Leaders often assume their motives are obvious: you’re trying to help, move fast, protect standards. But your Team can’t read your intent; they experience your behavior. A rushed comment can feel like dismissal; a “quick check” can feel like distrust. Influence starts with understanding how you land.

Make intent explicit before you act: “My goal is to remove risk, not redo your work.” Pair that with observable behaviors: ask questions before offering solutions, keep promises small and consistent, and close loops quickly. When pressure rises, slow down communication, what’s changing, why, and what success looks like.

When conflict hits, assume good intent but coach the behavior. Use one example, name the impact, and agree on the next step and timeline. Then invite feedback on yourself: “Where did my behavior signal something I didn’t mean?” The gap between intent and behavior shrinks through repeated, honest calibration.

Ask weekly how you’re landing, and adjust one behavior to align with your intent.

Creative Contractors tells a growth story built on restraint. For more than five decades, it has focused on exceptional customer service and artistry, guided by founder Alan C. Bomstein’s traditional values and uncompromising standards. The goal was not to be big, but to be dependable.

The company began in 1974 as Store Builders Inc., riding Tampa Bay’s enclosed mall boom and constructing more than 100 mall stores. A request to build a freestanding bank triggered freestanding construction. In 1978, the name was changed to Creative Contractors, reflecting a reputation for creative solutions and customer service.

Under second-generation leadership, with Josh Bomstein as CEO and President, the firm aims to protect that heritage while delivering modern scale. The Tampa Bay Business Journal consistently ranks it as the largest local contractor in the region, focuses on healthcare, education, municipal, and commercial sectors, and reports annual volume averaging over $175 million. Clients are promised a streamlined, honest process built on open communication and market knowledge.

They scaled by obsessing over service, integrity, and creative solutions.

PCL Construction has won the build role on a nearly $4 billion combined-cycle power project in Williams County, North Dakota, for Basin Electric. The plan calls for two roughly 745-megawatt units, totaling about 1,490 megawatts, with construction scheduled to start in spring. Basin expects the first unit to be online in early 2029, with the second about a year later, in 2030.

What is driving this trend is the delivery math. A megaproject in northwest North Dakota is forced to treat weather as a constraint and procurement as the schedule. Turbines, heat-recovery steam generators, transformers, and controls all arrive on factory timelines that do not account for local winter limits, so the project must lock in packages early and stage work to keep crews productive as site access tightens.

The insight for infrastructure builders is that reliability begins long before commissioning. Owners who align engineering, supplier commitments, and field sequencing early can avoid the costly stop-start cycle that manifests as claims, escalations, and idle equipment. Contractors who plan cold-weather concrete, temporary heat, and modular assembly windows can protect both labor efficiency and the promised in-service dates.

Buy long-lead equipment early and design for winter work.

The Trump administration is weighing an antitrust investigation into major U.S. homebuilders. The focus is on whether information shared through the Leading Builders of America trade group could be used to coordinate pricing or constrain supply. People briefed on the talks said the Justice Department could open a probe within weeks, though no decision is final.

Even the hint of scrutiny can change behavior. Builders may tighten forecasting disclosures, limit what teams share with peers, and recheck how sales incentives, release pacing, and land option decisions are documented. Lenders and investors also tend to ask more challenging questions when a sector faces enforcement risk, which can raise legal and reporting costs.

The practical steps are straightforward: treat trade association participation like a compliance program. Keep meeting notes, avoid sharing forward-looking volume targets, and ensure pricing and start decisions are justified by local demand, costs, and capacity. Audit all market surveys, train executives and sales leaders on what not to discuss, and centralize external communications so statements remain consistent when regulators call.

Treat trade association data sharing like evidence in court.

Good morning, crew. We will monitor the weather throughout the shift and suspend outdoor work immediately upon hearing thunder. Move immediately to a substantial building or a hard-topped vehicle with windows up. Avoid cranes, scaffolds, ladders, metal fencing, and open areas. Secure loads, lower booms, and park equipment when it is safe to do so. We do not return outside until 30 minutes after the last thunder.

Lightning can strike miles from the rain and can hit tall objects, open ground, and large equipment. If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck. Our controls are simple: early shelter, clear communication, and accountability. Do not shelter under open-sided structures or near metal. Once in a safe place, keep everyone together, conduct a headcount, and wait for the all-clear before resuming work.

The goal is to make a clear decision early rather than react late. If the weather changes, we stop and shelter without debate. Supervisors and crews will communicate, account for everyone, and restart only when conditions are safe. A lightning strike is not survivable, so we treat thunder as a stop-work signal every time.

Hear thunder, get to shelter fast, and return only after 30 quiet minutes.

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