Starting Situation
Our client a 29 year GC contractor who built a reputation for building high-end homes had booked a 60-minute virtual strategy call after responding to one of our marketing emails for a no-risk, free 10-hour Business Review & Discovery. On the call, the President & CEO  described a frustrating challenge they were getting year-over-year on revenue and profit volatility in a now highly competitive market—driven by “bid-everything” pursuits, allowance creep on high-end finishes, inconsistent precon→ops handoffs, weak change-order capture, and limited visibility into job costs and cash timing. We recommended going forward with our 10 Day Free Business Review and Discovery to peel away the onion deeper. They agreed.

Approach

Discovery traced volatility to upstream choices and weak controls: no Ideal Customer Profile or bid filters; inconsistent allowance standards and estimating assumptions; a missing Job Launch handoff; change orders delayed by poor field documentation; fragmented job-cost data across tools; no weekly WIP/13-week cash cadence; owner-centric approvals slowing decisions; and uneven vendor terms inflating costs.

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Focus — Project Implementation (what we actually installed and how it ran)

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• Pursuit discipline: Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) + bid/no-bid rules; must-win list; fewer low-margin bids.

• Pricing guardrails: Mark-up bands, allowance policy, contingencies, and “good-better-best” alternates.

• Precon→Ops “Job Launch”: One-page scope/risks/budget/schedule/procurement with formal acceptance.

• Change orders (CO): Field photos → 24–48 hr pricing → client sign-off before work; live CO log.

• Weekly controls: WIP (Work-in-Progress) & job-cost snapshot (earned vs. billed, labor vs. budget, materials variance).

• Cash rhythm: 13-week cash model; milestone billing in contracts; DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) ladder.

• Owner dashboard: Pipeline/hit rate, GM vs. estimate, CO velocity, schedule adherence, WIP accuracy, DSO.

• Governance & roles: Daily ops huddle; weekly Sales/Precon/PM; monthly backlog review; RACI with delegated approvals.

• Buying discipline: Long-lead tracker, preferred vendors/terms, and purchase cutoffs

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90-Day Results

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• Hit rate +5 pts on targeted pursuits; average project size +6–8%.

• GM on awarded work +1.5–2.0 pts (allowance/pricing discipline).

• CO turnaround −35%; CO capture +20%.

• Time-to-proposal −25%; WIP accuracy → 88–90%.

• DSO −7 days; owner time +0.5–1 day/week freed from approvals.

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6-Month Results (Business Impact)

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• EBITDA +1.5–2.5 pts; margin fade per project −25–30%.

• Cash Conversion Cycle −7–10 days; schedule adherence +8–10 pts.

• Backlog quality +12–15% (win probability × margin).

• Delegated approvals and clear cadence = steadier cash, protected margins, and leadership focused on growth.