# data[].attributes.body
Uni land is a buffalo based company that does an incredible amount of work and the biggest construction company in buffalo
C-10

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Skanska is a great comnpany and truly a leader in the industry they specialize in commerical
C-9

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http://www.kiewit.com/

One of the biggest companies in the world they do all kinds of work from civil to commerical
C-8

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http://www.whiting-turner.com/

Awesome company ive heard a lot of great things about they do really cool work
C-7

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P-10 Trump golf course in scotland just a beautifully designed links course

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P-9 Trump international golf course in miami just an amazing design

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P-9 Trump international golf course in miami just an amazing design

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http://www.thorcon.net/

Thor construction is a big time player and would like to look more into them

C-6

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http://www.thorcon.net/

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http://www.pcl.com/Meet-the-PCL-Family/Locations/United-States/Pages/default.aspx

PCL construction is reall cool i would definitely be intrested in working for them
C-5

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http://www.mccarthy.com/

Mccarthy designs all different things including hospitals and have since the 1800s
C-5

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Clark companies is a really cool company they build athletic fields very cool stuff
C-4

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Very well known construction company doing work all over the world for 85 years

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P-8 sands casino from the top just amazing

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P-7
most beautiful building in singapore sands casino at night

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drones are going to be a thing in monitoring in the future

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A-9 Mr.Trump is a good buisness man no one can every deny that he created a real estate empire.

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A-9 Mr.Trump is a good buisness man no one can every deny that he created a real estate empire.

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He's a billionaire (though maybe not as rich as he says). He claims he hates debt (but his casino companies went bust because of it). He craves press attention (but sues at the drop of a hat). What does Trump's record tell us about how he'll lead?

Donald Trump's pitch is simple: He is, as he'll happily tell you, one of the world's elite businessmen. Therefore he'd make a great President.

Last June, when Trump famously rode down an escalator inside Trump Tower in Manhattan to announce his presidential candidacy to a crowd padded with paid attendees, he delivered a speech that heavily emphasized his 40-year career as a real estate developer and professional personality. (Although most of the headlines focused on his calling Mexican immigrants "rapists.")

"We need a leader who wrote The Art of the Deal, " he declared, making sure to mention his bestselling 1987 book. "We need someone who can take the brand of the U.S. and make it great again!"

Then, Trump being Trump, he brandished a financial statement, boasting that he's worth "well over $10 billion," and said that the talent for amassing such wealth is "the kind of thinking we need for this country."

Much to the surprise of the political establishment, a good portion of the voting public appears to have bought that argument. Trump has emerged as an unlikely front-runner for the Republican nomination-becoming the first candidate who has never held political office to lead his party's polls this late in a campaign since lawyer-turned-utility-executive Wendell Willkie challenged F.D.R. in 1940.

Above photo by Gillian Laub-Contour by Getty Images

There's no question that Trump's perceived business acumen is one of the main drivers of his success. A Bloomberg poll from late last year found that 73% of Republicans think the real estate tycoon "knows how to get things done," besting all rivals on that measure by a wide margin.

But what sort of businessperson is Trump, really? Though he's been in the public eye for decades, the 69-year-old is arguably better known today for playing an executive on television than for being one in real life. The already famous Trump gained über-celebrity status from his starring role as the host of the reality series The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice for 14 seasons between 2004 and 2015.

Read more Fortune coverage of Trump's business career:
* The Donald Trump Fortune Interview Complete Transcript
* What Trump Does Have to Teach Leaders
* Donald Trump on Atlantic City, China, and Sanders
* Here's What You Need to Know About Trump's Business Failures (Video)
* Why Donald Trump Loves Low Interest Rates, But Won't Reappoint Janet Yellen
* Why Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders Are More Similar Than You Think

The picture is further obscured by Trump's obsession with promoting his own mystique and the magic of the Donald Trump brand. That has helped lead him to lend his name to a series of questionable ventures, which have been duly ridiculed, including by the last Republican presidential nominee. "And whatever happened to Trump Airlines? How about Trump University?" said Mitt Romney in a speech excoriating Trump in March. "And then there's Trump Magazine and Trump Vodka and Trump Steaks and Trump Mortgage. A business genius he is not."

