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The Next Step in My Business Journey

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Doing the Things Only I Can Do

Over the past several weeks we’ve talked about having too much to do and not enough time to do it. Of how I need to delegate more of my business, but how hard delegating is for me. The only way that I can help more people is by sharing the load.

business planning

This issue has been brought to the surface after reading the book The Highest Calling by Lawrence Janesky. This book resonated with me because I see how construction businesses struggle with the business side of things. After reading this book it confirmed what I already knew…

Businesses need help building their business.

For several years, I’ve been working on ways to help construction companies with business building tools and processes. The problem is this takes time and energy away from construction projects.

So, then I shift my focus back to construction proposals and keeping those projects moving forward. And then the problem is I don’t have time to work on coaching and consulting to help people in the construction industry.

This past week is a good example of the construction part of the business not leaving any time for coaching and consulting.

It started out with Monday being a holiday. This means we started out the busy week with one day less to get everything done. There are ten different projects in varying stages. Some are almost finished, some are halfway done, and some haven’t been started.

To add to this list, I need to be doing proposals so that we will have work to do in the future.

I spent the majority of my time this week doing things that someone else could have…SHOULD HAVE…done.

If I keep doing what I’ve always done, I’ll keep getting what I’ve always got. Something has got to change. It’s up to me to do something different if I want to get past this mountain. The mountain will be easier to move, if I’m not the only one with a shovel.

One of the shovels that I’m working on giving to someone else is production coordination.

What exactly is production coordination?

It’s just what it sounds like. It’s the organizing and overseeing of the production and operation of multiple construction projects to maintain production schedules, complete projects within budget and achieve the quality of workmanship expected.

That sounds easy enough, right?

Trust me. To organize and oversee the production of multiple projects is a lot.

  • Project Coordination
    • Productivity Monitoring and Control
      • Coordinate schedules
      • Coordinate materials
      • Coordinate tools
    • Quality Control and Documentation
      • Periodic site visits and verify that quality is being achieved and maintained
      • Document with pictures and reports
    • Communicate with teams
      • Regularly review, follow-up and verify schedules
      • Determine materials and tools that are needed
    • Project Troubleshooting
      • Listen to customer concerns and document them
      • Communicate concerns with management
  • Planning and Control of Material and Tools
    • Coordinate gathering and delivery of materials and tools
    • Coordinate moving the balance of material to shop or return to supplier
    • Coordinate collection of tools from projects and/or production teams
  • Customer Service
    • Communicate schedules with customers and subcontractors
    • Assure that site organization is maintained
    • Coordinate and document finalization of punch list

So, where do I go from here?

I’m just one person and I can only do so much. If I’m going to build the business that God has called me to do…I’m going to need more help.

This means that I must be intentional and take action. Otherwise, I’m going to be limited to the number of people that I can help. That’s why this past week, I started the process of adding a PRODUCTION COORDINATOR to the team.

Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted as to how it’s going.

Delegating is a Part of Building That I’m Not Very Good At

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Working on the Business is Not The Same as Working In It

Even after being in business for more than forty years and all that I’ve learned over that time…there is still more to learn. Delegating is one of those areas where I need to do better.

I’ve just recently finished reading the book The Highest Calling by Lawrence Janesky. This novel is about business struggles and success. It’s a story of helping others and learning how to do the right things in order to succeed. It shares important and powerful business principles.

It reminded me of things that I know but haven’t done well.

One of those things was delegating. After years of doing everything, I forget to share the load. And, as a recovering perfectionist, I have a high level of expectation. This makes it hard to delegate.

Last week, we discussed the need to find a different electrician. We looked at how this is possible through connections.

As hard as it is to just find subcontractors, it’s even harder to find good ones.

Too often when we get to a point where we desperately need help. The situation is serious enough that we hire the first warm body(s) that shows up.

We all know how this turns out.

We assume that everybody has the same values and understanding that we do.

Surprise…not so.

I’ve found over the years that hiring people who grew up working on a farm, have military service, or were serious athletes increases your odds of getting good help.

