You're Stuck Managing 80 People Who All Do Things Their Own Way
The Challenge
Look, I'm going to say something you probably already know but haven't said out loud yet. Your company at $30M, $50M, maybe even $100M doesn't actually run like one company. It runs like 80 small businesses that happen to share the same logo and bank account.
I know this because I lived it from the other side. When I was working in the field, I did things the way that made sense to me. When I was estimating, I had my system, and it worked! The problem was, the person next to me had a completely different system that also worked. And the owner or my supervisor was spending half their week trying to figure out why we kept getting different results doing the same type of work.
Here's what's actually happening in your business right now. You've got three estimators pricing jobs three totally different ways. One is padding everything because they got burned two years ago and just don’t want to get beaten up again. Another one is sharpening the pencil so thin you're not sure there's any meat left on the bone, and you may even be questioning if they even know what they’re doing anymore. The third is somewhere in the middle, depending on their mood that day. When you sit down to review numbers, you're trying to reverse engineer why the same scope has three different approaches. The confidence you used to feel when you signed a contract is just gone.
Your field operations look the same. Five supers running similar work five completely different ways. Two are that seasoned grumpy supers who still make you money, so you keep them around, but you'd rather avoid the conversation altogether than hear their negative response to anything you suggest changing. Another use the software you dropped 50 grand on, but only the parts they like. Two others are running off gut feel and chicken scratch notes nobody else can read.
The Impact
This is costing you money in ways you can't even track. Your profits are all over the place. Some jobs crush it, others bleed, and you can't pinpoint why because everyone managed their project differently. You're doing more revenue than ever, but profit isn't following.
That superintendent you love is tired of inheriting projects with missing information. Your sharp young project manager is watching three different PMs do the same tasks three different ways and starting to think this chaos is just normal. Talk about confusing!!
Meanwhile you're working more hours than you did at $20M. You hired all these people to get yourself out of the weeds, but you're still jumping into estimate reviews, playing mediator when handoffs go sideways, and getting calls about problems you already fixed. Your family sees less of you. Your stress is through the roof. Everyone keeps talking about getting to $75M, but you can barely manage what you've got now. Talk about pressure!!
Here's the part that drives you crazy and keep to yourself. You know exactly who's going to push back when you try to standardise anything. That senior estimator who's been with you for 12 years and gets defensive every time you suggest changing their process. The superintendent who's delivered every project on time their way and will give you an earful about why your new system won't work. These are capable people you respect, and dealing with their resistance just adds more weight to your already overloaded plate. So you avoid the conversation, and the inconsistency continues because it's easier than the fight.
The Shift
You have to stop running around fixing things and start defining how things should actually run in YOUR company. That means making uncomfortable decisions about standardizing how work flows through YOUR company. And yes, that includes having hard conversations with your seasoned pros who you know will resist.
Note: Notice the bold YOUR above, it’s YOUR company, and you must demand a certain level of continuity in how you want things done, not how the PM from your competition was taught how to do it.
Those difficult conversations you're avoiding are costing you way more than the temporary discomfort of having them. That senior estimator who pushes back isn't going to quit over a standardised handoff process. They might grumble and test you to see if you're serious, but if you hold the line with clarity and respect, most of them adapt because they want to be part of something that works better.
Pick one place to start with your estimate for to project handoff. The handoff is something I speak about often because so many contractors lose profits because of this very step that isn’t taken seriously. Right now, this handoff probably looks different every single time. Pick one way it happens from now on. One template. One meeting format. One set of deliverables that moves from estimating to the field every time, no exceptions.
I helped and watched a $45M contractor do this last year. The estimators complained at first. But three months later, the project managers stopped wasting the first two weeks hunting down information. The owner told me they got at least 5 hours of their week back because they stopped being the translator between departments. Change always will feel paralysing at first, or as if you’re going backwards, BUT if you stay consistent, you’ll eventually see the ROI soon after.
After the above is mastered, then tackle your three most common project tasks. Document one standard way to do them. Not a massive binder nobody will open, but just a clear standard that says this is how we do this here. Train to it, hold people to it, and measure it. The pushback will come, and when it does, you hold firm on the standard while staying open to refining how you get there.
Look, I'm going to be blunt here. At some point in your growth journey, you're going to realize that the people who got you to where you are today aren't the same people who'll get you to the next level. Eventually, you'll need to get crystal clear on who's actually going to adapt and who's going to keep you locked exactly where you are right now. These decisions are brutal, and they matter more than almost anything else you'll do as a leader. This is one of the hardest parts of scaling, and it's exactly why contractors bring me in, because navigating who stays and who goes (or is moved to a different position) will make or break your next phase of growth.
The Closing
You built something real to get to $50M or whatever your revenue is at. You outworked the competition and earned every relationship in your pipeline. But the same hustle that got you here won't get you to $100M without burning you out and hating Monday mornings. The companies that break through don't work harder, and they don't avoid the uncomfortable conversations that need to happen. They build systems that let talented people do great work without the owner being the answer to every question. The opportunity is sitting right in front of you, and the only question is whether you're ready to lead through the discomfort that comes with building the foundation that can handle the weight.
Gerard Aliberti
Pro-Accel,
Owner
- If any of this hit close to home and you're ready to build some operational clarity so your next phase of growth doesn't create more chaos, let's talk about what that looks like for your situation. Reach out to jerry@pro-accel.com, and we'll figure it out together.
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