The War on Your Jobsite Nobody Talks About AND Why It's Costing You Everything
The Challenge
Picture this. You've got a solid bid. The numbers work. You hand it off to the field and tell yourself, "We're good."
Then it starts.
The superintendent who's been building things since before your PM graduated high school decides he doesn't answer to anyone. He knows the job. He's been here. And your PM, organized, process-driven, wants everything documented, but the super sees it as noise.
Meanwhile, your PM is doing exactly what you hired him to do. But every conversation with the super feels like a standoff. Decisions get made in the field without a word to anyone. Your PM starts second-guessing himself, stops pushing as hard, and quietly starts building walls of his own.
This is the friction nobody puts on an org chart. And it is absolutely destroying your projects.
It’s IMPOSSIBLE to have a structured meeting cadence meant to bring it all together because of this insanity!
The Impact
More than 80% of construction projects finish over budget or behind schedule. Most people never trace it back to where it actually starts -> inside the team.
When a super and PM aren't aligned, decisions fall into the gap between them. So much gets missed, and so many times gets wasted dealing with straight-up nonsense. The job that should have been a solid earner quietly turns into a cash bleed while everyone points fingers.
You feel it last and worst! By the time the bonding company is calling and your banker is asking questions because your projects aren’t finishing with the projected profits, the damage is done. And the part that stings most is that you knew something was off months ago. But firing a seasoned super feels impossible when good help is hard to find, so you absorb the loss and move on, hoping the next job goes better.
It won't, until the dynamic changes.
The Shift
The org chart is not just a box-and-line diagram. It's a declaration of who owns what outcomes and who must collaborate to make them happen.
The first shift is clarity. When a super and PM both understand what decisions belong to each of them and what requires both, the standoff loses its footing. Nobody's being told what to do. Everyone knows what they own. That alone eliminates the majority of friction in companies I work with, faster than most owners expect.
The second shift is culture, and it starts with you. When you stop tolerating the silent war and hold both sides accountable to the outcome, not their title, not their ego, things change. Projects that should be profitable are. Schedules that should be hit get hit. And you stop managing a circus and start building something worth owning.
That is what the other side of this looks like. Not just a cleaner job. A better life.
I'll be blunt. You might be sitting there nodding along, thinking your team is different. They're not. In 23 years, I have never seen a company fully immune to this, NOT ONE. And every time I facilitate my Bid Handoff Accelerator Process, even with the "we've got it dialed in" crowd, this disease shows up fast, and the cost of it hits hard.
You’re breathing in your own exhaust everyday so it's hard to see all this yourself.
The owners who scare me most aren't the ones who know they have a problem. It's the ones who don't, because they're the ones losing the most money with the least idea why.
The Closing
You didn't get into this business to play referee between your own people. You got in because you believed it could be great and live a life you dreamed about. It still can be.
When your super respects the process and your PM earns respect in the field, the project doesn't just run better; the whole company changes. AND when you have synergy between estimating and the field, WOW, your business will run itself!!! You get back control. You get back time. You build a business that doesn't need you to hold it together every single day.
You don't have to keep absorbing the cost of a problem that has a solution. The path forward is clearer than you think.
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Free 30-Minute Diagnostic — If the super/PM dynamic keeps eating at your profits even when nobody's saying it out loud, that's worth paying attention to. Reach out to
jerry@pro-accel.com. Just hit reply to set up your FREE 30-minute diagnostic, and let's find exactly why the breakdown is happening.
Gerard Aliberti
Pro-Accel,
Owner
Ways We Can Work Together
- Bid Handoff Accelerator Process — A structured handoff system that closes the gap between estimating and field execution, dramatically improving project success. Having an outside facilitator not tied to all the politics and emotions will be a game changer ->
it’s a guarantee!
- Strategic Planning & Leadership Development — Tailored consulting to align your team, clarify roles, and build systems that improve profitability and efficiency
- Builder to CEO Mastering Cash Flow Summit — Tampa, FL, May 13-14, alongside Patrick Shurney of 3P Consulting. Exclusive in-person experience for construction owners. Limited seats! Details: https://go.3pcllc.com/from-builder-to-ceo-summit-tampa-2026