Whatever you think of Trump, the fact is that he's shown remarkable resilience in his decades-long career-scraping the depths at times before rising to become richer than he's ever been. (And then inflating his wealth publicly to make it seem bigger still.)

How did Trump amass that fortune? In the end it had little to do with TV paychecks and steak royalties. Rather, it came primarily via the business he grew up in: real estate. A booming market has greatly increased the value of Trump's key property holdings. He has also profited from an overlooked business in which he thrives-the unglamorous work of overseeing property development and management for other developers. Trump has reaped rich fees in that role on such projects as the current transformation of Washington, D.C.'s historic Old Post Office Building into a luxury hotel, alongside private equity firm Colony Capital. In these ventures, as with his campaign, he keeps his team small and is his own most trusted strategic adviser.

The caricature version of Trump is real. He's very much the guy who has vowed to force Mexico to pay to build a 50-foot wall on the border. He's also the man who recently said that women who seek abortions should be subjected to "some form of punishment"-drawing harsh criticism from conservatives and liberals alike. He threw out the idea of a 45% tariff on Chinese imports, then said he would never do it, just threaten it. When he suggested in late March that perhaps Japan should develop nuclear weapons, even unpredictable North Korea was flummoxed-an official called his comments "absurd and illogical." And yet the cartoon is not the whole story.

As he marches toward his party's nomination, the best way to assess how Trump will handle the job of President is to look beyond the daily campaign craziness and closely examine the business career he's using as his résumé. (To read what Trump says about his career and his plans for the economy in his own words, see our interview here.) As the leader of the Free World, how would he lead?

We identified five overriding themes that provide a blueprint for running things the Trump way.

I.

HE ALWAYS COMES FIRST

Bettmann-Getty Images

Over his roller-coaster career, a core part of Trump's decision-making process can be summarized in four words: Trump always comes first. Whatever the deal, Trump must be the star. He routinely values two things above all, even over making money: being the boss and gaining publicity. No one values the Trump brand higher than Trump himself.

The obsession with seeing his name in lights has at times damaged his public shareholders and Trump himself. "He lives to see his name praised in the press," says a former associate who has worked closely with Trump. "When it comes to choosing between getting more publicity and making good deals, I'd say it's a tie."

One notable case in which his ego swamped his judgment occurred in Atlantic City. In mid-1995 he launched a publicly traded holding company, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, which originally owned one casino in the gambling haven, the Trump Plaza, then purchased the Trump Taj Mahal and Trump's Castle. In the process, Trump Hotels piled on massive debt. (More on that later.)

By late 1996, Trump Hotels was struggling, but the company was offered a boost. The Rank Group, owner of the Hard Rock chain, proposed an investment in the Castle that would have helped reverse the declining fortunes at Trump Hotels. Rank, which had just opened a Hard Rock Cafe at the Taj, first discussed purchasing a 50% interest in the Castle for as much as $350 million, valuing the property at $180 million more than Trump paid for it. Rank wanted to rebrand the property simply as the Hard Rock. But at the last minute Trump demanded that his name stay on the property and that it be renamed the Hard Rock at Trump's Marina. Rank walked, and the stock price of Trump Hotels continued to dive. Trump told Fortune that he remembers nothing about any negotiations with Rank.

"When it comes to choosing between getting more publicity and making good deals, I'd say it's a tie," says a former associate.

Trump never likes to sell properties. But he especially hates parting with a building that has his name emblazoned on it. Consider this episode. In 1994, Trump escaped a crippling debt load by selling Riverside South, a huge development site along the Hudson River, to a group from Hong Kong. He managed to keep a 30% stake in the partnership. Over the next decade he oversaw the construction of several Trump-branded apartment towers, with plans for his logo to be spread over a big stretch of western Manhattan. But in 2005 his partners-who had the controlling stake-decided to sell and use the proceeds to purchase two skyscrapers that didn't carry the Trump name: 1290 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan and 555 California Street in San Francisco.

Trump hated the deal and sued his partners to block it. He argued that the development, bearing the Trump name, was worth about $1 billion more than the price his partners had agreed on. But ironically he later ended up profiting hugely from the transaction. In 2007, Vornado Realty Trust bought out his partners at a price that valued the two buildings at almost $2.6 billion. Trump stayed in the partnership and has seen the value of his stake soar.

