Mark Wight was worried as the architecture, design and construction firm he led for decades first faced the spreading coronavirus pandemic.
Mark Wight
Wight & Co. depended heavily on seamless cooperation among a wide variety of disciplines, a one-stop shop for clients needing new buildings. Wight said he thought that complex process could only work with frequent face-to-face meetings, but productivity actually improved over the next few weeks, and that will change how Wight & Co. works even after the pandemic subsides.
“It was hard to imagine doing all this from home, but it’s remarkable how we have adapted,” Wight said.
The Chicago, Illinois-based firm is far from alone. Wight used to meet twice a year with a peer group of mostly construction CEOs, but after the pandemic’s onset, the group now does weekly Zoom meetings, and the attitude toward working from home is universal.
“Every CEO says the communication has been better since we changed to this work-from-home environment,” Wight said. “I wouldn’t have predicted that.”
A global survey Colliers International conducted this spring found more than 80% of employees prefer working remotely at least once a week, and only 23% said their productivity declined after making the switch. In the U.S., nearly half would prefer working from home up to two days a week, the survey found.
That could herald a profound shift in how work gets done, with virtual communities replacing a significant portion of the in-office workforce in many industries. The ripple effects could eventually hit landlords hard, as tenants with expiring leases may decide they no longer need so much square footage.
Cooperation across disciplines has become key to his firm’s work, Wight said. Traditional construction methods typically involve an assortment of firms working in silos, almost guaranteeing costly snarls after groundbreakings. Wight brings it all under one roof, including architects, designers, engineers and builders, handling everything from conceptual drawings to plumbing fixtures.
That method cut costs up to 20% on recent Wight projects, including a new student commons and other additions at Downers Grove South High School in suburban Downers Grove, set for completion in 2021, and the new Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Wight said.