In addition to finding subcontractors, it’s hard to get them to perform at the level I expect. Of course, it’s not fair to them if they don’t know what I expect.

Add to this that I tend to be meek. This leads to me letting things slide and not calling people out on things. I need to be bolder. One of the twelve life principles in the book The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant is…

Be meek before God, but bold before men.

I’ve worked to do something about this problem several different times over the years without success. The last attempt was in February of 2023. We worked on a process for explaining what we expected from our subcontractors and a way to evaluate them on their performance.

At that time, I wrote a series of blog posts about raising the bar of expectations:

I can’t expect contractors to work toward the level of excellence that I expect if they don’t know what that is. The question is…what am I going to do about it?

Construction Customers Can Be Hard Work

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As a Contractor What Did you Expect?

As someone who has been in construction for more than forty years, I’ve worked for my share of hard customers. This does not mean that they are bad customers. On the contrary, more often than not the opposite is true. They are the best customers because they have a high standard and expect high quality.

There are, however, those customers that are difficult. Ones that perceive the process of a construction project to be more of a battle that they need to win.

These aren’t the kind of customers that I’m referring to when I’m talking about customers being hard work.

Most of the time the problem is with the “professionals” doing the construction. For whatever reason, they expect construction projects to be simple, that everything will go just as planned.

This isn’t the way life is. Why would we expect construction projects to be any different?

As construction contractors, if we’re doing our job well…it should be hard work.

Hard work isn’t bad. Actually, I think the opposite is true. I think if we’re doing our job well as contractors…we will be working hard.

So, what is it that makes a customer hard work?

I think the number one reason is the contractor and customer approach construction projects from different perspectives. The customer sees their dream project in its completed and finished beauty. They have little or no idea of the processes and struggles that it takes to get the project there.

The contractor, on the other hand, knows that there will be bumps and detours along the way.

The problems arise when there is a breakdown in communication.

Often the contractor isn’t hearing what it is that the customer wants. Or he’s more interested in making money than fulfilling the customer’s dream.

As contractors, even when we have a clear idea of what the customer wants, sometimes isn’t obvious to the customer until they see it.

When faced with these situations we can say, “This is what they said they wanted. It’s what they agreed to in the scope of work that they signed.” This answer is the easy way out for the contractor.

Or we can put in the hard work and find a solution.

We’re currently working on a hundred-year-old tongue and groove wood floor that had never been finished. The customer liked the way the floor looked as it is. The plan was to sand it down and put a low sheen clear finish on it.

The problem arose when the clear finish brought out a red tint that was unexpected. Now what are we going to do?

Some contractors would tell the customer that it looks good, and they’ll get used to it. And wouldn’t that be the easy way to handle it?

The other option would be to listen to the customer. Make solving this issue as important to you as if it were your own project and you didn’t like the way it looked.

We’re going to sand it down again and work on different options. This might mean applying a stain to cover the red tint of the wood. Or maybe we’ll apply an oil finish to it. Or…maybe we’ll just leave it unfinished.

Ultimately…we’re going to work hard because this customer is worth it.

We’ll keep you up to date on how the project’s going and what we do with the floor in future posts.

There’s Too Much to Do and Not Enough Time to Do It

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This is Where Delegation Comes in 

Having too much to do and not enough time to do it is a common situation. This is especially true for people in construction. 

Chasing my tail and trying to keep up is a good description of how this past week was for me. There were four different construction projects being done at the same time. This involved organizing multiple subcontractors and materials. 

In addition to this, there are six construction projects that are either waiting to be started, need to be scheduled, or need change orders done. 

Oh, and don’t forget the proposals that need to be made, payment applications and invoices for the week, and record keeping. 

Sounds like a pretty normal week in construction, doesn’t it? 

This week wasn’t necessarily any busier than normal. It was the need for my involvement in the construction projects that was the big difference. This required a change of focus. I need help! 

