How to Avoid Business Disaster
Have you ever noticed how in horror movie’s people make the worst possible decisions? The Geico commercial where the young people decide to hide behind the chainsaws (while funny in the commercial) is way too real for most construction companies. In the commercial they choose to ignore the one running car that would help them avoid the catastrophe that is otherwise inevitable.
Why do so many businesses hide behind the chainsaws?
In most cases it’s written in the script. This is the way it’s always been done. Like in the movies, this will end in disaster. It’s time to rewrite your script.
In construction one of the root causes for disaster is not having a safe and secure method for doing proposals. A silver bullet is used for stopping a werewolf, witch, vampire or other monster. The Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal is just such a bullet.
Here are 7 common mistakes that cost contractors a fortune…but don’t have to.
- Your customer lacks clarity – Crystal clear communication is critical to your success. A clear scope of work avoids confusion between you and your customers.
2. Production crews lack clarity – Like the customer, the people working on the project need to know what’s expected. If the wrong things, too much or too little is done it results in losing money and/or unhappy customers.
3. Unclear production budget – If subs/employees don’t know what the budget is, how can you expect them to not overspend. This is a sure way to lose money.
4. Unsatisfied customers – Your customers have hired you to provide a completed construction project. If everyone isn’t clear about the expectations the customer is not going to be satisfied in the end.
5. Taking on unprofitable projects – Guessing at what your labor and material cost are going to be is a huge risk. Having a system that uses, cubic feet, square feet, lineal feet, etc. removes the guess work. Not to mention having predetermined overhead and profit margins.
6. Trying to do everything – In small companies your focus is on the physical construction. This doesn’t leave much time for doing bids. This proposal system allows you to delegate work to others. It’s less expensive to hire administrative people than construction personnel.
7. You don’t have a system that is customizable or scales – Most construction projects consist of a variety of different areas of construction, not to mention different markets and geographic locations. Add to that markups and profits that can be adjusted. You need to have a system that can be made to fit your specific needs.
Small and medium sized construction companies too often follow the same script that everyone else is. They hide behind the chainsaws, even though they know this is a bad idea.
Don’t hide behind the chainsaws!
Rewrite your script so that there’s a silver bullet to stop the proposal monster. At the very least…get in the running car.