We saw drawings for new Chicago restaurant projects, retail construction work, office renovations, school construction and learning center additions – you name it, we saw it. If you don’t know who specializes in your line of business then start your search online with a query like “Chicago retail construction experts”. The positive construction news was this kept GCs busy and landlords retained a healthy tenant. Some chains said most of their business was due to take out. Happy Holidays from the Hard Hat Chat team -- Chuck Taylor, Kim Sawyer and Bill Di Santo. MORE >>

as I entered the recent Construction Writers Association awards dinner (in San Antonio) to accept Hard Hat Chat’s award for 2011 best blog, I kept the following in mind: Everyone wants to network, so don’t forget your business cards and don’t feel bad about giving them out like candy. We all want to meet people who will help us grow our business – whether that’s learning about new construction projects, successful commercial construction blogs or ways to reduce restaurant construction costs. And they now have me on their short list of Chicago commercial construction firms. MORE >>

Hill helps others to achieve more from less through business development, digital media and construction consulting. look no further than Barry LePatner’s seminal work, Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets , published by The University of Chicago Press. Construction Green Building Guest Post Friday Building Types Built environment business Construction and Maintenance Dirty Jobs Mike RoweBrian L. fourth generation construction/real estate professional, he shares his passion for pursuing quality in the built environment at AECforensics.com. Is that what we want? license. MORE >>

Home Restaurant Retail Shopping Center Hospitality Office/Industrial Subscribe Hard Hat Chat Observations and Conversations about Commercial Construction, Development and Management The Keys to Making Big Box Retail Construction Projects Successfully Fit Smaller, Urban Footprints like CityTarget on State Street Englewood Construction has worked on a number of Chicago retail construction projects in high-traffic urban areas, such as American Girl Place on Michigan Avenue. Is this a new retail construction trend ? Probably so. The number of building permits we needed for 520 N. Comments? MORE >>

In a few hours I’ll head over to the Sheraton Center for the “CPSM (Certified Professional Service Marketer) Day&# at the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) convention in Chicago.  It costs money for registration fees, hotel and travel, so either your business is willing to foot the costs (and thus has the resources available for marketing-related research and learning) or you are paying out of your own pocket, indicating some real personal commitment to the topic. Obviously, if you are in Chicago, I look forward to seeing you.  This is okay.  MORE >>