One of the things that I struggle with is delegating. By nature, I try to do everything. It is my business after all. Serving my customers well is my responsibility. But me doing everything can only work if I limit what I’m going to do.  

Over the last several years, I have been working hard to figure out who exactly God has designed me to be. What my strengths and weaknesses are.  

As I worked through this process, I have reached a conclusion. God’s intended purpose for me is to help as many people as possible find solutions for building their dreams. Even if they may not know they’re looking for them.  

There is a limit to how many people I can help by myself.  

In Exodus 18:13-26, Moses was trying to solve all the issues of all the people. There were so many people that needed help and he couldn’t help them all. His father-in-law saw this and recommended that he share the load and put his energy and focus on what God had designed him to do…not everything.  

If I am going to help more people and help them well, I must share my load, just like Moses. 

One of the problems of delegation is that too often sharing of the load is done without much clarity or planning. Positions are just filled with the first warm body that comes along and says yes.  

Rather than helping to carry the load, this often just makes it heavier. If you have ever experienced this, it makes it harder to share the load the next time. 

It’s taken me a long time to figure out how to share the load, but I think I’m getting closer. My busy week would have been busier, or less would have gotten done, if it hadn’t been for my Virtual Assistant (VA), Emily.  

I couldn’t have done it without Emily! 

This help became evident as I was talking with one of the subs. He was working on one of the construction projects this week and asked me how I was able to get so much done.  

I told him it was my VA Emily. He said, “I need an Emily.” I told him to find his own, because he couldn’t have mine.   

In construction there are always towering mountains that need to be moved.  

The key to moving the mountains is to share the shovels.  

I am going to be careful and intentional about who gets what shovel. I need to make sure that the shovel and the person using it are a match. 

Now…who’s getting the next shovel? 

Even if delegating is not natural for me. It’s needed if I’m going to fulfill God’s purpose to help as many people as possible find solutions for building their dreams.  

This is a revision of a previous post titled Sharing the Shovels.

Dedication is a Lot More Than Just a Word

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It Requires Action and Commitment

The past several weeks, we’ve discussed prayer and some of the different reasons to pray. There have been examples of prayer from Scripture and examples of people praying. 

Prayer is how we communicate with God. 

The first week, we discussed Hannah and her remembrance to thank God for her answered prayer. Second, David’s recognition that God knows our thoughts and prayer is our realization of this. Third, David repented for his mistakes. Forth, Solomon asked for wisdom. Fifth, Elijah called Ahab out for his mistakes in leading the people to do the wrong thing and their acceptance and changing. Sixth, Hezekiah took situations to God in prayer and we should do the same. And finally, last week Jabez’s prayer was an example of how simple prayer can and should be. We often make prayer too complicated. 

This week is about Solomon’s dedication of the new temple and a physical location to connect with God. Like in the beginning of this series on prayer, we talked about the stacking of stones as a good physical reminder. The same was true for the temple. 

So, what is dedication?  

Dedication is the act of devoting something to a divine being for sacred use then setting it aside for a particular purpose. Dedication goes back to the 14th century. Back then, it referred to the solemn act of dedicating something–such as a calendar day or a church–to a deity or for a sacred use. Centuries later, it was used for the act of devoting time and energy to a particular purpose. Nowadays, dedication commonly indicates loyalty or commitment to a cause, ideal, or purpose. 

After the completion of the temple in Jerusalem, Solomon’s prayer of dedication included praise, guidance, and requests. This temple was a physical reminder of how big and special God is. 

There were seven requests to God in this prayer: 

  1. Discernment to judge fairly between people when someone wrongs someone else. 
  1. Forgiveness when we start living like the world and turn back. 
  1. Teaching us to follow the right path. 
  1. Giving Your people what they deserve based on how they act. 
  1. That all people everywhere will know who You are. 
  1. Help with fighting life’s battles and enemies. 
  1. Sending us reminders that we can’t do this on our own and we need to seek You in all things. 

We need to remember that the temple is not God. We need to remember that rules are not God. We need to remember that pomp and circumstance are not God.  