II.

HE WANTS YOU TO KNOW HOW RICH HE IS

One of Trump's favorite topics is his own net worth, and he's not satisfied to let the numbers speak for themselves. Much has been made of his statement, under oath in a deposition some years ago, that his own calculation of his wealth changes depending on "how he feels" that day.

One thing that Trump hasn't felt like doing is release his tax returns, so we can't know everything about his money. But we have enough information to conclude this: Trump is exaggerating the size of his empire.

On July 15, 2015, Trump filed a personal financial disclosure (PFD) with the Federal Election Commission. The press release that accompanied the disclosure document stated that "as of this date, Mr. Trump's net worth is in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS." (The capitalization is his.) The release also declared that Trump's income for 2014 was $362 million, "which does not include dividends, capital gains, rents, and royalties."

But a close reading of the 92-page document shows that the items that make up that $362 million are actually Trump's revenues, not his income (which would factor in expenses).

That doesn't imply that Trump is hiding anything, although you would think that a successful businessman would know the difference between revenue and income. Most of the evidence is right there in the filing. But on the basis of his known revenues, it's not plausible that his net worth is $10 billion or more.

To see why, let's get into the details. The $362 million figure includes 2014 revenues in 15 buckets-from condo sales to golf courses and resorts. The trickiest category is rents, because the information he discloses is incomplete. For smaller properties he reports a range. Let's grant him the high end, which yields a figure of $46 million. For his bigger buildings, we estimate his total rent at about $130 million a year, based on prevailing rates per square foot. Add up that rent, plus the $362 million, and another $37.5 million in royalties (again, a high-end estimate), and we get a total of $576 million in revenues. That's a lot of money, but it falls short of a $10 billion enterprise.

For perspective, let's compare Trump's business to a publicly traded-and therefore transparent-real estate company of roughly the same size. Brandywine Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust that owns more than 179 properties across America, posted revenue of $603 million in 2015-a bit more than our estimate for Trump's businesses. Today, Brandywine's market capitalization stands at $2.5 billion.
For more on all things Trump, see here and here.
Naturally, Trump would argue that the magic of his brand gives him a boost. So let's assume that Trump's cachet lifts his operating margins to an industry-best 30%, or well above Brandywine's 20%. Let's grant Trump some other generous assumptions-for instance, that he earns a healthy 10% on his $302 million securities portfolio. Factor it all in-and subtract an estimated $40 million a year in interest payments-and Fortune ends up with a pretax income estimate of $166 million. If we assume Trump's businesses are worth 20 times earnings, his empire would be worth about $3.3 billion, or one-third of what he says. (In the chart above, we separately analyzed the values of each of Trump's holdings and got a higher figure of $3.72 billion. Either way, the total is well short of $10 billion.)

Trump has long used his well-known wealth as a negotiating tool. When creditors threatened to foreclose on him in the early 1990s, Trump claimed his name had such power that taking it off buildings would gravely damage their value. And the tactic worked.

When Fortune contacted Trump with our estimate of his wealth, he called to set the record straight. Our income figure is way too low, he insists. "The $166 million is peanuts compared to the real number," says Trump. He says that since he runs a private company, "we don't disclose these things," but that the "real numbers" are four times that big. Boasts the Donald: "We have 121 licensing deals under negotiation all over the world and the hottest brand anywhere in the world."

Trump concluded: " Fortune has no idea what my assets are or the value of these assets. Nor do they understand or know my cash flow or the many successful transactions that make up my cash flow. Fortune has totally lost its way."

III.

HE SUES FIRST, ASKS QUESTIONS LATER

When Trump reads this, will he threaten a lawsuit? It wouldn't be surprising. In 1984 he sued a Chicago Tribune architecture critic for $500 million after the writer criticized Trump's plan to build a skyscraper in lower Manhattan. (The case was dismissed.) In 2006, Trump sued Tim O'Brien, author of TrumpNation, for $5 billion for suggesting that Trump's net worth was lower than he claimed. (An appeals court later ruled for O'Brien.)

