Our Saturday Newsletter

Planning and Actually Building Something That Works. Building a strategy that actually works isn't about locking yourself in an office with a spreadsheet.

They’re in the middle of their final push, closing out projects, chasing retainage, lining up crews for winter work, and squeezing every bit of revenue out of the year.

Over the past 22 years, I've been in enough contractor offices to spot it right away. Many $25-$50 MM million companies have good reputations, steady work, and crews that know what they're doing.

The Challenge So I'm talking to this contractor last week who runs a $60 million construction company, and he tells me he walked into his office Monday morning ready to finally call that developer who's been dangling a 2.5-year project in front of him. This thing is right up his alley, and he knows his team could absolutely crush it. But before he can even grab his phone, here come the interruptions. His project manager needs approval on a change order, his superintendent wants to switch concrete suppliers, and his estimator is asking whether to include some risky scope in a bid that's due today. By lunch, he'd fielded twelve decisions that, honestly, his team should be handling without him. Now my first question to him was about where his lower-level executives were in all this, but for today, I want to focus on something else entirely. Why are so many questions landing on his desk in the first place? Meanwhile, and as you guessed, that developer call never happened, and he's sitting there thinking, "I built this whole company so I could work on growing it, not so I could approve every material swap and schedule change." The Impact Here's the thing that's killing me about this situation. While he's stuck approving routine decisions, his competitors are out there building the relationships that land the next big contract. That developer I mentioned? He requires months of strategic relationship building, but my friend can't block out the time because there's always another operational fire to put out. His backlog should be growing, but instead, he's spending his energy on stuff that keeps him busy instead of stuff that makes him money. The brutal part is his team has gotten comfortable just asking him instead of thinking it through, because why take responsibility when the boss will just make the call for you? The Shift So here's something powerful I've been working on with my clients that you can start immediately, and I'm telling you, this will absolutely change how your business runs. Starting Monday morning, you and your key people are keeping a decision journal for thirty days. Every time someone comes to you with a question, write it down. What they asked, what triggered it, what you told them. Have them track the same thing on their end.

The Challenge In construction, reputation is your currency. It is what keeps the phones ringing, keeps your bids in the mix, and determines who trusts you with the next big project. Yet too many contractors overlook how much their partners shape that reputation. For general contractors, the subcontractors you invite to your jobs are a mirror of your standards. For subcontractors, the general contractors you attach your name to send an equally loud message. The uncomfortable reality is that your partners become an extension of you. If they cut corners, miss deadlines, or operate chaotically, you wear that stain too. Do this often enough and people start questioning your judgment. On the other hand, when you consistently build alongside reliable, disciplined partners, the industry begins to see you differently. Suddenly, you are not just another bidder; you are the company that delivers. 

The Challenge One of the most overlooked problems in construction is confusion over who is actually in charge of the project. In smaller companies and on smaller projects, it often falls on the superintendent. They have the field experience, are respected by the crews, and drive the work forward, while the project manager plays a more supporting role. That structure works when the projects are small, but as the company grows and the projects become larger, the cracks start to show. Clients expect the project manager to lead. They want answers on budgets, schedules, and commitments. The word “manager” in the title makes them assume that the person has the authority, and in my years of experience, they should. Meanwhile, the superintendent’s value is in driving the day-to-day in the field and keeping production moving. When the lines between the two are not redefined as a company grows, tension builds. Superintendents who have always “run the job” struggle to let go. Project managers who have always supported now need to step into leadership. The lack of clarity creates a tug of war inside the company.