God is not a building or some physical statue. God is alive! 

In this fallen world, we are going to mess up. This does not mean that we can’t be forgiven. However, forgiveness is not a pass for messing up either.  

We need to dedicate ourselves to God through our actions and commitment.

What Makes the Production Tracker Such an Important Tool?

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Because it Helps Keep Your Business Balanced

Recently we discussed the importance of keeping your construction business from getting out of balance. Achieving a balanced business requires paperwork and we know how construction contractors feel about paperwork.

I know, I know, paperwork is not a very exciting topic, but neither is concrete. And we all know how important concrete is in supporting a building. The same is true for paperwork and your business.

One of the three foundational piers in business is administration and finance. One of the building blocks in that pier is a Production Tracker. This tool provides valuable information for forecasting the company’s financial needs and production plans.

Wouldn’t it be helpful if you knew:

  • Which types of work were consistently the most profitable
  • How you were doing at meeting your financial goals for the year
  • When you should have the signed projects finished to stay on track
  • How well you’re doing at getting proposals signed
  • What the average price of your projects are

The Production Tracker is an Excel spreadsheet that lets you gather and track information. It has preset formulas that determine and sort the information you need to make your business more profitable.

This document provides information for:

  • Creating and recording project numbers
  • Tracking project bid amounts
  • Tracking dollars of signed proposals
  • Tracking dollars collected from projects
  • Percentage of jobs signed
  • Percentage of dollars signed per dollars bid
  • Percentage of dollars collected per signed
  • Average dollar amount of projects bid
  • Average dollar amount of projects signed
  • Average dollar amount of projects collected
  • Projected timeframe for doing signed projects
  • Projected date work should be done

This list can seem overwhelming but it’s really not.

Here is an example of what the Job List spreadsheet looks like.

Let’s go through the document and break it down into smaller brick size pieces.

Creating and recording project numbers – Having a numbering system can help you sort projects so that you can review which types and size of projects are the most profitable and what you do the most of. It may be that your most profitable ones are not the ones you do the most often. Having this type of information can help you to focus more of your attention on the right kinds of projects for you.

This Production Tracker is a place to list project numbers in conjunction with the size and types of the projects, as well as their chronological order. This document provides the numerical part of the project number specific to each project. The other portion of the project number is determined by job specific parameters that are not included on this document.

Tracking project bid amounts – Our Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal system provides the dollar amount for each project. Once a proposal has finished, the specific information to that project is entered into the appropriate cells on the spreadsheet. This information includes Job Number (column E), the Customer Name (column F), Description (column G), Bid Date (column H) and the Project Amount (column I). Regardless of the system you use for preparing proposals, you should have a dollar amount that could be entered into this document.

As each new project amount is added in the project amount column, the total project amount at the bottom will update, giving you a total dollar amount of the proposals you have done this year. Based on your company’s history, this dollar amount should give you a clear picture of where you are in relation to meeting your financial goals for the year. We will explain this further with the tracking dollars of signed projects.

Tracking dollars of signed proposals – Once a proposal has been accepted, the accepted dollar amount should be entered in the signed amount column. Initially, this amount should be the same as the amount in the project amount column. Sometimes the dollar amounts of projects are changed due to change orders. This can be either an increase or decrease depending on the change order(s).

As each new proposal gets signed the dollar amount of the signed proposal should be entered into the correlating cell in the signed amount column. Just like in the project amount column, as each new amount is entered in the signed amount column, the total dollar amount at the bottom automatically updates giving you a total of work you must currently do.

With the total of the signed amount column and the total of the project amount columns, you should be able to get a clear picture of where you are financially in relation to where you want to be at year end.

Let’s say your goal for the year was to generate a gross revenue of $400,000.00. Using the example, you can see that as of December 12th you were at $352,877.66. This is close, but not quite there. If you compare the signed amount to the project amount ($664,381.27) you will see that the signed amount is 53.11% of the project amount. Based on this percentage, to get the signed amount to $400,000.00, the project amount would need to be $754,000.00.

