Manufacturing construction has surged in the United States in the last five years, largely due to policy support and foreign direct investment in projects on American soil[1]. Manufacturing Today reports that since 2021, over 40% of billion-dollar manufacturing projects involved foreign investment. By early 2024, estimates showed that foreign investments in U.S. manufacturing construction in areas like clean energy and semiconductor technology totaled a record $225 billion[2].
While the funding support is strong, foreign clients need the experience of a trusted partner to navigate the host of challenges that come with successfully adapting foreign projects to the U.S. market. JE Dunn project teams have found these eight best practices to be essential in partnering and developing solutions with foreign clients to deliver quality results on time and on budget.
1. Keep an open, curious mind when getting to know your client and their team
At JE Dunn, we are excited about working with more international partners. Cultural differences can create challenges, but learning, working together, and building authentic partnerships is tremendously rewarding. Making a genuine effort to get to know your client and their culture is an important first step. Often the social structure of a foreign culture dictates how employees will interact and problem-solve within their own company and with partners. Taking the time to understand these differences can help leadership craft effective strategies for communication and collaboration. In many cases one-on-one communication will need to be strategically planned to compensate for cultural reluctance to voice concerns or challenges in a group setting.
2. Commit to planning thoroughly and supporting a lean culture
JE Dunn implements lean processes on every project we undertake. Lean cultures look to reduce waste and involve thorough front-end planning to account for future risks to the project requirements, schedule, and budget. Foreign clients may be experiencing a lot for the first time that is more familiar to domestic investors. Whether it be different regulatory processes or being held to stricter pricing schedules and deadlines, your client may need more support to understand not only what differences they can expect but the justification behind those differences and how they impact project resources. Commit to investing more time into documenting those processes and requirements and having these conversations with your foreign partners early on to set the foundation needed for success that might otherwise be automatically understood and anticipated by domestic investors.
3. Plan out how you intend to communicate and make decisions
In addition to getting to know our client, we aim to provide unmatched communication throughout the construction journey. Our teams work proactively to plan out how changes, requests, and other issues will be communicated. Whether it be through regular one-on-one meetings, email, or other avenues, JE Dunn teams work with our foreign clients to develop a communication plan that factors in their preferences and processes for escalating issues. While more documentation may feel tedious, having a concrete, accurate record of how work was completed and who was involved at what stages can be critical for foreign investors to make timely and informed decisions.
4. Aim to make communication as clear and consistent as possible
Following the communication plan you initially develop, clarify your communication with foreign team members and stakeholders with all the tools at your disposal. Simple changes like diagrams in lieu of narratives or providing meeting notes after calls can help communicate meaning and intention more clearly. Once you solidify what avenues for communication work, use those consistently and adapt them as you improve. You may find that you need to socialize ideas and problems one-on-one with individuals rather than across mass-channels like email or teamwide calls to more successfully get your point across. It may take time and feel excessive to document and communicate this much, but assumptions and ambiguity are the enemy when it comes to delivering clear, expected results on time.
5. Establish accountability and give your clients deadlines
Of the items to communicate, deadlines are among the most important. JE Dunn project teams often leverage commitment logs as documentation to assign and show who is responsible for what work by what time. Using a record like this to set firm deadlines can help foreign clients see more clearly who or what is holding up a project and how those delays impact the overall budget. And as a bonus, maintaining this record can help both stakeholders and project teams build trust and accountability with one another rather than confusion and blame. In all circumstances, avoid ambiguous expectations like “ASAP,” which is even more ineffective with foreign clients than domestic ones.
6. Pinpoint who the best individuals are to receive and socialize information
Communicating directly and clearly comes down to more than just the channel being used and the content being shared. In every new partnership — but especially with a foreign client whose company power structure is largely shaped by their social culture and is probably much different than your own — identify the right individuals to communicate issues or questions to so that they can relay those details to the right stakeholders. Establishing both the pathways and the relationships for information to be delivered efficiently and effectively can greatly impact whether stakeholders understand the issue or request at hand.
7. Anticipate needing to teach your client about codes and regulations and how code reviews work
In addition to being mindful about how and who you communicate with, U.S. construction teams can expect to need to walk foreign investors through codes and regulations more intensively. Your foreign investors may not have experience working with different authorities having jurisdictions (AHJ) at municipal, state, and federal levels. Where some components of a foreign design may have worked in past construction abroad, there likely will be conflicts with U.S. standards. To avoid delays due to permitting or needing additional approvals, be proactive and purposeful with your planning and asking questions. Work with your client to develop a clear timeline that lays out what documents and decisions are needed and when. And where there’s silence, don’t be afraid to check in with your foreign collaborators (multiple times, if need be) to ensure everyone understands what’s required for compliance.
8. When problems arise, focus on getting to the source of the issue
While timing is critical in construction, foreign clients may be more likely to apply solutions that save time and temporarily ease problems rather than tackling them at the source. As challenges or changes come up, refer to your front-end planning and the unique codes and regulations that apply to your project. Providing more proof and clear reasoning behind why a problem needs to be fully resolved before other project work can move forward can better prepare you for conversations with stakeholders where risks are involved or additional work and contingency funds or fees are needed.