It's a pattern that goes way back. In 1973, Trump, then 27, moved from Queens, where he grew up, across the East River to the glitz and glory of Manhattan. He joined an exclusive East Side nightclub called Le Club, where he soon met and befriended the notorious lawyer, power broker, and fixer Roy Cohn. A red- and gay-baiter in the 1950s, when he served as chief counsel to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Cohn was famously in-your-face. Cohn was eventually disbarred for fraud and other serious wrongdoing, but not until July 1986, a month before his death, at age 59, from complications of AIDS.

When Trump Management ran into trouble in 1973, Trump, then president of the company, turned to Cohn. Trump Management, built by Donald's father, Fred Trump, rented about 14,000 residential units in 39 buildings in Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, according to contemporaneous accounts in the New York Times. In October 1973 the government accused the company of discriminating on the basis of race and color in its rental policies.

Trump denied the charges, insisting that the government was trying to force his company to rent to welfare recipients. In December 1973, Cohn filed a $100 million counterclaim-a staggering sum in 1973-against the government for defamation. A federal judge struck the counterclaim just five weeks later. In 1975, Trump settled the suit.

However, Cohn's shocking 1973 counterclaim-a legally far-fetched, media-grabbing shot over the bow announcing that Trump would spare no expense to impose costs on critics-provided a template for attacks, which have become a mainstay of Trump's business arsenal ever since.

Trump explained the strategy to journalist William D. Cohan in 2013. "When people don't tell the truth, I go after them," Trump told Cohan, "even if I'm not going to win. I do it because at least you can inflict pain that way on somebody, in terms of legal fees and other things."

Trump himself is currently the target of litigation. And out on the stump he has vowed that if elected, he will "open up our libel laws," effectively overturning the U.S. Supreme Court's 1964 ruling in New York Times v. S ullivan, which gave the press heightened First Amendment protections against defamation suits for articles about public figures-like Donald Trump.

IV.

HE'S TAKEN ON DEBT RECKLESSLY

Trump claims that as President he would use his business prowess to tackle one of America's most urgent problems: the skyscraper-high national debt. As evidence, he claims that the businesses he runs have "very low debt and tremendous cash flow." That example, Trump has declared, demonstrates "the kind of thinking this country needs, with $19 trillion in debt, believe me."

But a close examination of how Trump ran one of America's biggest gaming enterprises demonstrates an entirely different kind of thinking from the belt-tightening rhetoric he spouts on the campaign trail. In fact, Trump has a record of recklessly piling on debt-with disastrous results.

Trump served as chairman and sometimes CEO of publicly traded Trump Hotels, later renamed Trump Entertainment Resorts, from mid-1995 to its second bankruptcy, in early 2009. Over that period he leveraged his gaming properties to such heights that he gravely impaired their prospects.

When Trump Hotels first went public in 1995, its big holding was a single casino: the Trump Plaza. Early the following year, Trump Hotels bought the Trump Taj Mahal, billed as the "Eighth Wonder of the World," for $898 million. In the transaction, Trump Hotels took on a lot of really expensive debt-$817 million in junk bond borrowings at 11.25% interest. From the start, the Taj was losing money because of its big interest burden. "People will be shocked when they hear the numbers. The numbers are just huge," said Trump at the time, hyping the merger.

Mark Makela-Reuters

Trump wasn't done buying casinos-from Trump. In June 1996 he announced the purchase of another of his casinos, Trump's Castle. Whereas he'd held just half the equity in the Taj, he owned 100% of the Castle. Trump Hotels agreed to buy the Castle for about $520 million-and Trump gave himself a premium. The announced price was a staggering 18 times cash flow (twice what the Taj had fetched). It's not even clear the Castle was worth its debt load of over $350 million.

It didn't take long for the debt to take its toll. When Trump Hotels went public, it had carried just $494 million in long-term debt; by the end of the next year, after the two big purchases, its borrowings had ballooned to $1.7 billion. By 2002, Trump Hotels' debt was $2.1 billion, and its leverage ratio had expanded to 27, approaching the levels that sank Lehman Brothers during the financial crisis.