This information is critical to the survival of your construction business.

Your business needs to be built on a solid foundation.

We’ve covered a lot here today. In our next post we’ll pick up at tracking dollars collected from projects.

Check out this and additional business building tools and training here. If you have questions, feel free to schedule a free 30-minute business coaching call.

Portions from a previous post 1/7/23 

The “Job List” Is One of the Foundational Building Blocks of a Successful Construction Company 

Prayer is How We Communicate with God

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This Includes Saying Thank You

Communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behaviors. It is the transmitting of information. It is a two-way street; it goes both ways.

Too often when we pray, we’re focused on asking God for things we want, and we should ask God for those things. But this doesn’t mean that praying for things we want means we’ll get them.

We need to make sure the things we’re asking for are in alignment with the things God wants.

The other thing that happens too often when we pray. We forget to thank God for all the prayers He does answer.

Notice how the definition of communication above isn’t just talking. It’s the exchanging of information.

When it comes to prayer, communication includes our thoughts. God knows our thoughts, the good, the bad, the positive, the negative, the ugly, and even the sinful because there is nothing that God does not know.

In Psalm 139:1-2 David says, “O LORD, you have searched me and know me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.”

The message of David tells us that our thoughts, whatever the dynamics of them may be, are important to God, and because it is so important to Him, He discerns fully and continually reminds us that these thoughts matter.

However, we should also be careful as to what we are thinking about. This is particularly mentioned in Isaiah 55:8 as stated, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.” 

David had an interesting relationship with Saul. One minute David was like a son to Saul, and the next, Saul was trying to have David killed.

Through all this tumultuous relationship, even after having a couple of opportunities to put an end to it and take Saul’s life, David stayed true to God and His plan.

After Saul and his sons are killed in battle, David is made king. David went to the Lord with a prayer of thanks. (2 Samuel 7:18-29) David humbles himself and asks God why He has made a simple shepherd a king. David says,

“You know what I’m really like.”

David goes on to say, “O Lord God, I am your servant; do as you have promised concerning me and my family. Confirm it as a promise that will last forever. And may your name be honored forever…”

Prayer is often looked at as a formal thing. Something that is high and mighty. It is talking with God after all.

We need to remember that it is just communication with our Father in Heaven. Remember to thank Him for all that we are and all that we have.

What is a Construction Scope of Work and Why Do You Need One?

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Clear Communication is Critical to Happy Customers

Last week John explained to Gene what project information needed to be gathered…

  • Project info (customer name, mailing address, project address if different than mailing, phone number, email address, project overview, budget, project deadline, any other relevant information)
  • Measurements and dimensions, existing and new
  • Building materials, existing and new
  • Pictures of pertinent areas and existing construction
  • Customer’s design ideas and finishes

Overlooking or forgetting something is a sure way to lose money when doing a construction project.

This week they’re going to take the information gathered and turn it into a Scope of Work. This will be the foundational form of communication between everyone involved in the process, i.e., customer, contractor, sub-contractors, employees, etc.

As they get started on this week’s meeting John asks Gene if he had an opportunity to use the Bid Sheet this past week and if so, how it worked.

“Yes.” said John. “It was a little awkward in the beginning. By the time I was finished gathering the project information I was glad I had it because there were a couple of things that it reminded me to do.”

John replied, “That’s great. Do you have any questions?” Not yet.” said Gene. With a smile John said, “You will before we’re done.

Okay. Did you bring it with you”? “I did.” said Gene, “I’ve got it on my laptop.” John told him to open it up and follow along. “Today we’re going to work on the most important part of communication between contractor and customer…the Scope of Work.

What is a Scope of Work?

A Scope of Work clearly defines and explains the work to be done. It should describe what is included in each specific task in terminology that both the customer and the contractor understand. A scope of work describes the work to be done on a project, who is responsible for completing the work, how the work must be performed (techniques used), and what materials will be used. It helps in the smooth operation of a project, minimizing situations leading to disputes. It is the first step to building a mutually beneficial relationship between a contractor and customer.

