When your building firm turns over 1 million but you work 90 hours a week

When your building firm turns over 1 million but you work 90 hours a week

And you spend many of those hours on prospecting

Does this sound familiar?

• Building firm, solid turnover, good profits (thin margins)
  
• Several employees and associates, significant growth
  
• But you work too many hours a week (practically always)
  
• Many of which spent on prospecting (a large part of your time spent looking for clients)
  
• Ideal client: high-end, unconditionally trusting, with money available
  
• Ambitious goals: acquire a company, buy a house by the sea
  

And the fear is: burning yourself out before achieving your goals

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The trap of the founder who does everything (too much, even)

The business is thriving.

Solid turnover, significant growth.
High-end clients, major jobs.
Several employees and associates = a well-structured business.

But you:

Too many hours a week.

Many hours a day, always.

Of which:
Many hours on prospecting (finding new clients).

The remaining hours on everything else (building sites, management, admin, problems).

And you also have expansion goals:
Acquire a company, buy a house by the sea.

But how, when you don't even have time to breathe?

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What happens when you're the engine behind everything

On the time front:
Too many hours a week = unsustainable long-term.
Many hours on prospecting = necessary but excessive (should be far less with a system in place).
Zero delegation on sales: only you sell.

Zero delegation on operations: you have to supervise everything.

On the team front:
"Uncooperative employees" among the main problems.
Probably: hired out of necessity, not for cultural fit.
Several employees and associates but you're still overworked = they're not producing autonomously.

Likely turnover (problematic employees = conflict).

On the financial front:
Solid turnover, good profit = thin margin (construction can do better).
Dealing with a troublesome banking setup = tight cash flow.
Unpaid invoices = clients who don't pay or pay late.

You want to acquire a company, but with what resources, given low margins and troubled cash flow?

On the strategy front:
Expansion goals (acquiring a company) but shaky foundations.
House by the sea = a personal goal incompatible with a mad schedule.

Significant but unsustainable growth: you're burning yourself out.

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Why it happens

You're the operational founder who never became CEO.

Founder phase 1: you do everything yourself (justified at the start).
Founder phase 2: you delegate operations, keep strategy.

But you're still in phase 1, even with solid turnover:
You do the prospecting (many hours a week).
You supervise the building sites.
You handle employee problems.

You handle the banks and unpaid invoices. You're not scaling. You're multiplying the work.

And several people among your employees/associates should be lightening your load,
but instead they're increasing it (because they aren't self-sufficient).

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The (wrong) path many try

The apparent solution: "I work even more to cover everything"

But you can't push your already excessive weekly hours any further.
You're already at your physical limit.

You can't work more. You have to work differently.

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The method

No longer doing everything yourself. Building a system that works without you. Stop direct prospecting: systematise acquisition.

Many hours a week on prospecting = an enormous amount of wasted time.
System: structured referrals (incentives for clients who bring in clients), partnerships with surveyors/architects/agencies.
Local marketing: building sites with visible signage, before/after posts on social media.

From many hours of your own time to a few hours overseeing the system. An autonomous site manager/team leader.

Uncooperative employees? Perhaps there's a lack of middle leadership.
Hire/promote a team leader to manage the building sites.
You visit periodically to check in, not every day.

Delegate responsibility (and consequences). Admin/finance: a dedicated role.

Handling banks, unpaid invoices, invoicing = administrative work.
An entrepreneur with solid turnover shouldn't be doing this.
Hire a senior admin professional part-time.

Modest annual cost, value: many hours of your time freed up every month. Cleaning up the team: A-players or out.

"Uncooperative employees" = dead weight.
Objective assessment: who's producing, who isn't.
Months-long plan: top performers stay/grow, the rest are replaced.

Better to have fewer good employees than more problematic ones. Decision point: expansion OR consolidation.

Acquiring a company while working mad hours with internal problems = suicide.
First consolidate: reduced hours, an autonomous team, healthy cash flow.
THEN expand.

House by the sea: buy it once you're working sustainable hours, otherwise when would you actually enjoy it?

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What changes afterwards

You no longer work mad hours every week.

The client acquisition system runs without you (your time drastically reduced).
The team leader manages the building sites autonomously.
The admin handles banks/unpaid invoices.

You work sustainable hours each week:
Strategy/oversight.
High-value sales (big clients).
Team/leadership.

Admin/finance reduced to a minimum.

Margins improve significantly as efficiency increases.
Healthy cash flow thanks to professional financial management.
A solid team because you only keep A-players.

AND SO:
Acquiring a company = possible with a solid structure.
House by the sea = you actually get to enjoy it, with free weekends instead of none.

You don't grow by working more.
You grow by building a system that works without you. This is the turning point: when you stop being the engine and become the architect.