Bucking Broncos, Burnout, and Beignets: What A/E/C Business Consultants Learned from 30 Conversations at ASLA 2025

by Emily Hall

In October, four of AVEC’s senior consultants headed to New Orleans for the ASLA 2025 Conference to conduct business performance audits with ASLA attendees. Over two days, we sat down with firm leaders to talk candidly about how their businesses are really doing—beyond the beautiful project photos and awards. Here’s what we heard… 

1. “I feel like I’m riding a bucking bronco.” 

The most common issue? A lack of a clear plan. Many firms told us they didn’t have a current strategic plan and felt like they were flying blind, especially in an uncertain economy. One firm leader summed it up perfectly: “I feel like I’m riding a bucking bronco.” 

Without a roadmap, every decision feels urgent, reactive, and disconnected—from finances, staffing, marketing, and even personal goals. When we see this, we recommend working through a structured strategic planning process with a professional partner (like AVEC). You want a strategic plan that doesn’t sit on a shelf; it connects finance, operations, culture, and marketing/business development into one focused, actionable framework, with prioritized goals and realistic targets that leadership teams coalesce around, and can actually execute. 

2. Ownership transition: everyone’s thinking about it; few have a plan. 

Since COVID, ownership transition has gone from a “someday” topic to a very real concern. Many leaders shared that they’re feeling some mix of burnout, uncertainty about the future, or just an awareness that they don’t want to be running at this pace forever. We also heard from emerging leaders stepping into ownership. Many are struggling to define their role because firm founders are reluctant to step back. 

Three main patterns emerged: 

• “We have no plan, but know we need one.” 
• “We keep talking about transition, but it never gets traction because something more immediate always comes up.” 
• “Our founders know they need to support the next generation of leadership, but they aren’t letting go of project work.”

Others weren’t sure they even had the right “second tier” of emerging leaders to engage. Our advice: deal with transition head-on. That means talking openly about goals, timing, money, talent, and values—and then building a plan to either train the next generation, identify who those people might be (and/or find them), or explore other paths like mergers or acquisitions. These transitions almost always take longer than owners expect—sometimes over ten years. Seek out consultants to help with your blueprint, so you’re not scrambling later or left with limited options. 

3. Sole proprietors and the scaling question.

For many sole proprietors, the burning question was: Should I hire employees or build a contractor network? 

The answer depends on how you want to shape your business. If you imagine a future where you’re leading a team, taking on larger, more complex work, and spending more time ON the business rather than in the weeds of project delivery, then it’s time to start building staff. That means intentionally delegating work that isn’t your highest and best use as a firm leader. 

On the other hand, if you don’t really want to manage people or grow a larger firm, then using contractors can be the right choice. It allows you to flex up or down, focus on the projects you enjoy, and keep things simple. The tradeoff is that in this model, the firm’s long-term value usually doesn’t grow much beyond the owner’s salary and current profitability. 

We loved being in New Orleans for our first year conducting audits and meeting spirited business owners, not to mention the gumbo and beignets. We’re excited to keep building more robust education and business consulting offerings for ASLA members. 

If you’d like a free business audit, similar to what AVEC hosted in New Orleans, we’d be happy to meet for a half hour and offer our perspective. Just email me at [email protected] and we’ll get a virtual meeting on the calendar. 

Emily Hall is President of AVEC.