Communication with the customer needs be simple and direct while explaining clearly and thoroughly.

After having gathered the information needed for the project using the Bid Sheet, write out in a few sentences, or less, what each specific task is going to consist of. Explaining what you’re going to do in a way that a person with little or no construction knowledge can understand. Include as much detail and specifics as needed to be clear on what is or is not included in each part of the project.

Once this process has been finished for each task included in the project, you have a Scope of Work ready to be transferred to a blank Proposal template.

Here’s an example of a Scope of Work using the information from the Bid Sheet we worked on last week.”

As they’re wrapping up this week’s training John tells Gene. “Next week we’ll get into the pricing of a project.”

The real value of this Proposal System is in the pricing.

Previous posts in this series:

What is “business clarity” and how do you find it?

What Does it Take to Build a Successful Construction Company

It’s Time for the First Meeting

Being Aware of Bid Mistakes is the Best Way to Avoid Them

Constructing a Building is Better with a Plan, a Proposal is No Different

Do You Want to do a Good Construction Proposal?

Building Anything is Better When You Start with a Plan

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So Wouldn’t You Like a Plan for Doing Construction Proposals

It’s Saturday, and today will be Gene’s third meeting with John. Even though there’s been no change in Gene’s overwhelming workload, today is the first time he’s not considered canceling. He knows the value of this information and is looking forward to the opportunity to learn more from his mentor.

It’s Gene’s turn to provide lunch and John’s in for a treat…Gene’s bringing chili-cheeseburgers and fries from the Burger Station. Driving to John’s office, the smell of those burgers is more than Gene can bear, so he samples a few fries on the way, just to be sure they’re okay.

Gene had barely gotten in the office door before John yelled out from the conference room, “You brought Burger Station!”. Over the years when Gene was working for John, the two of them frequented this fine establishment often.

As Gene gets lunch out, John says, “We have a lot to cover today, so we better get started. As we go through this today, think about building a proposal as compared to building a construction project. Now let’s review…

First, we started with WHY…

Why do you do what you do? Why should you do proposals? Both these questions are similar to the question we should ask customers when they’re considering a construction project. Why do you want to do this project?

Second, we discussed that communication is the contractor’s responsibility.

We are the professionals in this arrangement. We shouldn’t expect the customer to know everything about construction. This is why they are looking to hire someone to do their project. It’s up to us as contractors to communicate clearly.

Third, we discussed bid mistakes. 

These mistakes are commonly made and are costly. Being aware of them ahead of time helps you know what to avoid and increases the opportunity for happy customers. Not to mention it gives you a big advantage over your competition.  

In our meeting two weeks ago I gave you the proposal overview to take and review. Today we’ll go through it and break it down. I know it seems like we’ll never get to actually doing a proposal, but think about it like a construction project…

The designing and planning take as long as the construction.

Let’s start by looking at the documents included in the system and a brief description of each.”

Bid sheet – A Word document with the various construction categories and individual tasks listed with space for filling in the scope of the work to be done, dimensions, materials, locations, etc., for each category as needed for clear communication.

Worksheet – An Excel spreadsheet with all the construction categories and individual tasks listed with overhead and profit markup formulas.

Proposal – A Word document with space to fill in pertinent information, i.e. customer’s information, what will or will not be supplied by the contractor, the scope of work, the proposed price for each specific element, a total project price, payment arrangements, and project duration.

Data Base – An Excel spreadsheet with prices for material and labor for a wide variety of specific construction tasks. This information will be used in the worksheet template.

After reviewing and discussing these documents and definitions, they looked at the process of doing a proposal.

