FW: Change Order Group Team Email

For the better part of a year, the Change Order Group has kept a weekly team call on Wednesdays. On the call, we discuss business development, deals, the news, etc. The team-members are all tops of their fields and have thriving side and main hustles. All of them are mature, decent, seasoned professionals. We always…

Top 5 Large American Cities That Will Be Destroyed By Climate Change

A couple years ago I attended a "Future of Real Estate" conference in Miami, Florida. Given what I knew about South Florida in the context of climate change and rising seas, I thought the city an odd location to be discussing the future of real estate. In a rare spell of discretion, I sat through…

The Western United States Are Dry, Getting Drier, and Are Ready to Ignite. What Can/Should be Done?

2020 was the hottest year on recorded history--a fact quite evident in the western U.S. Phoenix hit 144 days of 100 degree-plus days. Ten million acres of U.S. forests burned, filling the skies with dense smoke, and turning metropolises like Los Angeles into hellscapes. As bad as 2020 was, recent drought figures show 2021 could…

WWCOGD (What Would Change Order Group Do): With Katerra’s Spokane, Washington CLT Factory

Last week’s news of construction startup Katerra’s bankruptcy came as no surprise to anyone in the industry, least of all me. I sufficiently expressed my criticisms in this post , a sort of deathbed autopsy, and outlined how the Change Order Group would do things differently, better, and more economically. While I took a few days…

Change Order Group Podcast with Darrick Borowoki, Mike Eliason, and Greg Lindsay

This episode is intended to promote and develop the Change Order Group's perspectives, knowledge base, and service capabilities. We are actively seeking municipalities, developers, investors, and other organizations serious about finding solutions to the real estate market's--and society's--biggest environmental, economic, social, and technical challenges. Our services include: master planning for new and existing developments and…

CEO David Friedlander’s Podcast Interview with the City of San José’s Housing Department

Last October, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Alli Rico from the City of San José, California's Housing Department's podcast, Dwellings. It's a fun interview. Please listen on Apple or Spotify. I am pleased I nailed a few key points: I spoke to the extreme liability of building up in doomed areas like…

Why The Change Order Group is the Anti-Katerra

To anyone shocked at the pitiable state of construction startup Katerra —evidenced by Softbank’s recent $200M re-up investment to avoid bankruptcy —I would like submit this piece to voice an alternative narrative. Like their Softbank Vision Fund contemporary WeWork, the signs that Katerra was doomed were obvious from the start. I will highlight some of those signs…