many builders miss: reputation scales only when habits do. Design-build helps reduce costly handoffs, but it works best when people are trained, aligned, and empowered to solve problems early. When partnership and community support are treated as operating principles, trust becomes a deliverable.

Nearly 100 years of design-build success come from partnerships, training, and a no-silos culture.

Virginia has awarded a $389 million design-build contract to modernize a key express-lanes corridor in Norfolk. The work includes roughly seven miles of upgrades, lane conversions and widening, and the rehabilitation or replacement of 19 bridges, with notice to proceed in early 2026 and completion expected in late 2029.

For builders, the risk is not pavement; it is phasing. Repeated traffic switches compound delays in utility relocations, barrier installations, and bridge staging. Miss a narrow work window and costs jump fast through remobilization, overtime, and disrupted subcontract sequences, especially in a region where freight, military access, and commuter reliability are nonnegotiable.

The winning approach is repeatable production. Freeze the bridge and lane-conversion sequence early, lock temporary traffic layouts as a contractual deliverable, and bundle work into short milestones tied to specific traffic configurations. Prefabricate structural elements where feasible, align procurement with the critical path, and enforce rigorous change control to prevent last-minute design tweaks from cascading into field rework.

Lock staging and bridge interfaces before committing crews and suppliers.

A new FinCEN rule begins March 1, 2026, requiring a Real Estate Report for certain non-financed residential transfers to legal entities or trusts. The goal is to curb illicit finance, and it pushes more data collection into the closing process.

For homebuilders, friction arises when selling inventory or bulk packages to LLC buyers in built-to-rent model home leasebacks or investor takeouts. If beneficial ownership and source-of-funds details are gathered late, title teams may pause to confirm who must file and whether an exemption applies.

Treat entity buyers like a mini underwriting file. Collect ownership and control information at contract execution, align early with your title partner on the reporting party, and maintain a checklist of common exemptions. When documentation is ready before the final walk, you protect rate locks, avoid rescheduled movers, and keep capital rotating into the next start.

Collect entity ownership data at contract, not at closing.

Good morning, crew. Today we are working with forms, shores, and fresh concrete. Before any pour, we confirm the drawings, inspect the setup, and make sure the base is solid and level. Nobody changes shores, braces, or ties without approval. Keep the area under and around formwork clear, and stay out of the line of concrete buckets and moving loads. If you hear cracking, see movement, or notice leaks, stop and report them.

Formwork failures can occur quickly when loads exceed design limits, shores rest on weak ground, or bracing is missing. Fresh concrete is heavy, and vibrations, wind, and the pour sequence can shift loads in seconds. The safest approach is to follow the engineered plan, keep the pour controlled, and inspect before, during, and after placement. Watch for settling, bowing, or unusual sounds. If anything changes, we pause, reset, and only continue when the setup is verified.

If we treat the formwork as a temporary structure, we work more safely and faster. Follow the plan, keep loads controlled, and keep people out of danger zones. At the first sign of movement, settling, or cracking, we stop and stabilize the system before continuing. Nobody will be pressured to keep pouring through a concern. A single stop call can prevent a collapse and protect the entire crew.

Pour safely by building solid forms, inspecting twice, and stopping at the first sign of movement.