STEP 1 – Gathering Information

Gathering the right information correctly and effectively is critical to preparing an accurate and thorough proposal. Once you’ve been contacted by a potential customer, start by scheduling a meeting to discuss their project and find out what they hope to accomplish. At this initial meeting gather –

            Measurements and dimensions, existing and new

            Building materials, existing and new

            Pictures of pertinent areas and existing construction

            Customer’s design ideas and finishes

The information gathered at this meeting can be recorded in whatever way works best for you. The important thing in this step is to gather any and all information needed to prepare an accurate proposal. It can be handwritten on a printed out Bid Sheet template, or it can be entered directly to a Bid Sheet on a tablet, smart phone, or laptop. Using the Bid Sheet minimizes overlooking things because the different areas of a construction project are already listed.

STEP 2 – Preparing the Scope of Work

After the preliminary information has been gathered it’s time to clarify the scope of the project by writing out the description of each specific task in terminology that both the customer and the contractor understand. It needs to include enough specifics to be thorough without being too technical. It doesn’t help communication if the terminology is confusing to the customer. This written description on the Bid Sheet will be transferred to the Proposal and serve as a written scope of work to be performed and materials to be provided.

STEP 3 – Pricing the Project

Next is putting prices to the project. This process involves two different Excel spreadsheets, the Worksheet and Data Base. Based on the descriptions written on the Bid Sheet, content from the Data Base will be copied and pasted into the correlating cells on the Worksheet. After the pertinent information from the Data Base has been placed on the Worksheet, it’s time to fill in the quantities.

STEP 4 – Quantities

On the Worksheet you will fill in the quantity needed to do the work on that line item. This may be lineal feet, square feet, square yards, cubic feet, cubic yards, numbers of pieces, etc. Once this is completed you will now have prices for each of the different tasks listed on the Proposal.

STEP 5 – Preparing the Proposal

Now you have everything you need to complete the Proposal. You will take the descriptions from the Bid Sheet and the prices from the Worksheet and put them both on the Proposal. After filling out the customer’s information at the top of the page, the scope of work, the price for each task, the total project price, how payments are to be made, and the duration of time to do the project, the Proposal is ready to be presented to the customer.

As they wrapped up the meeting, John looked at Gene and asked him what he thought so far. Gene said, “I had no idea there was this much to doing proposals.”

John said, “I know. That’s why most contractors either guess at their bids or just give estimates…and we’ve all seen how that well that works out.

Next week we’ll dig deeper into GATHERING INFORMATION.

If you’d like more information about the proposal system referred to in this blog post, you can check it out here. You can learn more about some of the other tools for building a successful construction business here. If you have any questions, schedule a free 30-minute construction company consultation.

Previous posts in this series:

What is “business clarity” and how do you find it? (12/24/23)

What Does it Take to Build a Successful Construction Company (12/31/23)

It’s Time for the First Meeting (1/14/24)

Being Aware of Bid Mistakes is the Best Way to Avoid Them (1/21/24)

 

It’s Time for the First Meeting

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And Gene’s Not Sure He Can Squeeze It In

It’s Friday, and Gene is in his normal state of overwhelm. He’s supposed to be meeting with John tomorrow afternoon to go over the Building a Better Proposal system, and he doesn’t know how he can fit it in.

There are still so many things that need to be done.

“Maybe we can reschedule,” thinks Gene, “I’ll just give John a call and see about moving the meeting back a week… Okay, that’s enough.” Gene says to himself. “The whole purpose for this meeting is to change things, so that I don’t have to feel this overwhelmed.”

“I’m tired of always feeling out of control.”

A few minutes after noon on Saturday, Gene pulls up in front of the SMR Construction Company office and admires the building. As he gets the pizza out of the truck and goes up to the front door he thinks, “I sure hope I can have a place like this someday.” As he walks through the door John greets him with a solid handshake and a grin as he says, “I wasn’t sure that you would make it.”

“I wasn’t sure either.”, Gene says with a smile. “I came really close to calling yesterday, to see about rescheduling.” “I’m glad you didn’t.”, replies John. “You’ve taken the hardest step in a series of hard steps.”

“The first step is the hardest. It requires a change of thinking and direction.”

“Bring the pizza and let’s go into the conference room.”, John says. As they make their way into the spacious comfortable room Gene thinks back on when they used to have their weekly production meetings in this very room. Looking back, he realizes how much he had taken what John had accomplished for granted.

