Industry Experts Delivering Exceptional Client Outcomes

FMI is singularly focused on creating a better future for the built environment.

Tailored Advisory Services

No other consulting firm or investment bank offers the level of access, data and insight into engineering, construction and the additional sectors of the built environment we serve. Unlike generalist firms that work across many industries, FMI is industry-specialized and relationship-driven with a proven long-term commitment to creating exceptional outcomes for our clients.

This is why thousands of clients around the world trust FMI to help solve their most pressing challenges, capitalize on their most promising opportunities, and gain insight into current issues and emerging industry trends. Public and private companies and private equity investors seek out our management consulting and investment banking professionals for help with:

Positioning for growth
Optimizing performance
Developing leaders
M&A transactions and due diligence

FMI Publications & Training Programs

In addition to tailored advisory services, FMI publications provide up-to-date industry data, forecasts and unique insights, and FMI training programs provide industry-specific professional development from the field up through the C-suite.

Services and Sectors

FMI Consulting helps companies improve operations, create and execute strategies, and accomplish other business goals across the built environment. FMI Capital Advisors has dedicated sector teams to help clients achieve their financial goals.

Our People and Our Dedication to the Industry Set Us Apart

Diversity in Consulting and Investment Banking at FMI

Talented people come from all walks of life and are the lifeblood of our firm and the clients we serve. At FMI, we believe talent is demonstrated through a combination of character, competency, performance and sustained professional growth. However, women, people of color and other diverse backgrounds are not fully represented at all levels within professional services firms, including FMI. To improve in this area, we have made and shared a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and have established the following goals:

Expand our talent acquisition processes and implement accountability metrics that guarantee we are expanding our networks to recruit more women, people of color and individuals of diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Provide resources and tools to current and future employees to help us assess, learn, and improve our influence and effectiveness on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Improve the FMI workplace and career experience of women and people of color as evidenced by periodic engagement surveys and merit-based career advancement.

Learn more about working at FMI

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Engineering & Construction

The engineering and construction industry is starved for talent, yet women and people of color are underrepresented at all levels within the industry. We believe a better future for the built environment depends upon its leading organizations more fully reflecting the society in which we live.

As we seek to be a positive catalyst for the industry, we have formed a strategic partnership with the U.S. Minority Contractors Association, a national association that provides assistance and advocacy for minority business owners, contractors and subcontractors in the industry.

“FMI is a firm where all are welcome, and their contributions are acknowledged and celebrated. A firm where talented and driven individuals can have thriving careers, advance on merit, and reach the highest levels of management and leadership.”

– Denise Proctor, CFO and COO

Our Future

FMI professionals partner with clients to solve their present-day strategic, operational and organizational challenges while keeping an eye on emerging trends and innovations that will influence their future decisions. As the pace of change across the built environment accelerates, so do volatility and uncertainty. Technological innovation and social issues are combining with more traditional political, economic, demographic forces to influence who, what, where and how tomorrow’s infrastructure is built. FMI is uniquely positioned within the industry to provide clients with fresh perspectives on relevant topics, such as:

Alternative building products
Energy transformation
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
Megaprojects
Off-site construction
Project funding
Project delivery methods
Technology and innovation
Urbanization

Our Past

Doc Fails, Founder of FMI
The story of Fails Management Institute (FMI) begins with Dr. Emol "Doc" Fails, a beloved professor at North Carolina State University. In 1953 he began helping former students and small contractors understand and operate their businesses more effectively and developed a passion for improving the profitability of his contractor clients. In 1956 he formalized these part-time pursuits into an industry-focused consultancy that grew to become FMI.

Over the past 70 years, our firm has evolved with the industry, continuing to expand our services beyond engineering and construction to include additional sectors of the built environment. Like our founder, we remain passionately committed to creating a better future for the built environment by helping clients solve their most complex business challenges.

You don’t build a business. You build people and then people build the business.
– Doc Fails

“Going on 70 years, FMI has been singularly devoted to serving the engineering and construction industry and broader built environment. Our exclusive industry focus has allowed us to develop deep and intimate knowledge of how the industry works, and form lifetime firm-to-firm relationships with its leading companies. We seek to leverage these strengths on each engagement with every client to their absolute satisfaction.”

– W. Chris Daum, CEO