From its IPO in 1995 through two separate bankruptcies in 2004 and 2009, Trump Hotels-and its successor, Trump Entertainment-never made money. Year after year its operating profits were decimated by gigantic interest costs. Over the almost 15 years that Trump served as chairman, the casino company posted net losses, excluding extraordinary items, totaling nearly $1.7 billion.

V.

HE THINKS HE'S GREAT AT EVERYTHING

Unlike most real estate titans, Trump has never stuck to real estate. He has frequently attempted to acquire and operate companies in industries outside his expertise. Several executives who worked for Trump, all of whom declined to speak on the record because they fear his wrath, say they were constantly warned by managers who knew him best that "Donald's ego is so big, he believes he can run anything."

In the late 1980s, Trump bought the Plaza Hotel and the former Eastern Shuttle (renaming it Trump Shuttle), then lost both businesses to excessive debt and weak management. He also led abortive takeovers of Bally and American Airlines. His buccaneering style was especially misplaced in gambling, an industry that's extremely cyclical. While his rival Steve Wynn stuck to gaming and retrenched when he anticipated downturns, Trump never thought Atlantic City would do anything but boom-failing to foresee the threat from the spread of gaming to neighboring states.

The same approach is evident in Trump's latest quest in politics. He clearly thinks he's not just the best candidate for the job but also the best at running a major presidential campaign. "I'm the strategist," he recently bragged to New York magazine, explaining that he has been the architect of his unorthodox campaign and unexpected political success. Once again, though, Trump might not know quite as much as he thinks he does. Pundits are predicting that his ineptitude in the intricacies of the process-especially in securing delegates-could potentially cost him the nomination at the Republican convention. Then Trump could go back to the business of being Trump full-time.
A version of this article appears in the May 1, 2016 issue of Fortune.

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Donald Trump's pitch is simple: He is, as he'll happily tell you, one of the world's elite businessmen. Therefore he'd make a great President. Last June, when Trump famously rode down an escalator inside Trump Tower in Manhattan to announce his presidential candidacy to a crowd padded with paid attendees, he delivered a speech that heavily emphasized his 40-year career as a real estate developer and professional personality.

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P-6 Trump chicago is the best looking building in the entire city

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P-6 Trump chicago is the best looking building in the entire city

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A-8 instagram can be a key tool to attract buyers

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If you own a real estate business, then you should always be looking for new ways to promote the properties you're currently listing on the market. Many real estate professionals are making a strong push to expand their online marketing strategies, and for good reason. More people than ever before are using the Internet to find homes in their area that are for sale. While there are lots of ways to market your properties online, Instagram has become one of the more popular methods for doing so. Follow these tips to make using Instagram for real estate listings and properties fun and easy.

To start, you should learn how to take high-quality photos with whatever device you will be using to post to Instagram. Most people today post to Instagram using their mobile phones, so make sure that you know how to get the most out of the camera on your phone. Photos that are visually appealing always perform better on Instagram, as people are much more likely to notice them and like them.

Using relevant hashtags with your Instagram photos is another great strategy. Try to identify hashtags that you believe those in your target market will be following, then add them to the photos that you share. Add hashtags to your posts that are relevant to the location of the homes that you are trying to sell, as well as some of the top features of the homes that appear in your photos. Users of Instagram also have the choice to browse photos on the platform with the help of a map, so make sure to tag the location of your photos when you submit them. This is a perfect way to connect with people in your geographic area who may be looking for homes or who know someone else who is.

Integrating your Instagram account with your other social media accounts is another important thing to do. For example, set it up so that every Instagram post you create is automatically shared on your Facebook and Twitter accounts as well. This cross-posting strategy has been shown to be extremely effective, as it allows more people to see your posts, and it builds up your social media followers across the board.

Social media networks like Instagram are built on the idea that having conversations with people with similar interests is important, so make sure to pay attention to anyone who comments on your posted photos. Answer any questions they have promptly and thank them for following. Follow their accounts so you can interact with them later on and build an even stronger relationship going forward.

These are just a few of the tips that smart real estate marketers are following today to increase their sales and listings as they use social media. Succeeding on social media websites, especially on ones such as Instagram, comes down to doing a few simple things correctly and always being ready to engage with your followers.