John hands Gene a plate and they both get some pizza. “There’s water and soda in the fridge like always.”, says John, “Help yourself.” As they set down and start eating John asks Gene, “Why did you start your own construction company?”

“Why do you do what you do?”

Gene sat there for a while chewing his pizza at the same time chewing on this question. “Why was he doing this?” He had asked himself this question a lot, but it was usually a question of frustration, not really looking for an answer.

After what seemed like an eternity, Gene answered, “I really don’t know. I suppose that seeing what you had accomplished, I wanted the same thing.”

“That’s the same answer I would have given if I’d been asked why I started SMR Construction.”, agrees John. “It wasn’t until I realized that to have a successful and profitable business, one that I was running rather than it running me, I needed to make some changes. One of those was to answer that question.”

“The WHY is more important than the HOW. Maybe your why is to make a lot of money, the enjoyment of building, the control that comes with owning your own company, something completely different or a combination of things.”

“Do you love what you do? In your current situation, do you even like it?”

Now Gene has another unanswered question to ponder. Does he like what he does? Life sure was easier when he worked for John. What was it that prompted him to go into business?

John interrupted Gene’s thinking, “Gene, you probably won’t get the full answer to these questions today, and we’ve already been discussing this for a while now. I would suggest that you take some time to think about these questions and dig down deep to find the answers.”

“The answer to these questions is the foundation your business will be built on.”

“Before we run out of time today, let’s move on to the topic you came for, a better proposal system. Here’s an overview of the proposal system that we’ll go over today. These are yours to make notes on and take with you.”

“Just like the why question for your business, you should answer the why question about proposals.”

“Why do we need to do proposals?

“Gene, there is a huge misunderstanding between construction companies and customers. The biggest part of this gap is poor communication. Even when attempting to communicate clearly, it often goes badly. Let me give you an example.”

“Several years ago, I met with a customer early in the process of building a new home. The customer pointed out that the distance from the electric meter to the house was more than the 50’ allowance, as per the agreement. He asked if this was a problem. I told him it wasn’t a problem. Guess what…”

“It was a problem.”

“The problem didn’t surface until later when the customer was billed for the additional 100’. After some research, the communication breakdown was uncovered. The customer asked, “if it was a problem”. What he was really asking was…”is it going to cost more?”.”

“The response ‘in reality’ was, “It’s no problem to dig the additional 100’, but it will cost you more.” Neither party intended nor expected this to be a problem. It was a simple matter of misunderstanding…a lack of communication.”

The bulk of the communication responsibility is the contractor’s; we are the professionals after all.

If you follow along on the overview, on page 2 you can see the importance of a proposal system and why you need it. Page 3 has reasons for and common reasons against doing proposals. Page 4 is a list of documents included in the system and descriptions of how they work. Pages 5 and 6 are an overview of the proposal system.”

“As we wrap up today, Gene, I would recommend that we schedule some time weekly to work through the proposal system. I know that you don’t feel like you can spare the time, but I would point out that if you want things to be different, it’s going to require you to do some things differently.”

Gene thought about this for a few minutes, “I get excited about the possibilities for my future every time we talk about this. Let’s do it. How does next Saturday sound, same time and place work for you?

“If I don’t commit to doing something different, nothing will change.”

John smiled wide and remembered when he had made this same decision. He was encouraged about Gene’s future and excited to be a part of it. “Remember when you called me a few weeks back and how frustrated you were? And then in the next call we discussed the possibilities for your future? Think on these things and your why as you study the pages from today. When we get together next week, I want to hear about your why, and we’ll go deeper into the Building a Better Proposal system.

“As you go through these pages write down any questions you have, and we’ll discuss them next week.”

If you’re interested in the Building A Better Proposal system that John and Gene are working on, check out Solution Building’s Business BUILDing Toolbox. To discuss how the proposal system could help your construction company, you can schedule a meeting with me here. As always, feel free to post any questions you have in the comments!