Growing a construction company involves a lot of variables to maintain business success. Move too fast and missteps are bound to happen. Go too slow and you lose out on opportunities. It is a balancing act and deciding on when to throttle the business is stressful. Regardless, for your company to be successful long-term, you must grow. And that means winning more projects.
We’re pretty sure your precon team (and we know because we spend a lot of time talking to estimators) is all, “whoa! Slow your roll. We’re doing all we can to stay afloat!” They’re overworked and overwhelmed.
But tell that to your stakeholders. Trust us when we say they aren’t satisfied with just maintaining your current speed.
Over half of the general contractors in the United States expect to increase profits over this year. Are you one of them?
You won’t be unless you take the necessary steps to level up your construction business.
Here are four steps to growing your construction business:
- Chase more projects
- Pursue bigger projects
- Become a lean machine
- Morph into a data master
Chase More Projects
Winning more projects leads to increased revenue; however inefficient processes slow down growth when your precon team is working their tails off just to get current and backlogged estimates out the door.
Long nights and working weekends leave no time for your overstressed preconstruction team to pursue new projects, especially if you aren’t using the latest in preconstruction technology. Too much time is wasted searching for information. Estimates become disjointed. Mistakes are made. Which leads to change orders. Which leads to over-budget projects and missed deadlines.
Which leads to an unhappy owner. Which leads to a damaged reputation. Which leads to… (the list of awfulness goes on…)
If you switch to an integrated construction estimating software, it will feel like you have more staff because you can do more value-added tactics. (ahem…like pursuing more projects.) This is the secret sauce to chasing more projects: efficient processes using integrated preconstruction software lead to more revenue. And, because you are an efficient machine, greater profits.
Pursue Bigger Projects
If your current size of won projects are keeping the company afloat, then pursuing bigger projects will increase your profit margin. Right? Well, not really. Bigger projects come with more cooks in the kitchen, more coordination, and usually, this means a longer timeline to complete the project. But here’s the rub … that’s only if you keep doing business the way it has always been done.
Pursuing bigger projects means handling more data, more breakouts, reducing the risk of formula errors, etc. If your preconstruction tools are disjointed and not sophisticated, then the project owner may not have the confidence in your seasoned professionals to complete the job. Using a sophisticated and legit construction estimating platform will not only build confidence across the project team but will also set you up to pursue the next bigger project.
Become a Lean Machine
Construction cost estimating has non-stop activity. Along with non-stop deadlines. If the processes to manage the non-stop activity and deadlines aren’t efficient, then the pursuit of more projects and bigger projects will be hindered. Cutting out the fat of preconstruction may include switching to an actual estimating software (yes, we are throwing shade at Excel), utilizing a database to pull in costs (our throwing arm is getting tired of all the shade being thrown), and integrating technology so you aren’t hopping around platforms.
Morph into a Data Master
When preconstruction becomes a lean machine those construction professionals will transform into the best weapon a construction company has to grow the business. They become data masters!
So much data flows through preconstruction that being able to hone in on trends, pick up on fluctuations, and pull in historical cost information on similar projects will then make the company more efficient. Having data at your fingertips gives the company insight on when to throttle the business. Which leads to sound decisions on chasing more projects and pursuing larger projects.
Beck Technology believes every construction company, from those working on $200,000 projects to $20 billion master plans, can level up their business. The process of business growth also comes with better decisions that create an overall improved construction industry.