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If you own a real estate business, then you should always be looking for new ways to promote the properties you're currently listing on the market. Many real estate professionals are making a strong push to expand their online marketing strategies, and for...

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A-7 advertising for real estate is key if you want to sell

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A-7 advertising for real estate is key if you want to sell

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Today, selling homes is no longer limited to working with a professional real estate agent. You can now utilize social media to your advantage to help with getting potential leads for any home or property you are interested in selling. Whether you want to list your own home or you are representing multiple properties for sale, using Facebook is one way to reach a broad audience and possibly facilitate a quicker sale than with traditional methods. Correctly advertising homes on Facebook can mean the difference between failure and success in the world of online real estate and social media.

Understanding how to use Facebook to advertise your properties will help you make a greater impact and generate more potential leads. The more engaged and active you are with your online following, the easier it is to find buyers for the listings you have for sale.

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The key to advertising homes on Facebook

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Today, selling homes is no longer limited to working with a professional real estate agent. You can now utilize social media to your advantage to help with getting potential leads for any home or property you are interested in selling. Whether you want to...

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P-2
Trump tower Chicago is amazing a true center piece for the city

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P-3
Trump tower in new york is a true staple and is my favorite part of new york

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P-1
Trump tower in Las Vegas in breath taking just a beautiful building

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P-4
NYC construction

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P-5 Cranes over looking the city construction

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A-6Real estate is an important part of construction and a big reason why im here. you can build it but someone gotta sell it

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A-6Real estate is an important part of construction and a big reason why im here. you can build it but someone gotta sell it

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Trump luxury real estate is just amazing from his hotels to penthouses someone knows what theyre doing.

C-3

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Lendlease is a really cool commercial construction company that works all over the world

C-2

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A-5 High rise construction is a big deal

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Pictured: Klein A45, Catskill Mountains, New York, by Bjarke Ingels Group. This prototype mountainside cabin is entirely customizable for homeowners to purchase, tailor, and have the tiny house built within 4-6 months in any location, for any purpose. Photo: Matthew Carbone

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A-4 design retail really cool concepts and ideas

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design:retail | The Latest News in the Retail Industry

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Read the latest on store designs, openings, and retail environments. Browse new projects from leading firms. Discover best-selling in-store retail products.

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A-3 retail store design is key to get customers

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Retail Marketing Blog - Retail News, Trends, Store Tips, and More by Shopify

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Retail has been around for a mighty long time - and one thing we know is that there are many different approaches when it comes to retail design and setting up your store layout. However, there are also some common design strategies that all retailers can employ that lead to more sales for your business.

Designing your retail store's interior is a topic that we've been looking at recently in an effort to help boutique merchants be more successful and thrive in today's digital era. From telling your brand's story and creating immersive shopping experiences, to putting together head-turning window displays and signage essentials, when it comes to retail, the devil really is in the details. As such, we want you to help you get the basics down pat.

Not sure where to get started with your store layout and retail design? Here, we'll look at some of the basics when it comes to creating effective retail interiors that attract more customers to your store, get them browsing for more products, and encourage them to head toward the checkout.

It's vital to keep this fact in mind: From the moment someone steps into your store to the time they decide to check out (or leave your store without making a purchase), smart design decisions make a significant difference in regards to whether you make a sale or not.

Enter the Threshold

The threshold area, also known as the "decompression zone," is the very first space that prospective customers step into when they enter your store. It typically consists of the first five to fifteen feet worth of space, depending on the overall size of your store. It's also the space where your customers make the transition from the outside world and first experience what you have to offer.

At this point, shoppers also make critical judgments like how cheap or expensive your store is likely to be and how well coordinated your lighting, fixtures, displays, and colors are. Since they're in a transition mode, customers are more likely to miss any product, signage, or carts you place there.

Then, Off To the Right

It's a well-known fact in the retail community that in North America, 90% of consumers turn right unconsciously upon entering a store. The first wall they see is often referred to as a "power wall," which acts as a high-impact first impression vehicle for your merchandise. So, be sure to give it extra special attention in terms of what you choose to display and how you display it.

You'll want to make sure you capture your customer's attention with the products you put on display, whether it's your new or seasonal items, high-profit or high-demand products, or as a place to tell your product's stories.

