Every modern construction project, large and small and in-between, is an unfathomably complex system of planning, coordination, execution and the people behind every activity. Any missteps could lead to adverse outcomes, but those missteps are often preventable with thorough analysis and communication before a project even begins, from mission alignment to the very personalities involved.

Over a decade in practice and refinement, Balfour Beatty has developed SmartStart® as a proprietary process to ensure that every project immediately puts its best foot forward. In rigorous sessions customized to each team and project, stakeholders come together to identify and eliminate alignment issues that could later cause schedule overruns, procurement challenges, costly rework or other setbacks. Stakeholder personalities and perspectives, risk potentials and lean design analysis all factor into an efficient and lean framework for achieving the best project outcomes.

SmartStart®: Origins

Balfour Beatty first developed SmartStart® as a pilot program, with one of its earliest real-world applications on the San Diego State University Zura Hall Housing Refresh project. Borrowing from a decade of experience with Balfour Beatty’s proprietary Mission Alignment Process (MAP), now US Civils President Mark Konchar and other experts envisioned a framework that would combine the group input of MAP with more collaboration, real-time discussion and the resulting accountable commitments to excellence.

“In the past, MAP would give us a great understanding of our stakeholders’ values, but it lacked the active collaboration we strive for in every client relationship,” says Mark. “With SmartStart®, we evaluate and align our personalities and behaviors together. We identify our team values together. We set and commit to our project milestones and risk management processes together. Everyone has a seat at the table.”

By the completion of Zura Hall in 2015, the lasting benefits of a successful SmartStart® were readily apparent – Balfour Beatty completed the project on time, within budget and to great acclaim, with SDSU leadership even calling it one of the most successful projects ever built on campus.

Taking SmartStart® (Inter)National

In the following years, Balfour Beatty gradually refined and mastered the system over dozens of successful sessions, but our teams still saw the potential for further standardization of the process across our entire operations.

“The benefits of SmartStart® were self-evident, but it was also a difficult process to facilitate without having experienced it firsthand,” says Justin Maletic, vice president, Central Texas and Arizona business unit leader and one of the driving forces behind SmartStart’s® growth. “We needed national standardization that would empower any project team, anywhere in the country, to run the best possible SmartStart®.”

In 2022, Justin and other teammates developed and published a SmartStart® playbook (now on its fifth revision) that led to an explosive proliferation of successful SmartStarts® within our US Buildings and Civils operations – nearly 75 as of early 2025 and positively impacting diverse market sectors from aviation to higher education to rail, highways, bridges and more.

Justin and fellow SmartStart® experts also developed the SmartStart® Charter, a printed and signed poster of project commitments – to behaviors, standards of excellence and more – that serves as the capstone of each session. Project teams then display the charter in a prominent jobsite location to serve as a daily reminder to the collective commitment to fruitful teamwork.

SmartStart® Charters are living documents. On multiple occasions, especially on long running or especially large-scale projects, stakeholder teams have needed to revisit their Charters with a mid-project SmartStart® session. Whether due to changing priorities, changing risk conditions or changing personnel, this touchpoint allows teams the opportunity to reconvene, reassess and set new parameters for success.

With SmartStart® humming along and generating success for Balfour Beatty clients on a national scale, there was only one place left to take it: to our Balfour Beatty, plc. partners in the UK. In 2024, Justin delivered a half-day SmartStart® session for our UK teammates preparing to build the Dunard Concert Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland, further demonstrating the broad applicability of the SmartStart® process.

“SmartStart® has proven to be such a powerful tool for project success because it can be applied to any team, any project and any unique circumstances,” Justin says. “The process is as customizable as our clients are unique, so in any situation it can facilitate the discussions necessary to reach a point of shared values and mutual trust.”

Client-Focused from the Start

SmartStart® is just one of many ways that Balfour Beatty teams enact our status as clients’ Relentless Allies. Our values, our behaviors, our mission are all aligned around and customized to each client’s needs.

We do not wait for collaboration to hopefully arise as a happy accident in the course of construction activities but rather create the environments and opportunities that make active collaboration possible before construction ever begins.