The traditional approach achieves traditional results.

When we started, we saw three big problems with traditional construction consultancies.

1. Traditionally-minded organisations are unreliable.

‍They are more focused on maximising the fees they charge you than delivering your construction project. They recruit whoever they can find with a passable CV and proceed to stack your project with as many people as they can, even if they aren't really needed or even capable of doing the job. So you end up with, at best, a mediocre team that mismanages your project. This costs even more money, creates more delay and stresses everyone out.
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‍2. Managing complex projects is about managing details, but the details are rarely managed.

Delivering complex construction projects effectively is all about the details. However, most construction consultancies don't have the capability to do the technical aspects of project management needed to manage all the details: Project planning, scheduling and controls. The result is that projects become more and more of a chaotic mess as they go on.

3. People are commoditised.

‍The culture of most construction organisations is reactive, full of conflict and cycles through people at an alarmingly high rate. Indeed, many of the best people leave the industry altogether because construction just isn't fun for them anymore. But it should be very enjoyable and fulfilling because we are building some exciting things!

We knew that it didn't have to be this way. It is very possible to have great projects if you have great people working together as a great team. But to achieve this, a new and better approach was needed, a non-traditional approach.

That is why we created Laminar.

Our three guarantees.

If you work with us to make your projects great, I can guarantee you three things.

Guarantee 1: You will have a great team

‍Our people are in the top 5% of most capable people for their level, and they embody the collective Laminar personality I mentioned at the start of this letter. This is the only way to ensure great teams that can deliver great projects.

How can I guarantee this? Above all else, we ensure that we only recruit and retain consistently great people. We have a rigorous selection process that can take over 8 hours to complete. When people join, they are trained and developed with an equally rigorous development process.

If you want to understand this a bit more, you can read my letter to potential new joiners here.

Guarantee 2: You will have transparency and control of your project

Complex projects have many interdependent parts. So, one single detail can have disproportionately large effects on the rest of the project. This is why we put such an emphasis on tracking and controlling all the details.  You will have complete transparency of everything that is happening. We achieve a level of control and transparency that many construction people have never seen before.

How can I guarantee this? Because you need a full team of highly capable people to control complex projects, which we have (see the previous point). And because we have processes, standards, tools and templates that are tried and tested across hundreds of projects that we begin implementing from day one.

We are more than happy to show you our approach. Contact us for a demo.

Guarantee 3: You will enjoy working with us

Over time, our customers become our friends. We work together to build a great project, and then we go to the pub or grab a bite. We connect not because we are just trying to drive more sales. But because our people are the types of people that enjoy building relationships. We build friendships that transcend organisational boundaries and commercial interests.

How can I guarantee this? Again, see guarantee one; we select and retain only people with great personalities. We don't tolerate anyone who displays aggressive or disrespectful behaviour - if they slip through, they are quickly shown the door. The high level of harmony in our team is greatly cherished by all of us.

To get a feel for what our people are like, I suggest seeing our YouTube channel.