For some great visuals and ideas for your power wall display, check out Pinterest.

Have Shoppers Walk a Path

As a retailer, it's possible to use furniture, displays, racks, and other tools to create a clear path for your customers through your store. This will vary greatly depending on the size and your general store layout. However, you know that most North American customers will naturally turn right - so, your next job is to make sure that as they do, they also continue walking throughout your store to gain the maximum exposure to your products. This not only increases the chances of them making a purchase, but a well-thought-out path can be a great way to strategically control the ebb and flow of foot traffic in your store.

Most stores use a circular path to the right (or counterclockwise) to get customers to walk through to the back of the store and come to the front again. Some will make it even easier by covering the path with a different texture or look from the general flooring, paying homage to the old saying "where the eyes go, the feet will follow."

Another tactic to keep in mind is that you want to use the path to lead your customers somewhere. So, for example, consider putting an eye-catching and attention-grabbing display at the end of your aisles.

But, Slow Them Down

With all the time and effort you've put into properly merchandising your products, the last thing you want is for incoming customers to hurry past them - this ultimately limits the number of products they'll purchase. One way retailers combat this is through creating breaks that force them to pause. These are sometimes referred to as "speed bumps." Essentially, this can be anything that gives customers a visual break and can be achieved through signage or special/seasonal displays.

Most retailers effectively deploy the usage of what's referred to as "merchandise outposts," which are special display fixtures featuring products near the end of or in between aisles. These displays encourage impulse purchases while complementing products on display in close proximity.

Image: Pinterest

However, since you may not have "aisles" per say in your store, it's still important to think about grouping products in a way that makes sense from a shopper's perspective. Also, remember to keep "higher-demand" products displayed at eye-level while placing lower-grossing products at the bottom or above eye level. Lastly, It's recommended that you change up these speed bumps weekly or regularly enough to create a continued sense of novelty for repeat visitors.

To learn how to get more from your merchandising, check out these 6 visual merchandising ideas that can help you make more sales per square foot.

Make Sure Shoppers Are Comfortable

You may already be aware of something known as the "butt-brush effect," coined by consumer behavior expert Paco Underhill. He discovered that a typical customer, especially women, will avoid going after merchandise in an aisle where they could potentially brush another customer's backside or have their backside brushed. This holds true even if the customer is very interested in a given product. An easy way to avoid this problem is to ensure that your aisle, floor, and displays allow customers to have more than adequate personal space when browsing your products.

You can also make your store comfortable by incorporating a waiting area with comfy seats and benches to encourage customers to spend more time in your store. This is especially helpful for shoppers accompanied by someone who isn't interested in making a purchase. But keep the seats or benches facing the merchandise so that they're still top of mind for those lounging around in your store.

Lastly, Check Them Out (Not Literally)

Where you place your checkout counter and your POS in a physical retail store is a question you can ask yourself for days. However, a good rule of thumb to remember is that the checkout should be located at a natural stopping point in the shopping experience that you've purposefully designed.

If customers naturally turn right when they enter, and you guide them to circle all the way around, you'll realize that the front left is probably the ideal location for your checkout counter. However, this decision also depends on the size and layout of the store itself, which means you'll have to use your best judgment on the most natural point to have that check-out counter.

You'll also want to keep in mind that if you're a one-person show or don't have staff wandering the store, it'll be important to be able to see everything from a loss-prevention perspective. Other tips to keep in mind when designing your checkout counter are:

Have a counter that's big enough for shoppers to place their bags and/or personal belongings

Take advantage of the wall behind the counter to create interesting and engaging displays

Encourage impulse purchases by stocking items customers crave or commonly need close by

Be polite in person by asking questions like "Were you able to find everything you were looking for?" and in signage regarding your exchange or refund policies

Moving Forward With Your Store Layout and Retail Design
Read more about optimizing point-of-purchase displays to boost sales.
Designing your retail interior is a never-ending process where you can always be switching up, tweaking, adding, or taking away to create a resonating customer journey and experience. But at the end of the day, that's exactly what you want to focus on: the customer journey.

