When the family business grows but margins don't

Fifth generation, century-old history, and you discover losses when work is finished

Do you recognize this situation?

• Historic company (fifth generation!), wooden structures
• Growing revenue, declining margins
• Every quote is blind bet
• You discover how much you lost only when site closes
• You want serenity but sleep thinking about quoting errors

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The trap

There's a type of company that has everything.

History.
Tradition.
Fifth generation.
Returning clients.
Growing revenue.

But doesn't earn.

Not as it should.
Not as it could.

Not as you thought.

Because every quote is blindfolded target shooting.

You estimate a price.
Start work.
And halfway through site you understand: wrong.

Materials cost more.
Work hours are double.
Unforeseen you hadn't calculated.
Craftsmen slower than expected.

And when you finish?

You discover how much you lost.

Not before.
After.

When it's too late.

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Why it happens

When you grow with artisan method, it works.

As long as you're small.
As long as it's you following every job.
As long as you quote "by feeling" and get it right.

But when you grow:
Orders become too many.
Craftsmen are many.
Sites open simultaneously.

And you can no longer follow everything.

So you quote as always.
But numbers escape you.
And you realize too late.

You're managing SME with artisan shop methods.
And margins make you pay for it.

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The method

Moving from feeling to system.

1. Ruthless analysis (what went wrong)

Take recent jobs.
Compare quote and reality.
Where did you go wrong?

Work hours?
Material costs?
Unforeseen?

Pattern will tell you where you lose most margins.

1. Industrial quoting system

Enough "eyeball" quotes.

Historical database.
Real cost per type.
Safety coefficient for unforeseen.
Software that tracks everything.

If you don't have minimum margin, order not accepted.

1. Weekly control (not at closed site)

Each order tracked real-time.

Hours worked.
Materials used.
Budget deviations.

Weekly report: who exceeds, where to intervene.

Zero surprises at end of work.

1. Production delegation

You shouldn't follow sites.

Production Manager: manages craftsmen, materials, timelines.
You: strategy, premium clients, innovation.

Fifth generation doesn't do worker.
Does entrepreneur.

1. Growth with margins (not without)

Growing revenue without margins = working more to earn same.

First: system fixing.
Margins return.

THEN you grow.

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What changes after

You no longer discover losses at end of site.

You see them in real-time.
You intervene immediately.

Margins saved.

You no longer quote "by feeling".

But with data.
With system.
With guaranteed margin.

And if order has no margin?

You don't take it.

You no longer work fifty hours on operations.

You delegate production.
Free time.

Strategy, not emergencies.

And above all:
You no longer sleep thinking about quoting errors.

Because there are no more systematic errors.

There's system.

Fifth generation doesn't die from lack of work.
Dies from lack of margins.

Tradition deserves modern system.
Otherwise dies with you.