The Real New Year’s Resolutions Your A&E Firm Should Have Made

While everyone else is hitting the gym and cutting carbs, let’s talk about the resolutions your A&E firm actually needs in 2025.

No sugar coating here – these are the hard truths that come directly from my experience working with clients and seeing what works and what doesn’t, and they could make or break your business this year.

1. Stop Bleeding Talent (And Money) 

Let’s be honest – your high turnover isn’t just a minor inconvenience, it’s a gaping hole in your firm’s hull. Your institutional knowledge is disappearing faster than the available storage space on a shared project drive. Those all-nighters and excessive hours aren’t sustainable anymore, and the new generation of architects won’t put up with it. 

Resolution: Find strategic ways to distribute workload, whether through better project management or by tapping into global talent pools. Your team needs work-life balance, and your bottom line needs stability.

2. Admit Your Software Skills Need Work 

“But we’ve been using this program for years!” That might be true, but it’s more of a curse than a blessing, as I guarantee you’re operating at 70% efficiency at best.

Take a hard look at your CD phase – how much revenue does it drive? Now imagine completing it with 30% less work. That’s not magic, it’s what happens when you embrace technology and master a new set of digital tools. 

Resolution: Invest in proper BIM management and standardized templates. Yes it takes time, and yes it’s worth it.

3. Quit Confusing Being Busy with Being Productive 

Just because everyone’s inbox is overflowing doesn’t mean work is getting done effectively. If you’re still managing projects through endless email chains, you’re already heading towards extinction, you just haven’t realized it yet. 

Resolution: Implement proper project management tools and communication platforms. Your senior architects shouldn’t be spending hours filtering through emails when they could be driving project value.

4. Stop Doing Everything Yourself 

I know you’re proud of your modeling skills and that you think you’re the only one who can do it “right.” But the reality is you just can’t keep wasting your $200/hour skill set to work on tasks that could be done for a quarter of that cost. 

Resolution: Learn to delegate effectively and consider outsourcing some tasks. Your job as a leader is to guide and grow your team, not micromanage every detail.

5. Face Your Financial Reality 

Success is relative. Whatever wins you’re celebrating, they could have been 5x bigger with better strategic decisions. That doesn’t mean you’re failing, it just means like with all of us, there’s room for improvement. 

Resolution: Stop settling for your current level of success and start planning for exponential growth.

I hope you found these resolutions to be inspiration as we look towards the opportunity and potential ahead of us in 2025.

Adopting one or more could mean the difference between struggling to maintain profitability and building a thriving, expanding practice. 

Having been in the business for a number of years, one truism that never changes is that the most successful firms aren’t the ones with the most talented designers, it’s the ones who run the smartest businesses.

Your move 2025.

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