Have a walk-through yourself and see where the visual cues guide you or get your staff, friends, or family to do the same and give you honest feedback. Don't forget to observe your customers and see what they're drawn to, what they avoid, and how they move, then match that with your intended design. If you keep resilient and keep your eyes and ears open, you'll be sure to create a retail design that's a win-win for both you and your customers.

About the Author

Humayun Khan is senior product designer based in Montreal. Previously, he was the Sr. Writer at emerging technology publication BetaKit where he covered early-stage startups from around the globe.

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How To Create Retail Store Interiors That Get People To Purchase Your Products

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Retail has been around for a mighty long time - and one thing we know is that there are many different approaches when it comes to retail design and setting up your store layout. However, there are also some common design strategies that all retailers can employ that lead to more sales for your business.

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Hurricanes' Problematic Construction Impacts

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construction experts and claims consultants interface consulting international

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Construction Management Articles | Interface Consulting

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While the recent storms in Texas and other areas in the southern United States represent a silver lining for those involved in repair and reconstruction, these storms have caused disruption and delay on many construction projects that were underway prior to the storms. In many cases, those associated with the construction industry have experienced costly delays and increased expenses to their construction work.

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A-1 whats trending in construction

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As the economy improves, often the construction business does as well-but that industry is still looking for sound strategies, not just structures. After the housing dip of a few years ago, value is still on people's minds as there isn't a guarantee that another downturn couldn't be around the corner.

Mike Miller, the Mid-Atlantic Division leader for Southland Industries, Dulles, VA, a mechanical engineering building firm, and Jim Snyder, director of operations for construction company Warrior Group, Columbus, OH, give us insights into the trends to look for this year.

1) Single-Design Model

Miller points out that traditionally, engineering documents were created then given to the contractor to re-draw with different information. Now, to save time and money, there's a shift to have it all in-house from engineering to coordination, creating a one-stop shop. Through the proper coordination, models can and should, says Miller, go through engineering right into construction. "Thirty month projects can get turned into 24-month projects," he adds.

2) Materials

Miller, who has a degree in architectural engineering, says materials such as adapted sheet metal are popular as a guaranteed pressure class for high quality, but it's how materials are being used that makes the difference. Going to prefabrication off-site for construction fits right into the ongoing theme of improving schedules. "Instead of joining one piece of duct work you can join 20 feet of duct together," Miller says. "It's about moving more work from the field into the shop."

3) Energy Efficiency

Energy consumption is always on the mind in construction, says Miller. He notes systems that recover energy through heat wheels and occupancy sensors are becoming vital. An example of the latter are the countless interior conference rooms that can be left empty for weeks. By recognizing carbon dioxide in the room, a sensor changes the ventilation and, therefore, the energy needed.

4) Permanent Modular Construction

Snyder offers that permanent modular construction will be a huge trend in the coming years, saying the construction can easily last more than 50 years. "It looks exactly like commercial construction and can be done using many of the same things: metal studs, concrete, or even wood." Snyder says modular construction fits particularly well when you're in a time crunch, from fast food restaurants that need to go up quickly to army barracks for military deployment. "It also allows you to have an easier time doing the building as you go," he says. "Instead of building 100,000 square feet, you can do 25,000 and then later, add on." Snyder, who has a degree in construction science, sees it also becoming a part of high-rise construction and being particularly popular for how it fits in with LEED requirements. The key, he says, is changing people's minds about what they envision. "They see it as boxes," he says, "but it can be so many things that you want it to be."

5) Possibly...You

According to Miller, well-rounded mechanical engineers who can go beyond calculations to fitting into these coordinated engineering design models will render themselves invaluable. The only question is: Are you flexible enough for the challenge?

Eric Butterman is an independent writer.

Well-rounded mechanical engineers who can go beyond calculations to fitting into these coordinated engineering design models will render themselves invaluable.
Nikhil A. Koratkar, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

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Retail Store Design by CNS Displays (Cnsdisplays.com)

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Design Concepts by CNS Displays Sterling, VA www.cnsdisplays.com

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This video show how to efficiently manage the form works during the construction of buildings or structures. WTF aluminum formwork is a rapid paced construction system for forming cast in place concrete structures. WTF provides aluminum formwork for reinforced concrete construction of single and multi-story buildings and enables the walls and slab to be placed monolithically in the same operation.

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