Why curation beats volume in AEC marketing and business development

The AEC industry is growing. According to ENR, commercial construction projects increased by nearly 27% in 2025. Opportunity is rising. Demand is real. Yet across the industry, firm and marketing leaders are feeling the strain of heightened expectations, tighter resources, and a pace that won’t let up. 

To keep up, many firms instinctively try to do more. More proposals. More outreach. More content. More activity. It feels like the responsible response in a competitive market. But the industry is changing in ways that make volume far less effective than it once was. 

What’s emerging instead is a need to be more intentional. To take a more curated approach to which work firms pursue, where they invest resources, and how they show up in the market.

Competition is intensifying.  

New firms are entering the market with polished brands, modern language, and strong presence, and established firms are evolving quickly. When everyone looks capable and sounds the same, simply increasing activity does not create clarity. It adds to the noise. In practice, this doesn’t just dilute differentiation; it accelerates sameness. Volume becomes a substitute for strategy, and brand signals blur rather than sharpen.

Recent data reinforces this shift. Deltek’s 46th Annual Clarity Report shows that proposal volume declined by 38% year over year, while the value of awarded work increased by 52%. Firms are pursuing fewer opportunities and winning larger, more strategic ones. This is a sign of firms finding focus and alignment, and better decision-making paying off. 

Capacity constraints are taking their toll. 

Deltek also reports that 57% of firms struggle to find time to nurture client relationships, despite these relationships being the most reliable path to new work. Business development responsibilities are now spread across project managers, firm leaders, and technical staff, often without additional support. These individuals are balancing delivery, pursuit involvement, relationship building, and people leadership simultaneously. The pressure is real, and the increase in burnout is too. In this context, burnout isn’t only a cultural issue. It’s a delivery risk. When teams are stretched thin, focus suffers, decision quality declines, and firms lose the ability to be intentional about where leadership time and energy are invested.

Surveys show that 97% of architects report experiencing burnout, and more than half (58%) of engineers say work-related stress is affecting their health. When people are stretched thin, focus is no longer optional. 

Marketing teams feel the pressure, as well. The role itself has expanded dramatically. Today’s AEC marketing leader is responsible for brand stewardship, content creation, pursuit strategy, photography and video, digital channels, analytics, performance reporting, and so much more—often with the same headcount they’ve had for years. AI promised to bring relief, but many firms see it as a way to support an increase in quantity, not quality. Without clear priorities, lean teams are spread too thin to do their best work and even strong ideas lose impact. When output becomes the primary measure of success, marketing shifts from a strategic function to a reactive one. Momentum is mistaken for progress, and quantity quietly displaces clarity.

The market is leveling up.  

Private equity investment and decades of merger and acquisition activity have raised expectations around marketing data, strategy, and performance. This is driving smarter teams and challenging firms without external investment to compete at their level. Clients now expect firms to bring insight earlier and articulate impact more clearly. As the bar rises, competing on volume alone is becoming an expensive—and ineffective—way to stay visible. The cost isn’t just financial. It shows up in missed opportunities, diluted positioning, and leadership attention pulled in too many directions at once.

Decision-makers are feeling the fatigue. 

Behind all of this is another human reality. Decision-makers are overwhelmed. Our research shows that owners and end-users receive an average of nine meeting requests per week. That’s more than 450 per year. Prime firms receive upward of 15 requests per pursuit to join teams. With a crowded inbox in a crowded market, what people notice most are the firms showing up with intention, not the ones simply showing up the most. 

Curation is a form of leadership. 

Curation is about leading with clarity. It's choosing what matters, and reinforcing that choice at the highest, most strategic level, and in everyday moments. It helps firms differentiate meaningfully, protect their people, focus resources, and signal confidence. It supports brands and pipelines that grow sustainably and meaningfully over time. Curation is not about doing less for the sake of less. It is about directing energy toward work that truly moves the needle.  

To us, that needle is everything. It’s your ambition in action and a reminder of how far you’ve come. Throughout the year, we will share perspectives on what curation looks like in practice across the AEC marketing and business development spectrum, from branding and business development to content, and relationship management. Follow along as we explore how clarity, focus, and thoughtful choice can reshape how firms show up—and marketing and BD teams thrive—in a crowded and evolving AEC landscape. 

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If your firm is pursuing more but winning less, it may be a clarity issue, not a capacity one. We're here to help. Connect today to learn more about how curated brand, marketing, and business development strategies can focus teams and amplify impact.